Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews (Revised)

~ spoilers ~

They have got to be my all-time favorite authors so far this year. I just recently figure out after reading this book that Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife that write novels. I know I raved about Lev Grossman and his style of writing earlier in my posts, but seriously Ilona Andrews is awesome, at least from my perspective. Both authors have this amazing collaborative power that is fearsome. You have just enough of macho actions scenes, with mystery, and the sensitive little love spurts that keeps your attention in check. The Kate Daniel' series is a great example of this action with love waiting in anticipation. When I say a little love from earlier, I mean it. She hasn't had any ferocious scenes of romance that last pages long, she has been modest and kept PG13 rated, only kissing so far. Compared to Kim Harrison and Karen Chance, who both have some.... interesting descriptions.

The book I read, Magic Strikes, is the third novel to the Kate Daniels series and there are two more as far as I know. The book series goes in order from Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, and Magic Slays. In Magic Strikes Kate is a liaison for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, in which she has to take care of the paranormal problem no one wants to take care of in Atlanta, unofficially. The third book leaves off two months after the second. Kate gets caught up in the Midnight Games, which leads to a lot of bloody fights and drama.

The Kate Daniel's series is a little bit dark science fiction and humorous. Kate Daniels, the female protagonist, is a mercenary that lives in Atlanta. She is also an expert swordsman, which is very cool because if I had to master one skill in the entire world before I die, I would pick swordsmanship. Because of obvious reasons learning that trade wouldn't be much help now, but it's still awesome. What I love best about her novels is that she doesn't make vampires look like some pretty boys that seduce you to them in fashionable ways. No, she keeps them ugly, crude, creepy, and bloodthirsty. They are also controlled by necromancers. YES! Finally I have been waiting for someone to do that.

What also catches my attention in their novels is the alternate world that Kate lives in. It is very similar to our world, but different in its own magical way. I love it. It isn't they typical vampires and werewolves novel, it has a quirky kick to it. The random magic outbursts is pretty funny, but then it makes Kate's job harder because she has to help all the people in need of help. Curran, the Beast Lord of the shape-shifters, is also hilarious. He teases Kate so bad and she doesn't give in. She keeps her class which is one of the reasons why I admire Kate's character so much. I don't want to say anything else much to try and not spoil everything. That would be a bad thing. Just keep reading through the first book, because it might be a little hard to get through, but it is worth while in the end.  

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I love the book and afterwards I watched the movie again. The movie follows the book so well. I found it a little harder for me to pay attention and listen to what was going on while listening to the radio recordings. I will eventually listen to the whole thing over break, hopefully. I will find a way. Oh my goodness!! The novel was great honestly. Ford Prefect is one of my favorite characters in the book. He is so quirky and funny. The fact that his name is impossible to say is hilarious. I sorta feel the same way with my last name, Iuliucci. Marvin the robot is my second favorite character. The poor robot whose brain is the size of a planet that is bored and depressed all the time. I never fully understood what was going on in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie until I watched it a second time. Even after watching it twice I still never paid enough attention to details, woopsies. I watched it in high school and haven't watched until last week when I watched the movie. I can watch that movie a bunch of times and not get tired of it now. I noticed in the beginning of the novel that the dolphins fly away and say, “So long and thanks for all the fish!” It probably would have taken me a little while to reread that part and full understand it if I didn't see the movie. What really cracked me up was the the description of Earth was “mostly harmless.” I laughed a lot. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has all the expectations I would want in a book: intelligence, humor, adventure, with a little bit of horror and romance. It has a bit of everything in it. What I found the most intriguing was the towel protectant and the answer to the universe. I feel like I need to carry around a towel now because of this book. I always have one in my car, so I'm half way there. :) The answer to the life, the universe, and everything is 42. haha I have no idea why it is 42, but I would love to find out why. I plan to read the other four books to the five book series. I really liked the novel and I look forward to reading more. :D

