The following contains my book thoughts on the last three books (currently published) in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. It should go without saying that as this post is about books that FOLLOW THE FIRST TWO BOOKS, if you read it, it will spoil the previous books in the series. But you do what you will- I only want your happiness. I refer you to my book thoughts on books 1 and 2,

When last we met with Kate, she had just vanquished a couple of gods, lost a new friend, further investigated the limits of her powers and tread some very dangerous romantic ground with the Beast Lord (you shiver when I say that, don’t you?). In Magic Strikes, which is quite possibly my favorite book in the series, a gladiator style death match uncovers some pretty nasty magical beings who seek to bring about the downfall of the shape-shifters. We learn more than we ever wanted to know about Saiman and perhaps the sexiest dinner menu ever penned was written. How awesome were the fight scenes in this book! There was always the possibility that they could all die horribly and yet Kate continues to save the day- and not save it in the cheesy overly heroic superman kind of way but just her existence tips the balance of awesomeness ever in her favor.

In Magic Bleeds, a long lost and very ancient relative of Kate’s stops by for tea and a chat, completely blowing her cover. Kate has spent her entire life trying to keep the lid on the fact that her blood line can be traced back to the root of all the world’s current problems. When the shit hits the fan and the truth finally outs, Kate learns exactly who is on her team and that maybe, just maybe, when the day comes, she won’t have to face her father alone. I love the mythology and lore entwined into this series. The authors give an explanation for EVERYTHING. If there’s a loose end, I have yet to find it. Kate’s fate has been hinted at since day one and I’m loving that things are starting to find her. I bet that when it’s all said and done, Roland will have known about her and watched her from the beginning.

The last installment in the series (for now), Magic Slays was probably my least favorite. A grieving widower has invented a machine that could level the playing field between magic and tech, but at the cost of countless lives. Surrounded by magical beings and having just a wee touch of magic herself, Kate isn’t going to stand by for the annihilation of the world as she knows it. Magic may have shaken the Earth to its core but it’s engrained in everything now and one doesn’t simply do away with it. The pacing of this book threw me off. It was all set up and then BAM- done. I do so hate a rushed ending and the BIG thing that Kate was going to attempt at the end- oh so down played.

Oh, and in one of these books we have some of the hottest, greediest, most highly anticipated sex that ever did exist between a shape-shifter and ONE EXTREMELY LUCKY LADY. No polite fade to black naughty bits for this series. Team Andrews WAS NOT afraid to write it.

So many great characters. Such an extraordinary world. I can’t say enough good things about this series. Goodreads shows a Feb 2013 release date for book six and it’s going to be a long, torturous wait.

Now sing along with Walk Off the Earth:

I like to leave mine extra soupy and use both a FORK and a SPOON to capture the full effect. It’s very inexpensive and it’s heart-healthy in that all that sodium raises your blood pressure and your heart has to WORK HARDER TO ENSURE CIRCULATION. Work=exercise=healthy. Nursing school taught me that.

But I’m going to live off of it instead of going to work tomorrow so that I can stay home and read book #3. I’m willing to sacrifice balanced nutrition for a good read. Priorities. I have them.

So this morning for brunch, I had a tasty (T-A-S-T-E-Y if you’re a Fergie fan) meal of Kate Daniels #2, Magic Burns. It was in fact, highly flammable, but left no unpleasant aftertaste, nor did it give me heartburn. Anyway, read this quickly, children, in order to capture the hasten speed at which it was typed because I have a book to go and read.

Magic Burns

Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace
Date: April 1, 2008
Pages: 260
Series: Kate Daniels
Genre: Fantasy- Urban/Paranormal

When we last left Kate (you know, YESTERDAY) she had just teamed up with the Beast Lord and his subjects to solve the mystery of her murdered guardian. His death in and of itself was a hard to accomplish feat so going into her investigation Kate knew it wouldn’t be easy. Having to toe the line with the Order (knight police group), placate the People (necromancers) and keep from becoming one seriously angry lion’s dinner (the Pack) only added to the stress of it. Plus there was the life or death need to keep her phenomenal cosmic powers a secret. It went relatively well for Kate who managed to stay alive and she solved the mystery despite having so many people underfoot.

Now, back at work for the Order and filling in for the mercenary guild here and there, Kate stumbles upon a witch coven that has quite possibly managed to summon up more than just a simple case of bad juju. Magic waves are hitting the city at a much faster rate than usual and all evidence points to an upcoming flare up of magic, an event that has historically guaranteed a bad time. Ancient gods and goddesses are stirring, existing just under the surface of reality, only needing a bit of heighten belief and a break in the veil between the worlds to come to life. If all the pieces of the coven’s plan fall into place, it will take an extremely ancient, extremely powerful magician to stop. Not a good thing when one needs to keep her powers a secret…

I have a serious case of series addiction happening here and I freakin’ love it. It doesn’t happen often but sometimes, SOMETIMES, you stubble upon a series SO GOOD you have to read the WHOLE THING in one bite. I know you understand. I know you’ve been there and I know you didn’t fight it either. I dedicated my entire day to both procuring and reading this book.

So much happens in this installment. There’s a GREAT BIG EVENT of XMEN proportion and it was ooooh so good. With only 260 pages it’s a pretty impressive juggling act to fit it all in. We get a lot more background information on Kate and she loosens up a bit, bringing a great deal more humor into the mix. We get to hang out some more with Ghastek, one of the People’s necromancers and his dry wit, coupled with Kate’s “Kill first.” attitude makes a very deadly undertaking surprisingly funny.

Your fan girl moment for this book: OMFGTHESOUPTHESOUPTHESOUP!!

