Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

[meganbmoore]

This is the fifth of Andrews' Kate Daniels books, and book 5 is when I'm used to even the good fantasy series to start heading south. Thankfully, that is not the case with these books. I suspect a large part of it is that, unlike other books in the urban fantasy genre (well, this isn't technically urban fantasy, as it's a semi-post-apocalyptic Atlanta, but it has all the right trappings) Kate's life hasn't turned into having half a dozen romantic interests running around, making knowing remarks and fighting over her, with her non-romantic personal story popping up between those scenes, and instead remains squarely focused on Kate herself, with only one romantic interest. The books also remember that if you have to have a bossy alpha male used to giving orders as a romantic interest, the best way to do that is to have the heroine be more alpha than he is and unphased by his pushiness, not to mention is the more powerful of the two. (Probably the best example of Kate and Curran's relationship is a scene in this book where Curran tries to give Kate an order and she taps him on the nose, goes "bad cat," and proceeds to do whatever she wants and he basically sighs and goes about his business.)

On a personal-for-Kate level, this book also does what I've wanted these books to do since we started getting into Kate's family and history: it talks about her mother, and gets into her head. I don't know that I like some of what was revealed, but I do like that she was given more agency in her life and made more choices about herself and Kate than had been previously implied. I suppose I feel about her actions the way I do about some of Bonnie Bennett's actions in season 2 of The Vampire Diaries: I don't like it and I don't, morally, agree with it, but I cannot say that if I were in the same position facing the same consequences (for someone I loved) and had the same abilities, I would not have made the same choice.

It also continues with the culture collision theme from the previous book, and has Kate learning more about the Pack, and how to handle it and her own interests. (On a side note: I particularly liked Kate's anti-rape culture speech, maybe even more than I normally would have, as I was one of the readers who was made uncomfortable about some of the comments re: consent in Bayou Moon, which affected my enjoyment of an otherwise mostly fun book.)

The main plot of the book revolved around a device that absorbs the magic in the area surrounding it, which has the unintended (by the creator) consequence of hurting or killing any person or creature that has magic and is affected by it. As happens with such things, anti-magic extremists get it.

While I found that interesting, I thought it was less interesting than Kate's personal plot and history, which really have enough drama, secrets, politics, and complicated relationships to carry the book alone. (Though the main plot did change things for Kate and her ward, Julie, in a way that I can't really know how I feel about it until I've seen how it plays out in future books.)

Comments

[bigbrasskey]

Uuuuugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Yes, I imagine her mom wasn't willing to take any chances considering what was going on and what was at risk. The concept delivers a visceral shudder of horror and I'm glad that Andrews is at least handling that with the unpleasant gravity it deserves.