When Dru met Graves

Dru and Graves are characters in Lili St. Crow’s Strange Angels series. The series is on its second book so far and man, it’s a wild ride.

Dru Anderson is a girl with special abilities that let her see and sense things that normal people usually don’t. Things like vampires (nosferatu, wampyr, upir), ghosts, werwulfen (werewolves), fairies and other things that walk hidden among us. She knows her way around guns and knives and knows how to kick ass because her father teaches her to do these things.

Her father is a ex-military turn Hunter; people who took it among themselves to know as much as possible about the weird and creepy crawlies…and exterminate them. A lot.

They move from town to town, following signs and hints of strange going ons and deal with the things that prey on unsuspecting humans.

One day, her father went on a job…but came back…different. All, right, he got turn into a zombie.

It turns out that Dru is not all human either, she is in fact a svetocha, a rare female djampir (half human-half nosferat) who usually makes the best of the best of nosferat hunters, just like her mother before her. Her mother belonged to The Order, a group that consists of djampir and werwulfen who are train to kill as many nosferat as possible.

That's the good news. The bad, she has to bloom first. Right now, she’s just a very tasty (and can also gives the nosferat a jolt of power. Like coffee. Or gatorade. Or Red Bull) snack for any nosferat who can find her but once she blooms, she’ll be able to kill a nosferat just by breathing on it.

The other bad news, she might not live long enough to do so.

On the first book, Dru and her new best friend Graves has to live long enough to get themselves to safety, despite the many monsters that are after them including Sergej, the King of all Nosferat and it’s broken werwulfen, Ash.

Graves is a gawky, half Asian goth loner at Dru’s new school. Like Dru, he keeps to himself and didn’t mind being thought as weird. He’s tall, skinny and scandalously laid-back.

At first, Dru tried to get rid of him, but at the end, succumbed to his attempt on befriending her. At least they got friendly enough that Graves extended a hand to help and Dru, despite her own misgivings and her cynical nature, accepted it.

Graves is…peculiar. He’s mega smart, he’s more mature than he looks with layers to his personality that often catches Dru off guard. The most important thing about Graves is that he’s very good with empathy and that he’s a survivor. They don’t bare their soul to each other, at least not at first but there was an understanding between them.

He’s also loyal and way too perceptive and practical. And he’s man enough to admit that once the shit hit the fan, the only chance he has for survival was Dru so he followed her without complaining, without any Alpha Male posturing and was smart enough to connect the dots without Dru holding his hand.

And most of all, he wasn’t big on denial. Once he saw that monsters were real, he didn’t waste time on pondering and just hauled ass.

Welcome to our nightmare.

Aha, found a new favorite series, a new favorite pairing and a new favorite team.

Favorite pairing: Max and Fang

New favorite team; The Flock.

Boy, am I glad that I tripped over this series.

Heard about it for a long while, but was really lucky delaying reading it ‘cause in doing so, I could read all five of the books including Max that just came out last month. So, yey, for procrastination!

Of course, I spent a whole night and half the day of the weekend on reading all of them in one seating only stopping to eat and for bathroom breaks. Yes, that’s what I do. Yes, I have no life. Yes, I’m pathetic. Get over it.

I’ve always been a sucker for stories about mischievous gang of kids, tales about loyalty and friendship, about how our friends are the family that we get to choose. Add on a sprinkle of super powers, government conspiracies, super action scenes, mutants, clones, genetic engineering and save the Earth policies, well, I’m game!

The first thing that I like about this series, is how fast it sucked me in. Seriously, from chapter one, I was focused.

And then, of course the action just keeps on rolling, a series of combo punches that doesn’t go away and won’t let you go.

The second thing, the tone. The first book and most of the series are told from first person perspective; Max’s and we do feel like we’re hearing the words of a somewhat fourteen year old. A tough, no none sense, sarcastic, brave, tomboyish, yet warm-hearted fourteen year old girl. Since I’ve been a fourteen year old girl, I related to her, sympathized and liked her. In fact, I was her when I was fourteen except for the 2 % avian gene, orphaned, grew up in a lab, runaway, messiah, save the world mission, and five foster siblings part.

I was incensed over Angel’s kidnapping in Maximum Ride; The Angel Experiment and shared her fury, I have five younger siblings and four of them are girls, if somebody hurt them I’d tear the bastard’s limbs off and beat their heads in with them. I shared her affection for her band of miscreants, her connection with Fang, her exasperation over understanding boys, her mistrust for grown ups who brought nothing but trouble and heartache and pain, her determination to protect her family that always pushed her to be stronger, faster, smarter. I understand her confusion and discomfort about the changes in her situation especially when it comes to Fang, her frustration with herself, feeling stupid and awkward and embarrassed about it, her ‘I don’t want anything to change, can’t we just leave it alone?’ demeanor every time Fang tried to get close.

Boy, been there, done that.

The third thing; The Flock, as I said, I’ve always had a soft spot for misfits and geez, you can’t get more of misfit-ish than The Flock. Each and every one of them are delightful and complex and unique. The friends that you grow up with/family ambience, I get that since I have a few of my own.

The fourth thing; the books hit two of my buttons: Mother Earth and bio engineering. I am all for saving Mother Earth, it’s the bio engineering part that I’m a bit wary of, the cloning (creepy) and the ‘I am God’ feel of it all. Artificial insemination is fine, a good option for people who can’t have kids, it’s just…here’s the thing; people are just not ready to accept that ‘yeah, we can make people now, we can make them look however we want, give them whatever characteristic we want and blabla’…which is the whole problem. In my observation, when people start playing God, they tend to go a little crazy and just go way overboard with the whole concept.

And the worst scenario, those people who think that because we can make them, we also have the right to extinguish them, since, hey, we can always make more, and they’re unnatural anyway, they’re not suppose to be here, and even worse, the ones that uses the excuse ‘God didn’t make them, we did, so they don’t have any right to live’ which is just stupid. If you want to bring God into the argument, then I can also say ‘If God didn’t want them here, they won’t be here or are you saying that we’re so great that we can overpower God’s will?’ HAH! Take that, you over-pretentious bigoted pricks.

These kind of people just makes me want to…well, let’s leave that out in case some of you are sensitive and offended by graphic violence.

The fifth thing; James Patterson’s ability to describe their wings and the inner workings of flight. I mean, it just clicks with my imagination of how flying would feel like and…I’ve imagined about flying a lot. It’s my first answer to the question ‘when you can choose a super power, what will it be?’ I would love to be able to fly and by his words, I can see their wings, see The Flock fly, sense their joy and the sense of their belonging.

The sixth thing; Fun all around with action packed adventure, several mind numbing shocks and clarity, humor in the midst of bitterness dipped with love and the reminder of we only have one Earth, let’s take more care of it, not only for us, but for the sake of our children.

AHA!
We meet again with Raine Benares and co in the exciting debacle; Armed and Magical! *cue ecstatic and disgustingly cheerful magical tune*

Raine was bored. She was stuck in the Island of Mid, surrounded by Conclave Guardians because she was bonded to a stone of cataclysmic power called Saghred which means The Thief of Souls.

Cheerful, ain’t it?

Basically, all sorts of powerful people want this stone and Raine along with it since she seemed to bond well with it. She, however, wanted to be free of it and the only chance she has is to get help from one of the Conclave Guardians.

Not that she has a choice.

One of the Guardians’ jobs were to guard powerful objects of power, in fact the last guardian who guarded the Saghred was actually Raine’s father whose soul was stuck inside the stone along with the Grand Shaman of the Krynsani Order: Sarad Nukpana.

So wielding a great power of her own because of the Saghred, she was forced to behave under the watchful eyes of the Guardians while Piaras went to the Conclave school to learn how to control his voice. Atleast she had her cousin Phaelan with her and she actually liked two of her human Guardian bodyguards; Vegard and Riston.

Anyway, finally we get to meet Archmagus Justinus Valerian, the big boss of the Island and of the Conclave Guardians.

The archmagus stepped up to the podium. The other speakers had used notes; Justinius Valerian used his brain. As to sarcasm, his speech had plenty to go around. The old man spared no one. The loudest cheers from the student section came after snarky comments aimed directly at them. The worse the abuse, the louder the cheers. I smiled. They were probably doing shots down there, too. The students loved him.”

Armed and Magical chapter 01

This tickled me so much, since...well, I can relate with it.

 Just as she was enjoying herself, Raine caught something suspicious in the crowd or more precisely, someone: Banan Ryce.

