Magic Shifts: Kate Daniels, Book 8

If you have read my profile then you know that my 2 favorite authors are Brandon Sanderson (BS) and Ilona Andrews (IA). I fangirl over them any chance I get so I might not be impartial in my reviews of their books, and I probably add way too many status updates while reading them….I can’t help it.I didn’t fall into the camp of those who didn’t love the last two books, I still gave them 4 stars and 3.5 stars respectively. I liked the emotional journey that Kate was starting to take I just missed Kate and Curran together. But I’m back to absolutely LOVING all things Kate.The thing that was missing for me in the other books was really Kate with Curran and fighting the good fight together. I was a little worried that I wasn’t going to like the new direction of the story with Kate and Curran leaving the pack. What about all the side characters I love…what about Curran being the Man….what about Kate having protection from Roland???? But I don’t know why I worried at all because IA would not let me down and I’m loving the new direction of the story.First, what about all the side characters I love? - They are there! IA finds a way to incorporate them into the new direction of the story and honestly it was so smooth and flawless that afterwards I asked myself how come I didn’t think of that. As always IA has some of the best side characters. Whether it is a giant Donkey, a scraggly poodle, a teenage werewolf (seriously how long is Derek going to be a teenager), a fallen Angel (or whatever Christopher is), a slightly dirty talking (I will never think of plums the same way) Alpha Werewolf Desandra, or your charismatic Father who’s ultimate game I’m still trying to figure out there are so many great cast members that are all distinctive and three dimensional.IA’s biggest problem is all the great characters that I want to see more of in the book. There are so many and I want to see them all but then I’d have less Kate and Curran time, or the book would be 700 pages long and 350 of that would just be nonsense conversations between my favorite characters. I’m not saying I’d be opposed to it but still IA does such a great job of keeping all the characters in the story relevant and engaging. That has to be hard with such a great cast to choose from.Luther was my favorite new addition to the cast. He is going to be a hoot, I knew it from his first conversation with Kate***“When I quit the Order, you told me I was besmirched.”“That’s because you quit in a huff over some silliness like trying to save people’s lives. I quit to maximize my earning potential. Don’t you know being a hero is a losing bet? The pay is s*** and people hate you for it.”***He was such a great addition to the Kate Daniels family, she is building quite a unique list of family, friends and acquaintances for later when daddy comes calling.Second, what about Curran being the Man - I was never worried about Kate, she is always a badass. But I was worried about Curran and how I would feel about him if he wasn’t the Beast Lord and you know what I love him more. He doesn’t have to put up with pack council meeting and being pulled in a thousand directions and all of the other ridiculousness that goes along with it. He has time to spend with Kate and really dedicate himself to their lives together. Which translates into more page time together and I definitely love that. The banter they have with each other is one of my favorite things.***“Why am I the expert all of a sudden?”“Of the two of us, you have more stalking experience.”He leaned back. “Really?”“Yes. When you let yourself into my apartment before we were dating, did you fidget while you watched me?”“Will you let it go?” he growled.“No”“I didn’t fidget. I checked on you to make sure you hadn’t gotten yourself killed. I wanted to know that you weren’t dying slowly of your wounds, because you have no sense and half of the time you couldn’t afford a medmage. I didn’t stand there and watch you. I came in, made sure you were okay, and left. It wasn’t creepy.”“It was a little creepy.”“It worked, didn’t it?”“Worked how?”“You’re still alive.”***Beastlord logic at its best. Just because you take the Alpha out of the Keep doesn’t mean he isn’t the Alpha anymore. When the werelion roars everyone cowares…except Kate cuz she would pull on death’s whiskers.Chatpers 11 and 12 of this book absolutely gutted me emotionally. They happened out of left field and I wasn’t expecting it, but really in life that is how those things happen so it felt too real. If there was even any doubt about the true feelings of these two characters for each other these chapters should take care of that. If you don’t absolutely know Kate and Curran are in love after these chapters I doubt anything would do it for you. They are quite possibly the best written chapters that IA has ever done in any of their books.If you thought that Curran would be less without the pack well you are dead wrong. He will always be Curran and he will undoubtedly always fall into a leadership role. It will just be very interesting to see how that transitions.