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writings_of_a_reader's review against another edition
4.0
Mercenary Kate Daniels knows all too well that magic in post-Shift Atlanta is a dangerous business. But nothing she’s faced could have prepared her for this…
In this ninth book in the Kate Daniels series things start to come to a head with Kate and her father Roland. After reading nine books in this series I can say that I'm so ready for that battle to happen, but we still have one more book to go. Despite how much I've loved reading this series, I did feel like this should have been the last book. It's gotten a little too drawn out for me, partly because I felt like book 8 had some filler in it that could have been left out.
Overall, I thought this book was better than the last one. Most of what happens in the book is connected to the main plot, and it was downright fun to read. There was the familiar humor I've come to love, that always balances out the dark plot in this series. On the negative side, there was a betrayal that I didn't see coming and that I felt was pulled out of thin air, and Kate was a little annoying with her inner monologue at times, but other than that this was a solid addition to the series.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
In this ninth book in the Kate Daniels series things start to come to a head with Kate and her father Roland. After reading nine books in this series I can say that I'm so ready for that battle to happen, but we still have one more book to go. Despite how much I've loved reading this series, I did feel like this should have been the last book. It's gotten a little too drawn out for me, partly because I felt like book 8 had some filler in it that could have been left out.
Overall, I thought this book was better than the last one. Most of what happens in the book is connected to the main plot, and it was downright fun to read. There was the familiar humor I've come to love, that always balances out the dark plot in this series. On the negative side, there was a betrayal that I didn't see coming and that I felt was pulled out of thin air, and Kate was a little annoying with her inner monologue at times, but other than that this was a solid addition to the series.
Review also posted at Writings of a Reader
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
There were a lot of things I really liked about this. The only reason I didn't rate it five stars is because I'm kind of tired with the whole thing with Kate and her father. It's just been stretching out way too long, for me.
laurencardona's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
rusereviews's review against another edition
5.0
(4.5 rounded up to a 5)
The book was amazing, as per usual. I looooove Roman and wish I could be friends with him.
The book was amazing, as per usual. I looooove Roman and wish I could be friends with him.
narteest's review against another edition
4.0
This book was pretty great from start to finish. But it's intense.
Jim gave me a headache partway through, but thank god he has Dali and Dali has her head on straight.
So many of my favourite parts of this book are the supporting cast. Roman - awesome. Andrea - also awesome. Derek! ERRA - should I say she's the best aunt ever considering she was killing cities a while back? And all the others.
Some of my favourites parts however, involve Roman and the fact that he's so happy to officiate Kate and Curran's wedding that he goes full on out wedding planning. Honestly, he was awesome.
Roman quotes:
The door swung open, revealing Roman. He wore a T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, and his dark hair, shaved on the sides into a long horselike mane, stuck out on the left side of his head. He looked like he’d been sleeping.
“What’s all this?” Everything stopped. Roman squinted at me. “What are you guys doing here?”
[...]
“We had to come here because you don’t answer your damn phone.” Curran’s voice had that icy quality that said his patience was at an end.
“I didn’t answer it because I unplugged it.”
[...]
Curran walked in behind me and took in the living room. His thick eyebrows rose.
“What?” Roman asked.
“No altar?” Curran asked. “No bloody knives and frightened virgins?”
“No sacrificial pit ringed with skulls?” I asked.
“Ha. Ha.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Never heard that one before. I keep the virgins chained up in the basement. Do you want some coffee?”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Black?”
“No, put cream in it.”
“Good man. Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit, sit.”
I sat on the sofa and almost sank into it. I’d need help getting up. Curran sprawled next to me.
“This is nice,” he said.
“Mm-hm.”
“We should get one for the living room.”
“We’d get blood on it.”
Curran shrugged. “So?”
Roman appeared with two mugs, one pitch-black and the other clearly half-filled with cream. He gave the lighter mug to Curran.
“Drinking yours black, I see,” I told him.
He shrugged and sat on the couch. “Eh . . . goes with the job. So what can I do for you?”
[...]
“So did you come to invite me?” Roman asked.
“Yes,” Curran said. “We’d like you to officiate.”
“I’m sorry?”
“We’d like you to marry us,” I said.
Roman’s eyes went wide. He pointed to himself. “Me?”
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Marry you?”
“Yes.”
“You do know what I do, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “You’re Chernobog’s priest.”
Roman leaned forward, his dark eyes intense. “You sure about this?”
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Not going to change your mind?”
What was it with the twenty questions?
“Will you do it or not?”
“Of course I’ll do it.” Roman jumped off the couch. “Ha! Nobody ever asks me to marry them. They always go to Nikolai, my cousin—Vasiliy’s oldest son.”
Roman ducked behind the couch and emerged with a phone. “When some supernatural filth tries to carry off the children, call Roman so he can wade through blood and sewage to rescue them, but when it’s something nice like a wedding or a naming, oh no, we can’t have Chernobog’s volhv involved. It’s bad luck. Get Nikolai. When he finds out who I’m going to marry, he’ll have an aneurysm. His head will explode. It’s good that he’s a doctor, maybe he can treat himself.”
He plugged the phone into the outlet. It rang. Roman stared at it as if it were a viper. The phone rang again.
He unplugged it. “There.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I told him.
“Oh, it’s bad.” Roman nodded. “My dad refused to help my second sister buy a house, because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. My mother called him and it went badly. She cursed him. Every time he urinates, the stream arches up and over.”
Teddy Jo held out a leather swing on chains. “Sit.”
“You said a harness. That is not a harness. That’s a playground swing.”
“What if she falls?” Roman asked.
Teddy Jo’s eyes bulged a little. He was at the end of his patience. “If she falls, I’ll catch her.”
“That’s it.” Roman thrust the staff at me. “Hold him. I’m coming with. I’ll be needed for negotiations anyway.”
