Magic Bites

MAGIC BITES follows Kate Daniels, a mercenary in magic-riddled Atlanta who tries to stay clear of the major powers in the city but tends to be too stabby for that to work all that well.

Kate is a loner by necessity who finds herself getting more entangled than she intended when she investigates her mentor's murder. She has a sword that's excellent at killing undead and needs to be fed if it doesn't get the opportunity often enough. 

I wish we had a bit more of her dynamic with Jim, though maybe that's me thinking they were closer than they actually are when this starts out. If the point is that she's kept even her most frequent battle partner at a distance, this conveys that pretty well by treating him as an afterthought except when necessary. Her dynamic with Curran, Jim, and the Pack lays the foundation for many things later on in the series, but, focusing on this book specifically, I like how both she and Curran are so wrapped up in violence as a language that their every interaction is tense and has the possibility of blood, even things that ought to be innocuous.

When starting out a series that seems to be mostly the contemplation of violence, actual violence, and then some romance, it's still a bracing start to kick things off with cannibalism, necrophilia, bestiality, and a murder dungeon. These are balanced with less stressful elements in the narrative, with the most upsetting topics tending to get the barest descriptions, but in combination they make it clear that this city isn't kind to its residents, and Kate will have plenty of things to stab even when this particular murder spree is (hopefully) halted.

MAGIC BITES is a book I've read and re-read for years; it's the start of one of my favorite urban fantasy series, and I enjoy it tremendously. Reading it for this review, I'm impressed with how it holds up for me, but it was never my favorite book in the series. Every time I read it I intensely dislike what happens with Crest. It mostly fits the plot, it enables a truly fantastic related plot beat, but the moment where Kate shows up at his apartment always devastates me because I just wish she'd put other things together earlier. I don't think it breaks the book or anything, it's just a very stressful scene that serves to change who Crest is and can be in the series to make room for someone else. 

I love the twist itself, and I appreciate how the groundwork is laid from the very start of the book. The plot works well (even that one scene I don't like has a pretty important purpose), and this sets up a lot for the series to draw upon as it gets going.

There are so many problems with this book. Others have mentioned some of my main ones, so I link them here instead of repeating it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/83347289

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2075497892 - where is the feeling? For a 1st POV, you don’t find out how Kate feel about anything. It’s all just visual observations. Description after description, followed by more description, snore

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/700243243

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1371344671

In addition to the above, let me add the following:

There is so much posturing in this book. Every character in this world feel they need to speak with threats and aggression. And yet nothing ever happens. They posture and strut, but in the end everyone backs down with barely any effort. It undermines the supposed conflict.

I admire those who actual read the printed version of this book. I listened to the audiobook and I find my attention wandering so much. And the thing is, there’s so much inconsequential description that I could stop listening for minutes, come back to it and nothing would have progressed.

One reason for loving UF is finding out how the magic/world works. This book doesn’t explain any of it. There’s coy references to Kate being oh so powerful, but magic in this world seems to involve tingly feelings and power words that seems to do anything and everything without any costs to the user.

So many people rave about this book but I really can’t recommend it.