Magic Bites - BookWyrm

Wetdryvac reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Well now, that was some good fun with a couple very nifty new-to-me elements.

Axl reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Nice, it was crude sometimes with the subjects explored ( for the villain, I was uncomfortable with his... actions with women ), and the "magic eating at the city" world could have been more explained, but the pacing is good, with a sort of murder investigation going on, and I liked the MC^^

patchworkbunny reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I keep seeing the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews mentioned and it's been a while since I read this kind of urban fantasy so I grabbed Magic Bites from the library. It's set in the future after a major magical event which means magic and tech can't co-exist at the same time. When magic rises, electricity doesn't work, and when the tech rises, spells fail.

Other than that it's quite standard urban fantasy fare but so many magical creatures are thrown at you in a short space of time. I think the different bits of world-building needed to be introduced slowly. I didn't take enough in to have any chance of trying to work out who the bad guy was. It's pretty dark and there is more than one reference to rape. I might try the next one from the library again, but I'm not grabbed immediately.

govmarley reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It took me a while to get through this one. Not because I hated it, or the writing was bad. I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book right now. But I did enjoy it, and will read the next one.

Kate. Oh, Kate, you prickly pear. You are hard on the outside, but soft and possibly magical on the inside. Curran, you alpha alpha male. You are all the things I love in a hero. Strong on the outside, but I can tell you are a fierce protector and a bit of a softy, too. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

The world building was a bit vague. I have so many questions still, but I guess they will be answered in future books. I think the story could have been another 50 pages to flesh things out, but I'm good with the story, …

It took me a while to get through this one. Not because I hated it, or the writing was bad. I just wasn't in the mood for this type of book right now. But I did enjoy it, and will read the next one.

Kate. Oh, Kate, you prickly pear. You are hard on the outside, but soft and possibly magical on the inside. Curran, you alpha alpha male. You are all the things I love in a hero. Strong on the outside, but I can tell you are a fierce protector and a bit of a softy, too. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

The world building was a bit vague. I have so many questions still, but I guess they will be answered in future books. I think the story could have been another 50 pages to flesh things out, but I'm good with the story, characters, and where we left things. But Kate is a mysterious being and I'm looking forward to finding out more about this weird version of Atlanta. Maybe my boy Harry Dresden can visit and we will really shake things up.

3 stars. Pretty decent start to things.

Avarla reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This one doesn't work for me. I can't get into the idea of a tech-magic shift. How did Crest drive to the restaurant while the magic was on? What happens if you're on the ley and the tech hits?
Also there were too many holes in the narration filled with one sentence explanations. "I had to distract them, so I just escaped." Erm, what? How? I appreciate a story where the world building isn't done with a brute force approach but there's a difference between subtle and sloppy.
The story has potential and the secret blood line or whatever thing might turn out to be an interesting bonus further into the series, so if you don't mind wonky details this series might work for you. I'm too obsessed with logic to make it work for me, unfortunately.

Yashima reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is more of a 3.5★ with potential and therefore 4★ book for me.
It took me half the book to get into the world. So this is not a totally enthusiastic review.
I guess for 9 books it's ok to need half a book.

Kate is cool. But in the beginning I had a little trouble empathizing with her.

What I like best about this book, is the irony with which it dives into some of the tropes it uses. It's walking a fine line and I am sure it sometimes misses. But here is an example that had me laughing:

[Rowena's] smile could launch a spaceship into orbit. Coupled with a contralto, tinted with a soft Polish accent, that smile made men lose the last remnants of their self-respect. I glanced at Derek. The boy wonder didn't melt into a pile of goo, although his gaze was glued …

This is more of a 3.5★ with potential and therefore 4★ book for me.
It took me half the book to get into the world. So this is not a totally enthusiastic review.
I guess for 9 books it's ok to need half a book.

Kate is cool. But in the beginning I had a little trouble empathizing with her.

