Kate Daniels #1: Magic Bites Review

Title: Kate Daniels #1: Magic Bites

Author: Ilona Andrews

Date of Publication: March 27, 2007

Formats Available: Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, E-Book

Synopsis: Kate Daniels, a magic-wielding mercenary is down on her luck when her former guardian, Greg, is brutally murdered. Wanting to find the murderer for herself Kate joins forces with the local Order of Knights who give her the resources she needs to discover what really happened to Greg. With the help of the Beast Lord Curran, who rules over the local shapeshifters, Kate starts piecing together what happened to Greg the dreadful night he was murdered. Caught between the shapeshifters and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers who control vampires, who have both lost people to the attacker Kate is pressured to find the murderer, no matter what the cost.

My Review:

While I didn't hate Magic Bites I had defiantly expected better. The plot was okay, its been done before and the flat characters and mediocre writing didn't do much to engage me. Even though the story had the potential to be entertaining I just didn't find myself interested in what was happening.

Kate was your typical bad girl with a chip on her shoulder; while I didn't hate her I didn't like her either. I had a hard time relating to any part of her personality and while her use of magic was interesting it left me with more questions than answers. While still a bit flat, I liked Curran's character a bit more and I'm definitely hoping for more of him in the following novels.

For the majority of the novel I found myself a little confused. I felt like Andrews was constantly introducing new characters in the beginning that weren't mentioned again until the end, when I had already forgotten about them. I would have also loved a bit more description on the magic used in the novel, it was mentioned that Kate was more powerful than normal but I didn't understand what made her so much better.

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of this first novel I feel that Andrews has the potential to write a really fantastic book. I really enjoyed her portrayal of vampires, whose bodies could be taken over and piloted by those who control them. Little quirks like this make me interested in picking up the next novel in the series.

While I didn't love it I think the Kate Daniels series has the potential to be a great series. I'll be planning on picking up the next book somewhere down the road and I'm hoping for a great story, because I believe Andrews can do it.

3/5