Book Review: Kate Daniels Magic series

Magic Bites

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.

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Magic Burns
 

Product Description

As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels knows how 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. When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta's paramilitary clan of shape shifters, she quickly realizes much more is at stake. 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.

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Magic Strikes
 

Product Description

Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.
But when Kate’s werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet.

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Magic Bleeds
 

Product Description

Kate Daniels cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to deal with-especially if they involve Atlanta's shapeshifting community.
And now there's a new player in town-a foe that may be too much for even Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family.

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Series Review:
 
This is an outstanding series by Ilona Andrews, a husband-wife writing team.  The world-building is incredible.  Set in 2040ish, the world has changed substantially from how we know it.  Tech (electric-based items) and magic take turns working and you have to be prepared for either.   The authors take vampires in a different direction too; they are not the sexy creatures often portrayed today.
 
Kate Daniels, the heroine, is tough physically and mentally; she constantly strives to be a better warrior and magic user.   She’s a loner, afraid to get close to others because of a secret she carries.  The secondary characters are well-developed; as the series progresses, she grows  and learns to accept others in her life, that she can’t do what she needs to do all alone.
 
I saw several lists recommending this series and had it on my to-read list for at least a year before I actually started reading it and kick myself now for waiting!  It’s one of the very best series I’ve read.  Action, humor, solid world and character building all are very strong throughout the series.  Tough, strong heroine with some weaknesses, a little bit of romance, but not a lot.  This definitely falls in the urban fantasy not romance category.  My husband thoroughly enjoyed the series and I would probably let my 14 year old daughter read it.
 
Sensuality:  very small amount, no sex until the 4th book.
 
Rating: 5 stars