Kate Daniels as an employee of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid troubleshoots problems of a paranormal nature in Atlanta while trying to keep peace between the various factions. A call to a rough bar leads to the discovery of a new evil entity in the city. It is a powerful thousands of years old bearer of pestilence and chaos. The being, Erra, is collecting the blood essence of 7 warriors to install in undead bodies and control as it goes on its rampage. The reason for its appearance and destruction has to do with Kate. Kate's tense relationship with Beast Lord, Curran, also comes to a head. Great action, drama, and romance. This whole series is very violent, for those who need to know that. ( )

Kate Daniels #4. Daniels investigates a series of magical plagues which turn out to be the work of her ancient aunt, Earra.

re-read 7/31/2024 ( )

This is my favorite book of the series so far. It has a lot of emotional depth and the plot kept my attention well. ( )

(2014 Update: Ditto)
This Kate Daniels book took it to a whole new level. Kate's character development, personal and business life seemed to me to advance more in this book than in all the previous installments. And the central theme of dealing with her father also took a major step forward.
All in all, this book seems like a huge turn of a corner for the series-I enjoyed it immensely and will be rereading again as soon as I catch my breath. GREAT JOB! ( )

By necessity its required to keep the synopsis pretty short. Actually I cut out a line from the synopsis because it gives away a detail that is more of a punch if you don't know beforehand. Basically Kate gets into trouble again, though its fair to say that it may have been wrapped up quicker if people didn't keep getting in the way of her fighting.

A routine barfight turns out to be something much, much worse. A mysterious cloaked stranger, overly aggressive behaviors, three weres in hiding and one very dead and very infected were makes Kate's day implode. And it only gets worse for her.

Truthfully, as much as this book was focused on the action and Kate fighting the new threat, a whole lot of the subplots and background machinations were focused on the romance between Kate and Curran. For any urban fantasy fan out there who has encountered any serious length series where the romance seems to go back to Zero with each subsequent book, this will be a novel change. Andrews resolves the issues of Kate and Curran, all the dancing around customs, mixed signals and misread intentions are focused and brought to bear.

This could be either a godsend or a complete injustice depending on your viewpoint. I certainly enjoyed watching the two of them run around trying to get the other's goat, trying to see how far they can push the other before something snaps. Kate pulls a wonderful trick on Curran, but he pulls an equally hilarious one himself. Saiman, the ever so helpful, stirs up the pot quite a bit with his own brand of 'humor'. Not all of Curran's followers are...receptive to Kate as a potential candidate for Alpha Queendom, but that maniac Aunt B sees the benefits real quick and starts a campaign to win over Kate's goodwill.

Our villain for this piece is...or was...considered a God at one point. Considering the immense power she wields, her tremendous age and strength, Erra is...horrifying. In the same way that Kate's father, in the abstract since Roland hasn't shown up yet, is. She plays on a different playing field--to her it means nothing to kill dozens just to ensure she hits the right target. She's ruthless, merciless and shrewd. Erra was exciting to read about. Her banter with Kate is priceless and despite all appearances to the contrary she hunted Kate because she got in the way and had to be dealt with. Her original mission in Atlanta had nothing to do with Kate.

I want to say that Kate could have easily taken her, but she couldn't. Where Kate could make up for in speed and new tricks Erra didn't know, Erra had brute force and a furious power that Kate knew quite well. Several times Kate gets her to a standstill, but every time she is stopped. An enemy from book 3, Magic Strikes makes his presence known in the most frustrating manner (though he apparently isn't as clever as he would wish).

The ending is...heart breaking a little bit. The world is changed, secrets are out and neither Kate nor Curran will ever have the same life they led. This won't let down fans of the Kate Daniels series. There is no simple rescue, no wham bam thank you ma'am explanation. If Erra is any indication, Kate's life is going to be hell from now on. ( )

audiobook :: 7/5/13 ( )

The first time I read Magic Bites I didn't get why there were so many rave reviews. I mean it seemed pretty average. The world building was cool and Kate seemed alright but a bit standoffish. The romance between Kate and Crest was mediocre - it seemed like she didn't like him at all and it felt forced and awkward. The romance between her and Curran wasn't any better. It didn't make sense why he followed her home while he was on his date. I liked Derek and Ghastek was creepy. There was lots of snappy, witty dialogue and I had a few laughs - but I was just confused. It was good but it wasn't great.