Teddy Jo rolled his eyes.
“I’m not taking chances with this wedding. She’s going to walk down the aisle, and I’m marrying her and Curran.”
Teddy Jo looked at me. “You’re having him officiate at your wedding? Do you know what he does?”
“Could you please have this discussion somewhere else?” Barabas asked.
Roman stretched his arms and popped his neck, as if about to take a swim. “Take care of my horse, please.” He planted his feet, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “I hate this part.”
“My father called me, all offended on my behalf that the wedding dinner isn’t sufficiently feastlike.”
“Umm,” Roman said.
“Curran is also now offended because my father referred to him as a pauper.”
“Umm,” Roman offered.
“And then you called over to the Keep and offended the dress designers, so they hunted me down this morning and invaded my house.”
“You do need a dress.”
“You’re not a wedding planner, you’re a menace. Stop planning my wedding.”
“I’ll stop when you start.”
“There is nothing to plan.”
Roman turned to Teddy Jo on the trail next to him. “Do you see what I have to deal with?”
“What does this wedding look like in your head?” Teddy Jo asked me. “Is it like the family gets there and then this Russian shows up and marries you?”
“Pretty much.”
“No,” Teddy Jo said.
“It’s my wedding. It’s for me.”
“No, your wedding night is for you. The wedding is for everyone else.”
“I told her,” Roman said. “Weddings require preparation. It’s a significant, hopefully once-in-a-lifetime event where you swear to love and cherish another person, not casually but through thick and thin. It’s a promise that is meant to be kept forever. Honestly, Kate, do you want to get married? It’s a serious question.”
I sighed. “I want to get married. And maybe I would like to be there to pick the flowers and choose the dress and select the menu. But war is coming. My future is on fire and I have to put it out if I hope to have any future left."
“It won’t be him,” Roman said. “It will be me on the battlefield channeling his power.” He grinned. “I will be a battle volhv. This will be my first time. I’m excited.”
“I didn’t mean to rope you into this.”
“I didn’t mean to bring you into a scary swamp. Things happen.”
“How often are Sirin’s predictions wrong, Roman?”
“Do you want the true answer or the one you can live with?”
“That often, huh?” He nodded.
The trees parted. Teddy Jo stood in the middle of the road, looking confused. The sun was to our right. We’d lost a few hours somehow.
I exhaled and looked at Roman. “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?”
“You have to make all the wedding decisions,” Roman said. “You have to select the cake, the colors for the ceremony, the flowers for your bouquet, and you have to stand for a second dress fitting tomorrow at eight o’clock. You also have to approve the guest list and the seating chart.”
I looked at Curran.
“I can take the chart,” he offered.
“Thank you.” I looked at Roman. “I do all this and you stop bugging me?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Excellent.” He rubbed his hands, looking every inch an evil pagan priest. “I love it when everything comes together.”
Some quotes from other characters:
“You should’ve let me twist his head off,” Mahon said. “You can’t let people insult your wife, Curran. One day you’ll have to choose diplomacy or your spouse. I’m telling you now, it’s got to be your wife. Diplomacy doesn’t care if you live or die. Your wife does.”
I swung the door open a moment before Derek walked through it.
“I heard the conversation. I’m coming,” he said.
Ascanio rolled his eyes. “This will be fun.”
Derek parked himself in the doorway. “You need backup.”
“She has backup.”
“Yes, but someone will have to carry the Prince of Hyenas if he accidentally stabs his pinkie toe, and she isn’t a shapeshifter.”
“Fine.” I headed for my vehicle.
Behind me Ascanio snorted. “Idiot wolf.”
“Spoiled bouda brat.”
“Bigot.”
“Crybaby.”
“Shit for brains.”
“Momma’s boy.”
Universe, grant me patience.
“What is this?”
“It’s a wedding invitation,” Julie said.
“I didn’t order any.”
Julie grinned at me. “Roman.”
Ugh. That’s right. I waved the envelope at her. “It has flowers on it.”
“Did you want gore, swords, and severed heads?” she asked.
Smartass.
“So that’s right out,” Teddy Jo said. “You understand why? You come with her to Mishmar, neither of you might get out alive. She’s safer on her own.”
Christopher nodded. “Well, can I come with you to see the horses? I promise to be good and not scare them.”
“Sure, why not.” Teddy Jo waved his arms. “The entirety of Hades can come. We’ll have a party.”
Christopher stepped off the porch in to the backyard, spread his wings, and shot upward. The wind nearly blew me off my feet.
“Thank you,” I told Teddy Jo.
“He gives me the creeps,” Teddy Jo growled.
“You’re the nicest angel of death I know.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get in the damn swing.”
“Sugar.” I put some steel into my voice. We were going to crash. We’d smash against the stone and there would be nothing left of us but a wet spot. “Sugar!”
Teddy Jo threw himself flat. Jim leapt at Dali, knocking her down to the floor. I caught a flash of Doolittle’s face as we whizzed by, Sugar’s wings clearing his head by about four inches. He was laughing.
“You’re a mean horse!” Sugar neighed, beat her wings, and turned around.
“Control your horse!” Jim snarled. “You control your horse.”
Oh wow, now that was a clever comeback. He’d surely drop to his knees and bow before my intellectual brilliance. Sugar touched down on the stone.
“A pegasi!” Dali pushed her glasses back on her face and reached out to Sugar.
Jim grabbed her and yanked her back. “What’s wrong with you?”
She pushed out of his arms and gently patted Sugar. The pegasi lowered her head. “See? She can sense my magic.”
Dali rubbed the mare’s neck. “You are so beautiful.”
“I don’t want to dismount,” I told them. “I don’t know if she’ll let me back on.”
Teddy Jo picked up two big sacks sitting next to Doolittle, slowly approached us, and handed them to me. I hooked them up to my saddle.
