Name: Sheena's review of Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews
Item: Magic Rises
Rating: 3
Author: Sheena

Ilona Andrews

The #1 New York Times Bestseller! Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them—no matter the cost... Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta. Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap...

A Kate Daniels Novel

Magic Rises

Sheena

Sarah Escorsa

Main review

Be warned! Lots of major spoilers ahead!

Another word of warning: I am not entirely rational when it comes to this series and my brain does not seem to function properly as a result. This review will probably be erratic and might not make a lot of sense.

If Ilona Andrews keeps this up it is more than probable that I will have a heart attack before the series come to its end. Magic Rises was seriously mind-blowing, even more so than the previous instalments (yes, it is possible). After I finished the book I felt like I’d been punched. Repeatedly. 

Okay, where to start? I don’t know. There are so many fantastic things here. Well, first things first, the premise. Absolutely brilliant: Kate, Curran, Derek, Andrea, Raphael, Aunt B., Doolittle, Mahon, Saiman, George, Eduardo and Keira heading to the Black Sea on a boat. That screams serious mayhem ahead. Throw in a bunch of weredolphins and you’re in for a wild ride. 

Just when I thought things were getting a bit boring between Kate and her “furry paramour,” Lorelei (aka the conniving little bitch) appears and starts making a mess of everything. I just felt like slapping her most of the time (“Do not punch the Pack Princess!”) and the rest of the time there were so many heart-wrenching moments that I thought my heart would either break or stop. I more or less died when she sat next to Curran at dinner. And when he offered her food. And when Kate overheard their conversation. Why oh why?! Heart-breaking I tell you! And just in case Kate didn’t feel bad enough as it were, she is being treated like crap (and a whore) by the other Packs because they think she will promptly be replaced by Lorelei as the female alpha… Then she starts realizing that she will always be an outsider among the weres… Even Doolittle’s attitude towards her is changing (to think that she’s the one who kept him alive with her chanting!). Thank God for Barabas! At least Kate’s appointed “nanny” is always there for her, protects her from everyone and their bullshit. Okay, this was all beyond heart-wrenching and I had knots in my throat and stomach until the very end of the book. (view spoiler)[Still, everything turns out alright in the end, Kate definitely is Pack and even has Mahon rooting for her, woo hoo! (hide spoiler)]

What else? There are so many things to say about Magic Rises! I scribbled tons of notes while I was reading and I’m having a hard time sorting through them. 

Characters: lots of new ones here! I love George, I love Keira, I love Dessandra and Christopher… lots of room for development there! As for Astamur and Atsany… I love them too and I just knew that Astamur would end up saving the day somehow! And Hugh! Okay he is the evil one but I still like him a lot. It turns out Kate & him have a lot in common since they were both raised by Voron and see him as their father. It makes for some very interesting situations and some very cool fight scenes (Kate is my favourite killing machine, yes she is!). Plus, Hugh seems to have the hots for her, which could get interesting in instalments to come. 

Favourite scenes: the conversation between Kate and Curran in the mountain… My heart almost stopped beating there. The whole mountain scene is fantastic actually and I love the time Kate spends there with Astamur and Atsany. Pretty much all interactions between Kate & Hugh make for some fantastic scenes as well. Whether they are fighting alongside or against each other, talking or arguing, their scenes together are great. More random scenes: when Kate finally manages to control blood, the mind-blowing fight with Radomil (with the new power word and blood armor)… There are so many, I can’t mention them all. Well there is one scene that I was disappointed in, as many other readers were: Aunt B’s death should have been heart-breaking and emotional but it wasn’t. At all. It was the most unemotional scene in this series so far and I don’t understand why. With Kate watching from a distance, unable to come to Aunt B’s rescue and feeling completely helpless, this should have been a poignant, heart-wrenching high. But it wasn’t. If left me cold. Aunt B deserved much more than that! Anyway, the rest of the book is an emotional, action-packed, humour-packed roller coaster ride so I will try not to hold this against the authors :)

As usual the silly 15-year-old fan girl in me won’t let me resist the temptation to quote some of my favourite lines from the book so here goes: I had more stamina than the battery bunny from the old commercials.“If you won’t take me, take Barabas. He’s devious, paranoid, and obsessive. He’ll be perfect.” A weredolphin. Pinch me, somebody.“You’re taking a nap? Come on, Kate, I need you for this fight. Stop lying around.” You sonovabitch. I rolled to my feet and grabbed my sword. “You must think you’re funny.” “Just saying, you have to pull your own weight. A hot body and flirting will only get you so far.” Hot body and flirting, huh. When I’m done killing people . . . “Everything I do, I learned from you, boy toy.” “Boy toy?” Curran asked. “Would you prefer man candy?”“I hate her already,” Andrea told me. “George hates her too, right, George?” “I think she is adorable.” George volunteered next to me. “We should give her milk and cookies, and if she promises to be quiet, she can sit at the big people’s table.” Do not punch the pack princess; do not punch the pack princess . . .“Hey, you. Either put your claws where your mouth is or shut the fuck up. Nobody wants to hear you yip.” Jarek’s eyes bulged. Green flared in the depths of his irises, an insane hot flame. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. “Yes, just like that,” I told him. “Less talking, more quiet.”“What do you mean, come in? You don’t even know who I am.” “Of course we know who you are,” Derek said. “He smelled you coming,” Eduardo said. Life with werewolves. Why me?“Aha! So I’m not crazy.” “You are most definitely crazy,” Derek said. “But in a deranged, endearing way.” Go to the Black Sea, meet new people, see beautiful places, get killed by a mutant carnivorous kangaroo goat. One item off my bucket list.Anger—a better alternative to caffeine.I wanted to punch the happy day in the face, grab it by the hair, and beat it until it told me what the hell it was so happy about. “Hey there, ass kicker.” “Hello, Your Furriness.”He’d given me a ring set with a piece of the Wolf Diamond. “Are you going to say psych?” “No,” Curran said. Oh boy.As I write this review there are only seven days left before the next instalment in the series is published, tick tock tick tock…

• Book 1: Magic Bites ★★★★★
• Book 2: Magic Burns ★★★★★
• Book 3: Magic Strikes ★★★★★
• Book 4: Magic Bleeds ★★★★★
• Book 5: Magic Slays ★★★★★
• Book 7: Magic Breaks ★★★★★
• Book 8: Magic Shifts ★★★★★
• Book 9: Magic Binds ★★★★★
• Book 10: Magic Triumphs ★★★★

Michelle Boyea

Every time I think "this series can't get any better", I am proven wrong. This installment is filled with love, laughter, hope, despair, and above all, loyalty. It makes you laugh and cry, hope and despair, and it holds your attention from page one to the end. Ilona Andrews writes an incredible series and I'm anxious to read the next book.

Sheena &
Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

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