Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
This is the third book in Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniel series. Unlike most urban fantasy which starts strong for me and then gets increasingly irritating with subsequent books, these books get better and better with each subsequent book. (Ok, objectively speaking, book 3 may be a bit early to make that claim, but…) But…how shall I put this? The average urban fantasy cover features the (typically miniskirt) clad leather butt of the heroine, with some leg and back. If she’s facing you and has a head, she’s temptingly posed and still half dressed in skintight leather. Unless lean, slightly muscular female arms are an incredible turn on for you, the cover of Magic Strikes features a rather desexualized, sneering, bruised woman with a sword. And a lion.
Which is a good way to summarize the differences between these books and the average urban fantasy book. The only leather Kate owns is for defensive purposes. I doubt she owns a miniskirt. There are no sexy vampires lounging around. Actually, the vampires are creepy. Kate doesn’t really have time for a love triangle or a complicated love life, much less to dwell on one, and she’s more than able to stand up to her single love interest. This, however, does not mean that Kate doesn’t have a number of important relationships with representatives of both genders.*
Still dealing with the fallout from the magic flare in Magic Burns, Kate gets a call from her teenaged werewolf sidekick, Derek, and ends up owing a favor to Saiman, a shapeshifter no one wants to owe a favor to. Derek, it seems, is investigating an underground gladiator ring called the Midnight Games, which Saiman is connected to. Except that Atlanta’s weres are strictly forbidden to have anything at all to do with the games, and breaking that rule will royal annoy Curran, the head of the weres. Annoying Curran isn’t much different from asking to be maimed. Curran also wants to date Kate.
Around the same time, she goes to investigate a dead body and finds her way blocked by Jim, her occasional partner, who’s also one of Curran’s top men. Except that Jim and his team are trying to keep the death of a were secret from Curran. This is also very high on the list of things you don’t do that could result in Curran doing very unpleasant things to you. Did I mention Curran wants to date Kate? Really, I mean that he wants her to be his mate, which makes me think that he really loves alpha battles.
Most of the plot beyond that point is incredibly spoilery, so I won’t get into it much. But Kate’s voice is even sharper, funnier, and more biting than before, as is her sarcasm, and we get the backgrounds of several characters. A number of the relationships also have interesting developments, though I’m starting to think that the idea of Kate and Curran is something that I like only as long as it doesn’t happen without some attitude adjustment. (Normally, I probably wouldn’t care for Curran at all, but since he focuses his attention on someone who can handle it-and him-and will injure him in sensitive places if he steps over the line, I end up liking him.) I wish, though, that the romantic relationships weren’t all so focused on the man pursuing the woman, though I suppose it make sense with the heavy were focus. It’d just be nice if one or two had a reversal.
*Important question! Does Kate and Julie’s relationship remind anyone else of Wolverine and Jubilee’s? For the comic book fans, I mean.