Kindred by Octavia Butler

When I first started reading Kindred I had no idea what it was going to be about. I knew an African American wrote it and that the novel is a science fiction/fantasy book. That was about it. The first few pages were shocking. It caught my attention in a jiffy. The action the took place is what surprised me because she lost her arm within that first few pages. It definitely kept me reading along and wanting to know more about why she lost her arm. It took me a little while to figure out that after that event happened she took a step back and started from the beginning to explain how she got into this situation in the first place. She pulled a Quentin Tarantino. Personally I like it when authors do that in books because it is a good way to catch the reader's attention. I don't like when it happens all the time, but otherwise I love it. I could not stop reading the book when I picked it up. While I worked on Sunday I was reading the book on my breaks and every chance I had I was reading that book. I got at least half of the book done before I got off of work. When I got home I started to read again, even though I know I should have done other homework. I finished the book before class and I couldn't find myself to write about it the day after. I felt like I needed to wait in order to write about it, to let it sink in. The way she approaches the history of slavery is amazing. Though I learned about the Underground Railroad and slavery in the United States in middle school, I feel like I understand what happened back then better, for some reason. I always knew what happened to them was horrible and ruthless, but now that I had a taste of what they went through it helps me realize how serious things were. Unfortunately, slavery is still happening in the United States. :( Nonetheless, Butler has opened doors in my mind that I never knew were there. I felt that Kindred was a big step out of the normal books that I usually read. I really enjoyed the book and I think I might explore more books the Octavia Butler has to offer, that is if I don't get stuck in Ilona Andrews world.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson has been good so far. I thought the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into and keep reading. After I passed page thirty or so the story became more interesting and Stephenson introduced his main character, Hiro Protagonist. Hiro is a hacker but, also a pizza delivery boy for the Mafia in Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles in the book looks nothing like it does now. Everything is dirty, technology based, and more packed. He is supposed to deliver the pizza within thirty minutes or the customer can take his car, kill him, make fun of him, and so on. During his last pizza delivery, he gets stuck in traffic and takes a shortcut. When he takes the shortcut he gets into a car accident and he doesn't have much time to deliver the pizza. This is where Y.T. (Yours Truly) comes in to save his butt. She knows that he is tied to the Mafia, so she decides to help by finishing delivering the pizza. It ends up to where she does deliver the pizza with an ending time of 29 minutes and 54 seconds time, six seconds left. She ends up getting arrested for helping Hiro out. The accident is where Hiro and Y.T. first meet each other. Even though Y.T. has a boyfriend at the time, later I think they will end up getting together. Hiro discovers a new drug called Snow Crash that is a virus. It affects both the avatar in the virtual world as well as the human body in reality. I assume the Y.T. And Hiro will figure out who is making and producing the drug and stop them. I have not finished the book yet, but so far I really like it. The avatars that walk around town while the people in reality are probably just rotting away sitting at home reminds me of the game, The Sims. The fact that we are able to create an avatar on the computer and do whatever we want with our creation's life is a little scary to think about. The events only occur in the computer and not in a 3D virtual reality. Eventually I think we will get to that point in time, especially with the advanced booming technological field that we have today. It's weird to think about. I don't really like technology, it makes things easier and faster, but I think that people take things for granted more often than they should. They don't appreciate the little things in life that make us happy. They are forgotten by the bright sheen from the computer screen. :(

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Wow, again. I tried reading Dune by Frank Herbert, but I couldn't stop myself from reading Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. I went to Barnes and Nobles to read Dune and I did for a little bit, until I got caught reading Magic Bleeds. I ended up buying the fourth book from the Kate Daniel's series and couldn't stop reading it for a while as I sat in the book store. It got to the point where I had to do my homework, but I just didn't want to because I got so wrapped up in the story. My mind was totally engrossed in the action, drama, adventure, and bit of romance. So far I think The Kate Daniel's series I by far my favorite. I normally don't normally pick out favorites when it comes to books, but this one is pretty good in my opinion. It suits me well and not everyone will love it, but I do. I soooo admire the mystery and detective part of these novels. It's what keeps me reading. The case that Kate faces in this book is just so creepy and you don't know why these events are happening at first. Then more of Kate's family ties are revealed in this book, which is what I have been waiting for to happen! It is awesome! It's funny how I love any stories that relate to ancient gods or gods in general. It is what I find most interesting. You get little tastes and tid bits of Kate's family history in the earlier books, but not much. The information hinted leaves you hanging and a little confused about where she came from. Like in the first book Kate has to burn her bandages and purify or destroy anything her blood touches because of the amount of power contained in her blood. She is very secretive, protective, independent, and tough. I like her character a lot. I would love to be in her shoes for a day or two otherwise I don't think I could handle living in that kind of lifestyle. It's nice to fantasize about not actually live that way. I just got so distracted read this book and totally forgot about Dune. Which is a book that I really want to read, but apparently the time just wasn't right. I am glad I read Magic Bleeds. It was a perfect ending to a good weekend. :)

