Magic Bleeds

Magic Bleeds (2010) Ilona Andrews

Book four finds Kate waiting for Curran, having made him dinner as he specified–except he doesn’t show up.

While she’s tending to her broken heart, she gets called to deal with what sounds like a bar fight that got out of hand.

Who the hell would attack the Steel Horse anyway? What was the thinking behind that? “Here is a bar full of psychotic killers who grow giant claws and people who pilot the undead for a living. I think I’ll go wreck the place.” Sound reasoning there.

Kate also manages to pickup a stray 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.

“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 and took the canine traitor back to my office.

Unfortunately, Atlanta has bigger problems, what with a plague and a bunch of rogue mages.

“At six oh-eight a.m. two men wearing ragged trench coats approached the Casino. The shorter of the men burst into flames.”

I paused with the pen in my hand. “He burst into flames?”

“He became engulfed in fire.”

“Was his buddy made out of orange rocks and did he at any point yell, ‘It’s clobbering time’?”

We also get Andrea and Raphael pairing up, Kate and Curran working out their difference, and the appearance of Kate’s aunt. No good comes of that last bit.

“You want to stay away from religion. Once you bring prayers and worship into it, your troops start thinking you’re a god. Faith has power during magic. You begin getting urges that aren’t your own.”

And of course Saiman, who I adore and Kate hates.

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.”

And I did especially like the bit in the temple.

Mezuzot, verses from the Torah, written by a qualified scribe and protected by pewter cases, hung along the perimeter of the Temple wall. The wall itself supported so many angelic names, magic squares, and holy names, it looked as if a talismanic encyclopedia had thrown up on it.

And thus ends book four.
Rating: 7.5/10

Published by Ace

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