Review: Magic Claims (Kate Daniels : Wilmington Years #2) by Ilona Andrews
New town, new friends, new challenges…. And a new heart-stopping adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author, Ilona Andrews. Kate, Curran, and Conlan may have left Atlanta for Wilmington, but the usual magic mayhem has also hitched a ride!
Kate and Curran have just settled into their new home and their ‘low prolife,’ when a local businessman approaches them with an offer they can’t refuse. A mysterious evil has spawned in the nearby forest and is holding a defenseless town hostage. The ‘due date’ is rapidly approaching.
It’s exactly the kind of fight the Lennarts can’t resist, not for the prize the town offers, but for the people who will surely die if they ignore it. If they succeed, they’ll be rescuing an entire community and can build a strong new base for their family and the Wilmington Pack. If they fail…well, fail is a four-letter word. Nothing comes without a price. Now Kate must decide if she has what it takes to pay it.
Review:
Dear Ilona Andrews,
I preordered this book, of course, and I remembered that it was coming out in June, but I did not remember the day so when I saw it appear on my kindle, I had to start reading as soon as I could find just a little bit of time (which was almost right away actually :)) and finished the book next day.
If you read the first novella in this sequel Kate Daniels series, you know that Kate and Curran’s quiet life may be coming to an end. And in this book both of them were honest enough to acknowledge that all the danger notwithstanding they kind of missed it. The authors very much raised the stakes in this book because the evil that threatens the small town is VERY evil, the kind of evil that wants human sacrifices in order to leave the town alone and I think even casual readers of fantasy know that evil that gets a hold of you in that way or similar way will never really leave you alone.
Ned, a very wealthy man who has personal stake in freeing the people who live in the town from the necessity of choosing a human sacrifice every year, comes to Kate and Curran and asks them to get involved. Neither of them can say no, mostly because the stakes are so high, and neither of them can sit still and let the innocents die. As a payment for their services, Ned promises Curran a huge piece of land and forest which Curran can play with as he wants to – and Curran does want that land – but again, this is just a nice bonus and not the main reason why Kate and Curran decide to get involved.
I loved that the shapeshifters whom we met in the first novella returned, and some new ones as well, and they were getting more and more interesting. It does look like we will get a chance to learn more about them. Owen the werebison was such a hoot for example, and I can’t wait to see him developing more as a character in each new story (no matter how many new Wilmington Years books we will get a chance to read).
As I said before, the stakes were raised significantly in this book in comparison to the first one. No, I was not really worried about Kate or Curran dying because the books are not done yet, but the mood was just so intense and kind of grim and I thought it was very well done how they managed to maintain the tension. Barring Kate and Curran’s deaths I just was not sure what will happen. Of course I knew that this writing duo loves to play with different mythologies in their book, but there are so many of those that I just could not make any predictions.
The stakes were also raised because the Lenarts had to make the difficult decisions about possibly exposing themselves to the world and that would mean that more dangerous people may want to come and fight them in the future, but as I said above and as blurb states this was not a fight that they felt they could refuse and I was glad they decided to get involved.
As much as parts of the book were grim, the Andrews do humor that works for me and which I always enjoyed even in their darker work and this book sure delivered for this reader. If you enjoy their humor keep an eye for a dancing vampire for example. It made me not just smile but giggle hard and I loved it and did not think it was out of place at all.
I enjoyed the first novella, but thought that this was a much tighter one in all aspects – the fighting danger, the development of the new pack (no matter what form it will take in the future books), the interactions between Kate and Curran. Contrary to the first novella, here they for the most part fight together or at the very least they are close enough to each other when the events take place so they interact a lot and I loved every minute of it, them as husband and wife or warriors or both. I also loved that they interacted with Conlan more, it was fun. A-
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
A love letter to the BDH. I enjoyed this so much. The end is priceless.
Reading this now. I’ll check in when I finish.
My husband and I finished this one this evening. I agree with you that it’s stronger than the previous book. My husband pointed out that this one moves the story forward a lot more than the prior one did and I think that might be why I enjoyed it more overall. But also I felt the Wilmington world was expanded in really interesting ways with Penderton and the forest.
I was amused by the Julie part. I really enjoy Curran’s POV but I missed Conlan’s POV and I hope we get more of it in the future. The scenes with Roland were great too. I love the Kate/Roland relationship. He is such an interesting dad / villain. I’d give the book a B+ I think.
All in all I don’t mind these Wilmington Kate books at all but what I really want is more Hugh and Elara (I know you feel very differently). And also more Arabella please.