 “The archmagus’s voice faded into the background as Banan Ryce gave me a casual salute. Banan Ryce was commander of the Nightshades. Nightshades were elves—they were also assassins, kidnappers, blackmailers, or whatever they had been given enough gold to do. I knew Banan; he’d met me. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Armed and Magical chapter 01

 She didn’t need Saghred’s boost of powers to know that he was up to know good, she did however, due to the evil stone, got to know the Nightshades intentions and what they were doing there.

 “They were going to collapse the stage. They weren’t aiming for the stage itself or the dignitaries seated on it; they were going for the supports under the stage. The stage was a good dozen feet above the street. The Guardians posted around the base of the stage would be crushed under the combined weight of falling wood and people. The fall from the stage might kill some; but the Nightshades were there to ensure their two main targets didn’t survive.

Justinius Valerian and Mychael Eiliesor.”

Armed and Magical chapter 01

 One thing for bonding with Saghred though, was the unnatural boost of power she had. It was said that even when she broke the connection she had with Saghred, whatever she could do now because of it will probably stay with her forever. Not a pleasant thought. But atleast, for right now, she was thankful for the boost ‘cause she could stop what was happening.

“The stage was collapsing on itself. My hand instinctively shot out to stop it. Four stories up made no difference. I’d always used gestures when moving anything bigger than myself; it helped me to focus my magic. The stage wasn’t a small object. The screams faded in my ears, and all I could hear was the hissing in and out of my own breathing. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to keep the stage from falling, but I suspected it wouldn’t be long. What I was doing was mind over matter. Problem was, my mind couldn’t get past how heavy that matter was. And I was doing it alone. No Saghred, just me. The new, improved, really scary me.”

Armed and Magical chapter 01

 A little sick but pissed off, she went after the Banan with Vegard watching her back. Here is where her powers as a seeker came in.

 Newly introduced, mirror magic. I’m torn about this type of magic. Whereas it’s cool to be able to travel between mirrors, it’s not cool to know that just about anyone who has the intention and the know-how could step out of yours...yeah, not fun. Apparently, Raine has the same opinion as I have.

Mirror magic took a lot of discipline and a lot of concentration, and could make a lot of trouble if the mage were so inclined. Mirror mages could use mirrors to translocate people, manifest creatures, or move objects from one place to another. Then there was the spying and peeking that could be done from any bespelled and unwarded mirror. I was sure there were perfectly moral mirror mages—I just hadn’t met any.

Armed and Magical chapter 01

Anyway, she tracked Banan, found him...and saw that he actually had himself a hostage.

She was young, blond, and terrified. From her age and the simple robes she wore, she was probably a student.

As leader of the Nightshades, Banan had spent a lot of time outdoors and looked it. His dark hair and tanned face were a startling contrast to his pale green eyes. He was rugged, he was handsome, and he knew it. He also fancied himself a ladies’ man. Unfortunately the ladies he fancied didn’t always fancy him back, and that was just the way Banan liked it. Murder was his job; rape was what he did for fun.

Armed and Magical chapter 01

And crap, if losing the girl wasn’t bad enough, due to Banan flapping his mouth off, she found out that there were two reasons for the Nightshades attempts, to assassinate Mychael and the Archmagus, it was also to provoke Raine to show off her power to some people that wanted to see how strong she or the Saghred was.

 Bastard.

 Well, now the secret is out, everyone who is everyone will come out of their rock and try to get her and the Saghred since it seems that she’s the only one who can sponge off the rock’s power without going completely insane as in take-over-the-world insane.

 “Mychael said the rock’s not affecting you, and from what I’m seeing I’m inclined to agree.”

“Too much work.”

Armed and Magical chapter 02

 Then of course there was the case of missing students; goblin or elf and from what Raine could tell, they were all spellsingers. Coincidentally, there’s going to have a big spellsinger showdown, the best of the best of spellsingers, the students of the Conclave school, including Piaras will show off their pipes at this big recital.

 Raine and co knew it was a bad idea but nothing can be done about it. The question is, what the hell are the nightshades doing with all these spellsingers? Not to mention Tam was in town, apparently he’s been around for sometimes and hell, it seemed that he was much much more that what she thought he was, and still, she has to fight off the temptation of the Saghred, for every favour and power it gave her, there’s a price for it. It didn’t help that the Saghred seemed to very much like Tam’s brand of magic. Dark, dark magic and was compelled to try its hand-or whatever-at matchmaking.

 “A death curse in Old Goblin.

The Saghred didn’t care.

I felt heat coil tightly like a fiery serpent in the center of my chest. It uncoiled and ignited, spreading through my body, heating and awakening. Eager and quivering. I couldn’t hear anything past the pounding of my heart. Tam held me pressed against the wall, his lean body hard against mine. He looked down at me in shock and disbelief—and beyond that lay something darker and uncontrolled. His large eyes were bottomless black pools with barely any white exposed. His breathing became ragged and the sharp tips of his fangs appeared behind parted lips. “The Saghred?” Tam’s question came out as a raw whisper.

It was, but I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I started to panic as the power between us continued to build, my breath coming in shallow gasps. I couldn’t fight it; I couldn’t stop it. And I didn’t want to.

Tam slid his hand from my mouth to my throat, the heated trail of his fingers burning away all instinct to defend myself. He bent his head until his lips hovered over mine. His breath was warm, the sting of his fangs a sharp sweetness as he softly bit my bottom lip. Then his mouth met mine and the Saghred’s power coursed like liquid fire through my veins, meeting and melding with Tam’s black magic until what was mine and his became ours in a searing blaze of power. A pulsing, living thing ripe with dark promise.”

Armed and Magical Chapter 09

 Okay, can I say...HAWT...man, what is about about recovering bad boys that try so hard in restraining their inner demons? Geez, alright, pause to wipe my comp screen.

Yes, it is that hot...I'm also sensing angst here, how sucky is it that you can't touch the person you care about because it'll somehow summon your inner badness to flirt with the evil rock power (*snicker* evil rock power..) that is possessing them?

Well, okay, not a common situation but you can relate...right?

Things began to unravel, several plots thicken and secrets rise to the surface and Raine has to figure it all out before things grow even worse for her and for Piaras whose power is also catching way too many attention.

The thing that also tickles me, is Phaelan's presence in the midst of Conclave Guardians. I mean, seriously...a pirate among law abiding soldiers...oh geez.

It's also interesting to me how Mychael keeps bending the rules and finding loopholes and...*snicker* how Mychael and Tam is circling each other in the nature of unfriendly dogs....men.

Action packed, which I love, laced with humor and sprinkled with hotness, Armed and Magical is a must have in my book collections!

You know what I love most about these series…PIRATES!!! SWORD FIGHTS!!! BIG SHIPS!!! MAGIC BROUHAHA!

Well, all right, it’s not purely about pirates but Raine Benares-our resident kick-ass heroine- spent the better of her younger years with these illustrious ‘gentlemen’. Related to Ryn and Phaelan Benares, father and son has scoured the seven seas for riches and isn’t too picky about the whose and the hows.

"You could say our family was well known in the import and export business. The goods my cousin’s side of the family imported never saw the light of day in a harbormaster’s ledger, and the exports consisted of vast profits sent to secret family accounts in various banks in numerous kingdoms. Phaelan’s natural talent was in acquisitions. Many times he neglected to get permission from the owners whose goods he intended to acquire; or when he did ask, his request often came from the business end of a cannon.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 01

Kinda handy having generations of pirates in your blood-line when you’re a seeker whose job is to find stuff through magical means, whether it’s alive or inanimate, usually stolen or kidnapped or cheated from someone and since those very people who stole, kidnapped and cheated often object handing over their loot (hey, thievery lingo!) to anyone else, hence her proficiency in sneaking, stealing, cheating, fighting, finessing, manipulating and all those handy questionable skills that could get you far in life.

It’s a dirty yet lucrative job and sometimes she even gets ask to help out the government, despite the black reputation of her family or in some cases because the black reputation of her family. Takes one to know one, you know.

I think basically, her ability as a seeker is somewhat along the lines of psychometry.

As an elf, a sorceress, a Benares and a seeker…well, let’s just say that Raine has her hands full and she’s about to have her hands ever fuller.

Our journey begins in Narnia…*cough* I mean Mermia (think Venice), a land with canals and gondola’s and business ports that are filled with ships of various sizes and means and intentions where humans, goblins, and elves whether their magical or not live together side by side…not so peaceful but not killing each other either.

