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Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

  • Tag Archives Kate Daniels
  • Blood Heir & So I’m a Spider, So What? #12

    Posted on July 22, 2021 5:21 am by Offkorn Comment

    I actually read Ilona Andrews‘ Blood Heir way back at the end of May and just never found a good time to bring it up (since I like to have at least two books to talk about before making a post).

    It’s… okay I guess? It picks up from where the Kate Daniels series left off following a pretty large timeskip with Julie as the new protagonist. Events are what you’d come to expect from the franchise, walking back some of the more ludicrous developments of Magic Triumphs, but the romantic developments can’t help feeling like yet another replay of the Curran/Kate relationship.

    The 12th Kumodesuga novel meanwhile answers the question brought to mind by the 11th. Why did that novel focus almost entirely on Julius? Because this one covers the events surrounding his death in greater detail… not that greater detail was needed. Nor was it necessary to devote 2 chapters or so to the two least interesting people in his party.

    Meaning that overall this 12th entry is highly disappointing. Not quite so much as the 11th, but it’s definitely the second worst book in the series I’ve read so far and probably best off skipped entirely (along with its predecessor) on any re-reads.

    Related posts:

    1. So I’m a Spider, So What? #6-11 Despite heavy misgivings, as I have a mixed history regarding...
    2. So I’m a Spider, So What? #15-16 The last two Kumodesuga books were originally released a mere...
    3. ARIFURETA #12 & So I’m a Spider, So What? #14 The 12th Arifureta novel is unexpectedly not the last in...
    4. DISCIPLE of the LICH #1-2 & So I’m a Spider, So What? #13 The first two Fushisha no Deshi novels (whose English translations...
    5. ARIFURETA #13 & Arifureta After I-V The last of the main Arifureta novels starts out much...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels Kumodesuga Okina Baba Paranormal Romance Science Fiction Urban Fantasy Young Adult Novel
  • Magic Triumphs, The Brightest Fell, & Night and Silence

    Posted on September 4, 2018 12:58 pm by Offkorn Comment

    The long-running plotline regarding Kate’s father is brought to something of a close in Magic Triumphs, which begins following a pair of large time skips (a nearly 2-year gap which will presumably be somewhat filled in by the remaining two parts of the Iron Covenant trilogy). Unfortunately, rather than Roland, it instead focuses far more on the Iron Covenant antagonists and for the most reads as little more than a string of exasperating deus ex machina.

    Seanan Mcguire’s eleventh October Daye novel comes very close to reinterpreting the ‘it was all a dream’ trope. While not bad, there’s not much in the way of forward momentum and it seems very much like it’s setting the story up to retread old ground. The included bonus novella is quite good though and wraps up the remaining loose thread from A Local Habitation.

    The follow-up twelfth installment, Night and Silence, does in fact retread old ground… though not at all in the manner I was expecting. It appears to be the start of a ‘third act’ of sorts and leads with about two chapters worth of recap. Then, much like Magic Triumphs above, starts linking together a bunch of highly questionable events that (while they certainly do have forward momentum) don’t really feel believable in the slightest. The bonus novella here isn’t as good as the previous one either and bizarrely enough actually goes and recaps something from its host novel. Just baffling.

    Related posts:

    1. Iron and Magic, The Ripper Affair, & The Chemist Iron and Magic is the first of a new trilogy...
    2. BE the SERPENT & Ruby Fever After the previous October Daye entry, things were looking up...
    3. Magic Rises & Theirs Not To Reason Why The seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series (assuming...
    4. A Red-Rose Chain, Magic Breaks, & Magic Shifts Seanan McGuire‘s A Red-Rose Chain has an ending problem; it’s...
    5. WHEN SORROWS COME & That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #12 Seanan McGuire‘s fifteenth October Daye novel is completely centered on...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels October Daye Paranormal Romance Seanan McGuire Urban Fantasy
  • Iron and Magic, The Ripper Affair, & The Chemist

    Posted on July 17, 2018 3:06 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Iron and Magic is the first of a new trilogy set within Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels universe. It always seemed strange that Hugh disappeared from the series so indirectly so it makes a certain degree of sense that he’d be spun off into a sidestory (taking place between Magic Binds and Magic Triumphs), but while I like the expanded world-building I can’t say that his personality overhaul into a more relatable protagonist is sold well at all. The romance is also an issue (it feels very much like a re-hash of Curran/Kate) and the story probably would have been better without it.

    The conclusion to Lilith Saintcrow‘s Bannon and Clare series does the reader a bit of a favor by picking up after an indeterminable time skip; whether you read it immediately following the second or years after you’ll be just as lost getting a handle on the new situation. Overall it holds up well however and so long as you liked the earlier books in the series there’s no reason not to pick this up one up as well.

    Stephenie’s Meyer‘s The Chemist, sadly, does not hold up in any respect. It’s a major step backward from The Host, with some severe believably and structural issues which unfortunately remind me of The Drafter. On the plus side at least the epilogue is amusing and it’s nice that she didn’t go for the cheap love triangle angle.