@Janine: Yes, I would love more Wilmington books. Hugh can stay as far away as he possibly can lol. I actually enjoy scenes with Roland more and more with every book. I wondered if with his imprisonment he will get less complexity or not, glad to see he got more IMO.
Julie’s book for now made me deeply indifferent to her as well. I did not know such thing was possible but alas, it did.
@mel burns: I really enjoyed it too .
@Sirius: I agree with regard to Roland. He’s a great character.
Julie’s book was not good. Hugh’s book had its own issues but I got past them because Hugh and Elara’s relationship was so interesting and they have great chemistry as well as both being charismatic characters. Julie has no charisma and her book felt like Kate 2.0 and even Derek was more Curran-like.
It’s funny, I have a friend who disliked the first two Kinsmen book intensely to a point where she wouldn’t even try the third one. She feels the second one was derivative. I didn’t feel that way at all–to me all its similarities to Harlequin Presents were a deliberate deconstruction of that type of book and specifically of the boss / secretary romances that were so popular in the 1970s and 1980s. I loved how they played with those tropes. But Julie’s book *does* feel derivative to me and while I’ll probably read the next one just to see, I’m not excited about it.
@Janine: Agreed about Kinsmen I mean I am unfamiliar with Harlequin presents line ( I know that it exists, but I have not read it, or most of Harlequin etc ), but it did not feel derivative to me. Yes, Julie’s book was not good as far as I am concerned at all. It is not even that it feels like Kate 2.0 per se, although Wilmington years are much better Kate 2.0 as far as I am concerned ). It is that Julie and Derek became *so powerful* and she became soooo beautiful and we just *skipped* it. I need to see character’s change to believe in it and summary of what happened to Julie just was not enough to convince me.
@Sirius: Excellent points. I wanted to see the transformations too, especially Derek’s. That one jarred me more but maybe that was just because then it was both of them, and not just Julie. It felt like a stretch to buy.
The second Kinsmen book (Silver Shark) is definitely in conversation with Harlequin Presents but to me there’s a difference between an intentional conversation and flipping of the tropes and just regurgitating them in a derivative way.
There are many many HP’s where the heroine is a drab little mouse and is hired to be the hero’s secretary and he is wealthy and powerful and she has unrequited feelings for him. She thinks he doesn’t notice her (she’s nothing like the glamorous women he usually dates) but in the end it turns out he was in love with her the whole time. The makover trope (she’s drab but then she goes shopping and all of a sudden she’s beautiful and men notice her and the hero is jealous) isn’t that uncommon either.
I felt that IA were taking that and flipping it–here she might seem powerless, he might seem all-powerful in comparison on the outside, but in reality she was every bit as strong as he was and rather than needing his protection, if anything she felt he needed hers, and other people needed her help too. I thought the book used those tropes in really interesting ways and had an interesting thing to say about them.
It read like something a fan of HP had written, but a really smart fan who thought the books were fun but also thought the HP tropes were worth exploring and interrogating. My friend didn’t care though! She just saw it as unoriginal. Her loss.
@Janine: Hm, very interesting about Harlequins thank you.
Janine, FYI we won’t see Arabella’s book(s) until the war between Russia and Ukraine is over. Ilona is firm on that. I just read an interview on their blog about Magic Claims and Arabella’s hero will be the Russian prince who turns into a bear whom Arabella fought with at the end of Ruby Fever. Ilona won’t write a Russian hero right now. She is terribly upset about the war, and her brother recently got a draft notice. (Per another blog post in response to the interview.)
If you go back a couple months on the blog you’ll find these posts. The lengthy interview is very interesting. I’m just catching up on my reading of Ilona Andrews books right now, and found the posts.
Loved Magic Claims! I really look forward to more about the Ice Age shifters, since prehistoric mammals are a particular interest of mine. Too bad Curran had to kill their alpha.
@Kari S.: I loved Magic Claims too, so glad the book worked. I think I am very much okay with waiting for Arabella book, the reason is more than good enough for me.
I am fine with waiting for Arabella’s book (it wouldn’t offend me personally but I understand Ilona not wanting to write it and/or some readers finding it triggering / not wanting to read it). But when are we getting Hugh and Elara’s book? That’s something I really want to know.
The Gordons are not willing to announce new books until they are pretty much finished with them, which is why they shifted to self-publishing. Iron and Magic II is coming, but don’t expect to hear about it until they have a release date they’re sure they can deliver on.