“That’s not how it works.”
Help me, somebody.
Curran was looking right at me. “Kate?”
“It’s more of an advising kind of knife.”
“You should come clean,” he said. “Whatever it is, it’s done and we can handle it.”
My aunt tore into existence in the center of the room. “Hello, half-breed.”
Curran exploded into a leap. Unfortunately, Derek also exploded at exactly the same time but from the opposite direction. They collided in Erra’s translucent body with a loud thud. Derek fell back and Curran stumbled a few steps.
Erra pointed at Curran with her thumb. “You want to marry this? Is there a shortage of men?”
Curran leapt forward and swiped at her head. His hand passed through my aunt’s face. Derek jumped to his feet and circled Erra, his eyes glowing.
“I fear for my grandnephew,” Erra said. “He will be an idiot.”
The phone rang. “I’ll get it.”
It was probably for me anyway and I desperately needed to escape.
“Is that why you’re bruised and smell like blood?” Derek asked from the backseat.
“Yes. And some of it was Erra. She took some convincing.”
“But is she going to help us?” Julie asked.
“She already has,” I said.
Curran stared straight ahead. His hands gripped the wheel.
“You’re going to bend it,” I told him.
He hit me with an alpha stare and kept driving.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Are we okay, Curran?
“He’s got no room to talk,” Julie said.
“Quiet,” Derek told her.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Curran asked.
“No.” Now wasn’t the best time to bring up Adora. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“One of the rooms in the castle had a creature in it,” Curran said.
“What kind of creature?”
“A large cat,” Curran said. “It glowed.”
“What happened to the large glowing cat?” Why did I have a feeling I wouldn’t like the answer?
“I killed it,” Curran said.
“Aha.” First, I broke Mishmar, then Curran stole Saiman back and killed my father’s glowing cat. Maybe Roland’s head would explode.
“It was a saber-toothed tiger,” Julie said. “It glowed silver.”
Silver meant divine magic. There was no telling what that saber-toothed tiger was or where my dad had gotten him.
“Snitch,” Derek said.
She waved him off. “He killed it and then he ate it.”
I looked at Curran. “You killed an animal god and then you ate him?”
“Maybe,” Curran said.
“What do you mean maybe?”
“I doubt it was a god.”
“It glowed silver,” Julie said. “It was definitely worshipped.”
Oh boy.
“The future is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
They looked at me.
“We worked so hard not to provoke him and it doesn’t matter in the end,” I said. “The battle will happen. We can’t stop it.”
Curran looked at Robert. “Tell him that after he goes through with it, Roland will retaliate in force. Tell Jim he knows where we live. We’ll be here.”
“Tell him that he is endangering every person in the city limits,” I said.
“Hypothetically speaking,” Robert said, “if the attack happens, and Roland retaliates, what will you do about it?”
“She is a princess of Shinar.” My aunt burst into existence in the middle of the kitchen. “It is by the grace of her mercy you are still breathing.”
Robert stumbled back. Raphael’s hands went to his knives. Andrea bared her teeth, cradling Baby B. You could hear a pin drop.
“I have family in town for the wedding,” I said into the silence. “My aunt, Eahrratim, the Rose of Tigris.”
Curran covered his face with his hand.
“Your pathetic castle is in her domain,” Erra said. “She can level it with a thought. If your Beast Lord picks a fight with my brother, how will you survive without her to shield you?”
“We’ll fight,” Robert said, his body tense, ready to leap and tear.
“And when fire rains from the sky and the earth opens to swallow you, who will you fight then? How much damage will your claws do to a flood? Tell that to your king, half-breed.” My aunt vanished.
Andrea pivoted to me, her mouth open, and shook her finger at the spot where Erra had stood.
“Long story,” I told her.
“Tell Jim that after he has his fun, we’ll be here,” Curran said to Robert. “Tell him that help is here. All he needs to do is ask.”
“See? Serendipity.”
“You mean coincidence.”
Ascanio opened the door and Roman walked in. He saw me onstage and blinked. “Ehh . . .”
“Don’t,” I warned him.
He raised his hands. “I do not judge.”
Curran tossed me my clothes. I slipped the shirt over my head, pulled on my jeans, and took off the stupid tutu. A black woman with a head full of bright poppy-red curls followed Roman, pulling behind her a small metal cart full of plates. Roman picked up one of the plates and a spoon, carved a small piece of the cake on it, and held the spoon out to me.
“What is this?”
“Cake.”
“Why do I need cake right this second?”
“This is Mary Louise Garcia,” Roman said. “She is the head baker for Clan Heavy’s Honey Buns bakery.”
Mary smiled at me and waved her fingers.
“Mary very kindly agreed to bring over samples so you could select a wedding cake.”
“I did.” Mary nodded.
“Mary turns into a grizzly. A very large grizzly.”
“I know who Mary is,” I told him. “I met her before, at Andrea’s wedding.”
“If you don’t pick a wedding cake, Mary will sit on you and stuff all this cake into your mouth until you make a selection.”
“Mary and what army?”
Mary smiled at me. “I won’t need an army.”
“Can he select the cake?” I pointed at Curran. “This wedding involves two of us.”
“He already did,” Mary said. “These are the choices he narrowed down.”
I turned to Curran. “You narrowed it down to sixteen choices?”
“They were all very delicious,” he said.
“Were there any choices you didn’t like?”
“Yes,” he said. “I scrapped coconut and lime.”
“After you are done with the cake, we’ll discuss flower selection and colors,” Roman said.
I would strangle him. “Roman, I have to dance until Zoe can record the rest of the mystical writing on my skin, and then I have to train to work my magic. So no. Not doing it.”
Roman heaved a sigh and looked at Mary. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Roman, if I don’t do this, Atlanta will be destroyed.”
“Atlanta is always getting destroyed,” Mary said. “Eat some cake. It will make you feel better.”
