Andrews, Ilona: Magic Slays
Magic Slays (2011)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 308 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book Five of the Kate Daniels Series
Why I Read It: It's hard to believe that when I first started this series, I had no interest in continuing. Now it's a must-read series for me, so I snatched this up the instant it came out. Of course I'm going to read this ASAP!
The premise: ganked from publisher's website: Kate Daniels has quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but starting her own business isn't easy when the Order starts disparaging her good name. And being the mate of the Beast Lord doesn't bring in the customers, either. So when Atlanta's premier Master of the Dead asks for help with a vampire, Kate jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, this is one case where Kate should have looked before she leapt.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: not really. I talk about the things I really like in this series, where it's funny (and why some of the funny is a little bit scary), and I also discuss what I perceive to be one of the major strengths of the series: namely, that it appears to have an endgame. So no real spoilers, but if you're paranoid, please skip to "My Rating" below! Everyone else, onward!
First, let's talk funny:
I love Kate's pet names for Curran: "Your Fluffiness." "Your Furriness." The pet names cracked me up every time, and I realized (and maybe I'm slow to do so) that the way Kate interacts with Curran reminds me a lot of Han Solo from Star Wars, how he's always giving Leia mock titles, even though he's head-over-heels in love with her. Once I thought of the comparison, I decided it really fit Kate's personality: she uses mockery and humor to create a barrier, so that her vulnerability isn't quite as obvious, so she has some level of protection. Yet, the very names are a token of her affection, and they make me giggle every time.
Other funny parts: on page 247, when Kate is looking over -- let's just call it a Council -- and muses how she's the only one without a pet, Grendel makes a dramatic entrance. I really like the deft hand here, because for a character I thought was way too bitchy in the first of the series, Kate's inner monologue reads like my own thoughts probably would in that situation, so this little section made me laugh.
Then there's this passage on page 301, when Curran is giving Kate a hard time about her snoring:
"It's hilarious. It's almost as funny as your snoring."
"I don't snore."
He nodded with a wide grin. "It's a quiet peaceful kind of snoring. Like a small cuddly Tasmanian devil. Kind of cute when sleeping, all claws and teeth when awake."
I love that. Then again, I'm oddly partial to exchanges between couples that involve snoring or drooling in sleep, especially when it's the guy teasing the girl. Sue me, I'm weird like that. :)
And lastly, is it bad that I found the knock-down, drag out fight between Curran and Kate hysterical? I realized after reading that in reality, that really isn't a sign of a healthy relationship (right? couples beating each other up isn't healthy, yo!), but in this fictional world where the man can heal instantly and is clearly being careful with his lady-love because he knows she CAN'T heal instantly, watching Kate and Curran duke it out and trading off barbs is hysterical. To me. Because I'm demented.
But seriously, this so isn't healthy. It works for them, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else. :)
Magic Slays is a very easy book to fall into. Like any well-done urban fantasy, once you pick it up, it's incredibly difficult to put down, you're so absorbed in the world, characters, and action in the story. Magic Slays reads at a wonderfully fast pace, but not the kind of fast pace that makes you feel like you're missing something, or like the author is rushing. With the exception of the ending, which admittedly does things up a little too quickly, I never felt lost or confused by the story unfolding, which I found interesting for how it enabled Andrews to show us more about this magical world as well as Kate's heritage (and oh boy, do we learn some juicy family history in this book!), but also how it deepened the tension between everything and everyone that is magic and everything and everyone that is not. This tension fascinates me, and it's something I've been tempted to explore in my own fiction, so it's cool to see how it's handled here. Ultimately, I find it's handled very well.
Also a major plus of this book is that it's doing something I'm slowly realizing I want out of an urban fantasy series: it's got an endgame. After all, every book in this series is building towards that inevitable confrontation between Kate and her father, and when that happens, I'd like to think Andrews is smart enough to wrap up the series (and if Andrews doesn't want to leave the world, at least give us a new heroine to glom onto). Because let's face it: once that major smack-down between Kate and her father happens, what's left? I don't want to read about random side adventures at that point, because I've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. And really, what can be bigger than this coming show-down?
Don't get me wrong: Andrews may very well have an ace up their sleeve, and the series may prove to be far more than that. But for my own personal tastes, I'm finding I'm preferring urban fantasies that are gearing towards something, fantasies that aren't just monsters of the week (to use a television term). To make a fair comparison, I had to stop reading Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series because I was tired of the drama, the merry-go-round of lovers, and the sense that really, nothing is happening in the long run. Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville books have started planting seeds for what appears to be an endgame, but they're still very much monsters of the week, and I'm not yet invested in that endgame. But here, Kate Daniels has definitely given me something to both look forward to and fear, something beyond the main hook-up of the series, and that works wonders.
Mind you, I don't hold every urban fantasy to this standard. But the idea that the series is moving something, whether it's as direct as Kate battling it out with daddy dearest or something a little more vague, like learning what the hell is up with Toby's mother and why that makes Toby so important in fairy land in Seanan McGuire's October Daye books, I want something beyond a potential romantic hook-up to keep me coming back. I want a direction. And that's what makes this series so satisfying, because every time Kate uses her magic, it's bringing her that much closer to her father, to a confrontation she knows she's not ready for.
What's especially enjoyable here is Kate's doubt about the world she lives in and the people she's trusted. In Magic Slays, Kate is teetering on the edge of losing everything, and it's fascinating to watch how she handles it. Book by book, Kate's becoming more and more fleshed out, in both good and bad ways, in that she's no angel. She does bad things and doesn't have a problem with it, not when it comes to defending those she loves. And what's great is that those she loves aren't always protected either, which makes for excellent tension in the book.
Julie, btw, is awesome.
But randomly, I don't remember reading that Kate had a tattoo until Curran noted that it was fading on page 88. Am I crazy? Did I just miss that particular descriptor this whole time? Or is this the first we've heard about it? It's probably the former. ;)
My Rating: Excellent
This series has really grown on me, and Magic Slays is another great installment. Step by step, Kate is getting closer to that inevitable confrontation with Roland, and in the meantime, we're learning so much about the magical world that Kate lives in. Her personal and family history is fleshed out in a startling but rather nice way, which in some ways is a knife in Kate's side, because she starts to question her goals and what she believes in and why. She also starts to question the people she's closest to, and it's fun to see how that shapes her. The story was fascinating in and of itself, especially considering that so much of Kate's world is all about the magical, but yet there's plenty of people living in that world who aren't magical at all and have no access. The cast continues to be enjoyable and provide moments of humor in otherwise dark moments, and it's great to see that Ilona Andrews isn't isolating Kate as the only kick-ass woman on campus: she's got other kick-ass women around her too, and we meet even more of them in this book. In short, I had a great time reading this, despite the slightly rushed ending. Here's to book six, whenever it comes out!
Cover Commentary: I'm kind of ambivalent on this. While certain elements have stayed consistent in this series regarding the cover art (showing Kate and Curran, notably), the artist has started changing the perspective and using different poses, so the continuity isn't quite what I wish it was, but still, they all do match. I like that Kate is shown to be a curvy girl (well, wait, I can't see her hips in this pose, but she's sure busty, isn't she?), and the coloring is familiar and consistent with previous covers. So basically, I'm meh on this one. It's not my favorite, but it's not ridiculously horrible either.
Next up: Deadline by Mira Grant