Magic Strikes

This is currently my favorite Urban Fantasy series, having displaced Kim Harrsion's Hollows books after the lackluster last outing in that series. To some extent Andrews has followed Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden formula -- introduce the character, have a few introductory adventures to build the supporting cast and get a feel for the lead's capabilities and issues and then start to open up the series "meta plot" as the character faces wider issues. Kate is a very appealing, snarky character who lives in an intriguing world where magic rises and falls in tides which have greatly disrupted (but not destroyed -- people cope) our civilization. Were-hyenas and vampires may roam Atlanta, but people still eat grits and cornbread. For reasons that are finally becoming more clear in this book, Kate has long been a loner, a mercenary who solves magical problems, but in the first book she started to come out of her shell, and that has continued over the next two books and into this one as she gains friends and allies. In my opinion, the love interest is well handled as well. It's been obvious from book one what's going to happen, but Andrews is in no hurry, and has been content to keep Curran as (a very effective) supporting character rather than letting him drive out all the other supporting characters. This lets Kate have satisfying emotional connections apart from her supposed love interest (her final scene with Bran in the previous book for instance) and differentiates the series from "Supernatural Romance". The ending of this book pretty much tears the veil off Kate's self-imposed low profile and sets things up for a major confrontation in the coming books.

_Magic Strikes_ by Ilona Andrews is the 3rd book in the Kate Daniels series (the previous two books are Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) and Magic Burns). The main character in the series is Kate Daniels, a young woman who lives in an alternate version of Atlanta where magic and technology alternately have the upper hand. The world created by Andrews is one that paralleled the real world until sometime in the 2000s, when magic returned to the world. Technology still fights back, and there are alternating waves of tech and magic. When the magic is up, firearms and internal combustion engines don't work, neither does electricity, and all the creatures of mythology like banshees and vampires and werewolves walk the earth. When the tech comes back up, all the normal conveniences work again and all the magical creatures are either reduced in power or turn back into normal humans. In the middle of all this are the remnants of humanity who survived the first great surge of magic, and some of the various supernatural creatures who have organized enough to protect themselves. Vampires are inhuman senseless & mindless creatures controlled by necromancers who have formed a group called The People; they are led by a legendary figure named Roland. Werewolves, werejaguars, werehyenas, and were-everything-else either learn to live the Code which enforces the mental discipline they need to stay sane or they go violently nuts ('loup' in the books) and are hunted down like rabid animals; there is particularly large and well-organized group of were's in Atlanta who call themselves the Pack and they are led by Curran, a wereliger. And finally there is the Order, based on the old knightly orders, which tries to protect humanity from all the supernatural threats and who are themselves just as coldblooded as any of the threats they face. In the middle of all this is Kate Daniels, all of 25 years old, a superb swordswoman with a mysterious past and a smart mouth that gets her into more trouble than even she deserves. She is not a Knight of the Order, but does work for them and currently serves as the official liaison between the Order and the Pack. _Magic Strikes_ opens with Kate coming upon the remains of a murder scene involving a member of the Pack. The Pack having already claimed jurisdiction, she rides on but gets more and more embroiled as the book moves on. By halfway through the book, she is involved in highly illegal gladiatorial cage matches, fighting with powerful creatures from Hindu mythology, and frantically trying to figure out what power could prevent a werewolf from both changing and regenerating. She has to do all this while trying to avoid Curran, top alpha of the pack, who is wooing her (in his own straightforward yet confusing way) as a future mate and who is also more than a bit unhappy about members of the Pack being involved the cage matches. Each Kate Daniels book has gotten better than the last (which I am thankful for, since _Magic

I'd had the previous books in my to read list for a very long time and finally got around to reading them last week in anticipation of this coming out. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two and this one has become my favorite. The book was just right for a nice break in the middle of a very long week. If I had to pick one thing about this book (and the series in general) that I like the most it would be the pacing. So many times you see sequels that drag the story on and feel like fluff. This is not the case here. There was just the right level of progression in both major plots I was interested in (Roland and Curran). I felt there was a good amount of movement while still keeping enough back to look forward to future books. Anything else would have felt too slow or too rushed. I also really enjoyed the character development in the book. It was a nice balance to the action/plot progression. While a good chunk of the character development was insight into Kate, the other characters had some great development as well. I appreciated how the development of these characters didn't overwhelm Kate but added to the entire picture we get of her. This book had the perfect balance of all the elements I was looking for. The only thing lacking is that I don't have the next book yet!

It's no surprise that I'm writing a review for this book. I've reviewed Ilona's books before and have always had good things to say about the writing and the plots. This time, I'll say it again... fantastic writing and a great plot. What I like about book three is that we're seeing more of Kate and her relationships. Yes, there is action and intrigue but more importantly, there's a sense of Kate becoming more open to being entangled with the people around her. She fights for her place in others' lives here. People are important and she's as much a guardian of the people she's taken into her life as she is the nameless faces that she protects. I prefer character-driven stories and Ilona Andrews delivers this type of story with a generous helping of cohesive plotline. Add into the mix, a conflicted world of magic and tech and you've got the recipe for a fantastical world that Kate Daniels lives in. I'm not going to give out spoilers. I dislike reading reviews where the person spews out every last detail of the story but suffice it to say; Kate decides who is important to her in her life... and really, goes into action without much thought to her own safety. I enjoyed the tension in this story and the tightness of the writing was a delight to read. I could envision what was happening from the descriptions on the page and there are scenes that I could swear I could smell and taste the surroundings. Brilliant writing and a fantastic step towards the main character's development. Good book. I've gotten multiple copies just so I can give them to people I think would enjoy it. Pick it up. Spend an evening with Kate Daniels and submerge yourself into Ilona Andrews' Atlanta.