“Before I forget,” Roman said. “Sienna said to tell you to beware . . .” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Crocuta crocuta spelaea. Apparently it’s going to try to murder you. Don’t you want to eat some delicious cake before you die a horrible death?”
I sat on the stage and covered my face with my hands.
Curran’s hand rested on my shoulder. “Are you okay, baby?”
“No. Give me a minute.”
“That’s understandable,” Roman said. “Take your time.”
“What did you say it was that was going to murder me?”
“Crocuta crocuta spelaea.”
“Crocuta” usually referred to a hyena, but I couldn’t remember any hyena with “spelaea” attached to it.
“Cave hyena,” Ascanio said. “Also known as Ice Age spotted hyena.”
All of us looked at him.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m a member of Clan Bouda. I know our family tree.”
“How can you not have a throne room?” Erra peered at me. “Where do you receive supplicants?”
“Here, or at the office.” I walked over to the counter to pour myself another cup of coffee. Curran had left on a morning run through the woods. He said he needed to burn off some energy after last night. All I wanted to do after last night was sleep for twenty-four hours straight. Where the hell he got his energy I didn’t know, but I sure would’ve loved to have some of it. Julie sat at the table, watching my aunt with a sour expression on her face, and sipped her coffee.
“Is the office that place where you did a ridiculous dance?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no other dwelling? No palace, no fortress?”
“No.”
“You make me want to stab you.”
“I have that effect on many people.”
“How is it you’re still alive?”
“I’m hard to kill.” I drank my coffee.
“Not that hard.”
“You couldn’t do it.”
“I didn’t really try.”
I looked at her from above the brim of my cup. “You tried. I was there.”
Julie grimaced.
“What’s wrong with you this morning?”
“She doesn’t like my banner.”
Why me? Why? I counted to five in my head. Curran walked through the kitchen door.
“What’s wrong with the banner?”
“It’s blue,” Julie said.
“Why is it blue?” my aunt demanded.
“Because it’s the color of human magic,” Julie said.
“It’s the color of every human mage out there,” Erra snapped. “It’s not fit.”
I raised my hands. “I don’t care about the banner.”
My aunt reached over and smacked me upside the head. Magic exploded against my skull.
“If you do that again, I will drop your knife into a manhole for a few days.”
Jim gave me a headache partway through, but thank god he has Dali and Dali has her head on straight.
So many of my favourite parts of this book are the supporting cast. Roman - awesome. Andrea - also awesome. Derek! ERRA - should I say she's the best aunt ever considering she was killing cities a while back? And all the others.
Some of my favourites parts however, involve Roman and the fact that he's so happy to officiate Kate and Curran's wedding that he goes full on out wedding planning. Honestly, he was awesome.
Roman quotes:
The door swung open, revealing Roman. He wore a T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, and his dark hair, shaved on the sides into a long horselike mane, stuck out on the left side of his head. He looked like he’d been sleeping.
“What’s all this?” Everything stopped. Roman squinted at me. “What are you guys doing here?”
[...]
“We had to come here because you don’t answer your damn phone.” Curran’s voice had that icy quality that said his patience was at an end.
“I didn’t answer it because I unplugged it.”
[...]
Curran walked in behind me and took in the living room. His thick eyebrows rose.
“What?” Roman asked.
“No altar?” Curran asked. “No bloody knives and frightened virgins?”
“No sacrificial pit ringed with skulls?” I asked.
“Ha. Ha.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Never heard that one before. I keep the virgins chained up in the basement. Do you want some coffee?”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Black?”
“No, put cream in it.”
“Good man. Only two kinds of people drink their coffee black: cops and serial killers. Sit, sit.”
I sat on the sofa and almost sank into it. I’d need help getting up. Curran sprawled next to me.
“This is nice,” he said.
“Mm-hm.”
“We should get one for the living room.”
“We’d get blood on it.”
Curran shrugged. “So?”
Roman appeared with two mugs, one pitch-black and the other clearly half-filled with cream. He gave the lighter mug to Curran.
“Drinking yours black, I see,” I told him.
He shrugged and sat on the couch. “Eh . . . goes with the job. So what can I do for you?”
[...]
“So did you come to invite me?” Roman asked.
“Yes,” Curran said. “We’d like you to officiate.”
“I’m sorry?”
“We’d like you to marry us,” I said.
Roman’s eyes went wide. He pointed to himself. “Me?”
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Marry you?”
“Yes.”
“You do know what I do, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “You’re Chernobog’s priest.”
Roman leaned forward, his dark eyes intense. “You sure about this?”
“Yes,” Curran said.
“Not going to change your mind?”
What was it with the twenty questions?
“Will you do it or not?”
“Of course I’ll do it.” Roman jumped off the couch. “Ha! Nobody ever asks me to marry them. They always go to Nikolai, my cousin—Vasiliy’s oldest son.”
Roman ducked behind the couch and emerged with a phone. “When some supernatural filth tries to carry off the children, call Roman so he can wade through blood and sewage to rescue them, but when it’s something nice like a wedding or a naming, oh no, we can’t have Chernobog’s volhv involved. It’s bad luck. Get Nikolai. When he finds out who I’m going to marry, he’ll have an aneurysm. His head will explode. It’s good that he’s a doctor, maybe he can treat himself.”
He plugged the phone into the outlet. It rang. Roman stared at it as if it were a viper. The phone rang again.
He unplugged it. “There.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I told him.
“Oh, it’s bad.” Roman nodded. “My dad refused to help my second sister buy a house, because he doesn’t like her boyfriend. My mother called him and it went badly. She cursed him. Every time he urinates, the stream arches up and over.”
Teddy Jo held out a leather swing on chains. “Sit.”
“You said a harness. That is not a harness. That’s a playground swing.”
“What if she falls?” Roman asked.
