Book 97, 2024
Magic Claims by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I took two extra days off from vacay, and I used today's downtime to finish reading Magic Claims by Ilona Andrews. It's the second in the "Kate Daniels" spinoff, "Wilmington Years". The story is mainly in Kate's first-person pov, with some passages devoted to Curran's pov.
Having established a home base in Wilmington, Kate and Curran are attempting to maintain a low profile while raising their son, Conlan. Since plans often go awry, their peace is interrupted by a man who comes to beseech them for help. An entire town nearby is being held hostage to an ancient magic that demands human sacrifices. To sweeten the pot, the man offers a vast amount of acreage right in the midst of the trouble area. Kate and Curran agree to help, not so much for the land as to save innocent lives. What they encounter when they travel to Penderton is nothing like anyone has seen before. Massive, Ice Age shapeshifters combined with a dark, unknown magic have them stumped. Kate, however, has magic in spades, and she reaches the decision to embrace it and unleash the full power of a Shinar Queen on the enemy.
Fantastic story! I love the continued world-building as well as snippets of what's been happening in Atlanta since Kate and Curran abdicated their positions in the Pack. Characters were fully realized, including the villains. Fight scenes were exciting, bloody, and brutal. The story was also laced with romance and humor.
Favorite lines:
♦ The world was filled with fools, and I was clearly the dumbest of them all.
♦ "When you find freaky shit in the scary woods, you don't poke it with a stick."
♦ "I trust you with my life, not with yours."
♦ "After you killed the skull mage, you turned to me and you were smiling. A big, bright smile. Old Kate smile." // "Old Kate?" // "Dangerous Kate. Stabby Kate. My Kate."
♦ "I didn't do a thing. I talked to them a bit and then their negotiator self-destructed. Not voluntarily." // "I've negotiated with you before. That tracks." // "Ha. Ha."
♦ If I claimed the land and then faceplanted to my death on the street, I'd never live it down.
♦ It felt almost cheerful: a cozy little picnic, just us and some friends, eating by the scary woods, across from a mass grave and a burning pit filled with corrupted, toxic ashes.
♦ I wasn't close enough to see her face, but her body language was clear enough. It was the Ice Age version of WTF.
Magnificent, engrossing, and satisfying. I only wish it had been longer. Five stars.
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