Includes a free bonus: a Kate Daniels novella, “Magic Gifts”The New York Times bestselling Kate Daniels novels have been hailed as “top-notch urban fantasy” (Monsters and Critics). Now, Ilona Andrews delves deeper into Kate’s world, and reveals its untold stories… After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. She tries to put herself … shambles. She tries to put herself back together by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend. When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano—the male alpha of the Clan Bouda, and Andrea’s former lover—die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate. Now she must work with Raphael as her search for the killer leads into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta. And dealing with her feelings for him might have to take a back seat to saving the world…
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You know what to expect from an Ilona Adrews/Kate Daniels world, and this delivers. Fast-paced, lots of battles, a mystery, and a relationship in need of repair. Entertaining read.
Oh, I really enjoyed this one! I hated when I learned that Andrea and Raphael had separated so I was so excited to get the down and dirty on this couple in a full length book.
While Andrea has always seemed pretty tough to me, she always played second fiddle to Kate. But now I was able to see her for who and what she truly was deep down inside. Her past was horrendous and her present circumstances were not what she had planned. Yet, she struggled through and she kicked some tail while doing it. This has a ton of action with plenty of those slippery varmints that magically appear almost out of thin air. And this time, they were truly slippery!
I have to admit, I almost loved this one more than some of the previous books because we get quite a bit of couple time. While working on her case, Andrea and Raphael are forced into close proximity, part of that resulting from him deciding he isn’t going to let her go. Love that! There was moment early on that I wanted Andrea to just get it over with a shoot him, but he proved himself in the end.
There was a good bit of information dump that was confusing. I was listening at that time and unable to follow along in the ebook so I was a bit lost. Not sure how much that dump was required since I was able to follow the story without a problem afterwards.
Moving on to the next one as soon as possible!
Gunmetal Magic takes place after Retribution Clause, at the same time as Magic Gifts and before Magic Rises. It’s the story of what happened to Andrea, both as a little girl, and after the end of Magic Bleeds. Andrea was severely abused by her previous Bouda (werehyena) clan, so much so that she nearly died. Consequently, she sees the “animal” part of herself as something to be denied, ignored and hidden at all costs. She attends the academy of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid as soon as possible, and gets through with flying colors. At the end of Magic Bleeds, she’s so badly hurt that her body knocks her out so that it can heal itself and her “animal” side is revealed to the Order, which promptly kicks her out. She returns to Atlanta, feeling like a failure, and is hired by Kate to work with her a Cutting Edge. Andrea is hired by Jim to investigate some shapeshifter murders while Kate and Curran are trying to figure out how to save a little boy’s life. Many things happen in this book, including Andrea and Raphael coming to terms with their relationship. The two of them, along with others, end up battling with two ancient early Egyptian gods. They survive the battle, barely, and their love for each other is deeper and more secure than ever. Andrea realizes that she’s let her past color every part of her life and Raphael realizes that he’s done the same. They both grow and mature in this book and become better people for it. Kate is in the book, though mostly on the periphery. It’s another wonderful addition to the world of Kate Daniels.
Laugh out loud book. Highly recommend!
It was pretty good , I liked the storyline and I was so happy that Andrea & Raphael got their own book :).
I like Andrea but there are things that she does that I don’t care for ,the same goes for Raphael too ,I was so glad that they get over the whole trying to hurt each other thing and started talking things out and finally getting over what happened in the past between the two of them , they make a great couple and they are so funny together .
I loved getting to see more of Raphael ,he’s so funny ,but I totally hate what he did the Andrea in the first part of the book,i totally get why he did it ,because she hurt him and he wanted to hurt her back ,but they should have just talked it out from the start instead of letting their pride get in the way ,but thank god that both came to their senses and found their way back to each other.
Loved getting little glimpses of Kate and Curran in this book,all their parts were awesome 🙂 .
