Magic Bites

Magic Bites (2008) Ilona Andrews

After finishing off the Inspector Salvo Montalbano series, I’ve been picking up books, trying to figure out what I was in the mood to read. There were several new releases that I quite liked, but they didn’t help me fall into what I wanted to read after.

At a loss, I decided to re-read Magic Bites. Yup. This was what I wanted to read.

When I read a book the first time, I have a terrible habit of speeding through, wanting to know what happens, and this skimming a LOT of details. The positive side of this is that upon re-reading the story, in many ways it’s like reading it for the first time, since there was so much I missed the first time around, so this was a pleasant surprise.

This first time I read this, I remember having a hard time with the world building, mostly because I’d glossed over a lot of details, and so didn’t have a clear idea in my mind as to what this world was like. This time, I picked up all the details I missed before, and it was lovely.

Kate lives in an Atlanta devastated by magic–magic reappeared in the world and when magic is in ascension, technology fails, so skyscrapers tumbled to the ground, leaving a ruin of all big cities, and leaving technology unreliable.

Magic could not be measured and explained in scientific terms, for magic grew through destroying the very natural principles that made science as people knew it possible.

If enough people believed something to be true, sometimes the magic obliged and made it true.

The theory is that since so many people are ignorant of the basic mechanical principles involved in making the phone work, to them it might just as well be magic.

It was all there the first time, I just missed it.

And I loved being reintroduced to the characters I’ve come to love, especially Saiman.

“(J)ust the basics. I can’t afford the fancy stuff.”
“Cheap client?”
“I’m working pro bono.”
He grimaced. “Kate, that’s a horrible habit.”

I really love Saiman, and love it when Kate works with him (which makes some of the later books difficult, since Curran pretty much hates Saiman.)

But of course, the big introduction was Curran.

Diplomacy was never my strong suit and my patience had run dry. I crouched and called out, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

Ah, Kate.

I’d also like to point out how much I LOVE this cover. I really disliked the original cover–the lion bothered me, and Kate just didn’t look right. But this? This is marvelous.

So, this was a lovely re-read and hit the spot and I’ll be re-reading the rest of the series.
Rating: 8/10

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