Yeah - read the rest of the series. It gets SO MUCH BETTER. Kate stops being standoffish and starts letting people in. Derek becomes a total badass. Ghastek - well he's still pretty creepy. But also funny and kind and sweet when he wants to be. And Curran - I love him now. He is an absolute ass in this first book. But I forgot. He becomes everything you want in a love interest. There's a ton of new loveable characters; Julie, Andrea, Aunt Bea, Raphael, Barbaras. Some new evil ones; Hugh, Roland. So much action and adventure and intensity and laughs.

So do yourself a favour. Keep reading.

OMG I could kill Curran. He can be so DUMB. Three weeks? No call, no text? No sending one of a million people you know (and live with) to tell her you're sorry for missing your date? Fkn hell. These two.

But I could also kill the pack. Because wtf? Curran is supposed to be their leader and they just run roughshod over his mate the second he's not around to keep them in line? Poor Curran, it's a hell of a betrayal. On the other hand, Kate is badass fighting off all the challenges.

And I love Aunt Bea - she always knows how to pick a winner. ( )

awesome, as always. ( )

Við starf sitt sem tengiliður riddarareglunnar og var-skepna Atlantaborgar lendir furðulegt mál á borði hennar þar sem nýr ókunnur aðili virðist fara létt með að stúta mörgum af öflugustu einstaklingum borgarinnar. Við rannsókn málsins kemst Daniels að því að viðkomandi er náinn ættingi hennar, kominn aftan úr forneskju, til að rústa borginni. Hvernig geta hún og Curran tæklað þessa persónu og um leið haldið tilveru hennar leyndri? ( )

I love the combination of action, sarcastic commentary and the continued destruction of Atlanta. Great, funny dialogue, good fights, and excellent characters. This series hasn't disappointed me yet. ( )

Wow, another amazing Kate Daniels series book by the fabulous Ilona Andrews. As with book three, this one continued the trend of being even better than the books that have come before. Kate and the gang have to solve the case of a plague that seems to be attacking Atlanta and the various complications that go from there. But what I really enjoyed about this one was the exploration of various relationships, both romantically and in the family sense. We got a lot of backstory on various characters and that made the narrative that much more interesting. A super installment! 5/5 stars. ( )

Great fun. This series just keeps getting better. ( )

4.5

This series is addictive.
( )

Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite authors and the Kate Daniels series is my favorite of all the books that the husband/wife duo write. The writing style is fast paced and engaging and the characters are completely believable despite the fantastical elements that surround all the books. These books are a must read for me and I eagerly devour them and count the months until the next one arrives. I love that despite the occult and romance leanings of these books there is still a generous dose of humor. I highly recommend the Kate Daniels series ( )

I can't give you the white picket fence, and if I did, you'd set it on fire.

Oh Kate.

One of the worldbuilding aspects I've been loving the most about this series is the Pack. Rather than focusing on werewolves as just about every other urban fantasy seems to do, the Pack has a huge variety of were... things. Among the major characters alone, we have werelion Beast Lord Curran, werejaguar Jim, head of security, a whole pile of wonderful werehyenas, and werebadger doctor Doolittle[^wow]. On top of that, you can be a werewolf, a wolfwere, or a beastkin (descendant of a were). Craziness.

But that's not it. All of the different kinds of weres have different courtship rituals. With Kate having the hots for Curran (and it's mutual, oh so mutual), she has to bend enough to ask what werecats do. Apparently? Pranks. Oh, it's wonderful.

“The phone rang. I picked it up.

“Are you sitting down?” Curran's voice asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Click.

I listened to the disconnect signal. If he wanted me to sit, then I'd stand. I got up. The chair got up with me and I ended up bent over my desk, with the chair stuck to my butt. I grabbed the edge of the chair and tried to pull it off.

It remained stuck.

I would murder him. Slowly. And I'd enjoy every second of it.”

And that's not even the main plot... In that we get terrifying virulent magical diseases (to the point that they try to get up and slither around), a supposed-to-be-impossible varieties of undead, and a big bad thousands of the years in the magic... who just so happens to be Kate's aunt. Oh this world is getting big and terrifying. It's wonderful.