***”…When I was fifteen and Mahon pushed me to reach for power, I did it because I was young and stupid. I thought it was a crown. I didn’t realize it was a ball and chain instead. I’m off my chain now. I like it.”***I like it too, anything could happen.Third, what about Kate having protection from Roland - Honestly I’m not sure anything can help them he is so powerful. I thought they did a great job of showing this in a single telephone conversation. Roland is so powerful that just over the phone to see how he affected the people in the room with Kate really hit it home.Roland is such an interesting bad guy because part of him wants to be a father and the other part is ready to destroy Kate. He is shrouded in mystery and I’m never quite sure what his true motivations are. But their conversations with each other are mesmerizing. Kate’s conversations with Erra and Hugh were really good but Roland is something else. His explanation of killing Kate’s mother was both terrible and hearbreaking.***“Besides, you knew Kalina best.” I watched him closely and the corners of his eyes trembled when I said her name. How does your own bitter medicine taste, Father? Have another spoon on me. “Why don’t you tell me about her? You were there till the end. You saw the light go out of her eyes.”Roland took a swallow of his wine. “If you wish to know how your mother died, I will tell you, Blossom. Ask me.”Walk away. Walk away, because that way lie dragons.***IA has a way of making me empathize with Roland and at the same time I’m so worried about what his plans are for Kate. He seems like he is there to cause a lot of trouble like a few other bad guys we know and love.*******The Story******Ilona Andrews always finds a way to put a new spin on old lore. This book is no different I love the way they tied in the Ghoul’s to the other Arabic mythologies and Genies. It was different and unique, I’ve never read one of their books and thought that I’ve heard that mythos before. They keep raising the bar on both the weirdness of the creatures they fight and the peril.Edwardo has disappeared and Mahon doesn’t seem that upset that he is gone. Seems very un-alpha like right. But he has his reasons…they suck but they are reasons and they fit him. George is determined to find someone to help find Edwardo. Kate and Curran are on it, but they keep running into the weirdest creatures that are doing things they aren’t supposed to. Like regenerating when they die into something else. If things can’t get any strangers there are ghouls traveling in packs trying to get into the city and a Giant that decided to roam about. Just another day for Kate and company. On top of that Kate’s dad wants to meet for dinner and bond. Once we hit our stride there in never a dull moment.That’s all I’m going to give you on the story because I really enjoyed the plot of it and seeing how Kate and Curran juggle all of this and try to be parents to Julie. Curran has some really interesting ideas of how to parent. Most parents try to keep you out of danger but Curran is more hands on and if Kate is your adoptive mom well you will need some practice.****“Just so I get it right, Jim calls you and says, ‘Hey, we found a horde of ghouls in the MARTA tunnels,’ and your first thought was, ‘Great, I’ll take the kids’?”“They had fun.” A careful note crept into his voice. Curran saw the shark fin in the water but wasn’t sure where the bite would be coming from.“You even took the dog.”Grendel chose that moment to try to shove past me. I shoved him back into the Guild and he began running back and forth behind us, growling.“He had fun, too. Look at him. He’s still excited.”***Really it sounds like a great time. I’d love to read about Curran, Julie, Ascandio and Grendel taking on a pack of Ghouls. Kate is the strict parent who knew….lolIf you were holding off because books #6 and #7 weren’t it for you I think you might like the new direction of the series.Currently my love breakdown of the series is :3 > 4 > 8 > 5 > 6 > 2 > 7 > 1Short Pre Review:❤ - The new direction of the story. Pack I don’t need no stinking pack.ღ - The new characters added into the story *cough* Luther *cough*❣ - The Ilona Andrews special twist to the lore they used. Never look at a Genie or Ghouls the same again.♡ - The absolutely heart wrenching moments of chapters 11 and 12. Best written chapters in the entire series to date (in my humble opinion). My heart still hurts.❥- Roland’s fatherly moments. I KNOW he is a sociopath…but he is a charming sociopath and I’d totally meet him for dinner. Most of the time I’m torn as if I like him or hate him.❦ - Kate/Curran page time. Thank you thank you thank you they are finally together on page more often and I freaking love it.❧ - Sherrim’s smack down of Saimon and Curran’s smack down to Mahon.❤ - The inner circle...you know who they are. I loved seeing all their new roles in this book and I can’t wait to see where they all end up next.

