In mercenary Kate Daniels’ world, Atlanta is a scary place to live – and we’re not just talking about crime. One day your car may start, the next day it won’t. Because when the magic is up, technology fails, and all kinds of creatures come out to play. Monsters, wannabe mages, vampires, etc. are trouble enough; but it’s the necromancers, The Masters of the Dead, and the paramilitary shapechangers called the Pack who stir up the most trouble in their heated struggle for dominance.

Just when the real fighting begins however tech can be up, no warning and with the snap of a finger leaving a mess of unresolved magical issues behind. This is where Kate comes in – to do what the cops don’t, or simply won’t handle themselves. But when her knight-diviner guardian ends up dead and the Pack and the Masters of the Dead blame each other for a string of bizarre deaths, barely-scraping-by Kate wonders (just for a second) if she’d prefer to pass on her dream job rather than pay her bills…

The real stand out for me in Magic Bites was the concept of a magic-fluctuating Atlanta and the serious havoc caused by the ebbs and flows of tech/magic. The writing is strong and Kate, with her biting sarcasm and wit is promising as the next urban fantasy ‘It’ girl. Likewise Pack leader Curran has potential as the leading man. After the first few take-it-or-leave-it chapters it was his introduction that really grabbed my attention and sparked my curiosity to keep reading. This didn’t change the fact that I was confused, a lot, about the technicalities of the magic waves and the politics and mechanics of the paranormal creatures and races; but perhaps this was only because I’m a relatively new reader to UF. There was also one scene with Curran and Crest in which the characterization of Kate felt inconsistent. While the former left me perplexed and the latter wanting, plenty of readers won’t notice that inconsistency and will be happy just being able to jump in and tag along for the ride, figuring things out as you go. Still, in one respect I admittedly love that Kate keeps a little something from us that we will just have to figure out for ourselves or be patient as it’s gradually revealed in subsequent books. That and the crazily cool Atlanta are the reasons I will definitely be picking up Magic Burns, which I hear only gets better.