Hello Blogging World!

Misty

I’m Misty, romance lover extraordinaire!!

Jonny

And I’m Jonny, wizard wannabe. All I need is a little magic!

This buddy read and rant is for Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews.

Blurb:

Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring the intriguing fantasy world of mercenary Kate Daniels…

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…

GoodReads

Amazon

***Brief disclosure***

Jonny is an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post. It’s a great way to help him keep things running on his blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

Buddy Read Book Rant:

Jonny

Hey Misty,

Thanks for doing this buddy read with me. How did you like the book? This one’s been on my TBR for literal years, so thank you for helping me finally get around to it!

I thought the book was okay, but I had some issues here and there so I gave it a 3.5/5.

Misty

Hi Jonny,

You know I love buddy reading with you!!
I’ve been wanting to read something by this author for a while no so I was excited when you suggested it for our buddy read.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me. I ended up DNFing it at about the 25% mark. I started with listening to the audiobook of it which was a dramatized version of it and I hated it. I got 13% into it before I started looking for it somewhere else. I found the ebook on Libby and I thought physically reading it would help me out but nope I still wasn’t liking it.

I liked that it throws you into the story immediately but at the same time there was so much getting thrown at us all at once that it was just too much for me. I just couldn’t get invested in the story or the characters and I just found myself not caring. I don’t want to pick up the book every time I put it down and when I did I struggled to focus on it.

Jonny

Aww, and I you!

I’m sorry this one didn’t meet the mark. After we talked I was hoping that a switch to the ebook would improve your experience but no dice. Oh well, sometimes a book just doesn’t grip you.

I liked that too about the book. It immediately threw us into the action and was relatively fast-paced, but it was too much all at once with not enough explained. I don’t remember how long it was before the MC explained what magic and tech waves were but it took way too long. I wanted the world to be more fully explored. I really loved the concept of the parallel earth. It was very original but we didn’t get a 3d view of it.

I had that issue too. The chapters could be a little long (anything past 30 mins makes me a little frustrated), and when I’d sit back down to continue reading I would get confused. There were a LOT of characters and sometimes I’d have to remind myself who was who before I could move on.

Do you think if things were slowed down a little it would’ve helped the experience? I felt like the MC kept running around too much in every single chapter. She’s got more endurance than me! I’d need a nap lol.

Misty

It’s ok they can’t all work for us. If I’m not mistaken I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve DNFed one of our buddy reads. I was really hoping the switch would help me as well. I follow someone else who recently started reading it and she loved it. She’s flingbthrou the whole series right now . I think if I can find a regular audiobook of it I might give it another try sometime.

OMG I forgot to mention the chapters being so freaking long. I despise long chapters. Every time I started a new chapter my kindle told me I had 40+ minutes left in the chapter. Just in the little bit I read there was a lot of characters being introduced and it was hard to keep up with who was who and which ones were bad or good. It was just a lot.

It might have helped. If she slowed down a little bit and explained things a little better and maybe cut out some of the characters. I would have preferred a fast paced info dump over what we got.

Jonny

Yeah, I was surprised because I’m pretty quick to DNF something if I’m not having a good time but I didn’t remember any we read together that you DNF’d. Didn’t you say the audiobook you had was kind of overdone? Given the MC’s personality, if they tried to play it up even more I can see it being very annoying. Hopefully there’s a different audiobook version out there.

Right? When I saw they were 40 minutes + I thought my head was gonna explode lol. I don’t usually have 40 straight minutes to read, so I frequently had to stop in weird places which didn’t help things.

I agree! More worldbuilding from the very beginning and a slightly slower pace would’ve let us get used to this world, but it was more of a roller coaster.

How did you like the characters? Did you have a favorite? I didn’t really resonate with anyone all that much. The MC was too snarky all the time and the pack leader Curran was the same way. Maybe Anna for her sweetness, but she was hardly in the book.

Misty

Yes the audiobook was a dramatized version which according to google means it’s more like a play. It just was to much going on and sometimes I couldn’t understand what was being said because of the way it was done or there was to much going on at once I couldn’t hear it. So far I haven’t been able to find a regular audiobook.

