REVIEW: Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews
Warning: series spoilers follow.
I won’t spoil this book, but it is impossible to review it without giving away major plot points from previous books in the series.
Magic Binds will not make a lot of sense to readers unless they’ve read the earlier eight Kate Daniels books. Don’t start here.
Dear Ilona Andrews,
Magic Binds has been on my eagerly anticipated list all year. Book nine in the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series (which will be completed after the end of the next book), Magic Binds progresses the story arc of the coming battle between Kate and her father, Roland.
Kate and Curran are two weeks away from their wedding. When the book begins, they ask Roman, the black volhv – priest of God of Evil, Chernobog, to officiate the ceremony. Much of the humour of this book comes from Roman’s somewhat unexpected (but hilarious) enthusiasm for his role. He takes it upon himself to be the couple’s de facto wedding planner – Roman knows a lot about planning a wedding. One would almost think he’s been hoping for this moment for years and years. (I wonder if he has a ring binder full of wedding brochures in his closet?)
The humour is a welcome relief from the heavy aspects of the story. A final resolution to the thorny issue of Roland v Kate is coming and Roland continues to antagonise his daughter, most recently by kidnapping Saiman. If Kate does nothing to rescue Saiman, Roland can kidnap her citizens at will and that’s not acceptable. However, the alternative seems to be provoking a war she is not ready to win.
Kate’s magical abilities have increased since the events of Magic Breaks, but she is still not strong enough to best Roland. When the Witch Oracle tells her that if she goes ahead and marries Curran, the final battle is only weeks away and will result in the death of her beloved, things are looking decidedly grim. That kind of makes it sound like the problem can be solved by not marrying Curran but that is never really on the table (thankfully). No, if Curran doesn’t die in a battle soon, the battle will be in about a year and will result in the death of their son instead. Kate is between a rock and a hard place. It seems Atlanta is destined to burn and she will lose all the people that matter most to her.
The “wild card” is Kate herself. The Witch Oracle doesn’t see Kate during her visions of the coming battle and this suggests that Kate can somehow change the future – something which is almost-but-not-quite fixed.
New Plan
1. Get Awesome Cosmic Powers.
2. Nuke my dad.
3. Retire from the land-claiming business.
I was so down with this plan. If only I had some way to implement it.
While I’m on the topic of changing the near-certain future, I’ll add that I didn’t entirely understand the concept of “anchors”. It was too subtle for me. What I did understand is that there are certain things which, if they occur (or don’t occur as the case may be) will make the near-certain further either more or less certain. That’s fine as far as it goes, but I didn’t always understand the significance of the anchors to the overall story – that is, the battle with Roland. I felt like there had to be some significance, otherwise, these things were random and, at least for the first one, there to have a cool battle scene rather than anything else. I’m not good with subtle though so perhaps I missed something. Also, there was a paradox later on in the book where Kate actively had to provoke the event she was trying to prevent. I admit I puzzled over that for a while. To be fair, there was some acknowledgement in the book itself about this conundrum, albeit there didn’t appear to be an answer.
During the time Kate is coming up with a workable plan with at least a hope of success, she is also battling the effect that claiming Atlanta had on her. When she uses her magic, she feels herself drawn into an abyss of inhuman power-hunger; she finds herself in danger of becoming just like Roland. This aspect was the most fascinating in the story for me. As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The more powerful Kate becomes, the more she is tempted to pursue power for its own sake. While she recognises that this would make her not Kate anymore, it is nevertheless a battle. The force trying to draw her in the the abyss is tricksy and suggests all sorts of good reasons why Kate ought to disregard pesky little things like self-determination for others. Of course, in order to defeat Roland, she has to become more powerful. It’s not an option for her to just walk away.
Kate gets help from unexpected sources. I’m not entirely sure how I felt about this – If I had read this book directly after reading all the books in the series in a glom, would I find the character consistent or not? Because I didn’t (glom the entire series at once), there was enough ambiguity for me to give it a pass however. For now at least.
