"Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4)" by Ilona Andrews

This review features a book that is the fourth in the Kate Daniels series, and may have spoilers for those who have not read the first three books of the series. My review of the first book can be found here.

I personally pity the poor souls who had to wait for this book to be published. Magic Strikes was incredible, but also left you with a bit of a cliffhanger ending, and I would've been beyond frustrated had I been made to wait more than a day to find out what happened. I will try not to elude to what occurred with the scene, but will write that it was unexpected.

The Plot: (As Seen on Goodreads)
'Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for the magic. When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose.
'Kate Daniels works for the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle - especially if they involve Atlanta's shapeshifting community. When she's called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar on the border between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers that there's a new player in town. One who's been around for thousands of years - and who rode to war at the side of Kate's father. This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Beast Lord, to handle. Because this time Kate will be taking on family.'

Kate has a very messed up family, maybe because the authors of this book were feeling vindictive on the day they hatched her character, or maybe because it's just what makes the series so compelling. If you don't have any problems, ever, with your relatives, I humbly congratulate you, because most of the people I know have something distinctly un-Hallmarkish about their interfamilial relationships. With Kate, the problem is intensified by the fact that her relatives are likely powerful magic users. Imagine Harry Potter and the Dursleys, if any of the Dursleys could cast spells.

From Rebloggy

Exactly my point Harry- Kate is a big girl and can't hide in her bedroom (or broom closet beneath the stairs, for that matter). Things would get out of hand quickly, and the situation would be eminently sticky- the perfect setup for an urban fantasy book.

This book is the turning point for many of the plotlines in this series. Whereas most urban fantasy series seem to beat around the bush inordinately (I'm looking at you, Dresden Files), the Kate Daniels series has a more obvious and inevitable ending- Kate must someday confront her father, who is the most powerful magic user in the land. She also has to decide whether she's better off facing him alone, thereby limiting casualties, or among friends, which means she risks the lives of others in her quest for revenge.

Magic Bleeds is pretty much the pivotal book in the Kate Daniels series (although Magic Breaks [book seven] is also epic in that regard). Change is in the air, and it's for the better of the series. If you haven't read this book and have already read the first three in the series, I congratulate you (again), because I don't have that much self control.

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars for an exceptional urban fantasy family reunion!

Content: Ages 18+ for sexual content, violence, and bloodthirsty relatives.

Page Count: 349 pages