Words&Dirt

Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series is a gift that keeps on giving. After thoroughly enjoying the first two books, my delight continued right up to the final page of the third installment, Magic Strikes. The seductive nature of this world and its characters springs from Andrews’s near-perfect balance between novelty and familiarity. The story continues to grow while still delivering the hallmark elements that made the first novel so appealing.

This time around, I was excited to learn more about Kate’s primary love interest (or love/hate interest), Curran. Curran is the paradigmatic bad boy with a heart of gold; Andrews’s descriptions of this leonine Alpha of Atlanta’s shapeshifter Pack are enough to make any beating heart pick up its pace. I can’t remember the last time I was so attracted to a fictional character––man or woman. Curran is certainly a cliché, but it’s hard to complain about clichés when they are executed with such perfection.

Toward the beginning of this book, I was concerned that Andrews was polluting Curran with the he’s-a-creepy-stalker-but-it’s-okay-because-he’s-hot dynamic that plagues plenty of romance and genre fiction. I was much relieved, however, when Andrews obviated (or at least minimized) this issue with a surprisingly nuanced exploration of the cultural differences between humans and shapeshifters.

Even though Curran sometimes comes off as having boundary issues, he also possesses a preternatural talent for self-control. This applies to all “civilized” shapeshifters in Andrews’s world, who must constantly suppress their animal impulses and live according to a strict code of conduct. Since he’s an Alpha, Curran’s capacity for restraint is the cornerstone of his personality, as demonstrated in this exceedingly steamy moment:

His voice was a ragged whisper in my ear. “Only if you want to…Say no, and I’ll stop.”

“No,” I whispered to see if he would do it.

Curran pulled back. His eyes were pure need, raw and barely under control. He swallowed. “Okay.”

It was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. (282)

If I could magically sear this scene into the memories of idiot boys and men around the world, I wouldn’t hesitate. This is how we should invite men to think about eroticism and consent––that they are two sides of the same coin. True attraction does not spring from impulsiveness or flattery, but from self-governance and mutual respect. Curran’s roguish qualities can only be deemed virtuous if he also has a decent brain to go along with his bulging biceps.

As for the rest of Magic Strikes, it delivers in all the ways I’ve come to expect from these books. Quirky badassery abounds, and I love Kate every moment for her exhausted heroism and stark inability to betray or abandon her loved ones. I’m wary of certain ideas, phrases, and basic plot dynamics that Andrews seems to re-use a bit too often, but so far those instances are a long way from compromising my overall enjoyment of the series. This book’s thrilling climax seems to initiate a new, more dangerous phase in Kate’s development that coincides with a further expansion of her interpersonal commitments. As Andrews raises the stakes, I’m anxious to see where the cards fall.

Rating: 8/10