4.5 stars
Spoiler warning! This is book nine in the Kate Daniels series. The penultimate book in the series, in fact. I will not be able to review this book without there being spoilers for earlier books. Don’t read this if you’re not all the way caught up. Do pick up the series if you like good Urban/Paranormal fantasy, though, it’s pretty much the best out there at the moment.
Private detective and supernatural powerhouse Kate Daniels is finally getting married to Curran Lennart, former Beast Lord of Atlanta. They ask Ronan, Black Vohlv of the Death god Chernobog to perform the ceremony, and he is beyond delighted, even after (or possibly because) he realises that he’ll also have to tak on the role of wedding planner (seriously, after this book, I’d love to get a look at Ronan’s Pinterest boards). Kate doesn’t really see why the wedding can’t just amount to people they care about showing up at a set date, they have some cake and get the deed done? Who cares about invitations, a fancy dress, cake, flowers or the like? Even being told by a number of different people that no, the wedding night is for the bride and groom, the wedding itself is for everyone else. Everyone who is anyone in Atlanta is going to want an invitation to this event and Kate and Curran can’t half-ass it.
Kate has more pressing matters than her impending wedding to worry about. Her best friend, Andrea, alpha of the Bouda clan, is extremely pregnant, restless and freaking out because the baby might go loup at birth. If that happens, someone’s going to have to put the baby down, and no one wants that.
Roland, Kate’s ancient demi-god father, keeps challenging Kate’s authority over Atlanta in all sorts of little ways, all while building a giant fortress just outside the area she’s claimed as her own. Despite the friction, they still somehow seem to end up in seafood restaurants, having family dinners.
Now Roland has abducted Saiman, Kate’s former ally. This is an insult he knows she cannot overlook. Kate needs to make a decision and the future is not looking bright. The Witch Oracle informs her that a massive battle is imminent, where the city will burn and people will suffer. Kate will suffer a terrible loss, and in every possible future the witches have seen, someone she loves, is killed by Roland. If she marries Curran, he dies. If she doesn’t, the battle won’t happen immediately, but her son will die instead. Naturally, neither option is acceptable to Kate and she is the only one with even the faintest chance to change the future, by doing something wholly unexpected and drastic. She’s running out of time, and doesn’t feel she can confide in Curran, the man she loves above everything.
Full review on my blog.
Yay! I’m working on my review now.