I have the time to read it usually but when I don’t it’s annoying especially because I hate stopping in the middle of a chapter. I will if I don’t have a choice but I prefer not to. And with long chapters after a while the longness becomes very apparent and I’m like I my my gosh when is this going to end and it takes me out of the story when I’m constantly thinking that.

Honestly I don’t have an opinion on the characters because I just didn’t care. I think I could have ended up liking the MFC though. I don’t think I got to the part where Anna was introduced or maybe I just completely forgot her.

Jonny

Oh no, drama on top of drama! Yikes, that sounds like way too much. I’m sorry friend.

I couldn’t agree more. There haven’t been a lot of books I’ve read with this long of chapters so it was a bit jarring.

That’s fair. I wanted to like the MC but I wanted more vulnerability out of her. We get brief moments, but that’s it. How about the love interest? I actually liked him for her and actually think there could’ve been more romance and I wouldn’t have minded one bit. They had some good moments. Hmm, I think Anna is the telepath at Kate’s work who occasionally calls her with a vision or something like that. She’s always very kind to her.

Misty

It’s ok. It’s the first time I’ve tried a dramatized version so it’s nice to know now never to listen to one again lol.

I didn’t get to the part where a little be interest was introduced so I don’t even know who it was. I only got to the part where she met Curran for the first time. Oh wait I remember Anna now. She’s the ex wife of the man whose death the main character is investigating right?

Jonny

LOL well what if the subject material was a bit more bland but you still wanted to read it? Maybe then it would be useful. I’m thinking of when I was forced to read Jane Austen a few semesters back for grad school or any genre I’m not used to reading.

Oh my bad. Well it’s cute, but not emphasized enough if you ask me. Haha, now I’m more confused about who Anna is! I guess that just speaks to how well the book defined her or lack thereof.

Okay, so definitely not a big win in either of our books. Maybe next time! I’m hoping to have enough time for some spooky reads this October. That’s my favorite month!

Misty

Yeah I don’t even think I would enjoy it then either. It was just too much for me. I’ve only read one Jane Austen book and I kind of liked it.

Maybe if I had gotten to the romance it would have hooked me then since you know how much I love romance. Haha I’ve forgotten everything I read of it since putting it down lol.

Nope not a big win but I’m glad you were able to read it all the way through. I’m hoping to read some horror in October. A friend of mine sent me a lot of horror books earlier this year and I’m thinking about picking out some of those.

Jonny

Gotcha. I think I read the second book in a series. I just want to hear some overdone Victorian voice acting!

Haha, no worries! Hopefully the next one we will vibe with a bit more and both we able to finish. Darn that Wolfsong series for playing hard to get!

Ooo, that sounds promising! Definitely shoot me over some of the titles and I”ll see if my library has some. We’ve gotta have all the chills for Halloween!

Misty

I’m so mad that Wolfsong wasn’t available when I looked this time. I’m going to keep an eye out for it. I can place a hold on in through Libby but the wait is several months. I’m going to go ahead and place a hold and hopefully by the time it comes available we can read it if you haven’t read it already.

I will send you a picture of them on Instagram.

Jonny

Yeah, come on Libby! No worries. I’m really interested in that series so should anything change just let me know and I’ll be happy to give it a go with you. 🙂

Alright, sounds like a plan. Thanks again for doing this with me and I hope we get to do this again soon!

Misty

I will try to keep an eye out on it and let you know when it’s getting closer to time for me to get it but it can also just randomly come available tomorrow as well. I have actually had that happen before. I’m really interested in it as well.

Thank you for buddy reading it with me as well. I love our buddy reads even if we don’t both love the book.

That’s A Wrap!

Thanks for joining us on our buddy read and rant of Magic Bites! We had a lot of fun, and hope you did too! We will definitely be doing some more buddy reads in the future, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, why not check out Misty and Jonny’s other fun buddy reads?

Buddy Read: The First to Die at the End

Buddy Read: They Both Die at the End

Buddy Read: Under the Whispering Door

Buddy Read: The Burning World

Buddy Read: Warm Bodies

Buddy Read: The Wicked Deep

Buddy Read: The Locke & Key Series

Buddy Read: Dark Lover

Buddy Read: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain

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