     ”Curran? He isn’t exactly Mr. Smooth. He handed me a bowl of soup, that’s as far as we got.”
     “He fed you?” Raphael stopped rubbing Andrea.
     “How did this happen?” Aunt B stares at me. “Be very precise, this is important.”
     “He didn’t actually feed me. I was injured and he handed me a bowl of chicken soup. Actually I think he handed me two or three. And he called me an idiot.”
     “Did you accept?” Aunt B asked.
     “Yes. I was starving. Why are the three of you looking at me like that?”
     “For crying out loud.” Andrea set her cup down, spilling some tea. “The Beast Lord’s feeding you soup. Think about that for a second.”

Yes, let’s think about that for a second…or two….or three….ok, for a good five minutes. HE FED HER SOUP! See fangirl moment above.

I HAVE TO GO NOW.

My very first Kindle read! And well, I was a little disappointed. Now I know that once you’ve read a few books in a series, there’s always the danger that the stories will start to run together and sound the same. Pretty much each book becomes like the last one, only more so. That, thankfully wasn’t the case. Briggs didn’t let me down in that respect, the story was new, exciting and edgy…..

but….

Ok first things first, unless I’m missing something, and I hope I’m not, the writing style was different in this one. Something big would happen in the story, or something about the scene would change with absolutely NO set up. It left me flipping back and rereading paragraphs going “What the hell?” only to find the explanations a few more paragraphs in. Has she always written like that and I have been so captured by the story that I hadn’t noticed, or is this something new? It was very distracting. Every time I had to stop and figure out where the hell she was coming from it took me out of my story- my frequent absences were apparently bad for Mercy because….

And here is problem #2- Mercy became a little wussy here. Yeah, I know. Shocking. I always knew that in order for Mercy and Adam to get together there would have to be a certain amount of compromise, and I was already expecting it to fall on Mercy to submit in this case because, well, Adam IS the Alpha and anything else would have made him seem weak which wouldn’t have worked at all. So I get that. I’m fine with that part. But this was a bit much. First Mercy is rescued from this, and immediately following Mercy is kidnapped by that. Then oops Mercy’s gone missing again. Found her! Wait, nope, someones threatening her life ONE MORE TIME.

And #3, the problem I alluded to in my Iron Kissed post…. This is not a romance story, it’s good ol’ fantasy fiction. That said there is, however, a very strong romance going on between Mercy and Adam. A gifted walker and the formidable Alpha. Mercy’s hesitancy to submit to Adam wasn’t in the cheap romance couldn’t-give-in-to-a-rogue way. No, it was something more primal, between two very remarkable animal natures who are bound by instincts and laws that humans could never understand and they are trying to find a way to be with each other without destroying who they are. THAT IS IMPORTANT SHIT. It was hawt and fierce and and and…there was no sex. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not asking for porn on paper, but it is very important that someone who is writing a romance (be it the main focus of the book or not) address the emotional aspect that had to be in play when the Alpha finally physically joined with his mate. They had a giggly, hinted at romp which really didn’t capture what’s been building between them.

But then again, I guess I should be happy that Briggs didn’t use the word “balls.”

I read somewhere that Briggs has a deal for three more Mercy stories and I will wait on the edge of my seat to see what she comes up with next. I wasn’t happy with this story but I am IN LOVE with the series and overall pleasantly surprised by Briggs. I’ll forgive her the jumping around she did in this book, because, well, may be the story was a little bit overwhelming for her too. Still a huge fan.

***SPOILER*** (in the loosest sense of the word since you can’t spoil this book due to it’s already being rotten)

Hi.

Cassie is a clairvoyant, fostered by the vampire who murdered her parents.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

On the run for years, discovered, hot roommate turns out to have been a vampire all along.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

We go to Vegas with our pet ghost and met Cleopatra, Jack the Ripper and various other people pulled out of history.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Big nasty magic/ghost/fairy/vampire/werewolf fight in a casino.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Foreplay in which the author uses the word “balls”.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Go back in time have weird possessed ghost sex and fight Rasputin. At least I think that’s what happened, sorta zoned out at this point.

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Cassie is now a big bad something or another. Hawt vampire who is not hawt roommate does a Daniel Day Lewis and swears “Stay alive! I will find you!”

The end.

So yeah, that’s really all I have to say about that. Well, except- balls.

Mercy Thompson series #3

So Mercy and I were sitting around, chillin’, having just gotten over a vicious vampire attack and our friend Stefan’s disclosure that he felt more than just friendly towards us, prepared for a night of inner turmoil brought on by all the hawt men(ish) in our lives when our good friend Zee called us up in need of a little scent snooping for the Fae.

On the reservation built to separate the fae from human society, a series of gruesome murders leads to one unexplained human death that Zee is set up to take the fall for. To protect their own interests the Gray Lords intend to see Zee pay, regardless of his innocence and it is up to Mercy to cross all lines to save him. An actioned packed third installment complete with Mercy’s hallmark ass-kicking (I helped).

Patricia Briggs is kicking some major buttocks here- though I have one issue that we’ll go into when I’ve finished the series.

Up until now I haven’t really considered the story to be dark but Mercy’s dealings with the Fae in this book, I’ll admit, kind of scared me. There’s not much pleasant about them and the descriptions of not only their appearances, but of their natures made me really glad that I was safe under the comforter, sheltered by the glow of my trusty book light. Briggs even took it a step further by adding a very real, very terrifying element that would and should scare the hell out of any woman reading it. It was a very bold twist- uncomfortable, but it was meant to be.

I’m developing a strong attachment to Briggs and Mercy. When this book was over I was left with the familiar (depressing, horrible, awful, WONDERFUL) feeling that comes when you finish a good book but still can’t pull yourself out of the story just yet. It needed a thousand more pages, then a thousand more.