I was pleased that the Kate/Curran romance returned to its previous heat level. I thought the more explicit sex in Magic Shifts was a little jarring.
I also liked the balance between Kate doing things on her own and Kate doing things as part of a team – sometimes that was the Kate/Curran team and other times it included characters such as Derek, Julie, Ascanio (he’s still a favourite of mine) and Christopher. Speaking of Christopher, things I wasn’t expecting at all happened with him. Talk about coming out of left field. I’m not sure if my complete surprise about this was because I didn’t pick up on earlier clues or if there were no earlier clues. I freely admit I’m not good with subtle though, so I’m prepared to accept I just missed it.
I was disappointed that the djinn box didn’t feature more strongly in Magic Binds, particularly after the tantalising ending of the previous book. It felt like a lot of build up but then… nothing.
That said, I blazed through this book, reading it in only two evenings. It certainly held my attention and entertained me. The snappy banter between Kate and… well, everyone kept me engrossed and the action was nearly nonstop. However, like in Magic Breaks, the ending [ETA: the ending in terms of the conflict with Roland] was anticlimactic. Partly this was always going to happen – the Roland v Kate story will finish in book 10. Book nine was going to get us closer to it but there is no final resolution here. Narratively, it created a lot of tension but it kind of fizzled at the end because of that lack of resolution. The first Kate Daniels books had a looming battle with Roland as the main story arc of the series, but each book told of a particular conflict in which Kate and her crew eventually prevailed. Even Magic Shifts did that – Eduardo was rescued. But in Magic Binds, the conflict is entirely with Roland and, while progress is made, the story is not done. That said, the stakes are certainly raised very high by the end of Magic Binds.
Kate Daniels is still one of my favourite series’ even if Magic Binds perhaps not the strongest instalment. From a romance perspective (and let’s face it, that’s a perspective I’m always going to have) there are some sweet and charming “awww” moments. Plus, there’s a wedding. What’s not to love about a wedding?
Grade: B
Regards,
Kaetrin
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I saw your review in Q few days ago. I raced through the book yesterday evening – really enjoyed it which is not surprising :). Re: anchors I agree with you as to what they are or should I say what they appear to be – certain things which have to happen to make the future more certain. I thought though that their only significance for the battle in this book was that several other anchors made the battle likely to happen and that what was needed . In other words while not explicitly named I thought battle was in sense another anchor. I could be wrong of course .
I love this series. Haven’t read this book yet but it’s on my weekend to do list with a priority marking — even if the ending is a bit meh, hubby is keeping the kids and I’m reading.
Oh forgot to add ; while I certainly did not expect to see this specific big thing happen to Christopher, I expected the revelation along those lines in general – absolutely. And awww about the other smaller thing about Christopher even though that one was kind of obvious to me (I wanted that don’t get me wrong, but expected it ).
I am still a few books behind in this series and I’m scared to read the spoilers, so I just glanced at the grade and now I’m going “Hmm.”
I didn’t feel the end was anticlimactic because I assumed the end would be the wedding ( because the Roland confrontation is in the next book) and I felt it was a nice change of pace and nice to end on a hopeful note. Usually I sit around after feeling exhausted from the battle ;) I really liked the shift in tone where Kate battled the power because for once you really get a sense that she actually has huge magic.
@Sirius: If that’s right then the anchors made even less sense to me. For it to work for me, the anchoring events had to have some significance to the coming battle or there had to be a link drawn to enable me to see the connection. But if there was never supposed to be a connection that’s like saying, well, I have to stop person x from wearing a blue top today or else my son will fail his maths test – it makes no sense unless the blue top is connected to the maths test in some way – it’s just too random for me.
