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 enlarge | Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $3.02
You Save: $3.97 (57%)
New (44) Used (14) from $3.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 2002
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0441015832
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780441015832
ASIN: 0441015832
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New and Factory Sealed Item Fast Shipping
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| Customer Reviews:
Packs a lot in for a "short" book May 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Magic burns was a great second book and Ilona Andrews is a wonderful find. I read a lot, many different genres and have for more years than I care to note here. This story manages to surprise and creates a world that is believable and different. It seems like there are only so many variations on a theme that can be created within fantasy and generally it is the characters providing the difference in each book. However, Ms. Andrews managed to create a world that is new and keep me reading as much for the interaction between the characters as because I couldn't figure out what was going to happen next or what the "world" would be like next. There was one place where the next step in the action caught me totally by surprise and I laughed out loud and then laughed again. Very clever. I particulary like the main characters and their development. I recommend this highly and look forward to more books by the author. One other note, generally I stay away from "thin" books because they usually aren't capable of creating good depth in the story. The content of this book seemed much bigger than the size would indicate.
 suprisingly different May 22, 2008
I bought this book at a used book store last night finished it in a few hours it was great where is book number three. This time I want some romance between Curran and Kate. Loved the kickass fighting. Hopefully book number three would be just as good
Dark Adventure-Style Urban Fantasy May 12, 2008
A huge leap in the amount of characterization between this and the first book. I feel like I know Kate Daniels better on an emotional level after finishing 'Magic Burns.' From a mythological standpoint, monsters inside the book are on the creatively unique side, which definitely gives style points. (Stymphalian Birds, Celtic cauldrons in full allegory, and vampires that are actually undead.)
The missing piece of the puzzle is now Kate's past in the larger world. In both book one and two, we've gotten only hints, and I don't think I'll be able to appreciate this universe without knowing about this big conspiracy wrapped up in Kate's origins. I guess that's book three (or later). Based on how the first book concluded, I had hoped for more in book two.
Good pacing, believable plot, and moments of humor. The recurring theme of Kate being in lust with Curran, who she finds infuriating, did get tiresome. Book three needs romantic resolution.
Super Reader May 6, 2008
This is an improvement on the last entry.
The first book, was, well, a first book, and pretty rough and ragged in places, as far as the writing goes, I think.
This is considerably more polished. As far as I know, 'Ilona Andrews' is a actually a name for a literal pair of writers, at least if the copyright to Ilona and Andrew on the inside page is anything to go by, let alone the story by them from Andromeda Spaceways Infilght Magazine.
I'd be guessing from this book, let alone the blog, that the female of the species is doing most of the heavy lifting as far as the ideas and writing goes, and perhaps the male half is doing more of the cutting and polishing. Hard to say which part improved, perhaps both.
You also begin to find out that Kate Daniels is a bit more than a competent low-rent fighter with good knowledge and a high resistance to intimidation score. Along with the third rate Stormbringer she carries around (although third-rate is probably ok if you don't fancy slaying hundreds of people and sucking down souls to activate your superpowers) It appears she may have a hidden magical superpower or two, plus a more complicated origin story than just a kid with average parents.
Here she gets involved in a plot with witches and werewolves, and has a kid to protect, and a mother to find.
This leads her to clash with a beast man, vampires, and others, before it gets really weird.
Everything gets all Celtic mythology with cauldrons and crows, whether real, humans named after, or goddesses of. Plus demons.
If you want to see a 'warp spasm' illustrated, you could check out some 2000AD that has Slaine the berserker in it, as well.
I'd read the next one.
3.5 out of 5
 tease May 5, 2008
6 out of 25 found this review helpful
This book/series is essentially a fantasy book with urban window dressing, and not an urban fantasy. This is important because it creates the expectation of fantasy trimmings, which do differ from urban/contemporary fantasy works.
In an UF we will generally see how the fantastic side of things fits into the life of the character. In UF we also see some of the urban _life_.
This book barely gives lip service to its urban environment, and tells us nothing about the hows and whys.
That's not the biggest problem.
Kate Daniels is really just a tease of a character. She walks around with an enchanted sword. She's dressed in leather armor quite often. She's also an uber-powerful magic slinger. We never see her practice with the sword. We never see her practice magic. When she does cast a spell its always a world beater. Her sword fights all sound like Anakin carving down the initiates in Episode Three, and the climax of the book is about as satisfying as the one in the Fantastic Four movie.
In short, the book was an excuse for the main character to pretend she wasn't lusting after someone she publicly claims annoys her greatly. How fourth grade.
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