{"id":20753,"date":"2011-04-14T22:54:08","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T04:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=20753"},"modified":"2011-04-14T22:54:08","modified_gmt":"2011-04-15T04:54:08","slug":"book-review-magic-bites-by-ilona-andrews-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/14\/book-review-magic-bites-by-ilona-andrews-2009.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: “Magic Bites” by Ilona Andrews (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Magic<\/a>Magic Bites<\/a> by Ilona Andrews<\/a>
\nMy rating: 4 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n

Magic Bites<\/em> is an enjoyable read that blurs the boundaries of “modern urban fantasy” a bit. It’s set in a near-future quasi-post-apocalyptic Atlanta — except the “apocalypse” (akin to the novel Ariel<\/em>) was the intermittent return of magic to the world. Now magic ebbs and flows like the tide, coming in to knock out power, gas engines, and erode modern architecture, then flowing back out to leave magical creatures vulnerable and magical workarounds to tech unstable or unusable. Most “civilized” locations, for example, end up having both light bulbs and “feylights” to illuminate them depending on the state of the magical tides. <\/p>\n

It sounds cool enough, but one gets the sense that the world and society are slowly but surely descending into chaos, pushed beyond their ability to cope with the growing levels of magic. This is not a world at ease, but a world slowly unraveling at the seams.<\/p>\n

With the return of magic comes the return of paranormal threats, especially the Pack (various breeds of shapeshifters) and the People (necromancers who remotely control zombie-like vampires — a refreshing twist). In response we have governmental paranormal police and military forces, as well as the non-governmental “Order” and then various members of the Mercenary Guild.<\/p>\n

Kate Daniels is one of the latter, though she has strong ties to the Order. The death of her guardian, part of the Order, starts up and drives the story, pulling Kate out of her comfort zone. <\/p>\n

Kate is a great character. She’s sassy (with some delightful one-liners) without being annoyingly so. She’s competent without being overly uber (though there are hints that there are More Things Going On With Her Than Meet The Eye). She takes chances and makes bad decisions without alienating the reader or unrealistically getting a pass on them. She gets hurt without coming across as a perpetual victim. She doesn’t instantly fall in love (or into bed) with every hunk of man-flesh she meets, not even the leader of the Pack. <\/p>\n

The world Kate operates in works very nicely, with rules that are neither too obvious nor too lax. Andrews does a fine job of both world-building and description (Kate’s sword is one of the coolest artifacts I’ve read of in some time), and the story is a pretty decent one, too.<\/p>\n

I have to say this book has restored a lot of my faith in the urban fantasy genre. It’s sharp without being pretentious, imaginative without being obfuscatory, and brutal without being grotesque. I look forward to picking up the next volume.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews My rating: 4 of 5 stars Magic Bites is an enjoyable read that blurs the boundaries of “modern urban fantasy” a bit. It’s set in a near-future quasi-post-apocalyptic Atlanta — except the “apocalypse” (akin to the novel Ariel) was the intermittent return of magic to the world. Now magic ebbs … Continue reading “Book Review: “Magic Bites” by Ilona Andrews (2009)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20757,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/15\/tweets-from-2011-04-15.html","url_meta":{"origin":20753,"position":0},"title":"Tweets from 2011-04-15","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Apr-11 12:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, I hate it,when the dreams that wake me up early are work-related. Oh, well, good chance to get to the office sooner. # Pretty watching the fog wisp off the rain-wet pavement in the streetlights. # Agreed. RT @lesjenkins: You know it's going to be a weird election when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20838,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/23\/book-review-magic-burns-by-kate-daniels-2008.html","url_meta":{"origin":20753,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: “Magic Burns” by Kate Daniels (2008)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 23-Apr-11 2:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the second in the Kate Daniels series -- set in an Atlanta grinding down through returning waves of magic. 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Link #stillwaiting # 5 of 5 stars to Fables by Bill Willingham Link # 4 of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":975,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/29\/tomorrow_is_yes.html","url_meta":{"origin":20753,"position":3},"title":"Tomorrow is Yesterday","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Oct-01 8:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World has shuttered the Carousel of Progress. 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