Andrews, Ilona: Magic Bites
Magic Bites (2007)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 260 (Mass Market Paperback)
This book has been on my radar for a LONG time, since it's release. I've put it on my Christmas list a few times, but never got it, and I never really felt inclined to pick it up for myself. I'll blame the cover for reasons I'll get into later, but what finally steered me into picking this up was the glowing remarks from friends of mine, namely janciu and revolutionsheep. I'd been warned though that the second book was stronger than the first, so I kept that in mind while reading. That way, I had a kind of context, you know?
The premise: plucked from the authors' website: Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic . . .
One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.
In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy . . .
Review style: As far as plot goes, it's a rather simple story and for that matter, a short book. Spoilers are inevitable for this one, so if those bother you, just jump to the "My Ratings" section of the review.
First of all, the pen name. Until recently, I had no idea that "Ilona Andrews" was the pen name for the husband and wife team Gordon and Ilona Andrews. Which perplexes me. If you're going to create a pen name that represents BOTH of you, why chose the wife's name instead of combining them somehow? I thought I had the names wrong too after reading an Amazon review that says the book was written by Ilona and ANDREW GORDON, so then if that were true, the name "Ilona Andrews" would make perfect sense, as it's a combination of their first names, you know? But that doesn't appear to be the case when I visit their website, so would someone please set me straight? And if the Amazon reviewer is wrong, and the last name for both really IS Andrews, why isn't the pen name "Ilona Gordon?"
I just can't wrap my head around the idea of a pen name being the person's REAL NAME. It boggles!
Moving on.
The world-building is pretty interesting. It's a futuristic type fantasy, and the whole idea of magic coming in waves is pretty cool. When it hits, certain things don't work, and other things do. I like too that the magic is something that feeds as well. The description of what magic does to buildings is pretty cool, so I've got to give Andrews points for originality in setting and world-building. That said, I found myself confused about how it all really worked, in that we were plunked into the world, and we never really got a chance to sit down and see how the world in the book came out of the world we live in, and I kind of wanted that. Also, I wanted to know how many years/decades (we may have gotten it, btw, but I was reading too fast) it'll take for the lead singer of U2 to become some long-forgotten singer. I'm sure that was an attempt at humor, one that people who don't like U2 will get a twinge of vindication for, but seriously? I like U2, but I'm no obsessive fan, and found the remark pretty off-putting. This is bound to happen in urban fantasy where you have a snarky, kiss-my-ass main character, and I've read this sort of thing before, but it's usually shrouded in opinion. This? Not so much, considering U2's current legacy and the recognizability of their music. I know, I know, I'm nitpicking, but please: calling Bono a long-forgotten singer is just misplaced. Now, if it'd been Justin Timberlake, or Britney Spears, or Kanye, I would've gotten a good laugh.
See, it's all about perspective. ;) But I'll stand by one thing: don't pick on a band that's already been around since 1976. Even if you don't like the band, pick on an artist that's new and edgy NOW, someone who hasn't proved they've got the staying power chops.
Moving on. :)
I've seen reviewers complaining about the level of gore and violence. I wasn't fazed. For the most part, I'm pretty desensitized to that stuff, so I'm not the most reliable barometer for that sort of thing, but quite a bit of the gore and violence (including the mentions of rape and bestiality) are discussed, not actually witnessed, so aside from the "that's just gross/inappropriate" factor, there's really not a lot to be squeamish about, IMHO. Unless even the description of such things makes you nauseous, and then in that case, yeah, you should skip this one. Because there are action scenes where Kate gets bloodied up, and so do her comrades. But frankly, since this book is urban fantasy bordering on dark fantasy, I'm fine with it. Paranormal romance this is not, and it should therefore not be required to follow PR rules, even though there's audience overlap (and in some cases, serious confusion between the UF and PR genres, which--admittedly--the genres kind of bring upon themselves).
I found the vampires quite delightful, btw. I liked the idea of these spider-like creatures scuttling about being controlled by someone powerful some distance away. Upon further reflection, I wonder why these creatures are vampires and not something else, due to the way they're controlled, but whatever. It's new and different and not at all romanticized, and I need some freaky vampires in my fiction to make up for all the romantic ones.
