******By now, I'm pretty sure that anyone who reads any of the Magic (Kate Daniels series) or the new series (The Edge), first book - On The Edge- knows that Ilona Andrews is really a writing team - husband (Gordon) and wife. The wife is really Ilona, but two pair up on writing the books. I have to hand it to them. They manage to raise a family, write books together, and continue to have a sense of humor as evidenced in their blogs and the narratives of their books.
I finished reading Magic Bleeds last Tuesday (or so) but really couldn't think of anything to say as far as reviewing. It's hard for me sometimes to come up with a review when the books are just so damned good. I don't want to give out any spoilers, and really - what can I add tha others have not already written about this series?
I picked up the first book on impulse way back in 2007 - and at the time I had just recently "discovered" the internet, which I mainly used for looking up books to read. Of course I looked up the name - that's when I read about them being a husband and wife team. To be honest I can't even say (or remember) when I found their blog on LJ (which has since moved). All I can remember is finding out they are husband and wife, and that there might be another book coming - which of course made me happy because the FIRST book was great. But later, when I found their LJ blog by accident, I would read posts here and there and always got a chuckle out of them.
They haven't let me down since. Book no 2 came out - Magic Burns - and I bought that one. I remember reading it and thinking WOW. Somebody else wrote about the different world they found in this novel. Hell yeah! Finally, a book that didn't romanticize and make vampires sexy - which can be okay, but the whole blood drinking thing is just squicky! I know that there are indeed other books that treat vampires like horror, but there weren't a lot in the urban fantasy genre, which is what I prefer to read.
Book Three came out - Magic Strikes. Of course I bought it. By then of course, these books were really taking off. And here we are at book number four (and a short story in Must Love HellHounds) - Magic Bleeds.
From the very first BOOK of the series through this last installment - excellent plot, excellent voice, Great Dialogue, wonderful action scenes - and here's a term I usually try NOT to use - plot advancement (because I am not an expert). Kate isn't a typically snarky heroine; she is a genuinely sarcastic woman and throughout the book there are many "sweet" NickNames she uses to refer to Curran, whom she loves and hates - (how a lot of us feel about our favorite husbands, right? be honest, now).
Magic Bleeds is yet another example in this series of how fun it can be to read an extremely well written urban fantasy. There's so much right with this novel. It's possible to read these novels out of order, but you'll get the full effect of all the different plots and sub plots if you read them as they were written - in order. We get to see a bit of Kate's awkwardly evolving friendships - she never did learn how to have friends, and doesn't know how a friendship really works. Her relationship with Curran remains explosively satisfying to read. Kate Daniels also remains satisfyingly assertive and aggressive.
Magic Mourns (in an anthology - Must Love HellHounds)
3 more novels under contract (oh thank goodness! )
There is an information page for the world of Kate Daniels - there are character blurbs and information about the time, the city, etc. Fun webpage. They also are kind enough to have a page of FREE fiction. Go over there and take a look around.
Magic Bleeds will not disappoint - if you haven't read any of the Kate Daniels novels yet, you are really missing out on a great series. If you have read the prior novels and just haven't gotten around to this one yet - GET GOING ON THIS! :)
Reading Challenges
Reading books like this reminds reminds me just WHY I have a list of authors that I call my auto-buys. There are some writers that you KNOW are going to be a good read, you KNOW you're in for a treat when you sit down with their books.
I can't wait to read this series!
ReplyDeleteOh - this is a great series. Soon I'm going to do a post of my favorite series. I'll get all ocd and list all the series, the dates, the titles of the books...
ReplyDeleteI'm tires just thinking about it. Maybe I'll just post the names. LOL