Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds – Ilona Andrews

So I went on a bit of binge over the past weekend, into the past few weeknights. (It was hot and humid, and doing things outside just didn’t seem fun.) So I read the first two books in a day each, and the last one over a couple nights. BF is suspicious I don’t actually remember anything from them, but I enjoyed the heck out of all of them.

These are set in an alternate version of Atlanta where waves of magic will take out tech for days at a time. There are vampires and shapeshifters, and assorted other magical creatures. Kate Daniels clearly has some very special abilities above most of those other magical creatures. (The exact nature of it is covered in Magic Strikes.) I love these books – Kate is a fantastic heroine.

Magic Burns deals with Celtic mythology – there’s a flare in the magic waves, which can allow gods to manifest, and there’s a particularly bad god that’s trying to come through. This is also the book where Kate manages to adopt an orphaned girl (her mother’s gone missing, and the initial brief if to find her). By her own admission, Kate’s much better as a crazy aunt than a mother, so I really love Julie’s place in the stories as they continue on.

Magic Strikes concerns some gladiatorial style games, and the shapeshifter community. This is also where Kate cements having a best friend, Andrea, who also happens to be a werehyena. It’s also the beginning of the complications of Kate’s relationship with the Beast Lord, Curran. (He’s a werelion.)

Magic Bleeds start to deal with Kate’s family, and has she and Curran cement their relationship. There’s also a were-crocodile and a hell hound involved. (Love the attack poodle!) I love Kate and Curran’s relationship. She’s probably more alpha than he is in a lot of ways, so it’s delightfully combative. And they do a really good job showing that it’s a struggle for these two people to mesh, considering all the alpha baggage he has to deal with, and her family baggage. It could easily be way over the top, but it works well.

I’m really glad the BF discovered this series – I have several more I can fly through. I’m just trying to be good and finish something else first. I may have put three other books aside during this binge…