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 ;)