Over all I really enjoyed this book ,good plot and kick ass characters 🙂 I always love getting to see more of this crazy magical world that they all live in 🙂 makes you feel like your a part of it and I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next.
Despite being apart from the main Kate Daniels series, I adored this book. I really like both Raphael and Andrea so it was seriously awesome to see their issues resolved! It was also nice to see Raphael go so crazy!
I really enjoyed this book. Since Andrea was introduced in the Kate Daniels series, with hints about her past and secrets she was hiding to just exist, and then the hot and cold relationship with Raphael being added to the mix, I was intrigued to see how the everything in her complicated life would be resolved. This was a good book, it used the romantic relationship as a way to force Andrea to re-evaluate how she was living her life and used that as a way to change her approach and become stronger, There were many fight scenes and mysteries which just added to the complexity of the Kate Daniels world. I recommend this book and was glad Andrea got a full novel and not a just a novella. The novella at the end was also quite good and showed more insight into the relationship of Curran and Kate.
3.5 stars
After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole life is in shambles. She is slowly putting herself back together. Working at Cutting Edge with her best friend Kate definitely helps. Now she just needs to straighten out her love life.
This story is told completely from Andrea’s POV. We see her struggle with all the changes that have happened recently in her life including her rocky relationship. I really enjoyed getting another character’s POV for this series. I love Kate but sometimes I wonder what the other people are feeling. Andrea is a badass who has a lot of PTSD. Her childhood was terrible and it has caused to not trust easily.
I have liked Andrea from the beginning. She is deadly, determined and doesn’t mess around. I am glad that she finally made up with Raphael because he loosens her up a bit. That said, Raphael is still not my favorite character but I do think they make a decent couple as long as they are actually talking things out.
I do hope we get to see more of Roman in future books because he is quite interesting. I hope he has his own short story in the future. Overall, this was a great addition to the series and brings a new perspective to the world.
Trigger Warning:
Child abused, referenced
You can’t go wrong with a Ilona Andrew’s story, it captures you attention and keep you wanting more stories to read.
I love the Kate Daniels books. I mean, I loooooooove them. So I was rather excited about Gunmetal Magic and over the last two weeks, I finally got the opportunity to listen to the audiobook.
I went into this book wanting to LOVE it and I have to say….I liked it but I didn’t love it. Not the way I love the Kate Daniels books.
And here’s why:
ANDREA
I was kind of disappointed in the version of Andrea I was introduced to in this book. The Andrea that we got to know in the Kate Daniels books was sarcastic yes but not to a point of biting. Gunmetal Magic has a different side of Andrea that I wasn’t used to at all. It felt like Ilona Andrews tried too hard to make her a Kate Jr. rather than allowing her to carry the book on her own merit. She just has a totally different feel in this book from her character in the KD books. Not that I didn’t like her in this book. I did. But I found myself, on several occasions, thinking that I was actually listening to Kate and had to remind myself that it was Andrea. That should never happen, not when you have two strong characters with strikingly different personalities.
RAPHAEL
I loved him in this book. I really did. In the Kate Daniels books, we only got a taste of what he’s like and in Gunmetal Magic, you get a full-on dose. I do have to say I wanted to punch him square in the unmentionables for about half of the book but all was explained and my need to hurt him subsided. And there are two scenes in this book that will make you fall over and swoon. … … Ok, get your mind out of the gutters! They aren’t sex scenes. It has to do with dialog! … …perverts… …
KATE & CURRAN
What can I say? LOVED THEM AS ALWAYS. They’re such a dynamic pairing. These are two characters that were totally built for each other in every way. They aren’t in the entire book but the scenes they’re in will make you start going through withdrawals. I can’t wait for the next KD book!
ROMAN
Roman, Roman, Roman. Roman was always a character I wasn’t sure I liked. I give it to Gunmetal Magic. This book completely swayed my opinion and he’s now one of my favorite characters. I am really hoping that we see more of him in future books. Or perhaps his own book….. Hmmm Ilona Andrews??? Oh!!! And this book reveals a bit of a secret about Roman and the way it is revealed will make you laugh pretty damn hard.