And Kate and Curran finally hook up! YAY! A long time coming, which makes it feel all the real. It's certainly one of the more explicit scenes I've seen in urban fantasy (yes, I know it gets far worse/better than this, but I've not read it). So if explicit sex is something you avoid, there is a page or two to skip. You have been warned.[^spoiler]

Overall, this series just keeps getting better and better. There are so very many ways this series could crash and burn, but I just keep getting more and more excited. Onwards!

[^wow]: I just made the connection. I know. That's hilarious.

[^spoiler]: Yes. I know that the spoiler tag is pretty obvious given the context. Worth it for the explicit warning? ( )

For a series that's fairly clearly done on power escalation, this is probably the first time I've found that reasonably believable. And I'm extra chuffed that while I don't agree with the choices made, they are thought through, and owned when they go wrong. ( )

This one is pretty much fantasy, even if it is still nominally UF, but I especially love all the extras when it comes to the ancient past and the reveals in store for us.

I mean, come on, when we have ancient Babylonia entering the picture, with Negral on the scene, as a woman, even, and not even married to Ereshkigal? Well, the plague-lord, the under-image of Utu the sun god, and the son/daughter of Enlil and Ninlil, is actually a big spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler?

Hmmm. There's a righteous amount of fun hiding within these pages, and I'm glad I'm doing this as a buddy read. I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it anyway, but there's something really exciting about finally getting to jump up and exclaim... "There's Sex!" Oh, Kate. Oh Curran. And now the negotiations begin. Will they ever get this mess worked out?

Equal parts soap opera, vomit clean-up, kick-ass action, and snark. What more can a fun-loving reader want? (BTW, the vomit clean-up happens to be with a hellofa cool furry fighter, so don't think it's a chore to read about him. After all, we don't actually have to smell the vomit. We can just let Kate take care of that.) :)

Very fun stuff. More than worth anyone's time as popcorn fiction. :) ( )

“Magic Bleeds” was a lot of fun, which is not an easy thing to achieve when you’re writing a book about fighting an ancients source of evil that brings death and destruction to everything it touches.

The Kate Daniels books offer me a well-thought-through urban fantasy world that is unique in terms of it’s on-again off-again magic/tech switching, has developed its own legends and lore and has developed a strong ensemble cast. I can step into these books and know that I’m in for a rollercoaster ride of intense combat scenes, supernatural politics, truly scary and brutal enemies, witty banter and another twist in the love/hurt relationship between Kate and Curran.

I thought this mix worked really well in the third book, “Magic Strikes”, but “Magic Bleeds” takes everything up a level.

I liked the strong focus on Kate as a person as well as a kick-ass, sword-wielding, perhaps-not-quite human, killing machine. The courtship between her and the “his furriness” the Beastlord, Curran finally takes off. The blend of humour, angst, anger, lust and (FINALLY) some actual sex would have made this a good book all by itself. Add in Kate coming up against an enemy that shares her blood and is determined to rip her apart, an “attack poodle” that adopts Kate, some violent but believable Pack politics, and the need for Kate to risk sacrificing everything she has and you have a powerful novel.

I won’t go in to the detail of the plot other than to say that it delivers on the promise of the previous three books and sets the stage for some new themes in the rest of the series.

Pulling together the violence, the humour, the romance and the sex is the idea that you can’t choose the family you’re born in to but you can choose the family you create for yourself. Creating this family and trying to keep it alive without being so protective that you smother it, is what this book is all about.

A great book in a great series. Now I want more. ( )

I cannot say enough good things about this book and the Kate Daniels series. Magic Bleeds is the major payoff for those readers following the tension-filled love story that floats in the background of this series. Ilona knocked it out of the park. ( )

Another good continuation of the series. The story continues to shift towards the uber-plot and that's a good thing. The romance element continues to be handled well, which is often the bane of these sorts of books. Nothing to really complain about or cause me to stop consuming these fine urban fantasies. ( )

Ugh what do I love better than arguing and black dogs and pranks and and and ( )

this was my favorite book. Kate is a badass, she's finally came to realize Curran is undoubtedly hers, and they finally hooked up. ( )

Kate Daniels' past has caught up to her, and anyone associated with her is in danger. Kate was raised to be a loner, an outsider. Her instincts scream at her to run and hide. But now that she has built a life for herself, she will not go down without a fight to the death protecting all she loves. And this time it really might be the death of her. An ancient being has awakened and is terrorizing Atlanta with disease and death. Killing the leaders of the organized orders that hold Atlanta together one by one.

