Magic Bleeds

Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews

This one is more romance than mystery, but still all fantasy and action.

First, I really appreciate how Kate actually thinks and considers before taking action. She doesn’t always so manages when it’s important.

If Curran and I got into it, our fight wouldn’t be seen as a conflict between two individuals, but as the Beast Lord’s assault on an Order representative.

I still think Curran was a dick here, but, it could have been worse.

This is also the book where Kate gets her dog.

I took the dog to the medtechs to get cleared of the plague— he passed with flying colors. They drew some blood for further analysis and advised me that he had fleas and smelled bad, just in case I’d failed to notice.

I also love the process of attempting to name The Dog.

“Have you thought of what to name him?” Mauro asked.
“How about Erik? After the Phantom of the Opera.”
“No.”
“You should name him Fezzik,” Andrea said.
“Inconceivable,” I told her.

Too bad, because then she could have said, “Rip his arms off” and someone could have said “Oh, you mean this gate key!” and my day would have been made.

Weirdly, the dog one was of the things that I glossed over when I sped read through this the first time. The second thing was the argument between Andrea and Raphael. Silly of me, as both of those events were important.

Another thing of note, I was strongly reminded of Sabriel and Mogget when I read this passage.

The vampire gagged. The muscles of its neck constricted, widened, constricted again, and it disgorged a six-inch-long metal cylinder onto my desk. The bloodsucker grasped it, twisted the cylinder’s halves apart, and retrieved a roll of papers.

That is TOTALLY Mogget.

I still have issues with the changes in Kate’s relationship with Saiman. She thought him harmless initially, but after he proved to be not so, something changed and he became a friendly adversary rather than an almost friend. That just bugs me.

Saiman dealt in information and the price of a secret was inversely related to the number of people who knew it. The fewer people possessed the information, the more valuable it became. I knew this, because Saiman had patiently explained it for my benefit.

Yes, he’s a trickster, but that doesn’t mean he’s unreliable (as Saiman himself points out). And yes, Saiman did some really stupid shit, I don’t think it was unjustified.

I mean, he’s a trickster, but he’s not a bad person.

I looked at Saiman. “How do you decide if someone is human?”
He braided his long, slender fingers on his bent knee. “I don’t. It’s not up to me to assess someone’s humanity. Being human in our world is synonymous with being included into the framework of society. Humanity entitles one to certain rights and privileges, but also implies voluntary acceptance of laws and rules of conduct. It transcends mere biology. It’s a choice and therefore belongs solely to the individual. In essence, if a person feels they are human, then they are.”

Essentially, I really adore Saiman (as I end up adoring most trickster figures) so I always want to read more about him, and this change in his relationship with Kate is no good for that.

Also, lots and lots and lots of important stuff here. Lots and lots. And lots of passage I ended up going back and re-reading, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything this time.

Also: I really hate this cover. It’s not my least favorite, but I really don’t like it.

ADDENDUM the First:
On further thought, I have some issues. Spoilers, but this book has already been out for four years, so, caveat emptor.

How does Roland NOT know about Kate? Erra recognized her almost immediately, and a not insignificant amount of time passed between her recognition of Kate and her death. She didn’t contact her brother during that time period and say, “Hey, met your daughter; Planning on killing her. You okay with that?”

Then there’s Hugh, who has a not insignificant amount of evidence that Kate is Roland’s daughter. I get that he doesn’t want to cry wold, but come on. She’s the right age, was pretty obviously trained by Vorlon, has power words, and is quite obviously of the right blood (see also my qualms from the last story) so why hasn’t he mentioned to Roland that he has a possible contender for that long lost daughter he wants to kill? If Kate looks very much like her aunt, then wouldn’t a simple picture suffice to confirm her identity?

And I really don’t get why Hugh would go out of his way to protect Kate from Roland’s sister. That seems like a MUCH bigger mistake than a false positive on identification. “Your sister is dead, and I was protecting her murderer. Sorry ’bout that.” That seems like a really big, really unforgivable ‘Oops’.

Don’t get me wrong, I still really like the story, but I have problems with some of the logic behind the actions people take.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Ace

 
 

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