Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

I apologize for skipping last week, but I have a very good excuse...if a little beyond believable :p. I caught another flu. I swear, if I was a teacher I'd start to give myself a weathered eye. On the other hand, I recovered faster this time so maybe I'm getting back some of my energies :).

Anyway, I chose this book because it's a debut by an author I know who, as far as I know, has only published some short fiction beforehand. She has a unique style well suited to her chosen genre of urban fantasy and is well worth the time and money to check out.

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

(Acquired: bookstore)

I picked up this book because I have critiqued Ilona's work on OWW and always enjoyed what I read. No big surprise that Magic Bites held up that standard and gave me a darn good read :).

This novel is a cross between cyberpunk and traditional fantasy as it pulls the reader through a quest against the dark evil in a world not too distant from ours where magic has started to take over...and not in a delicate, seep in way either. I enjoyed the badass attitude of the main character, Kate Daniels, but also how she evaluated and interacted with the people in the book. She wasn't always attitude in a devil-may-care way but knew when she'd gone too far or when she had to stop quickly. She shows courage, responsibility, and caring for others, even those thrust in her way without permission or inclination. She respects the balance others have to live within even when she refuses that choice for her own life.

Though I didn't feel the answer to the mystery (like most urban fantasy there's an underlying who-dun-it) was offered the astute reader, something I do see as a flaw because I should at least go "uh huh" with the big reveal if not already suspect that direction, there were some clues and I suspect that aspect of Ilona's writing will only get stronger as she continues forward. This was certainly a worthwhile read.

She's joined many of those I talk about here as one of my list of autobuy authors. Besides ;), I think the next in this world is one I had a hand in critiquing part of. Not only does this give me a cool feeling, I darn well want to find out what happens next because she stopped posting!



So, if you have read this book, or have now that you've got my recommendation ;), drop a note in the comments and tell me what you think.

P.S. I've updated the TBR/Read spreadsheet. The lack of bold titles tells me I need to go to the bookstore :).