Part of me keeps waiting for anything about this series to get stale or boring or overdone, because it can’t possibly keep being this damn good. Sure, not every novel in the series is the best thing I’ve ever read, but one thing I appreciate about Ilona Andrews (referred to as “they,” since it is a husband-and-wife writing team) is their absolute dedication to telling a damn good story, packed with action, drama, and humor.
The inevitable confrontation between Kate and her father in the previous book was such a climactic point that this novel could have felt like a let-down after the fact, with the gang back in Atlanta and a truce of sorts in place…for now. However, there’s still so much going on that there’s never a moment of, “Okay, can we get back to the fight with your dad now?” Roland is still very much a presence in this book, even if it’s not always the way you expect.
Instead, rather than feeling like the denouement to the conflict in the previous novel, it turns out that the events in Magic Breaks were just a big shake-up to keep things from getting predictable. There’s still plenty of fantastic Pack and Mercenary Guild drama, but taken in a completely different direction.
I really appreciated the inclusion of non-Western magical lore in this novel, and I felt that the way it was woven into the existing world of post-Shift Atlanta was well done, especially because the authors still managed to keep the villain grounded in what mattered to Kate rather than having it be something that just showed out of nowhere and she guilted herself into having to handle.
This series shows no signs of stopping, and I am far from wanting to get off the ride.
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.
Currently reading: Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews (70%)
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