Fighting against an evil that is centuries older than her will not let Kate walk away without sacrifices. No matter what she does, her life is going to take a drastic turn. The Kate Daniels series never fails to keep me on the edge of my seat. Each of these books is full of action, magic, and destruction and I love every minute of them ( )

I am devouring this series! I would have posted my review for Magic Strikes a few days ago, but our home computer decided to crash. I’m currently using the iPad, which is infinitely more difficult to write reviews on.

Ilona Andrews is a wonderfu duo! I discovered them when a friend recommended Burn for Me, and instantly fell in love with their writing. Once I’d read all of the available books in the Hidden Legacy series, I looked for something else written by them and stumbled across Kate Daniels. Hooray for me!

This is going to be a review for both Magic Strikes and Magic Bleeds, since I listened to the latter in less than twenty-four hours. It’s still fresh on my mind, so there's a chance my thoughts would overlap. Also, before you read any further, you should know there might be spoilers for the earlier books in this series. Some of the information is relevant to my review!

Listening to these two books one after the other made me aware of a few things I’d missed in the past. For example, the authors use the word “preternaturally” quite a lot. It’s not a word I see or hear too often, so it started to stand out in this series. Someone is preternaturally fast or they have preternatural strength, and I’ve started noticing every time it’s used. It has already been said a few times in Magic Slays, which I am listening to right now.

This series has a slow burn romance, and I’ll admit to being sexually frustrated on their behalf. Kate refuses to believe that Curran’s feelings are real, and she doesn’t want to risk her heart just to have it broken. We can see that Curran’s intentions are authentic, but Kate is stubborn and they’re both frustrating. They would rather play games and challenge one another than have a heartfelt conversation. I’ve enjoyed watching these two come together and seeing how their relationship developed over three books. Their status was still unclear at the start of book four, but something finally happened. Phew! I was beginning to think they’d be at odds the entire series. Despite wanting them to get together a lot sooner, I’m happy their relationship wasn’t rushed. Their feelings are legitimate, and they’re willing to destroy the world for each other.

Once you've read the first few books in a series, some of the details can start to feel repetitive. I understand and appreciate that each book can stand on its own, but reading them consecutively made some of the information feel tedious and unnecessary. Some of it varied slightly, but I would still tune out until something else happened. I really hope I don’t have to listen to how the shapeshifter society works (or what happens when they don’t follow the code) in any of the following books.

The secret fight club was interesting in Magic Strikes. It challenged Kate’s morals and also forced her to spend time with Curran. The hot tub scene was fantastic until Derek popped up. I’ve never disliked Derek, but I really wanted him to disappear for a few minutes. Don’t get me started on what the Andrews duo did to him... it was nearly unforgivable. I’m still not sure if I’ve completely recovered from what they did to a beloved character.

At the end of Magic Bleeds more people were aware of Kate’s secret, and I’m glad it’s finally out in the open. As a reader, we know what her secret is before the other characters, but Andrews kept readers in the dark for awhile too.

Kate doesn’t do well with politics, so I’m curious about her new role within the Pack. She kicked ass in the last book (against friend and foe), so it’ll be interesting to see how she handles her new situation. I liked Kate before Magic Bleeds, but I appreciate her so much more now. She stuck with Curran despite the unfavorable circumstances.

Am I rambling yet? Haha! This is seriously one of my all-time favorite series, and I’m looking forward to diving back into Magic Slays. The balance of power has shifted, and I’m not sure what disaster Kate will have to tackle next. At least now she has friends and people to rely on, and her attack poodle is almost always nearby (hopefully we learn more about him too). I still have a lot of questions after the last book, but the indivual story wrapped up nicely. I’m only halfway through the series, so I have plenty of books to look forward to!

Also, the history and mythology interspersed throughout the story is phenomenal. It’s clear they’ve done their research on people, places, and cultures. The way they slide various gods and deities into their stories feels seamless and completely believable. I cannot wait to see what they come up with next!

If you are looking for a new UF series, look no further! Ilona Andrews is an amazing author duo that writes wonderful stories and creates fantastic characters. You could start with this series or the Hidden Legacy books, because both are marvelous and addictive. Books like this make me wish I didn’t need sleep.

Originally posted at Do You Dog-ear? on January 11, 2019. ( )

One of my favorites. Dialogue and writing style are a bit awkward at times, but great world building. ( )