What I like best about this book, is the irony with which it dives into some of the tropes it uses. It's walking a fine line and I am sure it sometimes misses. But here is an example that had me laughing:

[Rowena's] smile could launch a spaceship into orbit. Coupled with a contralto, tinted with a soft Polish accent, that smile made men lose the last remnants of their self-respect. I glanced at Derek. The boy wonder didn't melt into a pile of goo, although his gaze was glued to Rowena's chest. Avoiding eye contact. Good strategy.

The waves-of-magic thing feels a little stilted to me, the whole system is not going to be my favorite I think. I like more formalized magic systems, and the power words don't do that for me. I think that kept me from enjoying this right away. I did like the m-scan mechanic. The Pack is mostly what I would expect from an Urban Fantasy. The People however I don't quite get, and even while it's a very interesting take on Vampires, I like my pretty romanticized Draculas more but then I can go back and read [b: Dark Lover|42899|Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)|J.R. Ward|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429676285l/42899.SY75.jpg|2158128]

Crest is so not the kind of guy I want to read about as love interest he's just so unexciting. For the longest time I thought he was the bad guy.

But it's a solid book and an interesting setup for a meta-plot and so I bought all the rest in one go. What also influenced my decision is that I recently read [b: Burn for me|20705702|Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, #1)|Ilona Andrews|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1396368355l/20705702.SY75.jpg|40025563] and the writing in that book has evolved quite a bit and so I expect the series to only get better.

PS: also I am still a little burnt-out on apocalyptic settings ... [b: The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600241424l/6288.SY75.jpg|3355573] did that to me.
PPS: the jury is still out on Curran that's why I omitted him from my commentary completely ;)

Minotaur reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3.5 interesting will continue the series and thankfully no love triangle in sight.

SaraT reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

3.5 stars out of 5.

Le premesse di questa serie sono molto buone. L'unico difetto è che è un po' confuso.
Sono fiduciosa sul seguito :)

fjordic reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Some really good twists, definitely worth reading and some great hooks for upcoming books!

unicorndeburgh reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Urban fantasy -- technology works some of the time, but magic works the rest of the time. A lot of modern society has fallen over, but not all has. Young woman tracks a killer. She's a Mary Sue: magical skills are WAY up there, same for fighting skills. Scholar of magic and languages. Fluent in various languages. Was the shining star at the academy, but left because she didn't like hierarchy. Yadda, yadda, yadda. [return]Fast paced, and competently fun, but the level of violence and gross was too high for me. Mind you, I can't watch CSI, so I'm pretty squeamish.

betty reviewed Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Review of 'Magic Bites' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Finally! Here is what all those genre books are attempting to be-- you know the ones: first person narrator, a scrappy loner woman who fights with both fists, (or in this case, big-ass knife) and magic, in a world where humans co-exist with supernatural beings.

Basically, Anita Blake without the part where you want to slap some sense into Anita. Also without the smut, but Hamilton's smut is kinda skippable, so I didn't miss it.

Major points for things not done: Kate is not terribly attractive, and knows it, and isn't very bothered by it, every costume change is not described for the delight of the reader, and vampires are not in the least creatures of terrible sexual magnetism.

I know I describe this book mostly in terms of all the ways it is superior to a very bad book, but honestly, if you read the first Anita Blake book …

Finally! Here is what all those genre books are attempting to be-- you know the ones: first person narrator, a scrappy loner woman who fights with both fists, (or in this case, big-ass knife) and magic, in a world where humans co-exist with supernatural beings.

Basically, Anita Blake without the part where you want to slap some sense into Anita. Also without the smut, but Hamilton's smut is kinda skippable, so I didn't miss it.

Major points for things not done: Kate is not terribly attractive, and knows it, and isn't very bothered by it, every costume change is not described for the delight of the reader, and vampires are not in the least creatures of terrible sexual magnetism.

I know I describe this book mostly in terms of all the ways it is superior to a very bad book, but honestly, if you read the first Anita Blake book and thought "ooh, how interesting!" only to be disappointed, try this one. I can't guarantee it won't disappoint on the sequels, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for them.