    Related posts:

    1. More Caitlín R. Kiernan This next set of Kiernan‘s books is somewhat different from...
    2. Frost Burned, Touch of the Demon, & The Infernal Devices Frost Burned is the seventh novel in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy...
    3. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #6-11 Despite there being an Anime adaptation of this franchise currently...
    4. Magic Triumphs, The Brightest Fell, & Night and Silence The long-running plotline regarding Kate’s father is brought to something...
    5. Magic Rises & Theirs Not To Reason Why The seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series (assuming...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Bannon and Clare Ilona Andrews Iron Covenant Kate Daniels Lilith Saintcrow Paranormal Romance Romance Steampunk Stephenie Meyer Urban Fantasy
  • Magic Binds, Assorted Short Stories, & The Turn

    Posted on March 1, 2018 8:28 am by Offkorn Comment

    Ilona Andrews’ ninth Kate Daniels novel forces Kate to fully embrace her power and brings the conflict with her father to a head. Presumably the 10th book will be the series finale and this one does a pretty fantastic job of setting the stage while being entertaining in its own right.

    There are many short stories in the Kate Daniels series that are scattered about. Several were collected into the Small Magics E-book, and of these the first two are probably the best while the second-to-last gives an interesting glimpse into a pre-shift time. Others have been released as stand-alone E-books, such as Magic Stars (which is decent), Magic Dreams (which is okayish, having originally been released in the anthology Hexed), and Magic Steals (which is similar to Dreams for obvious reasons but works better). All of them help flesh out the world and are worth taking a look at so long as you don’t mind bite-sized episodic stories.

    Changing gears we come to The Turn, which is a prequel to the Hollows series that centers on Trent’s parents and how the virus that decimated humanity came into being. While it starts out good, once the plague is loosed and the focus shifts over toward action and demon summoning it does not hold up well at all; the scenes don’t really gel and most of the character behavior goes to shit. Rather than being its own thing it instead transforms into a pale imitation of the main series.

    Related posts:

    1. More Caitlín R. Kiernan This next set of Kiernan‘s books is somewhat different from...
    2. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #6-11 Despite there being an Anime adaptation of this franchise currently...
    3. Eleventh CYCLE The first of Kian N. Ardalan‘s Mistland novels, Eleventh Cycle...
    4. Blood Heir & So I’m a Spider, So What? #12 I actually read Ilona Andrews‘ Blood Heir way back at...
    5. Relatively Recent Books Been procrastinating with adding these because it’s a pain. May...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Hollows Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels Kim Harrison Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy
  • A Red-Rose Chain, Magic Breaks, & Magic Shifts

    Posted on October 27, 2015 4:46 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Seanan McGuire‘s A Red-Rose Chain has an ending problem; it’s both anti-climatic and rather abrupt. The journey up to that point is entertaining for the most part though, with the only hiccup being a bizarre page-and-a-half dialog regarding a character dramatically revealed to be transsexual. Why is there such a hamfisted focus on it? I don’t recall any particular attention being drawn to May’s lesbian relationship before, and this should have been no different.

    As for Ilona Andrews‘ Magic Breaks and Magic Shifts: The first acts as a conclusion of sorts to the background conflict that has been building from the very first entry in the series, while the second continues on in a slightly different yet still quite similar direction. There’s a comforting familiarity about them that was absent from their more recent prequels.

    Related posts:

    1. Magic Triumphs, The Brightest Fell, & Night and Silence The long-running plotline regarding Kate’s father is brought to something...
    2. BE the SERPENT & Ruby Fever After the previous October Daye entry, things were looking up...
    3. Iron and Magic, The Ripper Affair, & The Chemist Iron and Magic is the first of a new trilogy...
    4. WHEN SORROWS COME & That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #12 Seanan McGuire‘s fifteenth October Daye novel is completely centered on...
    5. Magic Rises & Theirs Not To Reason Why The seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series (assuming...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels October Daye Seanan McGuire
  • Magic Rises & Theirs Not To Reason Why

    Posted on August 6, 2013 9:31 am by Offkorn Comment

    The seventh book in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series (assuming you include Gunmetal Magic) deals primarily with Hugh d’Ambray and has a small side-focus on some of the Shapeshifters in Europe. While the basic situation and various plot/romantic developments come across as rather contrived, the general feel of the book is similar enough that it ends up enjoyable regardless. The one-liners help.

    The Theirs Not to Reason Why series (A Soldier’s Duty, An Officer’s Duty, Hellfire), authored by Jean Johnson, has an uncommon central concept and an expansive setting. The story centers around an extremely powerful psychic (capable of seeing the entirety of the past, present, future, and all of the alternate realities thereof) who upon discovering that the universe will be completely destroyed by an overwhelming outside force sets her life upon the one narrow path that can lead to the avoidance of that fate.

    Despite being so heavily focused on predestination and following a painstakingly exact schedule, the first two books do not come across as contrived or feel particularly forced. Which is impressive. The third book on the other hand does not quite manage that feat. It has a couple of moments here and there that manage to feel organic, but the majority comes across as a dictated compilation of deus ex machina. That’s not to say its bad or unreadable, it’s just not as engrossing as the first two.

    Related posts:

    1. Blood Heir & So I’m a Spider, So What? #12 I actually read Ilona Andrews‘ Blood Heir way back at...
    2. The Mortal Instruments, Hardship, & Damnation The Mortal Instruments series originally ended as a trilogy, and...
    3. Eleventh CYCLE The first of Kian N. Ardalan‘s Mistland novels, Eleventh Cycle...
    4. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #6-11 Despite there being an Anime adaptation of this franchise currently...
    5. Frost Burned, Touch of the Demon, & The Infernal Devices Frost Burned is the seventh novel in Patricia Briggs’ Mercy...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Ilona Andrews Jean Johnson Kate Daniels Paranormal Romance Science Fiction Theirs Not to Reason Why Urban Fantasy

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