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Ace, Copyright 2007, 260 pages
ISBN: 978-0-441-01489-7
Read June 2012, at age 34
Re-read.
I read it not that long ago – maybe 2010?
This is the first book in the Kate Daniels
series of urban fantasy, and is a prequel to Magic Burns. I did read it
first, but after reading Magic Burns, I
started wondering what I’d missed. Some,
as it turns out. Nothing too major, but
I would read them in order, given the choice.
From the back cover:
Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for the magic…
When
the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns
refuse to fire and cars fail to start.
But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as
it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.
Kate
Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these
magic problems. But when Kate’s guardian
is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two
strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.
The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings – and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league – but she wouldn't have it any other way…
Brief reactions after the break.
Overall:
I’m still moving, so I’m not doing the book
justice in a review…
This book was as good as I remembered. It was better than the sequel, in that it
stayed personal and tense through the whole book. The writing remained decent – functional and
appropriately descriptive, and with a pleasantly plucky main character. The setting, though, is wonderful. It is the (now clichéd) vampires v.
werewolves, but wonderfully re-imagined.
The weres are relatively conventional, but show the value of discipline
(it can control the monster) and vampires are very, very different from the
Dracula we know and… know. Adding in the
magic tides, and the seemingly well-thought-out checks and balances on magic as
a whole, the setting works very well, and the murder-mystery used to show it
works wonderfully. If you like the
tough-girl-kicks-supernatural-butt genre at all, you’ll like this one.
Rating: 5
Other opinions:
Not particularly a fan of the mystery, I
guess. I can see where her complaints
come from, but I only saw it in retrospect.
It may be a difference in reading style – I read to see what happens,
but I do know other people to try to guess, and get disappointed if the
puzzle’s too easy.
Not a fan.
She thought the learning curve was too steep, it seems. I didn’t find that at all.
Another not-so-positive review. Interesting.
As with Magic Burns, not much for male viewpoints.
This one didn’t like the main
character. Again, interesting. Lots of mediocre reviews, but everyone seems
to find something different to dislike.
Here’s one that matches how I felt about
the book.
Another positive one.
Here's another meh – this one not liking the
story structure. Wow.
Oooh – at least one other guy has read the
book! He didn’t like this one –
apparently too similar to Dresden Files. Still no repetitive complaints. I wonder how many other things people can find
to dislike?
Let’s end this overly long list on a
positive note, shall we?
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