Now with four original illustrations and added material! An irresistible compilation of five previously published stories by the bestselling author of the Kate Daniels series; including Kate’s very first meeting with Saiman, some related adventures, two unforgettable ‘outside’ excursions, and new material from both Curran and Jim’s point of view. A QUESTIONABLE CLIENT In this ‘intro’ to the … QUESTIONABLE CLIENT
In this ‘intro’ to the Kate Daniels world, we meet the extremely ‘shifty’ Saiman for the very first time, when Kate takes on the task of serving as his bodyguard to protect him from some very determined–and dangerous–Russian wizards.
RETRIBUTION CLAUSE
Saiman’s cousin, Adam–a frost giant and also an insurance adjuster–and his enigmatic partner, Siroun, set out on an impossible mission to enforce a client’s Retribution Clause; that is, to kill the person who killed her. But is their target even guilty? Magic and mayhem and a little personal chemistry will reveal the truth!
OF SWINE AND ROSES
A young adult story about a girl, a pig, some magic, and the worst date ever.
Chad Thurman is a thug, who carries brass knuckles in both pockets and lays magic traps for intruders into “his” neighborhood. The last thing Alena Kornov wants to do is to go on the date with him. But when her family pressures her, she can’t say no. Now the ice-cream is absent, the pig is running for its life, and we won’t even mention the dead guy…
GRACE OF SMALL MAGICS
Grace has always known she wasn’t like everyone else and that her family has magic abilities. After flying to meet the head of Clan Dreoch in order to fulfill her families’ “duties” as servants, Grace finds herself in the middle of a mage clan war…
MAGIC TESTS
A short story in the Kate Daniels universe. Kate recruits her teenage ward, Julie, to search out a missing student whose location spell has her hidden somewhere on campus…
Curran POV
Everybody has a point of view…especially Curran Lennart, Beast Lord of the Free People of Atlanta–and Kate Daniel’s mate. Here’s what Curran was thinking while Kate was kicking butt and taking names from Magic Bites to Magic Bleeds.
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There are some gems in here, many of which are published separately. My favorite is The Grace of Small Magics. That one haunts me into a re-read every year or so.
3.5 stars
*Overall rating is the average of the following ratings.*
Magic Tests: 4 stars
We finally get a story from Julie’s POV! Julie’s magic is put to the test when she is tasked with finding a missing student from her new school. I enjoyed this quick story and hope we see more of Julie’s new friends in the future.
A Questionable Client: 4 stars
The bodyguard job that introduced Kate to Saiman. I quite enjoyed this introduction story and the fight scenes.
Retribution Clause: 3 stars
This is a scene featuring Adam, Saiman’s cousin, and his partner Siroun being tasked with killing a lawyer. I am really interested in learning more about Adam and Siroun. They were both very interesting and unique characters. I hate that this ended abruptly though because I really want to know what happens after they killed their mark.
Of Swine and Roses: 3 stars
A short story about Alena Koronov is forced to go on a date with a childhood acquaintance that she hates. The date goes terribly wrong and she ends up rescuing a pig that her date is trying to kill.
This was a very interesting story. Alena has very interesting magic and I wonder if it will play into future books. Duncan was also a fascinating character because he appears to have a lot of magic and is from an influential family. I do wonder if these two will appear later on.
Grace of Small Magics: 4 stars
This is a very interesting story about a revenant named Nassar and a magic user named Grace. Grace is bound to Nassar by the actions of her ancestors. He requires her to fight with him in a clan arbitration. Along the way they realize they both are attracted to each other.
I am pretty sure this is pre-shift because they fly on airplanes. I found Nassar and his clan to be fascinating. Grace was a strong woman who was adaptable. I really liked both of them and love that they end up together.
Curran’s POV: 4 stars
This collection features nine short scenes told from Curran’s POV. The scenes take place between Magic Bites (book 1) and Magic Breaks (book 7).
I really enjoyed this collection. It was fascinating getting Curran’s side of the story for some of the major scenes in these first four books. There are also some new scenes that fill in some gaps about what happened to him before the dinner date in the beginning of Magic Bleeds.
Overall this was a great collection and I really wish there was more to it. I really enjoyed his POV and hope that we get more in the future, or it is incorporated into the books.
Jim’s POV: 3 stars
A short scene right after Magic Breaks where Jim finds out he is now in charge. It will be interesting to see how the Pack will change in future books.
This review is for A Questionable Client, Magic Tests and Retribution Claus and I’ve already reviews A Questionable Client elsewhere.
A Questionable Client is a quick introduction to the world of Kate Daniels, which introduces the reader to Kate, a member of the Mercenary Guild of Atlanta, Georgia. We also meet Mark and the Clerk of the Guild, along with some of Kate’s fellow mercs. We are also introduced to some of the magic wielded by the Russians who live in the area. Kate is given a bodyguarding gig for a client called Saimon, a being who can assume any human size, shape or gender. This short story sets the scene for the first book in the Kate Daniels series and was a lot of fun to read.
Magic Tests takes place after Magic Slays. Julie, Kate’s ward, hates the school she was attending and ran away from it. Curran, Kate’s mate, would rather have Julie closer to the Keep, anyway. While they’re trying to figure out what school to enroll Julie into next, Kate takes Julie with her because the head of Seven Stars Academy asks for Kate’s help in finding a missing student. Kate recommends Julie for the job, she can investigate undercover. Julie is sure this is some kind of setup, yet she agrees to help, anyway. Julie meets four other students in her hunt for the missing girl, one of whom was introduced in Magic Sleeps. I enjoyed reading this story because we get to see Kate’s world, and Kate, through a teenager’s eyes. Julie does find the missing student and, with the help of one of the students she met along the way, saves the girl who’d gone missing from what sent her into hiding in the first place. This is a short read, about an hour long.
Retribution Clause is set in Kate Daniels’ world. However, it’s set in Philadelphia, so it has nothing to do with Kate at all. The only other connection is that the protagonist, Adam Talford, is Saimon’s cousin. He and his partner work for an insurance company and one of the company’s clients paid for what’s called a retribution clause, meaning that the person who killed her has to be killed by the insurance company. Adam and his partner (we’re never told what she is, though whatever that is, is very powerful) work together to figure out what happened to the company’s client and determine whether or not the retribution clause should be honored. This is a short story, less than an hour long. It was fun to read about Saimon’s cousin and see another city in Kate Daniels’ world.
A Must Read if you like the Kate Daniels series–and if you like paranormal romance or urban fantasy you should be reading the Kate Daniels series!