Teddy Jo’s eyes bulged a little. He was at the end of his patience. “If she falls, I’ll catch her.”
“That’s it.” Roman thrust the staff at me. “Hold him. I’m coming with. I’ll be needed for negotiations anyway.”
Teddy Jo rolled his eyes.
“I’m not taking chances with this wedding. She’s going to walk down the aisle, and I’m marrying her and Curran.”
Teddy Jo looked at me. “You’re having him officiate at your wedding? Do you know what he does?”
“Could you please have this discussion somewhere else?” Barabas asked.
Roman stretched his arms and popped his neck, as if about to take a swim. “Take care of my horse, please.” He planted his feet, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “I hate this part.”
“My father called me, all offended on my behalf that the wedding dinner isn’t sufficiently feastlike.”
“Umm,” Roman said.
“Curran is also now offended because my father referred to him as a pauper.”
“Umm,” Roman offered.
“And then you called over to the Keep and offended the dress designers, so they hunted me down this morning and invaded my house.”
“You do need a dress.”
“You’re not a wedding planner, you’re a menace. Stop planning my wedding.”
“I’ll stop when you start.”
“There is nothing to plan.”
Roman turned to Teddy Jo on the trail next to him. “Do you see what I have to deal with?”
“What does this wedding look like in your head?” Teddy Jo asked me. “Is it like the family gets there and then this Russian shows up and marries you?”
“Pretty much.”
“No,” Teddy Jo said.
“It’s my wedding. It’s for me.”
“No, your wedding night is for you. The wedding is for everyone else.”
“I told her,” Roman said. “Weddings require preparation. It’s a significant, hopefully once-in-a-lifetime event where you swear to love and cherish another person, not casually but through thick and thin. It’s a promise that is meant to be kept forever. Honestly, Kate, do you want to get married? It’s a serious question.”
I sighed. “I want to get married. And maybe I would like to be there to pick the flowers and choose the dress and select the menu. But war is coming. My future is on fire and I have to put it out if I hope to have any future left."
“It won’t be him,” Roman said. “It will be me on the battlefield channeling his power.” He grinned. “I will be a battle volhv. This will be my first time. I’m excited.”
“I didn’t mean to rope you into this.”
“I didn’t mean to bring you into a scary swamp. Things happen.”
“How often are Sirin’s predictions wrong, Roman?”
“Do you want the true answer or the one you can live with?”
“That often, huh?” He nodded.
The trees parted. Teddy Jo stood in the middle of the road, looking confused. The sun was to our right. We’d lost a few hours somehow.
I exhaled and looked at Roman. “What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?”
“You have to make all the wedding decisions,” Roman said. “You have to select the cake, the colors for the ceremony, the flowers for your bouquet, and you have to stand for a second dress fitting tomorrow at eight o’clock. You also have to approve the guest list and the seating chart.”
I looked at Curran.
“I can take the chart,” he offered.
“Thank you.” I looked at Roman. “I do all this and you stop bugging me?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Excellent.” He rubbed his hands, looking every inch an evil pagan priest. “I love it when everything comes together.”
Some quotes from other characters:
“You should’ve let me twist his head off,” Mahon said. “You can’t let people insult your wife, Curran. One day you’ll have to choose diplomacy or your spouse. I’m telling you now, it’s got to be your wife. Diplomacy doesn’t care if you live or die. Your wife does.”
I swung the door open a moment before Derek walked through it.
“I heard the conversation. I’m coming,” he said.
Ascanio rolled his eyes. “This will be fun.”
Derek parked himself in the doorway. “You need backup.”
“She has backup.”
“Yes, but someone will have to carry the Prince of Hyenas if he accidentally stabs his pinkie toe, and she isn’t a shapeshifter.”
“Fine.” I headed for my vehicle.
Behind me Ascanio snorted. “Idiot wolf.”
“Spoiled bouda brat.”
“Bigot.”
“Crybaby.”
“Shit for brains.”
“Momma’s boy.”
Universe, grant me patience.
“What is this?”
“It’s a wedding invitation,” Julie said.
“I didn’t order any.”
Julie grinned at me. “Roman.”
Ugh. That’s right. I waved the envelope at her. “It has flowers on it.”
“Did you want gore, swords, and severed heads?” she asked.
Smartass.
“So that’s right out,” Teddy Jo said. “You understand why? You come with her to Mishmar, neither of you might get out alive. She’s safer on her own.”
Christopher nodded. “Well, can I come with you to see the horses? I promise to be good and not scare them.”
“Sure, why not.” Teddy Jo waved his arms. “The entirety of Hades can come. We’ll have a party.”
Christopher stepped off the porch in to the backyard, spread his wings, and shot upward. The wind nearly blew me off my feet.
“Thank you,” I told Teddy Jo.
“He gives me the creeps,” Teddy Jo growled.
“You’re the nicest angel of death I know.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get in the damn swing.”
“Sugar.” I put some steel into my voice. We were going to crash. We’d smash against the stone and there would be nothing left of us but a wet spot. “Sugar!”
Teddy Jo threw himself flat. Jim leapt at Dali, knocking her down to the floor. I caught a flash of Doolittle’s face as we whizzed by, Sugar’s wings clearing his head by about four inches. He was laughing.
“You’re a mean horse!” Sugar neighed, beat her wings, and turned around.
“Control your horse!” Jim snarled. “You control your horse.”
Oh wow, now that was a clever comeback. He’d surely drop to his knees and bow before my intellectual brilliance. Sugar touched down on the stone.
“A pegasi!” Dali pushed her glasses back on her face and reached out to Sugar.
Jim grabbed her and yanked her back. “What’s wrong with you?”
She pushed out of his arms and gently patted Sugar. The pegasi lowered her head. “See? She can sense my magic.”
Dali rubbed the mare’s neck. “You are so beautiful.”