To be fair, there were some anchoring events which *were* related to the coming battle. Those made way more sense to me. But the thing about Kate having to stop Roland getting [the thing he needed to get] – no explicit connection was made as to why Roland wanted it and what effect him not having it had on the outcome of events. Without that connection, for me, that was an excuse for a fun battle scene but not much else.
The caveat is that I don’t do subtle well so perhaps I missed cues others will see.
I do appear to be an outlier in not giving Magic Binds a higher grade.
@Patricia Eimer: I still enjoyed it Patricia – just not as much as other books in the series. And you may well think it’s awesome – it’s getting loads of positive reviews all over the place. :)
@Sirius: Which just goes to show you’re better at picking up on cues than I am Sirius!
As to the other thing about Christopher, I wasn’t surprised by that and I thought it was sweet, but I’m also glad that nothing really happened with it. That relationship needs some time for both parties to feel comfortable that the feelings are genuine and not based on gratitude or something else I think. I’m trying to be a bit vague so as not to give away too much so I hope that makes sense!
@Janine: I seem to be an outlier Janine. It’s getting A reviews in loads of other venues. Maybe my review needs to be taken with a healthy pinch of salt! LOL
@RayC: Oh, the wedding was lovely. When I said the ending was anticlimactic, I wasn’t referring to the wedding. I will edit the review to make that clear. I was referring to the ending in terms of the action between Kate and Roland. For me it was a case of all revved up and no place to go. Obviously the big final battle with Roland can’t happen until the final book in the series but, given that the conflict with Roland was one of the main story arcs of Magic Binds (the other being Kate’s conflict with herself), it meant that it didn’t have a strong resolution. And that magic djinn box just didn’t figure at all which felt really odd to me given the ending of the previous book in the series.
Kaetrin it just shows how even between DA reviewers we assign somewhat different meaning even to similar grades . To me B is a very good grade and I did not even think for a second that you are an outlier . I think of the grade as mixed starting maybe with C+. I would give this one an A-, absolutely , but I truly think that these duo are the best urban fantasy can offer so their books often are as close to perfect as it can get for me . And even I don’t love all their books equally .
Loved this book like I loved all the others. Spoiler alert: did Kate really grant immortality to one of the characters? Perhaps it was the only way to win the battle. I liked how she fights against the magic changing her
@Sirius: B is still a good book in my view but I still feel outlierish because I’ve seen a lot of A and A+ grades. But yes, we are definitely not a hive mind here at DA! LOL
@Sirius: Oh, forgot to say: I love Ilona Andrews too but if pressed I’d probably say Patricia Briggs has the stronger series. And I expect there’d be at least few votes for Anne Bishop (whose latest series is still languishing on my TBR).
@Delgirl: Ummm. I can’t remember! Sorry. Maybe someone else will chime in? I read the book weeks ago and some of the details are fuzzy now.
Kaetrin I gave up Patricia Briggs after two or three books . I acknowledge that she is a very good writer but for me it is absolutely no contest :-). And it is not that I love everything Ilona Andrews writes necessarily – I mean I stalk ( sorry read ;-)) their blog for years and Kate Daniels mostly works fantastically well for me ( book six annoyed me and I started with book three and then read book one and two and agreed that those were weaker but besides that – love these books ). However I cheered when they ended Edge series . I also love their Inkeeper serial although I wanted to strangle the character from Edge series they brought in the second book :). So anyway yeah , I really enjoyed this book more than the previous one and I did enjoy the previous one a lot .
I wanted to ask you but I guess this will become a spoiler talk very fast . Email me ? What did you think of Jim? That was the only thing that bugged me in this book.
@Sirius: Which Briggs series did you try? The Anna and Charles books or the Mercy series? They are very different from each other.
Thanks for the review. I guess I’m still digesting the book. Part of this may be because I stayed up Monday night to read it once it hit my Kindle, and I’m still feeling the effects. I liked it, and would probably give it an A- myself, but think I need a reread (or a listen when the audio book is released) at a less rushed, sleep-deprived pace. A bunch of things happened that I really wasn’t expecting, and some things I was expecting didn’t. Since I can’t spoil, I’ll leave it at that.
