Magic Burns -Review

Review of Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews. Ace, 2008

The gigantic flares of magic that engulf Atlanta do plenty of damage. The downtown skyscrapers are piles of junk - like tinker toys that will never be right again.

For those such as Kate Daniels who have magic in their blood the flares can be invigorating or overpowering, and it's hard to know which will happen until the flare hits. The surge of magic did come in handy when fighting the demons making their way from a dark, forbidding pit onto the earth placing ordinary folks and even those not so ordinary in peril.

In Magic Burns, the second book in he Kate Daniels series Kate willingly risks her life to save that of a child who has a secret sort of magic of her own. Julie is alone in the world. Her mother has disappeared and the only other person in her life is a feckless teenage boy who leaves her in the lurch. Fortunately Kate steps in and promises Julie she will help find the missing mom. Their only clue is that Julie's mother had recently joined a coven of witches. But there is no trace of the coven. Every member has disappeared. Someone used bad magic and demons have been unleashed. It's soon apparent that Julie is their target. They appear unstoppable. Even Kate's strong magic doesn't seem to be enough.

Coming to the rescue, is Curran, pack leader of all shapeshifters, and an Alpha male of the heart-stopping hunk variety. Whenever they are together he and Kate have a continuing repartee guaranteed to irritate each other, but it is sharp, witty, funny, and part of the enjoyment of reading this book. The heat between these two can only get hotter. The story line winds and twist and fascinates every step of the way. Book three, Magic Strikes, will be published in March 2009. I can't wait.

Postscript: There are vampires in the alternate reality, but none would ever make the hero of a romance novel. Here is how Kate describes them to Julia: "Look, you have to remember that vampires are mindless like cockroaches. They are just vehicles for the Masters of the Dead. If you see a bloodsucker and ti's not ripping everyone to shred, there's an actual human being riding that vamp's mind...."

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Ace, 2007