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Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews
Series: Kate Daniels #2
Published by: Ace, on 1 April 2008
Genres: Adult, Paranormal Romance,Urban Fantasy
Pages: 272, Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Purchase
Down in Atlanta, tempers – and temperatures – are about to flare…
As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.
When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest – and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive…
Magic Burns is filled with mystery, mythology, fights and some very hot chemistry between Kate and Curran. And I’m definitely a fan of all of that
In Magic Burns, Kate grows as a character, while still staying true to herself as well. She realizes just how important pack-business is for the wolves, especially when Jim more or less abandons her at a crime-scene, leaving her both to take care of a dead guy, a magic salamander and a hidden crossbow-shooter. With her usual pragmatic reasoning, Kate does manage all of it, even to bring in the dead guy’s head so she can get her fee from the Mercenary Guild, who had wanted him dead or alive. The stakes are definitely high, especially as Kate realizes that she will have to fight against gods and goddesses in order to save Atlanta, and all of humanity as well. Magic Burns picks up not long after the end of the story in Magic Bites, and it’s just as fast-paced, filled with action and magic, and some mystery as the first book in the Kate Daniels series. And for some strange (or not so strange, as it may well be) reason, I am completely mesmerized by Curran. He’s definitely my kind of lion!
As the story moves forward, Magic Burns shows that there is a lot of mythology to be had in this fantastic world, and as long as someone worships a deity, that deity might very well be able to grow stronger. The magic also reacts to this, so Kate certainly has her work cut out for her in this story. What I really enjoyed, though is that Kate has a lot of friends she can count on! Andrea, Derek, even Jim and Curran were there to help her out when she most needed it.
I also really loved how Kate had to use both her detective skills, her fighting skills, her common sense, and a lot of cunning in order to make things go her way in Magic Burns! I think Kate is the kind of heroine I will love just as much as I love Rachel from The Hollows. She is crafty, strong, and has a little trouble with her magic sometimes. In some ways, she’s a lot more secure and confident, though, and I look forward to seeing her evolve in this series.
Magic Burns also showed a more emphatic side to Kate, as she helped a little girl search for her mom, a witch who had disappeared. Soon, Kate had to fight some very strange creatures in order to save Julie, and as soon as she got rid of them, there were more arriving. Little by little, the mystery was unraveled, and a huge showdown including gods and more creatures, as well as Kate’s friends from the pack followed.
Written in third person past tense, the omniscient narrator managed to show me just enough so that I felt like I understood everything, but there was still enough mystery left to keep me guessing anyway. I look forward to more adventures with Kate, because Magic Burns had all I look for in a great story, there is a little bit of romance, great humor, lots of fights, different shapeshifters, and quite scary vampires, as well as the mythology that is as varied as the creatures that are part of this series. Both the story and the plot-line were well done, and I truly enjoy the character development as well.
“That last fireball missed me by a mile. You shoot blanks with your other salamander, too, Jeremy?” “Eat shit and die!”
Pack business always took precedence. On a scale from one to ten, the Pack was eleven and everything else a one.
Somewhere far away, a wolf howled. I could always tell a wolf from a stray dog – the lupine howl sent shivers down my spine. I thought of Curran. The scary thing was, I was kind of curious about seeing him tomorrow.