The third Wilmington book is also coming, but I don’t believe they’ve committed to a date on that, either. They felt under tremendous pressure to deliver Ruby Fever, and weren’t happy with it for much of its writing. I think that another book about Julie is on the back burner.
They also have another “dark” fantasy project known as “Maggie” in the works, and are trying to develop a new “anchor” series along the lines of the Kate Daniels series with the promise of a steady income. Also, they want to get out of Texas. The weather is driving them insane, and the politics of the state are not compatible with their own.
Their blog is very informative about these issues and many others.
@Kari S.: I like their blog when I read it but I don’t keep up, so thanks for all that information. I didn’t care for the first Julie book that much so I don’t mind if that’s back burnered, but I thought Hugh’s book was one of their best and I love the dynamic between him and Elara. The dark fantasy sounds interesting — dark in what way, do you know? And I am excited for an anchor series, only let it be less silly than the Innkeeper books. Those are not my thing at all.
That is interesting about income, I would have thought that they would be doing okay since they are such popular authors. But of course life isn’t easy for anyone.
@Kari S.: Re Texas weather. I don’t know where in Texas they are but my friend and CP author Sherry Thomas (whose books you might like BTW) lives in Austin and I know they get 130 degree summers and hail the size of golf balls.
The blog post for yesterday says that Maggie will be rated R for adult themes, violence and sexual content. It doesn’t describe the fantasy elements but I got the impression that it would also be darker fantasy elements. Witchcraft, perhaps? Different writer, but I know that in Patricia Briggs fantasy world, black witches are the ultimate bad guys, worse than even vampires.
Hugh ‘s second story, like Iron and Magic, is supposedly dark enough that Ilona was unwilling to work on it during Covid, when life was difficult enough. But like you, I really liked Iron and Magic and can believe in Hugh’s redemption. There was a spoiler (to me) about Hugh and his true parentage in the Magic Claims interview. Would you like to know? Or do you know already?
Yes, they are successful novelists, but full-time authors need to have a steady, continuing income which means regular publishing that sells to people beyond their loyal fanbase. Another reason they left trad publishing was because authors only get about 25% of the sales income, and royalties don’t start until the advance is covered. With self publishing they pay agents, advertising, editors, cover artists/models/photographers and printing costs (plus the retail outlets) but the rest goes to the authors. However, something like Magic Claims mostly sells to people who were already Kate Daniels fans, like us.
I’ve read most of the Sherry Thomas Lady Sherlock series. Need to catch up on the last book or two, which will mean a reread of the others.
Wonderful book alert!! Have any of you read the recent bestseller Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros? It was mentioned by a fellow fan of the In Death series in a podcast. Out of curiosity I ordered it and WOW. Really, really good. It’s 500 pages and I read it in one sitting. It’s the first of five and I’ve already pre-ordered the next one, out in November. High fantasy, set at a dragon rider’s academy. The heroine is physically frail (the author has the same health issues) but extremely smart, and I loved the hero, who lives with the stigma of parents who were executed by the heroine’s mother as traitors. Very high body count, but the dragons are marvelous characters, too. I recommend it highly.
Thanks for the info on Maggie. Do you know if it’s in first person or third person? Wondering because of the R rated sexual content. I usually find sex scenes narrated in first person past tense a bit awkward because the main character is describing their sex life (as opposed to thinking about it or remembering it) and who does that in real life?
Re Hugh’s parentage—I figured that out in Julie’s book, at least as far as who his mother is.
SPOILER
SPOILER
SPOILER
The assassin who had worked for Erra told Julie about Erra’s depression and about how Roland had taken something precious from her and deceived her, and that was why she felt so bad she wanted to die at Kate’s hand. And Julie called Hugh her uncle. So I was pretty sure he was Erra’s kid. What gave it away to you? Do you have any thoughts on who his father is?
END OF SPOILER
Yeah, the self-publishing royalties was why I thought they must be doing okay, and also their decision not to announce the books until they are close to done. That means forgoing some early publicity, and that can have a limiting effect on sales. So I figured that if they decided to do that, they must feel able to afford to. But maybe it was just making them so miserable that they would rather not have all the money they need. I didn’t mean any of this as a criticism, I’m sure being pleaded with by readers for this book can be draining, especially when working on a different project.
Also do you (or anyone else) know if Hugh’s book is a trilogy or a two-book series?
You should go back and read the spoiler blog post dated June 21 of this year celebrating the release of Magic Claims. There’s a lot of info about Hugh’s book, and a link to another blog entry that reveals his father’s name, too. (Though I’m not up on all of the humongous cast of characters for the Kate Daniels world, and can’t remember who his father is.) Yes, you’re right about his mother. All Will Be Revealed when Hugh’s book comes out! Whenever that happens. I haven’t heard anything about a third Hugh book.