I have been reading Ilona Andrews, and been a rabid squealing fan girl for a lot longer than I have been blogging. Magic Breaks ended on a hell of a note, prompting me to look into plans for a time machine. Unfortunately for me I have neither the funds nor the educational background to enable me to go forward in time to read all the books, so I have had to wait. We're on book 8 now, and I guess they have given up on a handy intro for new reader, which is fine, because you WILL NOT want to start here, this is not a stand-alone, not even a little bit, not even at all. This is the start of the conclusion arc to what I would hazard to suggest is the best Urban Fantasy series on the market today. If you haven't already, you really need to go start at the beginning of the series. Yes, I think this series is that good, I recommend it to everyone regardless of usual genre preferences (though I'll confess it does suffer a bit from first book syndrome, push through that and it gets to awesome) and this story is just that excellent. So you are going to want to back away if a rabid, squealing, middle-aged woman fan girling all over the place isn't your cup of tea. Back away, because this could just be embarrassing for the both of us. Also, there will be spoilers for previous books, please, don't let me ruin the surprise of this series for you if you haven't started it already.I was good last night, so good, and I didn't start reading this at 12:01 when it popped up on my kindle. It was hard, but I got a good night's sleep and started fresh in the morning. And then I READ it from start to finish in a coffee shop, even going back to old bad habits of walking around with the book in front of my face. (It is good to know that I still have excellent peripheral vision.) It seemed to go so fast and I almost wanted to slow down and savor it, but I couldn't seem to help myself, I simply devoured it, feeling slightly bitter about how short it was. I double checked though, and it wasn't short at all, it was just a really tight, action packed narrative.Curran the Beast Lord is no more. He, Kate, and Julie have settled into their new home and are settling affairs to separate from the Pack in a peaceable way. Curran seems to be settling in to suburban life and fancy free lifestyle, and obviously the separation from the Pack suits Kate down to the ground. And then BAM, disaster strikes in the form of a missing person and difficulties in navigating Pack politics. And I just want to say that while I am uncertain precisely how I feel about Beast Lord Jim, Beast Lady Dali is every bit as incredible as I suspected she would be. She doesn't have a huge amount of page time, but when she is there she has a helluva impact. The new Beast Lady rocks, and I am neither afraid to say it, nor ashamed to beg for at least more short stories with her.But back to our main protagonists. The main theme of this story is family. Eduardo, our missing werebison has a humdinger of a family history. George, the one-armed werebear is having father difficulties as one might expect with a father like Mahon the executioner. And Curran, her defacto adopted brother, is naturally smack dab in the middle. Let me just say, while I was content with Curran leaving the Pack, and instinctively it made good sense to me, events and conversations in this installment made everything crystal clear. But the main familial conflict, is of course between Kate and her father Roland. Roland is, well how can I put this? He's monstrous, of course, but it is like a poisoned dagger hidden behind sumptuous velvet. Everything you see on the current surface just beckons you to come closer and even touch, no matter how bad you know the things hidden behind the surface are. This is no one dimensional caricature of an evil villain.A lot has apparently happened in Atlanta between Kate's abduction in the previous book and since they are finally settling in and able to really assess things. Once the action starts and they truly get sucked back into Atlanta's issues, we are at a dead run for the entire book. And as we go along more than just Curran's status with the Pack change dramatically. There are a lot of motives to be questioned, particularly Jim and Raphael's. I have to wonder if their choice of what property to disperse to separate Curran's finances from the pack is really as self-serving as it appears-somehow I do not think it is, I am thinking sneaky Jim had a plan with this. And there is also a good start on a flexible power base for Curran and Kate that I think suits them better than the rigid Pack ever could have. We also saw where Kate's character growth is taking her, and rather than her becoming increasingly more of an all-powerful Mary Sue, we are seeing real humanity and vulnerabilities. We are no longer talking about just the smart mouthed merc we first met. As powerful and competent as she is, and as much as her power grows, there are still frailties and mistakes and she is learning to work within this framework and within the family she has built. And we also have the first real insights into Roland's plans and his intrigues. The stage for the final confrontation is finally set, and I am so glad Ilona Andrews made the decision to spread this story line out through a couple more books, because I just can't envision the confrontation I see building being condensed into just one book.So yes, this is something of a transitional book. But as far as I am concerned, if a series requires a transition, THIS is the way to do it. The in-book mystery is well plotted and interesting keeping me entertained throughout. And while it doesn't really further advance the overall series story arc, it doesn't feel like filler either. Rather than simply fluffing or padding the series, this book felt like we turned a corner and it was actually needed in order to place us on the path to the finish line. I am sure more twists and turns will be coming, but this sets the foundation for the rest of it.5 stars from me, I can't wait to see what the next books bring.

