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Magic Slays (2011)

by Ilona Andrews(Favorite Author)

4.46 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0441020429 (ISBN13: 9780441020423)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Ace Penguin Berkley

series

Kate Daniels

review 1: This series has become a favorite of mine this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Although it started a little bit slow for me, once it got going it was a great ride to the end. In this book, Kate finds out more history about her mom and stepdad and her good memories of her childhood are shattered. Its pretty devastating for her, and it strengthens her resolve to take care of her own ward Julie (which I believe ties in to what Kate does at the end of the book) One thing that bothered me in this book was how Kate described herself as a fighter and a killer. I thought it made her darker than in the ealier books where you got the feeling she was more vulnerable and only killed "for a good reason" But in this book she spoke about how she was made to kill and craved... more it. After finishing the book, I started to wonder though, was this a change in how she felt about herself in light of learning about her stepdad who was coerced by her mother to take care of her? Perhaps her self worth has changed now that she doesn't trust anymore that Voron cared for her out of love. I wonder if this was the intent of the author. If so, it makes me sad for Kate, and I hope that in the future she can go back to the person she truly is inside, not just a trained killer craving blood.This new revelation about her family makes Kate have doubts about her relationship with Curren, which is compelling.... "I didn’t want it all to turn out to be one big lie. A small part of me wanted to leave. Just leave now, without any explanations and disappointments. Disappear. That way if this was a lie, I’d never know. But then I didn’t run from my challenges. I met them straight on and bashed my head against them, until it left me hurt, bloody, and dazed...... Ultimately, I didn’t have to figure out whether Curran truly loved me. All I had to know was whether I loved him enough not to care why he was with me." What makes this book so good is how all of this is woven into the story and it all comes together in the end. The missing Render, the drivers of the vampires losing controller, the missing wards, the mysterious invention, the Volves and the witches are are connected in the end. And when Kate comes back to the office to find that it had been attacked, it took my breath away, and I didn't get it back until I finished the book. One of the best things about this series is the humor.... “Why is everyone calling me Consort?” “Jim designated you as Consort in official papers. You don’t want to be called Mate, calling you Alpha is confusing, and ‘Beast Lady’ makes people laugh"and... “You went to see the witch. What did she tell you?” “She said your dress was so last season.” “Oh? Is that so?” He raised his hand to his goatee. That does it. “Yeah. And what’s with the beard and the horse mane? You look like Rent-a-Villain.” The other thing that I love are scenes like the cookbook scene. For some reason it just cracks me up.... I picked up a copy of a cookbook from the side table and flipped through it. Chocolate rugelach. Hmmm. Chocolate, sugar, almonds . . . Curran might like those. “We sell those,” the receptionist said, her voice hesitant. “They are recipes from the congregation. Would you like to buy a copy?” I looked at Curran. “Do you have any money?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of cash. “How much are those?” “Ten dollars.” Curran flipped through the bills. I leaned to him and whispered, “What are you doing?” “Looking for one that’s not bloodstained. Here.” He pulled a ten-dollar bill out.There is some really good stuff Doolittle says about the shapeshifters and which part is the dangerous part, the human or the animal... "Animals don’t destroy each other for pure pleasure. They don’t have serial killers. They kill, they don’t murder. No, it’s not the beast in us that makes us lose our balance. It’s the man...... Humans tend to segregate the world: enemies on one side, friends on the other. Friends are people we know. Enemies are the Other. You can do just about anything to the Other. It doesn’t matter if this Other is actually guilty of any crimes, because it’s a matter of emotion, not logic. You see, angry people aren’t interested in justice. They just want an excuse to vent their rage.” • “And once you become their Other, you’re no longer a person. You’re just an idea, an abstraction of everything that’s wrong with their world. Give them the slightest excuse, and they will tear you down. And the easiest way for them to target you as this Other is to find something that’s different about you. Color of your skin. The way you speak. The place you’re from. Magic comes and goes in cycles, Kate. Each new generation picks their own Other. For the Keepers, it’s people with magic. And for us, well, it’s the Keepers. We will murder them all. No matter if some of them are confused, or easily led, or feebleminded.They will die. It makes me despair sometimes.”Great stuff--and I'm so glad I own these books because I definitely want to read them again.
review 2: -- A good read, not amazing and not awful. For me all i would say is 'dont believe the hype' i got so excited about reading this series with all the reviews and everything that it kind of tainted my opinion, i expected something amazing but was left with something not reaching my expectations ... that being said im still enjoying this series and it is a definite keeper on my book shelves --This book didnt go in the direction i wanted it to. I dont know about anyone else but i tend to get slightly bored when Kate is by herself going to visit this that and who. If this was a film id say Curran needs more screen time!!! spoilers ahead .... Yes he's killed these all these gods and whoever else but i still feel that he hasnt proved himself yet, nothing that hes done has made me go wow in the action front. If he had done what he set out to do in finding the render most of this mess could have been avoided, instead its left up to Kate to do the buisness. I feel the chemistry that was first there has slipped slightly, they are not the couple that they used to be, wheres all the funny comments? im also getting a bit tired of all the Princess Bride refernces, i loved that film (in fact i would go as far as saying its my fav film) and the first time it was mentioned in this series i jumped with joy and inwardly smiling at how Curran had said 'as you wish', but now i feel this is being overused, it might only be one comment like inconceivable but i feel that it had its impact the first time it was used, now its just annoying. Just to clear things straight im not trying to put hate on this book, i enjoyed reading it! i like that we got to see more of Derek and learned about Currans past more. i like the realism to having Kate still doubt the relationship and there was some 'awww' moments between the two of them when he confessed to how much she meant to him (so respect for that) . What first made me want to read this series was the 'book boyfriend contests', you know the ones where people vote to say whos the best alpha male etc, well when i looked i found that Curran had beaten Bones in the final stages and i was like, what?!?!. Bones is my favourite 'book male', if you will. Jeaniene Frosts series blew every other series id read out the water, it had everything i wanted in a series, okay so the last book didnt have the same amazingness to the first four books but i still enjoyed it. ooopps getting back on track, ehh yes so Curran beat Bones so i wanted to see if this series could beast the night huntress series. For me personally this series (or atleast so far) has in no way been better than Frosts. So im still left without a series that will be my new number one, and oh ive searched, so when that day arrives ill be happily bambouzelled l ... we shall seeAnyhow im going to get started reading the next book, magic rises, which storyline looks more promising to me than the others from the blurb! Happy reading :) less

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