Ok, so aside from the Andrea not really feeling like Andrea situation, the other thing that I took issue with was the main story arc in this book. Gunmetal Magic, like all of Ilona Andrews writing, carries several story lines at once. A few minor ones and they one major one that crosses all the others.
Storyline #1: The initial Investigation
The book kicks off with an investigation into a shifter murder. I am not going to go into any more detail than that because I don’t want to blow the story line for those that haven’t read the book yet. This is the big story arc that crosses over the rest. It’s also the one I didn’t like. You start out with this thunderous opening to the book, full of energy and then it just sort of craps out and drags. I found that I was far more interested in the minor story lines that the big one and isn’t the big one sort of the point? You know? Not that it was all around bad. I found that it went from interesting to not, back to interesting, back to not, then back to interesting. That makes for a long book when it doesn’t grip you all the way through. As much as I love the writing of Ilona Andrews, I found this main story arc lacking. And it kind of made me sad and I have been putting off the review because it makes me sad to even say I wasn’t crazy about it.
Storyline #2: Andrea & Raphael
This one had me. All the way through. From start to finish, I was DYING to find out what happens. If you haven’t read the Kate Daniels books, read those before reading Gunmetal Magic so you understand the scope of the characters’ history, including how Andrea and Raphael got to where they are at the beginning of Gunmetal Magic. You won’t regret the decision. Just do it. For those that HAVE read the KD books, you’re in for a treat. All the tension and anger and love and lust and anguish – it’s all here. Let’s just say that the story of Andrea and Raphael is FAR from over. I won’t say if it’s to be together or to spend eternity TORMENTING each other but it’s far from over. And either way, you will laugh your ass off. I promise you that.
Storyline #3: Andrea’s History
I can’t pick a favorite between #2 and #3 because it is a damn close tie. We don’t learn a whole lot about Andrea’s history in the KD books. Gunmetal Magic doesn’t just give you a glimpse of who she is, you’re submerged in it and WOW is it an interesting story. Who she is, where she came from and why she turned out the way she did are all explained in this book. Again, finding out the details of her past was a gripping story line.
Overall, I am going to give Gunmetal Magic 3.5 stars. I am actually sad even typing that but it’s true. It’s a good book but not as gripping as previous writing from Ilona Andrews. I adore the world they’ve created and all their books have SO MUCH built into them and I felt that Gunmetal Magic fell short by comparison. I think that a little more thought needed to go into Storyline #1 to really hold the reader all the way through. It was detailed but not intriguing in the way the rest of their books are. The original investigation seemed to get a little lost in the rest of the story. It started out with this crazy adrenaline rush and then felt like the rest of the book was spent trying to find the story rather than the story flowing.
Ah… if you need proof that the Kate Daniels world will survive–no, will thrive!–now that Kate’s story is finished, this wonderful novel will remind you Ilona Andrews already started prepping her readers to love all her amazing characters. And that she is talented and prolific enough to deliver on stories based in Kate’s world–just not staring Kate. Gunmetal Magic, Andrea Nash’s story, is just… neat. It takes a fan favorite supporting character who’s been deep in the novels since book 2 and gives her PROBLEMS. No longer a Knight of Merciful Aid. No longer passing as just human. No longer with the man she loves. Andrea has to fight for what she wants, or die. And she “Isn’t the dying type.” LOVE this book! And don’t miss the novella at the end of the book, Magic Gifts. It was a freebee from the authors, posted on their website for us the readers, as a Christmas gift that year. It also shows you what Kate and Curran were up to while Andrea was kicking butt and taking her life back. The novella and this novel meet up at a hilarious junction scene at the Cutting Edge office. Not to be missed.
Alice Bello is the author of Better off Dead, The Ferro Mountain Shifters Series and Min’s Vampire.