Ilona Andrews is the name for a husband and wife writing partnership. Their books are paranormal fiction/urban fantasy – they write about worlds which are like our world but where magic and supernatural creatures are real. In their series featuring Kate Daniels, magic has suddenly become real in a technological world but it comes in waves of indeterminate length meaning that you sometimes need technology and you sometimes need magic.
Kate was brought up by a warrior who taught her to fight because one day she would have to face her father, an old and very powerful supernatural entity, and beat him because otherwise there is a danger that the world will be destroyed. She has been a mercenary and fighter for hire and the earlier books in the series are about her gaining strength, making allies and falling in love with the leader of the shifter communities.
In the last couple of months I have read three books from the middle of the series Magic Slays, Magic Rises and Magic Breaks. I have been working my way through the series in order over the past few years but have been willing to have large gaps in time between reading each volume. I didn’t dislike them but somehow they hadn’t caught my imagination. With these three books, however, I found that I wanted to know what happened next and I had become a lot more invested in the story.
By this stage in the overall story Kate has begun to understand her own personal history better and to understand that she didn’t always know the truth. Her romance with Cullen the Beast Lord becomes settled but Kate fights discrimination and dislike from many of the shifters who see her as weak. She has realised that she has magic but is fearful to reveal how much because that will make her a target. She has friends and a semi-adopted teenaged daughter.
In the three individual books Kate becomes involved in the politics of the supernatural world and also fights for the needs of her shifter friends. In each book there are losses and wins and Kate learns something more about herself and her magic which needs to be much stronger if she is to defeat her father. At the end of Magic Breaks she does something very daring which I am sure will have repercussions in the novels I haven’t read yet. Each book concludes satisfactorily and the overall story is moving on quickly with final showdown between Kate and her father likely to happen soon.
Kate is a fairly typical urban fantasy heroine in that she has a sharp tongue and has special powers which she is learning to use. The world she inhabits is ruined and uncertain and is also inhabited by vampires (very cleverly done in this book), animal shifters, witches, sorcerers, magical creatures and very powerful ancient beings.
There are many novellas also set in this world but so far I have only read the full novels and that has caused me no problems. This is a good series which I think has the advantage of an overarching story so it is not losing its punch as you proceed through the books. If you like the sound of it start with the first book Magic Bites.
Anne Is Reading 