“I don’t want to dismount,” I told them. “I don’t know if she’ll let me back on.”
Teddy Jo picked up two big sacks sitting next to Doolittle, slowly approached us, and handed them to me. I hooked them up to my saddle.
“That’s not how it works.”
Help me, somebody.
Curran was looking right at me. “Kate?”
“It’s more of an advising kind of knife.”
“You should come clean,” he said. “Whatever it is, it’s done and we can handle it.”
My aunt tore into existence in the center of the room. “Hello, half-breed.”
Curran exploded into a leap. Unfortunately, Derek also exploded at exactly the same time but from the opposite direction. They collided in Erra’s translucent body with a loud thud. Derek fell back and Curran stumbled a few steps.
Erra pointed at Curran with her thumb. “You want to marry this? Is there a shortage of men?”
Curran leapt forward and swiped at her head. His hand passed through my aunt’s face. Derek jumped to his feet and circled Erra, his eyes glowing.
“I fear for my grandnephew,” Erra said. “He will be an idiot.”
The phone rang. “I’ll get it.”
It was probably for me anyway and I desperately needed to escape.
“Is that why you’re bruised and smell like blood?” Derek asked from the backseat.
“Yes. And some of it was Erra. She took some convincing.”
“But is she going to help us?” Julie asked.
“She already has,” I said.
Curran stared straight ahead. His hands gripped the wheel.
“You’re going to bend it,” I told him.
He hit me with an alpha stare and kept driving.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Are we okay, Curran?
“He’s got no room to talk,” Julie said.
“Quiet,” Derek told her.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Curran asked.
“No.” Now wasn’t the best time to bring up Adora. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“One of the rooms in the castle had a creature in it,” Curran said.
“What kind of creature?”
“A large cat,” Curran said. “It glowed.”
“What happened to the large glowing cat?” Why did I have a feeling I wouldn’t like the answer?
“I killed it,” Curran said.
“Aha.” First, I broke Mishmar, then Curran stole Saiman back and killed my father’s glowing cat. Maybe Roland’s head would explode.
“It was a saber-toothed tiger,” Julie said. “It glowed silver.”
Silver meant divine magic. There was no telling what that saber-toothed tiger was or where my dad had gotten him.
“Snitch,” Derek said.
She waved him off. “He killed it and then he ate it.”
I looked at Curran. “You killed an animal god and then you ate him?”
“Maybe,” Curran said.
“What do you mean maybe?”
“I doubt it was a god.”
“It glowed silver,” Julie said. “It was definitely worshipped.”
Oh boy.
“The future is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
They looked at me.
“We worked so hard not to provoke him and it doesn’t matter in the end,” I said. “The battle will happen. We can’t stop it.”
Curran looked at Robert. “Tell him that after he goes through with it, Roland will retaliate in force. Tell Jim he knows where we live. We’ll be here.”
“Tell him that he is endangering every person in the city limits,” I said.
“Hypothetically speaking,” Robert said, “if the attack happens, and Roland retaliates, what will you do about it?”
“She is a princess of Shinar.” My aunt burst into existence in the middle of the kitchen. “It is by the grace of her mercy you are still breathing.”
Robert stumbled back. Raphael’s hands went to his knives. Andrea bared her teeth, cradling Baby B. You could hear a pin drop.
“I have family in town for the wedding,” I said into the silence. “My aunt, Eahrratim, the Rose of Tigris.”
Curran covered his face with his hand.
“Your pathetic castle is in her domain,” Erra said. “She can level it with a thought. If your Beast Lord picks a fight with my brother, how will you survive without her to shield you?”
“We’ll fight,” Robert said, his body tense, ready to leap and tear.
“And when fire rains from the sky and the earth opens to swallow you, who will you fight then? How much damage will your claws do to a flood? Tell that to your king, half-breed.” My aunt vanished.
Andrea pivoted to me, her mouth open, and shook her finger at the spot where Erra had stood.
“Long story,” I told her.
“Tell Jim that after he has his fun, we’ll be here,” Curran said to Robert. “Tell him that help is here. All he needs to do is ask.”
“See? Serendipity.”
“You mean coincidence.”
Ascanio opened the door and Roman walked in. He saw me onstage and blinked. “Ehh . . .”
“Don’t,” I warned him.
He raised his hands. “I do not judge.”
Curran tossed me my clothes. I slipped the shirt over my head, pulled on my jeans, and took off the stupid tutu. A black woman with a head full of bright poppy-red curls followed Roman, pulling behind her a small metal cart full of plates. Roman picked up one of the plates and a spoon, carved a small piece of the cake on it, and held the spoon out to me.
“What is this?”
“Cake.”
“Why do I need cake right this second?”
“This is Mary Louise Garcia,” Roman said. “She is the head baker for Clan Heavy’s Honey Buns bakery.”
Mary smiled at me and waved her fingers.
“Mary very kindly agreed to bring over samples so you could select a wedding cake.”
“I did.” Mary nodded.
“Mary turns into a grizzly. A very large grizzly.”
“I know who Mary is,” I told him. “I met her before, at Andrea’s wedding.”
“If you don’t pick a wedding cake, Mary will sit on you and stuff all this cake into your mouth until you make a selection.”
“Mary and what army?”
Mary smiled at me. “I won’t need an army.”
“Can he select the cake?” I pointed at Curran. “This wedding involves two of us.”
“He already did,” Mary said. “These are the choices he narrowed down.”
I turned to Curran. “You narrowed it down to sixteen choices?”
“They were all very delicious,” he said.
“Were there any choices you didn’t like?”
“Yes,” he said. “I scrapped coconut and lime.”
“After you are done with the cake, we’ll discuss flower selection and colors,” Roman said.
I would strangle him. “Roman, I have to dance until Zoe can record the rest of the mystical writing on my skin, and then I have to train to work my magic. So no. Not doing it.”