The Edge of the World

The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson was okay to read. I guess you could say it wasn't my cup of tea. I read about a good two hundred pages, but I just couldn't get into it. This book is the first out of three in the Terra Incognita series. It started out pretty good and I really like how Anderson told the story from multiple views of characters and not just one character. I wished he would have focused a little bit more on one character's story while incorporating the other characters point of views as well. His writing style is good and easy to pick up on. The plot was a too slow for me though. I do realize that there is about six hundred seventy something pages in the book, but it wasn't catching my interest that much. It felt like Anderson was explaining the religion too much. I can see how an author feels the need to explain everything especially in a science fiction fantasy novel, but after a hundred pages of explaining how their religion works is enough for me. The religious item felt too repetitive for my taste. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. The war between families versus the war between the two religions. The idea of having a charts man with a photographic memory is awesome!! I love that concept. I think it would be amazing to sail around on a ship, explore, and find new worlds. The idea of having all of that information and pictures in your head that can be accessed at anytime you need is very cool. It would be very useful in times of need. The exploration, adventure, and science fiction fantasy is why I was originally attracted to reading this book, but unfortunately it turns out that I did not end up liking it very much. I will finish it later on, but as of now I can wait to finish it.

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

They have got to be my all-time favorite authors so far this year. I just recently figure out after reading this book that Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife that write novels. I know I raved about Lev Grossman and his style of writing earlier in my posts, but seriously Ilona Andrews is awesome, at least from my perspective. The Kate Daniels book series contains: action, mystery, knowledge, and a little bit of romance. When I say a little bit I mean it. She hasn't had any ferocious scenes of romance that last pages long, she has been modest and kept PG 13 rated, only kissing so far. The Kate Daniels series is a little bit dark science fiction and humorous. Kate Daniels the female protagonist is a mercenary that lives in Atlanta. She is also an expert swordsman, which is very cool because if I had to master one skill in the entire world before I die, I would pick swordsmanship. Because of obvious reasons learning that trade wouldn't be much help now, but it's still awesome. What I love best about her novels is that she doesn't make vampires look like some pretty boys that seduce you to them in fashionable ways. No, she keeps them ugly, crude, creepy, and bloodthirsty. They are also controlled by necromancers. YES! Finally I have been waiting for someone to do that. The book I read is the third novel to the Kate Daniels series and there are two more as far as I know. The book series goes in order from Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, and Magic Slays. In Magic Strikes Kate is a liaison for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, in which she has to take care of the paranormal problem no one wants to take care of in Atlanta, unofficially. The third book leaves off two months after the second. Kate gets caught up in the Midnight Games, which leads to a lot of bloody fights and drama. What also catches my attention in their novels is the alternate world that Kate lives in. It is very similar to our world, but different in its own magical way. I love it. It isn't they typical vampires and werewolves novel, it has a quirky kick to it. The random magic outbursts is pretty funny, but then it makes Kate's job harder because she has to help all the people in need of help. Curran, the Beast Lord of the shape-shifters, is hilarious. He teases Kate so bad and she doesn't give in. She keeps her class which is one of the reasons why I admire Kate's character so much. I don't want to say anything else much to try and not spoil everything. Just keep reading through the first book, it might be a little hard to get through, but it is worth while.