This will be a comprehensive review for the six currently published books in the Kate Daniels series, which do not differ significantly in tone or quality, but each have their own novel-length mystery or case and each contribute to an overarching theme story. Differences in my ratings have to do with my particular interest in the specific plotline and advancement of the series-running arch in each book, but overall, I like this series, and if you like one you’ll find the rest worth reading. There is definitely a romance element and the main male characters are all cut from the typical PNR cloth (huge, devastatingly sexy if not traditionally handsome, protective, possessive, etc.) The romance is not the main draw, though, for any of the books; they definitely lean more UF than PNR. Quick summaries for each of the six:
#1 Magic Bites – Kate Daniels is a human mercenary. Her guardian, an upstanding member of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid (I think that’s the exact name? It’s not important. They’re the Order) is suddenly, gruesomely murdered. The Order brings Kate in to investigate the crime. She’s a highly skilled fighter with some additional skill in magic that she obsessively hides from everyone, because she fears that revealing her talents will expose her true identity. She has friends who are shapeshifters — human beings who change into animals, like werewolves, except many different species — and the shapeshifters are organized into a colony/commune/organization called The Pack. All of this takes place in Atlanta, which, along with the rest of the world, now exists in a state of fluctuating magic and technology. The idea is that for so long, mankind evolved technology, and magic was being pushed into the margins. Finally, magic snapped back, destroying the majority of our technology, and now the two come and go in waves; while the magic is “up,” tech doesn’t work, and vice versa. At some point in her investigation, Kate meets Curran, the Beast Lord of the Pack. They hate each other. OR DO THEY?
My rating of Magic Bites: 3 stars.
#2 Magic Burns – Though technology and magic are expected to oscillate, every so often, magic completely takes over for an extended time in an event called a “flare.” Here, a flare is coming, and Kate and the Pack have reason to believe that malevolent deities will utilize the magic power in the flare to come to Earth and wreak havoc. In particular, there are two gods who want to be reborn, but either of their births (and control of Earth) will come at the expense of the others’. Kate must fight to stop this from happening. Kate fights a lot. She’s also very sarcastic and witty (actually witty, though, unlike another recent supernatural protagonist I encountered whose author thinks she’s much wittier than she is *cough* Rose from Vampire Academy *cough*.) She’s no-nonsense and deceptively intelligent, despite her reputation for being worth little more than a hired sword. Her associates respect and admire her, and in some cases, that admiration becomes something a little more. Still, though there is definitely some UST between Kate and Curran in this book, Kate’s primary focus remains her work.
My rating of Magic Burns: 4 stars.
#3 Magic Strikes – One of Kate’s best shapeshifter friends and allies gets himself in a tight spot and winds up grievously injured. Solving the case leads her and a ragtag group of other supernaturals — mostly shapeshifters but also a powerful magic user — to enter in the Midnight Games, an underground WWE-style battle royale to the death between teams of supernaturals. The stakes are very high, since the winning prize in the wrong hands can lead to dastardly consequences for the supernatural community. Kate fights some more. She is still very good at it. Curran is also very good at fighting, and their mutual alpha-ness turns each other on even more. They don’t *quite* consummate, but they definitely want to. This book is where the overarching plot starts to really come together and get very good. It wasn’t my favorite of the standalones, but at this point I was very energized to continue.
My rating of Magic Strikes: 3 stars.
#4 Magic Bleeds – Kate goes through a lot of crap in this one. She and Curran are having a spat, and her carefully concealed identity is in danger of being exposed, both due to some events in the third book and due to the particular nature of the foe she faces in this book. It’s hard to be any more specific without giving anything away, but suffice it to say: more killer swordplay, a loyalty-testing epic battle, and more quippy dialogue and pop culture references from Kate. It’s in this book, also, I believe, where Kate starts revealing an impressive knowledge of ancient mythology, from classical religious theology to pagan texts and rituals. It’s very cool to tie in some of the foes not just with general made-up magic creatures, but with actual mythological beasts. Also, this is where some of the UST is… resolved.
My rating of Magic Bleeds: 4 stars.
#5 Magic Slays – Something is seriously disrupting magic in Atlanta, and the type of power required to do so is so immense and/or advanced that it had been thought to be impossible. Kate’s on duty, kicking and slicing and impaling her way to the truth. I am poking a little bit of fun at her constant fighting, because she does it A LOT to advance the plot, but the fight scenes are actually really compelling and well-written, even after the thousandth one. She also, realistically, frequently takes a beating, although she is healed by medmagic (medical magic.) As a human, she is not preternaturally gifted like some of those who she fights, so though she’s impeccably trained, I appreciate that Andrews doesn’t make her out to be untouchable. Anyway, this is another bad-thing-in-bad-people’s-hands story, but there is a new emotional core to the story since Kate and Curran have finally gotten together. Here is a good time to mention that though Kate is very much a PNR heroine in tough-as-nails, awesome fighter mold, she also owns her emotions and occasional femininity. In other words, she’s not, in my view, a “strong female character” who is only so because she acts “like a man.” She’s an alpha female, but there’s more to her characterization than an ass-kicking lady robot.
My rating of Magic Slays: 4 stars.
#6 Magic Rises – One of the pitfalls of being a shapeshifter is that there is a reasonable probability that shapeshifter children don’t make it to adulthood. The surges of hormones and baser instincts occurring at puberty cause many of these children to go loup, or essentially become all-primal beast with no higher-order thinking or humanity left in them. There is a drug available for shapeshifters that lessens the likelihood of this happening, but it’s completely squirrelled away amongst European shapeshifters, and they aren’t in the habit of exporting it. Kate, Curran, and a small crew of other shapeshifters are invited to Europe on a flimsy “It’s a trap!” mission with the promise of a large amount of this drug as a reward. The Pack members do their due diligence as best as possible, decide that they need the drug, and go while taking every precaution to keep themselves safe — particularly Kate, since she’s human. This book explores the inevitable jealousy phase of the Kate-Curran relationship, but it was done in a way that I actually enjoyed rather than finding it trite and overdone. For instance, Kate doesn’t hide or hide from her emotions, but she also doesn’t become a wreck and allow her green monster to prevent her from doing the job she was hired to do. In over-arching story news, it’s really ramping up. For the first time, it’s confirmed to Kate that her identity is no longer a secret, and though she appears to be safe for now, she also realizes the inevitability of what her exposure means to her loved ones in the Pack. There are, of course, some more high-stakes fight scenes and Important Conversations between Kate and Curran. Again, I’m being glib, but I really liked this one.
In fact, I give it 5 stars.
In conclusion, if you’re into this genre, I highly recommend this series. I’m looking forward to the remainder of the novels, and in the meantime I’m reading Gunmental Magic, the spin-off featuring Kate’s best friend Andrea. Review forthcoming on that one too!