“The city of Mermeia in the kingdom of Brenir consisted of five islands that had been forced into existence by the determination of its founders, and kept from sinking by the greed of its merchants. A powerful force, greed. It made solid ground where there had once been marsh; built palaces and trading houses where there were reeds; and inspired humans, elves, goblins, and magic users of all races to live together in a city separated only by the canals that marked their respective Districts.

Sometimes we even got along.”

Magic Lost, Trouble Found chapter 01

From what I imagine it, the whole setting and timeline and clothes seemed to be the same as Pirates of the Carribean; rapiers and leather boots and doublets and ships with ballooning sails…and of course PIRATES.

Anyway, Raine’s trouble began with when she was watching out for an old friend and colleague who was an ex-thief but seems to be out of retirement for the moment…nothing strange right, but here’s the thing, from her hiding place she could see whose house Quentin-the ex-thief and colleague-was finessing. That alone would raise alarm in Raine’s head because Quentin hated all kinds of magic (although he makes exception for Raine), and the house belonged to Nachtmagus Nigelius Nicabar, a human necromancer who doesn’t tolerate anything very much for very long. Quentin is terrified of Necromancers so what the hell was he doing trying to pick the lock of Nigel’s back door?

She was soon joined by Captain Phaelan Benares, pirate, scourge of the seven seas and all around bad boy in the alley that she was staking out. He had tracked her down because she stood him up for their annual dinner whenever he docked in Mermeia and both of them watched and pondered about the strangeness of Quentin’s sudden bout to insaneville.

Anyway, the night went from troubling to suspicious when with the help of a tracking stone that she sneakily planted on Quentin—enabling her to see where he was, what he was doing and see what he’s seeing—, the minute he got his hands on the loot, Raine had to fight the sudden urge to stop breathing, hurl and faint. Then things shot off the atmosphere into WTF when all hell broke loose—windows shattered and Quentin found the great idea to jump out of the window because out of nowhere a troop of goblins surrounded him. Not only ordinary goblins but goblin shamans. Khrynsani, which were all kinds of bad.

“The Khrynsani were an ancient goblin secret society and military order, with even more outdated political ideas. The Khrynsanic credo was simple. Goblins were meant to rule, and if anyone disagreed, they weren’t meant to live. Those who disagreed included every other race. Unfortunately, the minds behind the Khrynsani weren’t simple, or without influence. Some of the most powerful families of the goblin aristocracy were secret Khrynsani members. The new goblin king was a Khrynsani and proud of it. So it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the old blood nobility traded in their secret membership for openly fashionable affiliation.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 01

Goblins as a norm are usually pictured as short, hunched back, greedy and greenish with bald large heads and stick-like hands and legs and pouch bellies, well, not in this book. In Magic Lost, Trouble Found, goblins have silver grayish skins, usually beautiful, graceful, tall, and willowy with sharp-tipped ears and fangs.

“Goblins were generally tall, long limbed, and leanly muscled, like elves. This quartet was no exception. Their features were angular, their large eyes dark, and their upswept ears slightly more pronounced at the tip than elven ears. Their pale gray skin set off their most distinguishing feature—a pair of fangs that weren’t for decorative use only. Just because a goblin smiled at you didn’t mean he wanted to be friends. The danger didn’t detract from the race’s appeal—some would say it fueled it. I guess all that sinuous grace and exotic beauty can make you overlook a lot, and there were plenty of half-breed children running around to prove it. Some said that elves and goblins came from a common ancestor; a theory hotly denied by the old blood of both races.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 01

Naturally, Phaelan and Raine dove into the melee and they found out that Quentin has stolen a necklace, an ugly one at that. Unsure of what to make of it and why it was so important and since Raine was also unsure whether it was the box—which Quentin dropped when he jumped—or the necklace that was the requested loot, it seemed better to get all the information she could about the damn thing before they hand it over.

Quentin, Phaelan and Raine got out of that fight alive and raced to Simon Stocken who mediated the deal between Quentin and whoever it was that paid him good money. But instead they found Sarad Nukpana the grand shaman of the Khrynsani and co which didn’t bode well for Simon or for any either of them. Phaelan went to get back up in the form of a colleague of his, Tanik Ozal while Quentin tried to make a deal with Sarak Nukpana. Meanwhile the necklace stayed around Raine’s neck, just to be safe.

…if only she knew.

Now here’s where another important character shows up.

As Sarak Nukpana made a typical bad guy move, as in threatening Quentin to give it up or die, a bolt from a cross bow shot out of the darkness and impales itself on one of the goblins chest and another one into another’s neck. It appears as if whatever the necklace was, it was a pretty big deal.

“A strong, clear voice came from the shadows, not twenty feet away. “Don’t move.”

I froze. So did everyone else. The command wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. The volume was from the warehouse’s cave-like interior—the authority came from another source entirely. The echo of those simple words resonated with a quiet power held in perfect check. It also doused all other magic in the room like a bucket of cold water on a candle. It looked like Nukpana’s antics had attracted a spellsinger. My night was just getting better all the time.

With the power of their voice alone—the inflection, the resonance, the charisma—a spellsinger could influence thought with a quietly hummed phrase, or control actions with simple speech or carefully crafted tune. The number of people didn’t matter. One spellsinger could turn the tide of battle. Gifted spellsingers were highly prized and sought after—not to mention rare and dangerous. Judging from the way the tiny hairs on my arms were standing at attention, this one could probably do virtually anything he wanted to with his voice, and not only would his intended victim not mind in the least, they’d probably enjoy it.”

Magic Lost, Trouble Found chapter 02

You know what else I love about these series? SPELLSINGERS!!

Anyway, turns out this particular spellsinger is not just some ordinary spellsinger, he’s one of the Conclave Guardians which…well, Raine wasn’t so sure whether it was a good or bad thing for her situation right now.

What is a Conclave Guardian you ask?

“Conclave Guardians were based on the Isle of Mid, known for having the largest sorcerer population on the continent. It was home to the most prestigious college for sorcery, as well as the Conclave, the governing body for all magic users in the seven kingdoms. The students were young and talented, and many were away from home for the first time. Most Conclave officials were from kingdoms where they had been big fish in little ponds. But the Isle of Mid was a big pond with bigger, carnivorous fish. Students and bureaucrats, all highly gifted, all packed together in one island city. It was a powder keg waiting to explode, and the Guardians’ job was to keep anyone from striking a match.

Their sworn duty was to protect the members of the Conclave and defend Mid against any outside threat, but they spent most of their time protecting the Conclave, students and citizens, from each other. To keep the peace in a city of sorcerers took an even more talented sorcerer—and a warrior. Guardians had enough to do at home, so they only left Mid on official Conclave business—renegade mages and the like.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 02

Turns out that the Guardians wanted the box and necklace too. It seems that Raine was out of luck. As the elf Guardian Spellsinger and the goblin grand shaman who took Quentin for hostage was busy casting spells on each other, Raine seems it was a great opportunity to take charge. She didn’t bother with spells knowing she was out-classed anyway, instead she applied a more physical method of subduing enemies.

She tackled the goblin grand shaman, stopping him from manifesting a demon that would probably kill them all and freeing Quentin in the process, not bad for a seeker. But it turns out, that the goblin actually knew who she was and not only that the elf Guardian managed to take a hold of her and see her face, committing it to memory.

Bad. Bad. Bad.

The only good thing that could come out of that was that she saw his face too. And man, what a face it was. Yum, yum. But, still, it wasn’t good that he saw her face and that he had his hands on her. So, she took another immediate action.

She kicked him in the balls.

And hence, our journey begins…

Characters:

Raine Benares: Elf, sorceress, seeker, loyal friend, telekinetic and all around kick ass heroine.

“My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker. I find things. Most times the people who hire me are glad when I do, but sometimes they’re sorry they asked. Personally, I think people should be more careful what they ask for. Some things are better left unfound.

Seeking isn’t the flashiest occupation a sorceress can put out her shingle for, or the most highly regarded, but it pays the rent on time. I’ve found the formerly unfindable for the Mermeia city watch, and since I’m an elf, elven intelligence has sought my help on more than one occasion. Most of what I’m hired to find didn’t get lost by itself. It had help. Help you could depend on to use blades or bolts or nastier magical means to keep what they went to all the trouble to get. When that’s the case, I go by the rule of me or them.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 01

Captain Phaelan Benares: Elf, pirate, loyal cousin, good looking bastard, all around bad ass.

“He grinned in a flash of white teeth. It was the kind of grin that could get him anything he wanted at Madame Natasha’s—or anywhere else in Mermeia—for free.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 01

Fortune: Captain Phaelan’s ship.

Sarad Nukpana: Goblin, grand shaman of The Order of Khrysani. King Sathrik Mal’Salin’s chief counselor. All around bad guy. Trust me, we hate him.