Roman heaved a sigh and looked at Mary. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Roman, if I don’t do this, Atlanta will be destroyed.”
“Atlanta is always getting destroyed,” Mary said. “Eat some cake. It will make you feel better.”
“Before I forget,” Roman said. “Sienna said to tell you to beware . . .” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Crocuta crocuta spelaea. Apparently it’s going to try to murder you. Don’t you want to eat some delicious cake before you die a horrible death?”
I sat on the stage and covered my face with my hands.
Curran’s hand rested on my shoulder. “Are you okay, baby?”
“No. Give me a minute.”
“That’s understandable,” Roman said. “Take your time.”
“What did you say it was that was going to murder me?”
“Crocuta crocuta spelaea.”
“Crocuta” usually referred to a hyena, but I couldn’t remember any hyena with “spelaea” attached to it.
“Cave hyena,” Ascanio said. “Also known as Ice Age spotted hyena.”
All of us looked at him.
He rolled his eyes. “I’m a member of Clan Bouda. I know our family tree.”
“How can you not have a throne room?” Erra peered at me. “Where do you receive supplicants?”
“Here, or at the office.” I walked over to the counter to pour myself another cup of coffee. Curran had left on a morning run through the woods. He said he needed to burn off some energy after last night. All I wanted to do after last night was sleep for twenty-four hours straight. Where the hell he got his energy I didn’t know, but I sure would’ve loved to have some of it. Julie sat at the table, watching my aunt with a sour expression on her face, and sipped her coffee.
“Is the office that place where you did a ridiculous dance?”
“Yes.”
“And you have no other dwelling? No palace, no fortress?”
“No.”
“You make me want to stab you.”
“I have that effect on many people.”
“How is it you’re still alive?”
“I’m hard to kill.” I drank my coffee.
“Not that hard.”
“You couldn’t do it.”
“I didn’t really try.”
I looked at her from above the brim of my cup. “You tried. I was there.”
Julie grimaced.
“What’s wrong with you this morning?”
“She doesn’t like my banner.”
Why me? Why? I counted to five in my head. Curran walked through the kitchen door.
“What’s wrong with the banner?”
“It’s blue,” Julie said.
“Why is it blue?” my aunt demanded.
“Because it’s the color of human magic,” Julie said.
“It’s the color of every human mage out there,” Erra snapped. “It’s not fit.”
I raised my hands. “I don’t care about the banner.”
My aunt reached over and smacked me upside the head. Magic exploded against my skull.
“If you do that again, I will drop your knife into a manhole for a few days.”
maraya21's review against another edition
5.0
🎆 Read for the Grand KD Buddy Read/Reread/Rererereread 2017-2018 with the IAAs™ 🎆
Thank yous to Ilona & Gordon for ruining the 0.00000000001% chance I had of ever acquiring & maintaining a romantic relationship.
This is my life now ⤵
Thank yous to Ilona & Gordon for ruining the 0.00000000001% chance I had of ever acquiring & maintaining a romantic relationship.
This is my life now ⤵
renpuspita's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Contain some spoilers from previous books
Kate and Curran is tying the knot. Finally. After 8 books. But, the marriage will not complete without the doom and gloom. Sienna, one of the Witch Oracle see in the future that Kate will lost Curran (and their future son) if she married. Not a good news, indeed. Roland also shed his "best behavior" persona and keep taunting Kate. War is coming. So do marriage. Because apparently Kate can't never have a calm moment in her life.
Magic Binds is slightly shorter compared to Magic Shifts, but still action packed from the first. Kate is anxious, not from marriage, but about her own power, her claiming into the city's magic and if she will one day turn into her father. A tyrant. Despite all of his charming and wise persona, Roland is indeed a tyrant. I like Kate's conversation with Roland (in civil manner of course) that Roland want to shape those who fall under his rule as he seems fit while Kate think people should have a free will. It's just my guts but I think partwhen Kate criticize Roland is also a societal commentary from IA to socialism/communist at large? Or more like their critic towards dictators alike? Worth a discussion indeed .
For a book that talk about marriage, the marriage topics is a few but often hilarious to read. Roman, our favorite black volvh is agree to officiate Kate and Curran's marriage but that's mean he also their wedding organizer. The part when Kate insist that her marriage ceremony must be small and intimate get veto'd by many people with argument "wedding night is for Kate and Curran. The wedding ceremony is FOR EVERYONE". Lel, I guess the wedding tradition always hold true for many countries, huh. There's no way with so many faction and people that Kate & Curran know, the wedding will be small. Roland's reaction regarding Kate's wedding also a crack with he complaint about "meat or vegetarian option" in the invitation while insult Curran as a pauper and Kate's wedding should have a big feast. For a man who gung-ho in starting a war and tyrannical, Roland sure is wussy about his daughter marriage.
While Curran is not away like in Magic Breaks or doing suck things like in Magic Rises, his appearance is not that much like in Magic Shifts although of course he still support Kate fully and want to marry her. I guess the part whenKate hiding Adora's existence from Curran because Kate doesn't want Curran to see her as a carbon copy of Roland can be handled differently. Or maybe because Kate know that Curran is a control freak. But when she finally come clean, I liked that Curran understand Kate and know that Kate will not turn into another Roland in the future . Honestly? I can't get enough of their interactions, sigh. They are the bread and butter of this series!
