Review: Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels # 7) by Ilona Andrews

My favourite book of the year, hands down.

Title: Magic Breaks
Series: Kate Daniels
Author: Ilona Andrews
Publisher: Ace/Hachette
My ratings: 5 out of 5 stars
Released: 29th September, 2014
Magic Break was The Book for me in 2014. I love, I mean love Ilona Andrews and I swear I can gobble up any thing they throw at me. Kate Daniels books are my drugs and once I get a taste of the books nothing seems worthy or even worth my time. I have read this series about 5 times or maybe more, so my love is bone deep. The following review contains incoherent fan-girling and ridiculous amounts of gushing so I apologise for my poor grammar but I feel this deserves it and more.

This is a review of Book 7 in a 10 book long series so, if you are reading beyond this point and get spoiled, don't say I didn't warn you. After the event in Magic Rises, we are all prepare to the eventuality of Kate coming face to face with her nemesis, her father, Roland. More on that later. But first, I will rehash the premise. Kate is faced with a challenge to find a killer before an all out war between the People and the Pack in 24 hours, in the absence of Curran, which is bought on by the crazy Hugh.

We get to see Kate shine without being over-shadowed by Curran, which was never a problem for me, to be honest. But it was great watching her conduct herself and leading the Pack in Curran's absence with her characteristic sass and attitude and just Kate-ness. That should totally be a word.

A lot of old characters come back and new characters are also explored in Magic Breaks. We also get an explanation of Doolittle's reaction in Magic Rises to Kate's magic. I really enjoyed Dessandra and her brass attitude. She is annoyingly fun to hang out with and the unlikely camaraderie of Ascanio and Derek made me laugh out loud.. Barabos starts this book off by his funny prologue and the fun ensues.

Curran was absent through most of this book, but when he returns he makes up for it. I love the chemistry between Kate and Curran and I cherish every moment these two come together. They are one of my favourite couples ever and even the events in Magic Rises could not dampen my adoration for this couple. Kate has grown so reliant on Curran and vice-versa and I was happy to see that she has opened up after having such a eschewed childhood. She is a trained killer but her feelings for Curran are slowly healing her and her need for him touches me. She misses and pines for him when he is away and I view this as so much character development of a person who feared any interaction with anyone in the fear of their eventual deaths. Kate has come a long way and people who begrudge her (namely some readers) need to see the other side of her so called needy behaviour. Furthermore, Curran proves his love for Kate is above anything else in his life, in the end of Magic Breaks.

Hugh makes a come back in Magic Breaks but this time he has got bigger plans in his mind. I adore his interactions with Kate. He is such a sick, crazy bastard that make for interesting page time. He is twisted and an evil creature but his fascination with Kate is his downfall. Whenever he appears, he makes such an impact that he captivates the scene utterly and compels the reader to pay attention. When he made an appearance, I dropped my Kindle like a hot potato and ran around the room a little. Yes, I was that excited that shit was going to go down. Kate really has a knack of attracting strange, crazy men in her life and yes that includes her very own psycho killer, Curran. I love how bad Hugh is and he added this magnetism to a scene which is irreplaceable.

From the various reviews I've read that have been going around, I feel that some readers didn't like how the event's unfolded in this book. The long awaited showdown between Roland and Kate occurs and yes, admittedly it didn't go as what I had come to expect but it was still bloody, brutal and violent. Some readers also didn't like how Kate showed changes in her personality. I feel I need to defend my favourite series here, as what do you expect from 100 book series when it is in book 7, that the main character will remain exactly the same as you found her in book 1? No, Kate has gone through so much and she not a lone mercenary hiding from her powerful father but The Pack Alpha. She has her family and people she wants to protect and she can rely on. Is it so bad that she has learnt to rely on the person whom she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

Now that I have got it off my chest I can keep gushing how good this book/series is. I have said this before and I keep repeating myself but I feel that Ilona Andrews know what is like in a book and
personalise it for me.

The Kate Daniels books are like a lover for me. It knows where to touch and feel and coax the right response from me. It slowly gets under my skin, branding me as it's eternal lover and rendering me useless for any other book afterwards. That's right, after I read the latest edition of this series I fall in a reading slump so deep that it takes months to come out properly from it.

Moving on from my strange analogy, Magic Breaks is everything and more that a true fan of the series will appreciate, enjoy and love. It takes me on a ride and fulfills all the promises I have come to expect from it. Action. adventure, romance, friendship, family, sacrifice and Curran *squeal*.

If you are a fan, then you don't need any convincing to pick up this book, and if you have not started this book before and have read the above tirade than what have you been waiting for?

Pick up this series. Now.