Title: Magic Burns
Series: Kate Daniels #2
Author: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy Fiction, Supernatural Fiction
Elements: Shapeshifters, Werewolves, Shamans, Witches, Druids, Vampires, Necromancers, Deities
Publisher: Ace Books, Penguin Group
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 260 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-441-01583-2
Release Date: April, 2008
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 4/5
Tagline(s): Down in Atlanta, tempers--and temperatures--are about to flare...
Summary: As a mercenary who
cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of
occupational hazards. Normally, 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. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with
problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.
When Kate sets out
to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary
clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. During a
flare, Celtic god Morfran supersedes goddess Morrigan for witch coven
worshippers of the Crow, and sea monsters from the Underworld enter via
the Cauldron of Plenty. Kate starts looking for Pack maps and 13-year
old Julia's witch mother, and ends up uniting shapeshifters and vampire
zombie controllers to save the world.
Review:
A magic flare is coming to
Atlanta, causing the shift between technology and magic to be more
unreliable and haphazard. It's also the perfect time for those of divine
origin to manifest in our world. And that would be disastrous.
When a magic imprint on a bolt
fired during one of her Guild jobs registers as "human divine," Kate
sets out to find the crossbowman. Then the Pack approaches Kate for help
retrieving some survey maps that were stolen and just so happen to have
been taken by the crossbowman she's looking for. These two events bring
Kate to Julie, a young girl looking for her missing mother. But what
Kate discovers along the way is even more disturbing.
Kate Daniels is moving up in the
world in Magic Burns. After her role in the Red Stalker case, Kate has
been given a new job as Liaison between the Order and the Guild. She's
also been given Friend of the Pack status with the Atlanta shapeshifter
Pack. On one hand, Kate has to deal with the knight-protector, Ted
Moynohan and Curran, the Beast Lord, on the other. And she'd rather not
have to deal with either. Ted is a human supremest who wants to
eradicate anything with an ounce of magic. And Curran basically just
gets Kate hot-and-bothered and that freaks her out.
"Not only will you sleep with me, but you will say 'please.' You will say 'please' before and 'thank you' after."
After that good luck kiss in
Magic Bites, Curran has been slowly moving in on Kate. And, boy, is he
subtle about it. Kate doesn't know what he's doing until others in the
Pack tell her. For example: When Kate was severely injured in an attack
by the reeves, she was brought to a Pack safehouse ans healed by
Doolittle. Bowls of soup were brought in for her and Curran pick one up,
looks at it with a look of contemplation, and hands it to Kate. Now for
shapeshifters, food has a special significance. Food is how animals
express love. The fact that Curran gave Kate food signifies his serious
interest in her.
Curran's pursuit kind of freaks
Kate out. Kate is someone who doesn't have close connections with
anyone. The main reason for this is because of who she is. Her blood
makes her a target and intimacy means sharing her magic. But another
reason is because she's scared. Every person she's ever cared about has
been killed or died because of her--first her mother, then her
stepfather, and more recently her guardian, Greg. Kate avoids close
relationships because she's being hunted and she's scared of losing
anyone else she loves because of who she is the daughter of.
There is a perfect example of
this in her relationship with Bran. Bran is one of Morrigan's warriors.
Kate didn't know him for long, but she came to care about him and
understand him. Her grief and sadness was so great that, as she cried
over his body, small white star-shaped flowers with centers as black as
his eyes bloomed all around them. But because of these flowers, Bran's
heroics that day will always be remembered, just as he always wanted.
Kate grows emotionally in Magic
Burns and the world of the series grows as well. New places are
introduces to us in great detail and we learn more about what life is
like for the people in those places. I'm excited to see how much more
Kate ans the world of this series continue to grow in the next book.
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