Garadin Wyne: Elf, Ex-Conclave Guardian, Raine’s godfather, spellsinger. Parias’ teacher.

“I wasn’t quite a year old when my mother was killed. As her closest friend, Garadin took me in and found himself faced with the not so small task of raising a little girl. My mother’s brother, his wife, and his family lived in Laerin. It didn’t take Garadin too long to decide they were better suited for the job. Uncle Ryn was in shipping, was a respected businessman, and had done very well for himself. By the time Garadin found out that much of what Uncle Ryn called shipping was called piracy by all seven kingdoms, I was old enough to call Laerin home, and refused to budge. Uncle Ryn may be a pirate, but he ran a surprisingly moral and normal household—or at least my Aunt Dera did. It took Garadin longer to reach that same conclusion. All things considered, I don’t think I turned out half bad.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 04

Piaras Rivalin: Elf, the son of Raine’s landlady, adopted brother, Garadin’s student, spellsinger in training.

“Piaras was a spellsinger-in-training, so puberty had been interesting at our house. I say ours because when you live in the upstairs apartment, you tend to hear and experience everything that goes on in the house anyway. As a boy, Piaras had shown signs of talent, but once adolescence set in, big feet weren’t the only things tripping him up. And all hell broke loose, magically speaking, when his voice changed. Garadin stepped in at that point and promptly earned the unending gratitude of the entire neighborhood.

For me, he was just the little brother I’d always wanted.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 04

Tarsilia Rivalin; Elf, Spellsinger, Piaras’ grandmother, Raine’s landlady.

“Well, I know a man who should know what this thing is and what it does,” Tarsilia said, “but it’s been over twenty years since I last saw him.”

“Who?” Garadin asked.

“Justinius Valerian.”

My godfather looked stunned. It was a look I didn’t get to see on him very often.

“You were a student of the Archmagus?” he asked, clearly impressed.

“No, we were business partners for a time. That, and I slept with him.”

I didn’t even try to stop my jaw from dropping. One man had absolute authority over the Isle of Mid and everyone on it. The Archmagus. And Tarsilia had slept with him.

“For about five years,” Tarsilia added. “The sex part, that is. The business partnership dissolved long before that. We just couldn’t seem to agree with each other.”

“Sounds like you agreed with each other just fine,” I said.

Tarsilia winked. “That’s a different kind of agreement, dear.”

Garadin recovered quicker than I did. “Think he would remember you?”

She gave him a flat look. “I can guarantee it.”

Magic Lost Trouble Found 05

Mykael Eiliosior: Elf, powerful Spellsinger, powerful healer, Paladin of the Conclave Guardian, major hottie.

“Mychael Eiliesor lay on his side with a pale sheet draped loosely over his waist. One arm was curled under the pillow, and the other stretched across the bed. His coppery hair gleamed in the light of a single bedside lamp and one loose curl brushed his temple. My eyes were drawn lower, down the leanly muscled torso and beyond. If he was wearing anything, it wasn’t obvious to me. He moved and the sheet slipped farther. Nope, he definitely wasn’t wearing anything. I felt my face flush, which shouldn’t have been possible considering that I wasn’t really there. I looked away. Then I looked back. I couldn’t help myself.

His glorious sea blue eyes were open and watching me. I didn’t like water, but I could drown in those eyes and die happy. I froze in shock. He could see me. I looked down at myself. I could see me. But I was asleep onboard the Fortune. I couldn’t be in both places at once. Or could I? But how?

Eiliesor was now propped up on one elbow. He was still watching me, but now there was the beginning of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Heart-stopping.

“This is unexpected,” he said.

He was telling me.

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 14

Primaru Tamnais Nathrach: Goblin, a shaman of royal blood, friend to Raine who wants to be more than friends, owner of Siren-the hottest casino and nightclub in Mermia, also major hottie.

“Seeing Tam always made me breathe funny.

Like many goblins, Tam wore his black hair long. Normally it was pulled away from his face with a silver clasp. This morning it was loose, slightly disheveled and fell in a shimmering wave to the middle of his back. Looked like someone had spent the night here. Tam crossed the floor to me like a big, beautiful, and dangerous cat that had just awakened from a very satisfying nap. If I listened closely enough, I could probably hear him purr. He wore trousers and matching boots of dark, soft leather. Over that was a long silk dressing robe woven with an intricate pattern of silver and blue. He let the robe fall open, treating me to a view of smooth, silvery chest. Tam noted my appreciative glance with a sly smile and a bit of fang peeking into view.

Magic Lost Trouble Found chapter 08

I dunno, after reading this, I think Goblins in this series are a bit like vampires in others; sexy, suave, more in touch with their evil side than others, mysterious and just…well, you know.

Prince Chigaru Mal’salin: The exiled brother of the current King of Goblins

Primari A’Zahra Nuru: Goblin, Shamaness of royal blood, Prince Chigaru’s royal advisor, former teacher of Tamnais Nathrach.

Saghred: A mysterious powerful stone which name means “Thief of Souls” that everyone seems to want and Raine is trying to get rid of.

Magh’Sceadu: Shadow-like creatures that sucks people into themselves.

 A Rush of Wings

By

Adrian Pheonix

“For far too long, Adrian Phoenix has been one of fantastic literature’s best kept secrets. Finally, she has fulfilled all the promise of her brilliant but infrequent short stories with A Rush of Wings. The novel is a fast-paced ride, its New Orleans setting appropriately rich and gothic, its characters both real and surprising. If you read only one debut novel this season, make it this one.”

—New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch

“A goth urban fantasy that moves as fast as its otherworldly characters. A bit like The Crow crossed with The Silence of the Lambs crossed with a voice that is Phoenix’s own, A Rush of Wings is decadent, glittering fun, wrapped up in leather and latex.”

— Justine Musk, author of BloodAngel

“A Rush of Wings is a dark, rich, sensual treat, where heroes and villains alike are fascinating and three-dimensional. Adrian Phoenix uses a perfect blend of suspense, romance, and lyrical prose to keep readers up until late, late at night turning pages. I can’t wait to read more about Dante and about the complex, multifaceted world in which he lives.”

— Jenna Black, author of Secrets in the Shadows

Summary from fantasticfiction.co.uk:

My review:

Adrian Pheonix’s In A Rush of Wings is an interesting blend of Blade (the whole mother turned at birth thing), Anne Rice’s Lestat (the vamp rock star thing), Constantine(the angels part), J.D Robb’s Eve Dallas Series (the no nonsense cop with a heart and a need to stand up for the dead), and Dark Angel (the whole government conspiracy and experiment thing) and…huh, well it seems to have everything.

Heather Wallace, an FBI Agent of the Seattle branch has been after the same serial killer for three years. Basically, she sleeps, breathes and thinks about him. Known also as the Cross Country Killer or CCK, this son of bitch just goes off everywhere and pick off a victim one by one with his trademark of kill, rape, mutilate and posed.

His latest masterpiece is what got her arriving at New Orleans, a body propped up the building of Club Hell, a nightclub that serves to the vampire wannabees clientele.

Other than the truly sadistic bent, there was something else that bothered Heather, the CCK changed his MO. Two words scrawled in blood and a sign burned on the body as he was communicating, but to whom?

Finally, the where the body was placed, the note and the burned sign leads her to Dante Prejean known only as Dante, the owner of Club Hell, and front man for Inferno.

Soon, she was pulled into the world of vampires (nightkind), angels, and stumbled upon a government conspiracy that threatens her life.

Intense, undeniably sexy, dark, heartfelt, complicated with a spice of Cajun and French and Welsh words sprinkled about, it definitely got me going.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy

A Jaz Parks Novel

Jennifer Rardin

It all starts from when Jaz got called into the principal’s office…*cough* sorry, wrong book, I mean, her boss’s office.

Pretty boring, right? Who would want to read about a girl getting called into her boss’s office? (oh, the things that I got from this provoking question alone. *smutty mind mode::off*)

I might read about puppy dogs and candy canes.

But I do not want to read about some girl getting yelled at by her boss.

I’m just picky that way.

But wait, turns out that this isn’t just some girl. And the boss isn’t just some boss.

Jaz aka Jasmine Parks is one of CIA’s best assassins and her boss is…well, he’s the boss of a lot of CIA’s assassins which makes him a pretty dangerous person. One call and you’ll get swamped by ninja-like hordes of destruction who can break your bones to itty bitty pieces with their pinky.

Yeah, nope. Do not want to piss him off.