I will say that the intensity level seemed to be tamped down a bit–both with the anxiety-inducing scenes and the humorous scenes. There were plenty of both, but I wasn’t figuratively biting my fingernails or laughing aloud, which is often the case with this series. Again, maybe due to my fatigue.
And I thoroughly agree about the sexytimes. That is definitely not their forte, and I thought the more explicit sex scenes in earlier books were squirmy-cringey. They do so much better with innuendo and smoldering buildup that I’m happier when they get a bit vague with the mechanics.
Overall, I’m a happy camper and still love the series. There are so many interesting side characters that I’m really looking forward to some of their stories at the conclusion of the Kate-centric books–especially Hugh’s book(s) which I can’t even begin to wrap my head around.
@Susan: I still liked the book. It just wasn’t an unqualified success for me.
I’ll get the audiobook as well when it comes out – I enjoy Renee Raudman’s narration and I love her growly Curran voice.
Possibly spoilery SPOILERS about the anchors – do NOT read if you haven’t read the book but plan to:
—
In my mind, the anchors do matter, and aren’t as arbitrary as they may seem at first glance. It may not be the objects or actions themselves that are important, but they do have significance when it comes to how Kate, Ronald and others react to them.
SPOILERY TERRITORY
The head, for instance. The head itself isn’t important to any of them, but if Kate had given it to Adora, she woudn’t know about the Sahanu and wouldn’t have gotten the inside info about the rest of them. She would very possibly have met much bigger problems when entering Mishmar and meeting Adora’s colleague. Without knowing that a few of the Sahanu were fey, she wouldn’t have brought powdered iron, and thus could possibly have lost the fight or not been able to reach her grandmother. She would also have fewer arguments to win over Erra, seeing as the fact that Ronald created them in order to get rid of her really affected her.
Jezebel and her actions may also greatly affect the future and Roland’s relationship with Julie. Jezebel’s actions lead Julie to really UNDERSTAND how awful Roland can be. Sure, she may have understood it in a kind of academic/theoretic manner previously, but she hadn’t really felt it, gotten it.
Just my two cents :)
The minute Kate made a plan and Sienna told her it’s possible, that plan became the one version of future Kate wanted to happen. I figured anchors are like check-points in a game- they mean you are in the clear for everything that happened up to that point and game now starts from that point on- in this case, anchors mean that Kate is still on the right path for that exact version of future she needs to happen). Oracle never tells her what she needs to do, but anchors (head, dragon, etc) mean that Kate’s plan is still on.
At least, that’s how I figured it out.
@sara: That makes perfect sense to me actually.
Wow I don’t agree with the grade of this book review – for myself it sits in A territory. I found the pace was great and the stakes the characters were facing fairly consistent. It’s difficult to find a fantasy series where the main character doesn’t just devolve into a god-like Mary Sue monster. Kate struggles hard and has characters that actively fight against her changing status – in particular, what happens with Jim. I felt that conflict came from a natural place (and one that had been building in several books).
There’s not many authors out there that can keep a 9 book series this compelling.
@Hanne: Oh, that’s very helpful. Thank you. Yes, I can see that now. That’s the link I was looking for but could not see on my own.
@SitkaSpruce: A B is still a good grade. But I’m glad you enjoyed it more than I did.
For me, the Jim thing looked like it was going to get interesting but it went nowhere IMO – clearly I perceived it differently than you did. Similarly, the threat to Kate’s and Curran’s relationship ended up being no threat at all so those aspects ended up feeling a little manipulative to me.
Different readers are going to have different opinions. All are welcome.
Janine when I wrote the comment I was referring to Mercy but you reminded me that I read Charles and Anna book one and liked it. There are more ?
@Sirius: Yes – there are more and they are AWESOME! :D
Kaetrin good to know :-).