Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Mercenary Kate Daniels cleans up urban problems of a paranormal kind. But her latest prey, a pack of undead warriors, presents her greatest challenge.

Customer Reviews: Read 120 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent debut--well worth the accolades on the cover April 1, 2007
377 out of 387 found this review helpful

This is one of the best-realized fantasy worlds I've encountered in a debut novel. Our heroine, Kate, lives in an alternate Atlanta, where magic and technology come in unpredictable waves. When her guardian is killed, she seeks out the murderer using some hilarious concepts of investigation.

If you are a paranormal romance reader, this book may not be for you. Despite its title, "Magic Bites" falls strongly on the fantasy end of the continuum. "Magic Bites" is both a very good fantasy and mystery and you can get easily drawn in--as long as you are not too disappointed there is not a strong romance line in the novel.

Another warning, if you are someone who thinks vampires are dead sexy, this book does not ascribe to this point of view. Vampires are nobody's erotic fantasy in this novel and that makes them particularly interesting.

World building is critical to the fantasy genre and Ms. Andrews has earned a 5 star rating just for that. The rules for her world are pretty clear and she sticks to them. She's obviously carefully considered the eventualities of phases where magic and technology rule the city and keeps things interesting with the changes she puts her characters through.

Kate is a well-realized and interesting character. She's someone you can empathize with and she's got a pretty darn good sense of humor. I see shades of Raymond Chandler in this book in the humor.

Also, Andrews resolves her mystery in this book, but leaves you with enough questions to want to read her next novel in this series. I, for one, hope the novel comes soon, but I think she will be well worth the wait.

5 out of 5 stars

Superb urban fantasy.... April 26, 2007
105 out of 111 found this review helpful

Kate Daniels lives in a world in which magic fluctuations are an everyday occurrence. In fact, she makes her living off of these disruptions. However, her world is turned upside down when a vampire delivers a message about her guardian. Kate agrees to work for the Order to avenge the death of her guardian and soon finds herself in the midst of an ongoing conflict between the two major supernatural groups, the People and the Pack. Kate is in for some unpleasant surprises as she delves deeply into Atlanta's magical world.

MAGIC BITES is what urban fantasy is all about! Ilona Andrews has written a tale that is not for the faint of heart as she is not afraid to take risks. There is little, if any, romance in this tale and the gore level is high. However, it is the phenomenal world building that makes MAGIC BITES such a success. Ilona Andrews takes a darker approach to vampires and shape shifters and the complexity of her world is astounding.

Kate Daniels is a great lead female character. She is the ultimate action heroine as she charges right into the thick of things. She is a bit brusque at times but Ilona Andrews does an excellent job at making Kate likeable in spite of her attitude. There is also a bit of a mystery surrounding Kate as tantalizing hints are dropped throughout the novel.

MAGIC BITES is a welcome entry to the urban fantasy genre. It is easy to forget that this is a first novel by Ilona Andrews as the tale is so well done. I can't wait for the sequel as MAGIC BITES is easily recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

4 out of 5 stars

A Great Beginning For A New Series May 25, 2007
53 out of 57 found this review helpful

Usually in fantasy books magic is a force within a person to be used, good or bad, at will. In this book it's an exterior force that is fighting, and winning, against technology, but also useable by those who know how. Usually werewolves are depicted as aloof creatures involved in their own pack lives; the top of the shape-shifting hierarchy. In this book they are just one of many shape-shifters all living in The Pack, led by a fierce were-lion. Usually vampires are dark and dangerous, powerful, totally amoral blood-thirsty creatures, flashy dressers and sexy, to the non-vamp, as all get out. These vampires, most not even creatures of their own volitions, take the Nosferatu model and degenerate it even more. Ugly, near-skeletal monsters who give true meaning to the term "undead" controlled by Masters of the Dead.

This is the world that Kate, a magic-using mercenary, lives, in the former vibrant, now crumbling under the onslaught of magic, city of Atlanta Georgia. One of these "undead" creatures visits her, and through its master finds out that her mentor/father figure has been murdered. With the unofficial blessing of The Guild, the official fighters against evil magic, she sets out to investigate the murder.

"Magic Bites" is an excellent read. It's fast-paced and all the characters are interesting, regardless of how "fantastic". There's almost a romance, but it takes a big hit along the way. I'm hopeful in later books that Kate, who really keeps her emotions under tight control, can repair the nacent relationship, for her own sake, if nothing else.

Unlike some books which reveal everything in the first volumn, this book leaves many things to learn in future stories, including the mystery of Kate herself.

3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining but flawed story June 15, 2007
42 out of 49 found this review helpful

Ilona Andrews is a skilled writer and this is a competent first novel. The main character, Kate, is one of those tough female protagonists who is very good at fighting, somehow never has enough money, and occasionally manages to piss off everyone around her. This is a detective story set in a supernatural future Atlanta with were beasts, vampires, and magic users. There are a few aspects to the story that bothered me:

(a) Why make the bad guy so completely nasty? There is a lot of gratuitous ugliness (rape, cannibalism, many dead bodies) in the story that does nothing to strengthen the plot.

(b) Men whose actions are ruled by excess testosterone come off as idiots in my book. Kate has a serious case of testosterone poisoning. Why go around picking fights with every other character in the book? A male character would look stupid with such behavior, and I am afraid Kate looks dumb when she behaves that way.

(c) There is an important fight between Kate and a female character that is central to the story. Kate should find the whole thing very traumatic, but she just cruises through the action. I think the book could be improved if the author took more care to show us how the action affected Kate in this scene and similarly improved the characterization in a few other emotionally charged scenes.

I would recommend the book, but only if you have a high tolerance for violence and gore.

3 out of 5 stars

Great Writer But Excessive Gore May 11, 2007
16 out of 24 found this review helpful

I thought Ilona Andrews book was well written, absorbing and had some great use of humor. The author is a five star talent. However, the gore and sadistic sexual situations took away much of the pleasure of the book. Kate is all the things I like to see in a heroine. She's smart, talented, strong, can save her own [...] as well as those around her and doesn't need to rely on a man. She's attractive but not a model and dresses for her needs not to be a sex toy which doesn't mean that she's not interested in romance. She is. However (and this is a huge however), do I really need to know every detail of each severed head, chewed up carcass or mutilated corpse in every instance? A little bit of dead, liquefying remains goes a long way. Also, it's bad enough that women are being raped but does it have to include being tortured and eaten too? Can't we have a book with a strong female character who isn't in danger of being raped? So, I give the writer a 5 for talent and the ability to spin an interesting tale, but I have to give the book only a 3.

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