Nancy D. (miz-firefly) - reviewed on 3/31/2015 + 112 more book reviews

Full disclosure, Ilona Andrews is one of my top faves. And Kate Daniels is without a doubt my favorite character. She is strong, sarcastic and no one to mess with. Badass sword wielder, quick with a quip or an attack; the only person you need at your back. Very few authors can put you so completely into a story the way Gordon and Ilona can. They have an amazing gift for description; letting you see the action without drowning you with details and their fight scenes are riveting.

If you aren't already reading the series don't start here. Well you can; the stories are so well crafted you can start with any of them and understand the dynamics. But you will miss so much and after reading Magic Rises you are going to want to read them all anyway; so why not just start at the beginning?

Instead of fending off an outside attack Kate, Curran and a handful of trusted shifters travel overseas to (hopefully) obtain medicine to keep the pack's children from going loup. Europe has a monopoly on the medicine and the offer has been extended to Curran to arbitrate a prickly situation in exchange for a year's worth of the miracle medicine. No-one expects the Europeans to actually cough up the medicine. Of course it's a trap; the overseas shifters are more likely to drop their bleeding corpses down a deep dark ravine than help in any way. But with the stakes so high a little thing like impending doom won't stop them.

Magic Rises was a very fun read. It wasn't my favorite. The story took a different direction. I think it's a transition into a different story arc, and some of the movements felt awkward. But any story written by Ilona Andrews is worth reading. Because they are just so much fun to read.

Kate and Curran's relationship is tested in ways I never saw coming (no spoilers here- just go get the bloody book) and if I'm completely honest fell just a little short of feeling genuine. It's the Andrews fault, they have made these characters so solid they feel like people I know. When they don't behave true to form it grates. But that part of the story-line results in my all-time favorite Kate/Curran scene so all is forgiven.

The big surprise with Magic Rises was Hugh. We know who he is and what he does, but until now we haven't actually seen much of him. In Magic Rises we get to see a little of the man beneath the villain, and let me tell you if he wasn't Roland's right hand I'd be a little smitten.

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