Although there's a novella that set before Magic Binds, you can read Magic Binds without reading Magic Stars first. Some event in Magic Stars also written in Magic Binds, although it get explained more in the novella. Such like Julie's status as Kate's Herald and Hugh's fate after Magic Break. We get to know about Julie's background and her affinity for horse and wolf (ehm, more hints toward Metal Rose? *snicker). Nick's pasts and his connection with Kate get revealed. Christopher real identity also revealed and it's funny to know that at first I think Barabas is the top of this couple, but I have a guts it's Christopher instead. Hehe, Christopher and Barabas is another couple in Kate's series that become my favorite and I'm really rooting for their HEA since Christopher admit that he love Barabas *awww. Saiman finally make amend with Kate after his insulted her in Magic Shifts and we got to know that Kate can do ballet, lel. Jim is not in his brightest moment. Yeah, he's a Beast Lord and his paranoia is unparalleled. But he top it to the notch in this book also it seems that he love Dali so much. Sigh, male characters of Kate's series sure love their lover blindly, from Curran, Raphael, Jim and of course Roland even in the end he kill Kate's mother.
The book's blurb also mention a people that Kate know can help her but already long dead and that people isof course, Eahrratim aka Erra. Erra might talk and act high and mighty, as expected from Roland's sister that knows as City Eater. But she also has a heart and not cruel like her brother. The Water Garden scenes when Kate resurrect Erra and then they exchange memories with Semiramis in attendance is my favorite part. Despite her sneering and insults, Erra care a lot about Kate even in the pretend that Kate is one of her bloodlines. Also, Roland apparently afraid of Erra and Semiramis, I wonder if Erra's power actually are stronger than Roland but she decide to not use it to full potential .
The war is coming and yep we get some war chapter although it's more like a battle. Kate finally mastered her magic, get allies and in the end married the man she love more than anything. But, there's one book left so the problem with Roland is still there. Also, I have to know the sick fuck, uhm, I mean, Hugh's fate after he got thrown away by Roland and his book apparently must be read before I read Magic Triumphs!
Kate and Curran is tying the knot. Finally. After 8 books. But, the marriage will not complete without the doom and gloom. Sienna, one of the Witch Oracle see in the future that Kate will lost Curran (and their future son) if she married. Not a good news, indeed. Roland also shed his "best behavior" persona and keep taunting Kate. War is coming. So do marriage. Because apparently Kate can't never have a calm moment in her life.
Magic Binds is slightly shorter compared to Magic Shifts, but still action packed from the first. Kate is anxious, not from marriage, but about her own power, her claiming into the city's magic and if she will one day turn into her father. A tyrant. Despite all of his charming and wise persona, Roland is indeed a tyrant. I like Kate's conversation with Roland (in civil manner of course) that Roland want to shape those who fall under his rule as he seems fit while Kate think people should have a free will. It's just my guts but I think part
For a book that talk about marriage, the marriage topics is a few but often hilarious to read. Roman, our favorite black volvh is agree to officiate Kate and Curran's marriage but that's mean he also their wedding organizer. The part when Kate insist that her marriage ceremony must be small and intimate get veto'd by many people with argument "wedding night is for Kate and Curran. The wedding ceremony is FOR EVERYONE". Lel, I guess the wedding tradition always hold true for many countries, huh. There's no way with so many faction and people that Kate & Curran know, the wedding will be small. Roland's reaction regarding Kate's wedding also a crack with he complaint about "meat or vegetarian option" in the invitation while insult Curran as a pauper and Kate's wedding should have a big feast. For a man who gung-ho in starting a war and tyrannical, Roland sure is wussy about his daughter marriage.
While Curran is not away like in Magic Breaks or doing suck things like in Magic Rises, his appearance is not that much like in Magic Shifts although of course he still support Kate fully and want to marry her. I guess the part when
Although there's a novella that set before Magic Binds, you can read Magic Binds without reading Magic Stars first. Some event in Magic Stars also written in Magic Binds, although it get explained more in the novella. Such like Julie's status as Kate's Herald and Hugh's fate after Magic Break. We get to know about Julie's background and her affinity for horse and wolf (ehm, more hints toward Metal Rose? *snicker). Nick's pasts and his connection with Kate get revealed. Christopher real identity also revealed and it's funny to know that at first I think Barabas is the top of this couple, but I have a guts it's Christopher instead. Hehe, Christopher and Barabas is another couple in Kate's series that become my favorite and I'm really rooting for their HEA since Christopher admit that he love Barabas *awww. Saiman finally make amend with Kate after his insulted her in Magic Shifts and we got to know that Kate can do ballet, lel. Jim is not in his brightest moment. Yeah, he's a Beast Lord and his paranoia is unparalleled. But he top it to the notch in this book also it seems that he love Dali so much. Sigh, male characters of Kate's series sure love their lover blindly, from Curran, Raphael, Jim and of course Roland even in the end he kill Kate's mother.
The book's blurb also mention a people that Kate know can help her but already long dead and that people is
The war is coming and yep we get some war chapter although it's more like a battle. Kate finally mastered her magic, get allies and in the end married the man she love more than anything. But, there's one book left so the problem with Roland is still there. Also, I have to know the sick fuck, uhm, I mean, Hugh's fate after he got thrown away by Roland and his book apparently must be read before I read Magic Triumphs!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Blood
lilyantan's review against another edition
5.0
This series is way past it's prime and should have ended long ago but I still love it. At this point it's just purely catering to fans and playing on our heartstrings. I know I'm being manipulated and I don't care.
Kate and Curran are the cutest and I'm still enjoying their relationship. They've both come such a long way and the relationship has really grown over the past 9 books. I'm also still enjoying the silly humor provided by the myriad of side characters, mostly Roman.
The actual plot is really not relevant to this review - no one who's not a big fan of the series would have made it to this book and at this point, we're just here for the cuteness and nostalgia.
Kate and Curran are the cutest and I'm still enjoying their relationship. They've both come such a long way and the relationship has really grown over the past 9 books. I'm also still enjoying the silly humor provided by the myriad of side characters, mostly Roman.
The actual plot is really not relevant to this review - no one who's not a big fan of the series would have made it to this book and at this point, we're just here for the cuteness and nostalgia.