Série maravilhosa , mais uma vez a escritora Ilona Andrews arrasa !!! Super ansiosa para ler o próximo livro da série

O livro te prende do início ao fim, personagens e história maravilhosos. Kate e Curran valem a pena a leitura!

I have re read this series at least 20 times, at least every 3 months or so and I can honestly say, hand on heart that this book series? Is all the wonderful words in my title! It’s well written, the characters are what you would imagine if magic & tech clashed and the world changed so phenomenally.I love how many of the characters are seen throughout all 10 books and to see how they change & grow? Amazing. I still read each book as if it’s the first time & that’s after at least 20 times of re reading? That is how amazing this series is.It’s worth those 5* it deserves accolades, trophy’s awards, talk shows, read through etc. I want every person who loves this genre to have a chance to read this series! That is how passionate I am about it! Please, read it and love it and much as I do ♥️

Another absolutely fantastic story from these two amazing authors!The book title says it all, the magic has definitely shifted!Kate and Curran have now split from the pack and are currently waiting out the final official notice period. It's a testing time for them both adjusting to a much closer life together and waiting to see who from the pack will join them. As always trouble is never far away in the form of a vengeful ifrit. A member of the pack, Eduardo, has been taken hostage for the crimes of his family's previous relatives. His girlfriend George, daughter of Mahon, alpha of Clan Heavy asks for their help as her father disapproves of the union so is refusing to help. Lots of fast paced action follows, a near death experience and major family drama.The thing I loved most about this book is kate and Curran are together nearly all the time. I've missed that in the previous few stories so I'm really pleased to be getting so much more interaction between them and their close family members. Their relationship seems to be getting stronger and stronger with every book and this solidified it for me. This story is a fantastic bridge between their old life as beast Lord and consort and their new and hopefully more content time in their lives. ( although who am I kidding, the chance of them catching a break is slim to none!)The father/daughter relationship starting to form between Kate and Roland is going to make for some interesting times too!A brilliant read!

Presuming you have read all the previous Kate Daniels books, by comparison this is a solid effort but nothing about the plot lasts. It is an excellent way to pass free time but it wont have you riveted to turn the pages and sleepless to find out how it ends.I live urban fantasy and i love Kate Daniels and i have to say this book is an example of how to get the genre just right. The writing is spot on and it feels like Andrews is (are) such a pro that by this point in the series the characters just write themsleves. This is a world so richly detailed, so thoroughly imagined, and so populated with such enjoyable and impressive characters that the story just flies by, one feat of wowness after anither, at a breathtaking and believeble pace.What was so good about this book was the humour and the sparks between Kate and Cullen. I strugglr to think of another urban fantasy which has depicted an ongoing love story so realistically. Theirs is a believeable relationship with ups and downs and but an unshakeabke bond at its core.The dialogue between them and other characters was expertly done. In other books i can sometimes be guilty of skipping dialogue but in this book you skip it at your peril. So much of the drama and poignancy and humour is relayed through the dialogue, it's almost script like. As a result, there is not much in the prose to reveal or explain Kate's feelings and reactions and at timea this left her feeling a bit distant, in my opinion.Overall i think the world is beginning to suffer from being too awesome for its own good. By that i mean that all the characters are now so badass that as a reader i never felt they were ever at any real peril apart from a very human physical problem Kate has in the middle of a book (not to spoil it, but this plot point was the only real emotional hit of the book). Its obvious thr good guys will win in the end and consequently i didnt have that 'must keep reading to find out what happens/who survives' feeling. At this point, the only real adversary Kate has left is Roland. Which i suppose is the point.I was pleasently surprised with how the transition from the pack to lifr on their own was handled as that could have easily been the end. On the other hand, after bringing up Curran's conflicts about no longer being Beast Lord in the first half, this was forgotten in the second half and i feel this is a bigger issue that would create much more conflict between Kate and Curran. But perhaps this will feature in later books.At the end of the day, if you are following the series this is a must read but dont expect to be blown away like tge previous installment. However its obvious the series is leading somewhere spectacular and this book was so witty and filled with fresh monsters and lore that it was far from a drag or filler book. Im just glad i waited until the price was reduced