Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) by Ilona Andrews – This series rises!

Magic Rises, kate daniels #6, Ilona AndrewsSynopsis: Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.

Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute—and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer—but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap…

Review: Oh boy, what a ride! While this book wasn’t as quotable with the usual hilarious quips that make me love this series so much, it is definitely one of my favorite books of the series, if not my favorite.  I usually love books when the characters go on road trips or end up out of their usual element.  It usually gives a series a fresh perspective, revealing new aspects about my favorite characters and ultimately showing what they are made of when the going gets tough.  Ilona Andrews really brought their A-game from start to finish.  Kate and Curran, how can you not love them?  As solid as they are, or at least as solid as we assume they are, their relationship and feelings for one another are put to the ultimate test.

I must say that bringing just about every essential character along for the quest set off my alarm bells early that nothing was going to be the same from here on out.  I feared that not everybody would make it back or make it back in one piece.  And they do take a hell of a beating in that department I’m sad to say.  But I believe everything that happened happened for the sake of pushing the story forward to the best conclusion possible.

There were definitely frustrating moments making me feel for both characters as individuals as well.  I will always be a Kate and Curran girl, but I thought they handled the chemistry between Kate and Hugh D’Ambry (her father’s right hand) surprisingly well.  I was genuinely looking forward to their scenes together and the outcomes weren’t always predictable.  I was really engrossed in the back story involving Kate’s heritage and felt satisfied with what was revealed. It felt integral to the story and to what we can expect of the series here on out.  So often I run into series where the overarching plot is merely peppered throughout the book instead of being the meat of it, making it very obvious that the author plans to drag the story out as much as possible.  I am so happy that wasn’t the case here, though I honestly haven’t read a disappointing Kate Daniels book.

If we thought things were complicated before, this book proved to me that we haven’t seen anything yet. I heard the series was going to end at 7, but then they decided to extend it to 10.  At this point I think 10 books is definitely the sweet spot.

If you want a true page turner, this is one of the best you are going to find this year, guaranteed.

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