Magic Slays

Magic Slays (2011) Ilona Andrews

And here we are at book five. I’m thinking I may stop here for now. Book six came out relatively recently, and it wasn’t a particular favorite. But I have hunted down all the Kate Daniels short stories I can find, so I’ve got a little more Kate left.

Kate has agreed to be Curran’s mate, and unfortunately, that means taking him AND the Pack. Lots of meetings and other frustrating stuff.

Plus, Andrea has returned from her long absence. Plus, Julie has decided she hates boarding school. Plus, Auntie B has decided to foist one of her problems off on Kate. Plus, Kate’s business isn’t making any more, and if it goes under, she’ll loose that bit of independence from the Pack.

This book had lots of little tidbits that stuck with me:

I got a dry rag and wiped up the peroxide. The stain didn’t look too bad now. Still, once blood stained something, it stayed there forever, even if you could no longer see it.

I think there are a lot of things that leave marks even after you’ve scrubbed clean.

And the always true:

There is no law against being an asshole.

That’s an unfortunate truth, and one everyone should strive to remember.

And there was a lot of Russian folklore, which I really do love.

Evdokia raised the teakettle and refilled my cup. “Sugar?”

“No, thank you.”

“You should have some. I’m about to speak ill of the dead. Sugar helps with the bitter.”

For me, that’s right up there with, “the morning is always wiser than the evening” which is something I try to keep in mind.

But that’s not as good as having Baba Yaga and Chernobog and Belobog. And Baba Yaga’s hut. I love Baba Yaga’s hut.

This isn’t an exchange with Saiman, but it, I think, could have been.

“Do you think you would have been burned at the stake in the sixteenth century?”

“No.”

“Because you’re not a woman?”

“Being a woman made little difference. most witches burned in Iceland and Finland were men, for example. no, I wouldn’t have been burned, because I’m not poor.”

This is another book I really liked, where there is a good mystery, Kate and Curran talk out their problems rather than creating Misunderstandings (mostly) and the boinking bits can easily be skipped to get back to the fighting. (I don’t even want to talk about the cover.)

And now, I have some short stories to read.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Ace

 
 

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