So, here she was, Jaz, sweating, already deciding that she was going to get fired and worrying about the same stuff that all of our mundane people do when about to get fire; how will I eat? How am I gonna pay the rent? And stuff like that.

You could just tell how screwed she was that the first thought that bounced around in her mind when she was called into her boss’s office was that she was about to get fired. It didn’t help that she gave him a lot of reason too; she tends to get too…um…overzealous in her missions. Not that she isn’t good, she’s one of the best for a reason, it’s just that she, uh, leans hard toward taking unnecessary risks way too often.

“You're smart, aggressive and resilient. His words, although I agree."

My lips had gone numb. "Uh-huh. And?"

He sighed. "And increasingly dangerous—to yourself." He rushed on before I could interrupt, which was a good thing, because I think my first response might've ruptured his eardrums. "You've been taking bigger and bigger risks. Like the job in Cuba."

I'd hit Castro's most trusted advisor, a general named Miguel Santas. In the middle of a crowded market. In broad daylight. Within arm's reach of his lieutenants. But I'd gotten away clean. Didn't that count for anything?

"And the one in Colorado."

Aaah, sweet. A pedophile named George Freede had started a church called International Brothers of the Light. Their main focus seemed to be kidnapping children from the U.S. and selling them to the highest foreign bidder. I'd tracked him to a resort and pushed him off a mountain. Okay, we'd both fallen off, but I'd landed on my skis in nice, fluffy powder. He'd dropped on a rock."

(Once Bitten Twice Shy; Prologue)

So, what does her boss and his associates do to stop her plunge onto the path of self-destruction?

Why, partner her with a 300 year old vampire of course.

Vayl, the 300 year old vampire, is a superstar even amongst the best of the best of CIA’s assassins. One of the few (I am so tempted to add on; one of the brave, one of the...) vampires that defected to the good side and joined in on the human’s crusade to slay anything that goes not only bump in the night but snarl and growls and creeps at your bedside and chomped your head off…oh, and supernatural buggers too.

But it turns out that Jaz will not only be an assistant assassin/ sidekick to Vayl, but also will serve as his bodyguard cause it turns out, someone is out to get him.

You would think that a 300 year old vampire can take care of himself right? Considering that he’d live for 300 years is a statement of how good he could take care of himself but here’s the kicker; there are two windows of weaknesses in a vampires life and Jaz’s job is to cover, block and guard those windows and take out anyone who tried to get pass.

The first chapter starts off six months after Jaz partners of with Vayl.

Very fast-paced, action packed and high enjoyable as the story is told in first person point of view, Jaz’s in fact and boy, she makes me giggle and choke with laughter with her sarcastic and unerringly sharp commentary on everything, even as she hacks and shoot people.

From dealing with her dark, dark, dark past, her nosy sister, her bully of a father, her estranged twin and a sudden burst of attraction to her boss, not to mention having to deal with a vampire virus, her boss’s ex-wife who not only hates her guts but also wants to strangle her with it and experiencing strange bouts of black outs, Jaz deals it all with bitter bravery (the one that you squeeze out because you have no choice), a ton of snark and sharp, sometimes twisted, humor.

Favorite Quotes:

"Look, Pete, I know you told me to cut out the car hits. The repairs are too expensive. You told me that. So I stopped. I haven't caused an "accidental" crash in three months, you know that! But this last one just couldn't be avoided."

"I understand you took out my counterpart in MI5."

"Well, yeah, but only because his driver was in on the plot. He'll be fine. You heard that too, right? His back will heal in, like, six weeks."

"I heard there was a bomb."

"It didn't go off."

"But it could have."

I shrugged. "Better there than at the coronation." Wait, that sounds a little casual for somebody who should be begging at this point. "But I am sorry about the car. I took out extra insurance."

(Pete, Jaz-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Prologue)

"What a creep."

"The world is full of them."

"You're telling me. It's good there's people like us around to balance things out."

"What is this optimistic talk I hear coming from your mouth?" Vayl asked. "Are you Jasmine's evil clone, come to lull me into fluffy white thoughts so you can stake me in my sleep?"

(Jaz, Vayl-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter One)

He slid into the car beside me, which shook me more that I let on. I preferred him sitting in the back, like a boss, rather than in front, like a date. I moved to change gears and nearly yelped when his hand covered mine.

"Wait a moment," Vayl said, looking at me steadily through his predatory eyes. I tried not to fidget while he took stock of my hair, dress, shoes, though every second that passed squeezed at my nerves, as if he'd wrapped them in barbed wire and turned a crank that pulled it tighter until they screamed. I wanted to thump him. Didn't he know he was being rude? And unsettling? And rude? I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought when he said, "You look incredible. Like a goddess. I take back everything I said earlier."

The attention-starved teen in me melted. Even my brain reverted. All I could think for a second was, He likes me! He really likes me!!

Gag

(Jaz, Vayl-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter Two).

"So, do you make a habit of kissing strange men in bathrooms?" Vayl's eyes had darkened to jade with swirling gold flecks that made me slightly dizzy. When I didn't immediately reply he added, "Because it certainly was not mentioned in your file."

What is it about the people who know you best? You never reveal to them the secret location of your make-me-crazy buttons and yet, like toddlers at preschool, they root them out and push them again and again and again. Mine are directly connected to hand grenades. So as soon as Vayl finished speaking I heard the tell-tale clatter of a pin rattling on the floor. My file? I wish it was in my hands right now. I'd smack you over the head with it so hard your bell would still be ringing for church next Saturday night!

(Jaz, Vayl-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter Two)

"Jesus Henry Christ, Parks, why is it that every time I send you out on assignment something explodes?"

Only Pete called me Parks, and only when he was mad. He called me Parks an awful lot. "The car didn't explode, Pete, it crumpled. In the back. About six inches all the way across."

A strangled scream from the other end of the phone told me Pete might be choking on his own tongue. Maybe if I just waited very quietly at this end he'd suffocate before he could fire me.

(Pete, Jaz-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter Three)

"This is not something we can escape through violence," he said, thawing slightly as I searched his eyes.

"What about through the threat of violence?"

(Vayl, Jaz-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter Ten)

It is a strange and unfair phenomenon that children of crappy parents still love those parents. Despite my best efforts, I'd never been able to erase that feeling. So maybe it's understandable that I suddenly felt the urge to park the car and tap-dance the rest of the way to the hospital, throwing some classic Gene Kelly moves in as I went. Luckily I managed to resist temptation.

(Jaz-Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Chapter Thirteen)

By Chloe Neill

 This first book focuses on the The Three Houses in Chicago; Cadogan, Navarre and Grey, Cadogan being where our Merit was anointed into, unwillingly.

 P.s: The scene where Ethan and Merit spars with Nine Inch Nail's The Hand that Feeds playing in the background...LOL...as Ethan said..."very apropos"...everytime Ethan and Merit meets I keep hearing Nine Inch Nails Meet Your Master...*snicker*

 “Derek saw me. He didn’t stir, didn’t say anything, but his gaze fastened on to me and wouldn’t let go.

This conversation between the two of them is very telling; 
 

Ilona Andrew’s second book of the Magic Series is titled Magic Burns picks up a few months after Magic Bites where Kate receives a call from Jim, her Guild sometimes partner, were-panther and The Pack’s cat Alpha concerning a Guild job. Typically, as mercs do, they concerned themselves with the habitually haggling over who gets what and how much.

Kate won.

So, Jim and Kate was doing a fine job on handling a salamander influenced person (salamanders are small and usually harmless by themselves but for one tiny thing, they can possess and influence you to burn stuff, as if there isn’t enough arsonist in the world, right?), but before Kate could chop his head off, somebody mysterious killed this person themselves by way of crossbow.

“So he sniped our mark and left?”

“Looks that way.”

“I don’t get it.”

Jim shook his head. “Weird shit always happens around you.”

“This was your gig, not mine.”

A shower of sparks fell from above the door and a green EXIT sign burst into life.

Jim stared at it for a moment, his features twisted in a distinctly feline expression, disgust and fatalism rolled into one, and shook his head again.

“Dibs on the bolt in his back!” I called.

“Be my guest.”

(Magic Burns, chapter 1)

Phragmatism, thy name is Kate and Jim.

Someone shot your mark dead, no big. The bounty did say dead or alive.

                I couldn’t help but chuckle over this.

             In this book, Kate also has a new job and a new status. She enjoys a Friend of the Pack status, which means, uh, every shapechanger in the Pack will know her and at least will show her the courtesy of hesitating before tearing her to shreds and because of the showdown in the last book, she also works as a liason (ain’t that such a fancy word) between The Order and The Guild, where she works.

