Review: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
Series: Kate Daniels series: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes
Published: April 2008
Genre: Urban fantasy
Cover: Ugh. Not a fan -- it matches the last one (in this case, unfortunately).
Rating: 4.5/5
Recommended for: All fans of urban fantasy
Planning to read more by this author?: Yes! I can't wait for the next book.
Buy?: Yep.
Review: structured, major spoilers
The previous book, Magic Bites, was good, but not great. This book improves exponentially on its prequel to deliver an amazing combination of fantasy, action, and romance. The world-building was amazing, the characterization was good, the romance hinted at, and the plot page-turning.
It took me a while to get into the world in the last book -- it was never fully fleshed out and it delayed a bit too long, and then when it was finally described, it overloaded the reader. This has none of those problems. The situation is fully described and makes sense (they deftly use the metaphor of a pendulum) and creates a wonderful alternate universe. The problems of the world relate well to the plot and keep the reader intrigued. There's just the hint of the (rather cliched) humanity-ruined/changed-the-world, but nothing too bad.
I thought Kate really improved in this one -- she's a much more likeable character, there's not as much of the I-need-to-be-a-kick-ass-heroine thing going on. We're also slowly getting details of her past and her abilities, and I'm very curious to see where they're going. The scene at the end (where she literally brings the opposing army to their knees) showed some of her talent and was very powerfully written. The real talent in writing, though, comes from her un-Mary-Sue-ness. She still has to work to get her power, she almost never uses it, and she has very little control. I can't wait to see how it manifests in the next book(s). The one complaint I did have was inconsistency from the last book the this one. I didn't re-read Magic Bites before starting this, so it's equally likely that I could have remembered wrong, but Derek and Crest's characters both seem to have altered. Derek's portrayed here as a younger-adult sex god and enforcer for the Pack. In the last one, I though he was much younger (mid-teens), cute but not gorgeous, and just a normal member. His change in character wasn't central to the plot, and didn't work for me. Crest didn't have much of a role, but he's definitely portrayed as a weak asshole (in the last one, Derek called him an asshole, but he seemed like a gentleman).
The final scene is probably my favorite scene ever in urban fantasy. I read it about ten times and did a little fangirl dance. It's just sooo cute! Curran remembering Kate's words earlier, him flirting with her . . .*squee* It's little hints like this that really make the romance. It's subtly done -- slow enough to be realistic but with gems like this dropped in often enough to keep things interesting. I can't wait to see where this is going next.
The plot was very interesting and worked well with the world. I did occasionally have a hard time following the sudden jerks the plot made. When Bran went from shooting at people to eating with Kate, I was surprised, to say the least. I had to go back and re-read that section, but even then it didn't make sense to me. What happened to make him do a 180? Likewise, the climatic action scene at the end got a little confusing. Otherwise, though, the plot was very well-done; there was enough tension to make me want to keep reading until I finished.
Overall, an excellent read, and I can't wait to read the sequel.