Kate, now, is an interesting study. I made an earlier remark about how writers shouldn't want to put off the reader intentionally, but perhaps they were just channeling Kate, who rarely makes friends when she can make enemies instead. Oh sure, she's nice sometimes: she's perfectly civil to the receptionist at the Order, as well as the woman at the mortgage. But for the most part, she's confrontational to the point of, "Really? Is your pride worth THAT MUCH that you'd just piss off an Alpha ASAP?" The "here, kitty-kitty-kitty" moment when they first met was hysterical and the right touch, because it's antagonistic and shows she has no fear. The goading into a fight, however, was not really the right touch. Granted, Curran's kind of an asshole, and I can understand why Kate would want to put him in his place, but there's still a fine line between funny and stupid, and I felt that Kate crossed over into stupid a bit too much for my comfort. NOT, I should point out, in a too-stupid-to-live way, but just a "would you please shut your mouth for ONCE" kind of way.
There were things that troubled me: a nitpick: page 132, Kate identifies a horse on the street as a gelding, even though she's never met said horse in her life. Furthermore, the description of its eyes are more on par with the description of stallions, and that's beside the point: coming from someone who raised horses, I can tell you: unless the boy is, let's say "unsheathed," YOU CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STALLION AND A GELDING (and if memory serves me correct, even that's not a fool-proof way to tell, but I could be wrong). And if the horse in question was "unsheathed," Kate's the kind of character who'd have to make a remark about it, even if it was just in her head. Oh, and Kate rides with her knees too. People who ride horses, prepare to be annoyed.***
But more importantly was the unveiling of the upir. At first, Crest was an obvious suspect, but it wasn't Kate who came up with him, it was the Pack. But when they got to his apartment and test him, Curran places the blame on HER, saying that the next time she has a hunch, to leave them out of it, like SHE was the one who fingered the upir, rather than simply making the Pack aware that a upir might be their bad guy. Between two writers, most likely an agent and CERTAINLY an editor, that should've been caught. And when Crest was in the clear (I felt bad for him, but I didn't care for him as a character or love interest. Please don't let him come back), it became IMMEDIATELY obvious that Bono was the upir, and I wondered if I was just slow on the uptake (probably, I read this really fast), because all the signs pointed to Bono when you remembered Kate's description of him when we first meet the guy. So the puzzle pieces clicked into place a little too easily, and I feel a little meh about that.
There are things I liked about this: the fast pace, the mystery of who and what Kate Daniels really is. Derek the guard werewolf, and at times, Curran. I'm happy to get the second book, but it's going on my Christmas list this year. Don't worry, if I don't get it, then I'll pick it up myself sometime soon. I promise. :)
***EDIT = talked to my family about the differences between stallions and geldings, since they've been around horses longer than I have. They pointed out the obvious: geldings have no balls. But I'm still hard-pressed to think that's going to be OBVIOUS when you look at a horse, because there's still equipment down there (the poor guy still has to pee, you know?). I'm going to stand by my annoyance if for no other reason than because the horse in question is described with a mean gleam to its eye, and I've yet to meet a gelding who's like that, because they were GELDED before all the testosterone hit and made them mean. ;) /edit
My Rating
Give It Away: close to worth the cash, but I've been told the second book is better, so maybe I was predisposed to read with caution. And don't worry, I'm reading the second book whenever I get my hands on it. Despite some of the odd plot problems and some confusion on my part regarding the world-building (and a heroine who needs lessons from Miss Manners), I was entertained by the story, which moved at such a fast pace that I pretty much finished the book in 24 hours. One note of warning to potential readers is that this urban fantasy is more dark fantasy than not, and if you're more in the paranormal romance camp, you'll probably want to stay away from this one, because it is NOT paranormal romance, and has more horror than you may care for. It didn't bother me, but after reading some reviews on Amazon, I learned it bothered others. The world-building is pretty solid and original, and I hope later books get into it more. There's a lot of promise here, so I'll be happy to read the second.
Cover Commentary: I don't hate it, per se, but it's just not very attractive. Even though I love the color green, there's something ill about the color mixing of this. Kate doesn't look how I pictured her, and her skin tone gets grayer and grayer from her face down to her chest. The lion in the background is meh, doesn't catch my eye, and for me, the sword's a real turn-off, since it IS urban fantasy (the sword, while interesting, was a turn-off in the book too, but oh well).
Next up: Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe