Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews



I’ll admit that I judged this book by its cover before I even started reading it. I do this all the time, and I know I shouldn’t. To me, this book just looked cheesy and lame and I knew I was going to have some serious problems with the pouty, I’m-so-hardcore girl on the cover.  Sometimes it’s nice to be surprised when you’re expectations are shattered.

I just don’t like Kate Daniels though. It just feels like she’s forcing that attitude too much. Sure, sure, the attitude is her defence mechanism and her way of not getting crushed by the weight of the world on her shoulders. It still feels too ‘put on’ though, and if it was really a defence mechanism it would need to be a lot more solid than it is.  I could just be being really picky though. I have a problem with finding any female characters believable, whether it’s in books, movies, TV shows or games. I hold female characters up to a much closer scrutiny than I do any male character. Perhaps it’s a role model thing. When I was younger I was looking for the perfect role model – not too girly, not too ice-queen, strong but not intimidating, independent yet not isolated – the list could go on for pages. If I’d read this book when I was 13 I think I would have become the world’s biggest Kate Daniels fan girl. Now, all I can see are her flaws. Can anyone say “jaded”? Also, she wants to be Buffy.

The universe is really quite intricate and deep and well-constructed. Much more so than I was expecting, but then the whole book has turned out to be more than I was expecting. I did feel like I’d been thrown in the deep end somewhat though. It took me a while to start feeling like I wasn’t coming in halfway through a movie and playing catch up to try and understand how the world we’re in functions.  I think a little more world building would have helped me feel immersed in the book a bit quicker.

About halfway through the book I realised that I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to hate it. Actually, I was enjoying it. It’s got no literary pretences; it’s not going to give you a new outlook on life. It’s the written equivalent of a summer action blockbuster designed to distract you from the real world and just let you enjoy the mindlessness of it for a while. And I think that’s ok. If that’s what the aim was then it has been well achieved. I didn’t want to read this book because it had a pouty girl on the cover. I read it anyway, gearing myself up to tear it to shreds. Instead I got a swift reminder that I should stop being such a pretentious snob.

4 out of 5 unimaginatively named swords.  Yeah, seriously, that’s what you called it?

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