We also get a better picture of Kate’s past and why she got out of The Order:

“What’s it like to work for the Order?”

“Thinking of joining?”

“No, I’m happy where I’m at. But I’ve got a nephew. He wants to be a knight.”

“How old?”

“Sixteen.”

Perfect. The Order liked them young. All the easier to brainwash. I pulled up a chair. “I’d take a glass of water.”

He brought me water and I sipped it. “Basically the Order does the same thing we do: they clear magic hazmat. Let’s say you’ve got a harpy in a tree after a magic wave. You’re going to call the cops first.”

“If you’re stupid.” The clerk smirked.

I shrugged. “The cops tell you that they’re busy with a giant worm trying to swallow the federal courthouse, instruct you to stay away from the harpy, and tell you they’ll come out when they can. The usual. So you call the Guild. Why wait, when for three hundred bucks a couple of mercs will bag the harpy with no fuss and even give your kid a pretty tail feather for his hat, right?”

“Right.”

“Suppose you don’t have three hundred bucks. Or suppose the job is code 12, too nasty for the Guild to take it. You still have a harpy and you want her gone. So you call the Order, because you heard they don’t charge that much. They ask you to come to their Chapter, where a nice knight talks to you, gets your income assessed and tells you good news: they’re charging you fifty bucks because they’ve determined that’s all you can afford. Kismet.”

The clerk eyed me. “What’s the catch?”

“The catch is, they give you a piece of paper to sign, your plea to the Order. And there in big letters it says that you authorize the Order to remove any threat to humanity that arises in connection with this case.”

The Order of Merciful Aid had chosen its name well. They provided merciful aid, usually on the edge of the blade or by the burn of a bullet. Trouble was, sometimes you got more aid than you wanted.

“Let’s say you sign the plea. The knights come out and observe the harpy. At the same time, you notice that every time you see the damn thing, your elderly senile aunt disappears. So you watch the old lady and sure enough, the magic wave hits and she turns into a harpy. You tell the knights you want to call the whole thing off—you love your aunt and she does no harm sitting in that tree anyway. The knights tell you that five percent of harpies carry a deadly disease on their claws and they’ve determined her to be a danger to humanity. You get angry, you yell, you call the cops, but the cops tell you it’s all legal, there is nothing they can do, and besides the Order is part of the law enforcement anyway. You promise to lock your aunt up. You try a bribe. You point to your kids and explain how much they love the old lady. You cry. You beg. But nothing helps.” I drained my glass. “And that’s what it’s like working for the Order.”

The clerk poured himself a shot and tossed it down his throat. “Did that really happen?”

“Yep.”

“Did they kill the old lady?”

“Yep.”

“Jesus.”

(Magic Burns, chapter 1)

Sure, Kate gets to kill stuff and do cool magic but damn, as the day goes on, it all comes down to one thing. Paperwork.

“After writing my merc ID number ten times on every imaginable piece of paper, I was treated to a “check yes or no” questionnaire. Yes, I acted in self-defense. No, I didn’t believe excessive force was used in subduing the suspect. Yes, I perceived the suspect as presenting imminent threat to myself and others. By the time I reached the “fill in the blank” portion my eyes needed match sticks to stay open. In the “state the suspect’s intent as perceived by you” section, I wrote down, “Intended to burn down the city due to being a complete crackpot.”

(magic Burns, chapter 1)

             We are introduce to new characters, know more about old characters and gets up close and personal with new supernatural creatures and gods, untangle romantic ties, babysit a starving homeless kid who’s mother, who by the way happens to be a witch worshipping Celtic Goddess, disappears and are chase after by creepy looking spirits, not to mention she also has to deal with Curran, The Beast Lord over some missing maps.

In short, good fun and awesome read.

Favorite Quote and lines that I love and made me laugh hysterically is in BOLD:

He reached behind him and pushed the door closed. “I’ve come to extend a petition from the Pack.”

I don’t want to work with Curran, I don’t want to work with Curran, I don’t want to work with Curran. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that right. I thought you said the Pack wanted my help?”

“Yes.” Little tiny sparks danced in his eyes. “We were screwed and he didn’t even kiss us first.”

“How tacky of him. And this ‘he’ would be?”

“We aren’t sure,” Derek said carefully. “But you have his bolt on your desk.”

I leaned forward. “Do tell.”

“Let’s just say that this morning one of our teams was jumped by a man using this specific type of bolt. He has stolen Pack property and we want it back.”

“Aha. Why me?” The last time I checked, the Pack preferred to take care of their own problems. Hell, they didn’t even admit to having problems most of the time.

“Because you have contacts we don’t.” Derek permitted himself a small smile. “And because if we start turning the city inside out looking for this person, certain parties will wonder why and the rather embarrassing facts of the theft might come to light. We don’t want to air our dirty laundry in public. The Order always helped us without undue publicity.”

Great. The battle was lost. Greg was the only person within the Order who had earned the Pack’s trust. Now since he was dead and I had earned Friend of the Pack status, that trust naturally extended to me. The Order wanted to keep an eye on the Pack, I knew that much. Something told me the knights would view this petition as a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

“What did the crossbowman take?”

Derek hesitated.

“Derek, I’m not going to hunt I don’t know whom to retrieve I don’t know what. What did he take?”

“He jumped a survey team and took the maps.”

I almost whistled, except that my Russian father would have risen from his grave and smacked me for whistling indoors. The Pack maps, legendary in quality, precise, up-to-date, with all the new neighborhoods and power zones clearly marked, every alley explored, every place of interest indicated. I knew at least a half a dozen people who’d give their left nut for a chance to photocopy the bloody things.

 “He must have balls,” I said.

 “He did look male.”

 “Description?”

 “Very fast.”

 “That’s it? That’s all you got?”

“Very good shot.”

(Magic Burns, chapter 2)

 
               Bran popped into existence on the ledge right in front of me. His hands clamped my hands, pinning them to the windowsill. “Hello, dove.” He grinned at me. “Look at that: you don’t have your pretty knife and I’ve got your hands. What are you gonna do now?”

I rammed my head into his nose.

(Magic Burns, chapter 10)

                I tossed Slayer on the bed, never taking my eyes off of him, and put the maps on the sheets. “Back away, three steps.”

We stepped back in unison, he to the middle of the room, and I to the wall by the chair.

“On three. One,” he said, bending forward like a runner. “Two.”

He lunged for the maps. I grabbed the chair and hit him with it. He went down. I hit him again to make sure he stayed that way, stepped over him, and picked up the maps. “I win.”

(magic burns, chapter 10)

            
              I woke up because someone was watching me. I opened my eyes and saw Julie’s face an inch from mine. We looked at each other for a long minute.

“You’re not going to die?” she asked me very softly.

“Not right this minute.” And, of course, saying something like that usually resulted in immediate demise. I braced myself for a stray meteorite falling through the roof to crush my skull.

(Magic burns, chapter 11)

 Young shapeshifters didn't have a lot of time to find themselves. When puberty hit, they had two choices: go loup or go Code.

Going loup meant abandoning all control to blindly follow your body into hormone hell. Loups fed on human meat. They reveled in pain and sadistic perversion, sliding down from one elaborate torture to the next, until a gun, a sword, or claws cured all their ills, or until Lyc-V burned them out. Loups died young and didn’t leave pretty corpses.

Going Code meant controlling your every move. Free People of the Code wanted to stay human and went to extraordinary lengths to keep their beast on a short leash. Code meant strict mental conditioning, discipline, accountability, hierarchy, and obedience. All of the things that pretty much drove me crazy.

The individuals emerging from this Code crucible acquired similar traits. They knew their boundaries. They avoided smoking, strong scents, liquor, and spices, as they dulled their senses. They rarely gave in to excess.

Except when it came to food. The shapeshifters ate like pigs. And I did my best to imitate them.

(magic burns, chapter 11)

 “How much are you lifting?”

“Seven hundred.”

Alrighty then. I will just stand over here, out of your way, and hope you don’t remember my promise to kick your ass.

He grinned. “Wanna spot me?”

“No thanks. How about I just scream verbal encouragements at you?” I took a deep breath and barked. “No pain, no gain! That pain is just weakness leaving your body! Come on! Push! Push! Make that weight your bitch!”

He cracked up. The weight stopped, perilously close to his chest, while he shook with laughter. I stepped up and grabbed the bar. It put me into an incredibly compromising position, since his head was really close to my thighs and the area directly above them, but I didn’t want to explain to a rabid Pack how I was responsible for the Beast Lord crushing his chest with a weight bar.