I don’t know much more about Maggie, but they may serialize it in their blog with content warnings. I don’t follow the blog religiously because they are one of several authors I consider among my favorites, but every now and then I binge and catch up. (Other favorites are Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters, Patricia Briggs, JD Robb, Lois McMaster Bujold, the Others series by Anne Bishop, the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey with some reservations, and more.)
I follow the Ilona Andrews blog on a regular basis. They do discuss who Hugh’s father is in one of their blog posts. He’s the source of Hugh’s healing ability. (Look for Dina’s interview with Hugh and Roman.) I think the original plan was that Iron Covenant would be a trilogy, with the second book focusing on Elara’s backstory, and the third book filling in the rest of the gap leading up to KD10. Don’t know if that’s still the plan though.
As Kari S noted above, House Andrews has decided not to announce WIPs until they’re ready for publication. It gives them the freedom to work on whatever they see fit at the moment. But they have confirmed their intention to publish additional stories in both the Kate Daniels and Hidden Legacy worlds, without committing to specific dates.
I don’t actually want spoilers for Hugh’s book, but I do enjoy discussing theories. There’s a different pleasure for me in finding out whether a theory was correct when I read the book that I don’t get with a spoiler. So don’t tell me who Hugh’s dad is but I still want to know what clued you to his mom’s identity.
@Sandra: Thanks for the info about the plan for Hugh’s series. As I said to Kari I actually want to avoid spoilers (but not spoilery theories–there’s a distinction for me). I feel a bit spoiled already just knowing that Hugh and Elara have lots of kids based on what I read in the recent Kate books. I hope the Gordons haven’t decided to shorten Hugh and Elara’s story. I love them (Elara and Hugh) so much.
@Kari S., I enjoyed Fourth Wing and also like some of the other works you mentioned (Patricia Briggs, Lois McMaster Bujold, the Others series by Anne Bishop). I’ll recommend to you the novel To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose.
Kari S I reviewed “Fourth Wing” here at DA. I liked it well enough, but definitely thought it had flaws . I did preorder next book though .
The biggest spoiler in that blog’s post (for me) was the identity of Hugh’s mother. You have to follow the link to find out his father. Regarding the number of kids Hugh and Elara have, I’m not sure how much time has passed, but I know I had the thought that some of their kids might be fosters or adopted. I seem to remember some orphans in the first book that needed homes, but it’s been awhile since I read it and I could be wrong.
Another recent book I read was My Lady Jane by Hand, Ashton and Meadows. It’s a somewhat farcical retelling of the story of King Edward VI (who died young) and Lady Jane Grey (who also died young) giving them both much more happy (and longer) lives. This trio of apparently wacky ladies are retelling the histories of some of history’s remarkable women. Instead of being a clash between different religions, the rift in world history is rooted in whether or not you’re a shifter. (They use a special word for it, but it requires a character you can’t find typing on an iPhone.) I found it entertaining, but if you don’t enjoy a certain sort of humor, you won’t like them. The books are YA. Mary, Queen of Scots is another protagonist in her own book. Hopefully she has a happier fate, too.
Has anyone read Margaret Rogerson’s Vespertine? It’s a YA reworking of Joan of Arc’s story, also with a happier ending. Liked it a lot.
Janine, thanks for telling me about The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. Loved it, and the recent sequel, The Late Mrs. Willoughby, is also quite good. The young hero is Darcy and Elizabeth’s son, who is neuro-divergent. There will be at least one more book. I think the hero and heroine will get together in the next book. They are awfully young (17 and 21) but girls did marry young back then.
What I enjoyed most about Fourth Wing was the relationship between Violet and Xaden. He’s one of my favorite kinds of heroes. The other thing I liked was Violet using her intelligence to overcome her physical limitations, since I’ve lived with (and had to overcome) the same lack of physical strength my whole life. I liked the chemistry between them and could believe in their romance.
The cutthroat school competition and bullying were the aspects I didn’t enjoy as much, though seeing Violet triumph over her enemies by using her brain was satisfying. I grew up being bullied my entire elementary school life, from my fourth day of kindergarten. Violet was chosen by the highly coveted dragon because she was kind and brave, not for her physical strength. That spoke to me. Seeing her enemies reap what they sowed (dying because they wanted to kill Violet) was horrible but curiously satisfying since this is fiction, not real life. The death I really regretted was at the end of the book.