CBR 13 Bingo Square: FREE – It’s taken a while for me to get around to it but I have finally read Magic Bites, a Cannonball Book Exchange from Bothari43! Visit link for bonus Wall-E content.
When I posted my thank you, Emmalita and Malin were quick to jump in and warn me that this is not Ilona Andrews best book but if I could stick around, book three is excellent. This was reinforced by other Cannonballers during one of the zoom chats earlier this year. I will admit that this feedback dropped Magic Bites to the less urgent part of my TBR. When Bingo came around, I found the perfect square for it, Free, and happily it completes my first bingo!
Kate Daniel is a brash, smart mouthed, mercenary with a lot of secrets and powerful magic she tries to hide. Her parents have been dead for an unknown amount of time and the story begins with the murder of her guardian and mentor, Greg Feldman, Knight-Diviner for The Order of Knights of Merciful Aid. Kate soon finds herself sucked into a triangle of powers: The Pack – shapeshifters and were-creatures, The People – powerful necromancers and vampires, and the Order. Some are testing her, some are pushing her, and many want to find out the true extent of her powers as she navigates Atlanta and the investigation into Greg’s murder.
In the Kate’s world, the balance of technology and magic had long been on the side of technology with magic nearly non-existent but now the pendulum has swung and magic has returned with a vengeance. However, magic is not consistent, when there is a surge technology fails and when the magic recedes the technology will work again. Beyond spells and magical creatures, magic seems to have a physical force to it as it literally destroys manmade structures, such as crumbling skyscrapers to ruins.
In the back of my edition there is an interview with Ilona Andrews and they say that part of the inspiration for the Kate Daniel’s books is that in some classic fantasy, it’s about the losing of magic from the world, “The Lord of the Rings” for example. And they wanted the opposite of that, the re-emergence of magic. I quite like this. I’ve long wished/believed to find hidden pockets of magic in the world, which probably explains part of my fantasy addiction. The idea of magic returning is appealing.
Y’all were right, Magic Bites is rough. The story is jerky as it lurches from scene to scene and this definitely feels like a first book. This is not to say the book is bad, it isn’t, just that the writing could use work (and clearly they nail the writing part down as time goes on since quite a few of you are devoted fans!). I am curious enough, and I can see the bones of good and interesting ideas, that I will probably pick up book two. But knowing that it is also rough, it is going to be low on the priority list. Especially as I still have a lot of books on my bingo stack to get through still!
Note: Ponyo became intensely curious when I brought the vase of flowers down and ended up in the picture. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a picture when she was sniffing them!