I put my back into it. There was no way in hell I could ever pull it up without him pushing.

The bar crept up very slowly.

“Curran, stop playing and lift.”

I looked down and saw him looking straight at me. He had a smile on his face. The sight of me puffing and straining apparently amused him to no end.

He raised the bar up and slid it into the twin forks on the sides of the bench.

I beat a hasty retreat, putting a few feet between him and me. He sat, pulled his shirt off, and used it to wipe the sweat off his chest. Slowly. Flexing a bit for my benefit.

I turned around and looked at the scenery. Having a streak of drool hang from my mouth would seriously cramp my style. Besides, if he full-out flexed, I would probably faint. Or jump off the building.
(magic burns, chapter 11)

 
            The vampire stared at me, his mouth slack as Ghastek assessed his options. I took a couple of forms from my desk, put them into the vamp’s mouth, and pulled them up by their edges.

 “What are you doing?” Ghastek asked.

 “My hole puncher broke.”

“You have no respect for the undead.”

(magic burns, chapter 12)

                The magic flooded us again. This time Derek was ready—his face showed no change. Ghastek, on the other hand, halted in midrise halfway off the ground.

I unsheathed Slayer. Derek backed away, giving himself room for a leap. If the vamp went berserk, we’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

“Ghastek?” I murmured.

“Just a second.” His voice sounded muffled.

“Are you losing your grip on him?”

“What?”

The vampire dropped to the floor, regarding me with blood-drenched eyes. “Whatever led you to that conclusion?”

“You froze.”

“If you must know, an apprentice brought me my espresso and I burned my tongue on it.”
(magic burn, chapter 12)

         “I agreed to your presence because I felt it was a fair request, not because I was bound by our agreement. I’m under no obligation to help you. Furthermore, please note that at no point did the contract specify that you or any other representative of the People became part of the Order’s investigation into the disappearance of Jessica Olsen. So far, you have done your best to impede this investigation by nearly sabotaging my rendezvous with the witches. As an Order representative, it’s my duty to advise you that further attempts to hinder the Order’s activities will not be tolerated. That said, since I’m also a representative of the Mercenary Guild, if you require protection from the witches, I’m sure we can come to a reasonable agreement on my retainer. I dislike bodyguard detail but since you’re an old acquaintance, I’ll make an exception.”

The vampire stared at me with an expression of utter shock on its face.

“Who are you?” Ghastek said finally. “And what have you done with Kate?”

“I’m the person whose job it is to settle disputes between the Order and the Guild. I have a lot of free time on my hands, and I spend this time reading the Order’s Charter and the Guild’s Manual. Would you prefer if I went back to my normal mode of conversation?”

“I think so.”

“You underestimated the witches, mouthed off, and got punked. Don’t come crying to me.”

(magic burns, chapter 17)

            “If there is anything I can do, I’ll help. Don’t get excited. It’s not because of you. For the child. If it wasn’t for her and the flare, I’d throw your dumb ass out of this window.”

 “What does the flare have to do with it?”

“I don’t want it to be attributed to a loss of control on my part. When I throw you out of the window, I want there to be no doubt the act was deliberate.”

Wow, he was pissed.

(magic burns, chapter 20)

Oh, and my most favorite one. I still get the chuckles every time I remember this one:

A slow, lazy, carnivorous smile touched Curran’s lips. “Not only will you sleep with me, but you will say ‘please.’”

I stared at him, shocked.

The smile widened. “You will say ‘please’ before and ‘thank you’ after.”

Nervous laughter bubbled up. “You’ve gone insane. All that peroxide in your hair finally did your brain in, Goldilocks.”

(magic burns, chapter 20)

*rotfl* Oh, seriously. That paragraph is genius and made me love Curran even more. Please and thank you *snicker*, the sheer arrogrance!!! You have to give it to him for the delivery and Ilona Andrews for giving him that line and could still make him hot and likable. Of course if I was Kate I’d probably be a little terrified and reacted as she had, but since I’m not, I’ll just chortle gleefully and entertain myself with their bickering.

The whole 25th Chapter. Mucho awesome epic battle there. SMEYER, that is how you do an epic battle!!!! Take notes!!!

So, Ilona Andrew’s Magic Series (Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes) happens in an alternate universe version of Atlanta. Set in the future where Atlanta is hit by a magic’s equivalent of a nuke, rather than the shimmer and glitter of Harry Potter, in this book, magic is a capricious greedy bitch that is hell bent on messing everything up for everybody else.

It messes up Technology (cars, cellphones, TV, computers) and mostly everything of such doesn’t really work. The magic comes and goes like an ocean wave, influencing everything in their path that forces us to fall back on more simple and tried methodes.

Horses, horse buggies, carts and donkeys are use just as much as cars that uses magically infused water to work the engine.

When the magic is up, everything that is magic swells up including magical incantation, magic healing, magical instruments, and magical summoning...predictably, when magic is up, everything usually goes to hell and back again...including Gods, Demigods, and magical creatures. You know, the things we usually hear in fairy tales and see in nightmares. The things that usually go bump in the night.

Yeah, the myths are alive and kicking, fellas.

When the magic is down, everything tech (technology) works like normal.

The first book introduces Kate Daniels, a mercenary with The Guild, who is sitting alone by herself, downing a bottle of beer when the magic goes down (hence tech is up) so the TV pops on. But lo and behold, the domestic quiet breaks when a Vampire passes through her dying wards that she sets around her apartment (magic is down, remember).

Now, mind you, the vampires in these books are not the suave, sexy, hot kind. They’re literally monsters; emaciated, empty headed, and doesn’t even look much like human anymore but more animalistic (Think the creatures of hell in Constantine). They are controlled by masters of the dead and journey men; who uses mind control to control the vampires (necromancy and necronavigation).Without them, vampires are just crawling husks of animal instinct. You do not want to be around when there’s a vampire on the loose. Trust me.

Fortunately, no journey men worth his or her salt will ever intentionally lose control over his or her vampire since...you know, having a vampire on a rampage hurts their community and business. Bad PR and all of that.

These people, these journey men and their stables (I am not kidding) are called The People.

Anyway, back to the story, the vampire who creeps into her house is controlled by someone named Ghastek who apparently is not a stranger to Kate, nor is he a friend since Kate doesn’t have any qualms about putting a knife into said vampire.

Ghastek takes the token hostility with mild chastisment. But as any good mystery, Ghastek only leaves after throwing a vague question about the absence of Kate’s mentor and guardian; Greg.

After a few calls, mostly to The Order where Greg works as a Knight-Diviner, she finds out that Greg is dead and as she investigates his murder, Kate has to walk a fine and trecherous path between The Pack and The People.

And hence, Magic Bites begins.

Magic Series speak:

The Order (Order of Knights of Merciful Aid);

“The Order of Merciful Aid offered just what its name suggested: merciful aid to anyone who asked. If you could pay, they would charge you; and if you couldn't, they would kill shit on your behalf pro bono. Officially their mission statement was to protect humanity against all harm, by magic or by weapon. Trouble was, their definition of harm seemed rather flexible and sometimes merciful aid meant they lopped your head off.

The Order got away with a lot. Its membership was too powerful to be ignored, and the temptation to rely on it was too great. It's been endorsed by the government as the third part of the law enforcement triumvirate. The Paranormal Activity Police Division, the Military Supernatural Defense Units, and the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid were all supposed to play nice together and keep the general public safe. In reality, it didn't exactly happen that way. The knights of the Order were helpful, competent, and lethal. Unlike the mercenaries of the Guild, they were not motivated by money and they stood by their promises. But unlike the mercs, they also made judgments and they believed that they always knew best.”

(Magic Bites, chapter 2)

The Mercenary Guild; Where Kate works. Practically the name says it all. Show us a the money and we’ll handle of whatever needs handling. An Impala worm plugging your sewer? No problem. A harpy sitting on your tree? Three hundred bucks and she’s gone. A Banshee climbing up your telephone pole which also happens to be your grandmother? We’ll be happy to help her down...for some change. A sea serpent playing in the school’s fountain? No problem, we’ll chop its head off. Will that be check or cash? You need a bodyguard? We’ll be happy to provide you with our skills....money in advance please.

Power Words;

“The four words of power. Obey, Kill, Protect, and Die. Words so primal, so dangerous, so powerful that they commanded the raw magic itself. Nobody knew how many of them there were, where they came from, or why they held such enormous hold over magic. Even people who had never used magic recognized their meaning and were subject to their power, as if the words were a part of some ancient racial memory we all carried.

It wasn't enough to merely know them; one had to own them. When it came to acquiring power words, there were no second chances. You either conquered them or you died trying, which explained why so few among the magic workers could wield them. Once you made them yours, they belonged to you forever. They had to be wielded with great precision and using them took a chunk of power that left the caster near exhaustion. Greg and my father both warned me that the power words could be resisted, but so far I hadn't had a chance to use them against an opponent that did. They were the last resort, when all else failed.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 2)

Vampire:

“Homo sapiens immortuus, a vampire. An ironic name since the mind of a human died the moment vampirism took hold. The vampires knew no pity and no fear; they couldn't be trained; they had no ego. On a developmental level they stood close to insects, possessing a nervous system and yet incapable of forming thoughts. An insatiable hunger for blood ruled them and they slaughtered everything in their path in their urge to quench it.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 2)

The Beast Lord; Pack King. Not the person you want to mess around with.

“Somewhere in the darkness the Beast Lord prowled. I didn't know what he looked like. I didn't know the species of his beast. Few people outside of the Pack claimed to have met him and nobody seemed willing to discuss the experience. The only thing certain about him was power. By the latest count, he commanded a force of three hundred and thirty-seven shapechangers in Atlanta alone. He wasn't in charge because he was the smartest or the most popular; he ruled because of those three hundred and thirty-seven he was unquestionably the strongest. He was in charge by the right of might; that is, he had yet to meet anyone who could kick his ass.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 3)

The Pack: The name of the shapeshifters community.

“Among the shapechangers, wolves were the most numerous, then came the foxes, the jackals, the rats, and then the hyenas and the smaller felines: lynxes, bobcats, and cheetahs. There were the exotic forms too, the were-buffalos and wereserpents, but the buffalos formed their own Herd in the Midwest and the serpents were solitary. All of the beast-forms were larger than their natural counterparts; an average shapechanger in a wolf form came close to two hundred and twenty pounds while the natural gray wolf weighed a hundred pounds less. From a biological point of view, the transformation of a hundred-and-seventy-pound human into a two-hundred-and-twenty-pound animal made no sense, but then when it came to shapeshifting, the fluctuating mass was the least of the anomalies.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 3)

The Crusader: The ronin’s of The Order.

“The crusaders served as the Order's equivalent of a lancet. Got a nasty boil ready to rupture—throw a crusader at it. Loners, highly skilled and deadly, they were great at what they did and after they did it, they returned to where they came from.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 3)

The Keep: The Shapeshifter’s compound that looks like a freakin fortress.

“All but invisible from the highway, the fortress sat in the middle of a clearing, defined by a dense wall of brush and oaks that looked decades older than they had any right to be. The only sign of its existence was a single-lane dirt road that veered so abruptly from the highway that I missed it despite my guide and had to double back.

The trail brought us to a small parking lot. I parked next to an old Chevy truck and held the door open for the wolf-man. He stepped out and paused in a kind of silent salute to the building. The compound loomed before us, a forbidding square building of gray stone nearly sixty feet high. Darkness pooled in the narrow arched windows, guarded by metal grates. The place looked like the keep of a castle rather than a modern fort.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 3)

The Code: The iron clad rule that all good shapeshifters hold over themselves.

'The Code is the Way,'" I quoted the Code of Thought. "'It is Order among Chaos; it is sanity amidst the oblivion. Without the Code, the shapechangers lose their balance. The Beast overwhelms them, compelling them to murder and cannibalize their victims.

(Magic Bites, Chapter 4)

Lyc-Virus: Lyco Virus, the virus that makes shapeshifters.

Loup: A shapeshifter that lost him or herself to their animal side.

“Consumption of human flesh triggers a cataclysmic hormonal response. Violent tendencies, paranoia, and sexual urge shoot into overdrive, and a shapechanger degenerates into a loup—a psychopath that engages in every perversion involving blood and sex that a human mind can imagine. A human mind can imagine quite a bit.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 4)

The Casino: The People’s compound.

“I've seen the Casino many times, and yet again, it caught me by surprise. Like an ethereal castle born from a mirage among the shifting desert sands, the People's HQ towered above the city. Alabaster-white in daytime, at night its walls glowed with gold and indigo, illuminated by powerful electric lamps or feylanterns.

The People had made some modifications. A total of eight slim minarets, instead of the original four, flanked the central domed building. High walls enclosed the complex, punctuated by blocky guard towers, equipped with howitzers and sorcerous ballistae. Solemn guards and occasional vampires patrolled the textured parapets. The place oozed necromantic magic.”

(Magic Bites, Chapter 5)

Nataraja: The name of the local lord of the People.

Roland: The Uber evil villain. The Father of the People.

"Roland? He's the legendary leader of the People. It's rumored that he's been alive since magic last left the world, which was about four thousand years ago. He's supposed to have incredible power, almost godlike. Some say he's Merlin, some say he's Gilgamesh. He has some sort of agenda and uses the People to achieve it, although the majority of them have never seen him. There's no proof of his existence and lay people like you and I aren't suppose to know about him."

(Magic Bites, Chapter 5)

Quote that describes the tone of the book;

“The upir stood in the middle of the yard, bathed in the light of the flames. He wore a kilt. A belt of wide silver disks enclosed his waist and charms of fur and bone hung from the links on leather cords. Ornate spaulders of silvery metal guarded his shoulders, joined by a chain of metal disks across his bare chest. Matching vambraces shielded his arms from the wrist to the elbow, leaving his hands exposed. His shins were bound in cloth but no boots protected his feet and he stood lightly poised, ready to leap. He held a spear, tipped by a foot-long blade, curved like a scimitar. The blade shimmered with borrowed firelight, matching the gleam in his eyes. He looked so odd, standing there in the middle of the yard, against the backdrop of a crude modern building, a being ancient but alive, a contradiction in terms, as if time itself had torn and spit him from its depths complete with the kilt and wild gray hair.

"Damn," Curran growled. "I didn't know this was a costume party."

His voice jarred the illusion. I snapped my fingers. "Oh, hell. I should've brought my French maid outfit."

(magic bites, chapter 10)

I found that this quote, pretty much describes the whole tone of the book. Always, always, there’s a moment where we freeze with horror and then find ourselves wanting to giggle albeit nervously, tickled by some snazzy retort or the whole situation is just so horrenderously nightmarish that you just have to laugh as a self defense mechanism.

In short, I love this book. It’s dark without being depressing, action oriented without being shallow and is strewn with information that we will collect like pieces of puzzles for the next book. And the interaction between characters (especially between Curran and Kate) are pure gold.

But yes, despite my love for this series, I painfully admit that it needs a better cover. Really. I almost did not read this because I wasn't interested in the cover...and I shiver to think that I almost did exactly that...Really.

Favorite Quotes:

“A huge oval room lay before me, bathed in a comfortable glow of electric lights softened by opaque glass. The room sloped down gently, like a college auditorium, to culminate in a flat stage. On the left side of the stage, next to a door, fire burned brightly in a foot-wide metal brazier, its smoke sucked away into a vertical shoot. A smooth slanting path led from the doorway to the stage.

The rest of the sloping floor was terraced, segregated into five-foot-wide "steps," and on the steps, on uniform blue blankets, rested the shapechangers. Most were in a human form; some reclined by themselves; some sat together with their families, one family to a blanket, as if they had gathered for some sort of underground picnic. With a shock I realized there were more than three hundred of them. Many more.

And Curran was nowhere in sight.

The door closed behind me with a click. As one, the shapechangers turned and looked at me.

I wondered what they'd do if I asked to borrow a cup of sugar.”

(Magic Bites, chapter 3)

"Derek, never ever tell a woman that someone is prettier than her. You'll make an enemy for life."

"You're funnier than she is. And you hit harder."

"Oh, thank you. Please, continue to reinforce the fact that she's more attractive. If you say that I have a better personality, you'll find out how hard I can hit."

He grinned. “

(Magic Bites, Chapter 5)

“Curran waved him in, and Derek took a chair out of the way. I looked at Curran. "Any more rice in there?"

He chose another container and gave it to me. I opened it and pushed it toward Derek. "Eat."

He waited.

He had to be ravenous. The amount of calories his body burned to repair itself ensured that the mere hint of food filled his mouth with drool.

"Derek, eat," I said.

He smiled and sat still.

Something was wrong here. I glanced at Curran and put two and two together.

"This is my house."

They both looked at me with the patient expression Japanese traditionalists adopt when silly gaijin ask them why they go through all that trouble just to drink a cup of tea.

(Magic Bites, chapter 6)