Tag Archives: GoodReads post December 2009

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Two month’s after her latest brush with death and the feisty beast Lord, merc Kate’s back to cleaning up the usual magical messes until she comes across an m-scan picking up divine magic. Usually this wouldn’t pose a problem but erratic magic waves mean a flare is coming, when magic waves turn into a tsunami and anything could happen. But Kate doesn’t have too much time to dwell on that when Curran asks Kate to recover some stolen maps for the Pack shapeshifters. It isn’t until Kate runs into a street child named Julie looking for her missing mother that she realizes everything she is investigating is connected somehow and comes down to that flare – the only time deities can manifest themselves in mortal Atlanta. Suddenly Kate finds herself caught up in a battle for power between two gods with the survival of the city, and the young Julie, at stake.

And that’s also exactly how the stakes were for me in this second installment. I liked Kate in Magic Bites and the super cool tech/magic concept showed some real promise, but not enough to commit me to the series. Fortunately Magic Burns delivered on the standards set in the opening book and then some. This very much includes Kate’s character, whose fierce attitude and willful independence had potential in the first but has really grown on me here. In a world that is so alarmingly different than ours Kate remains so relatable. I particularly love how the fictionalized magic Atlanta clashes with the unchanged ordinary things of the tech world. Kate’s justification for eating fried food seems to sum up both the bite to her personality and that contrast well:

“Normally I kept away from fried food, but today was different. I’d danced in the snow, crawled in tortoise spit, got locked up in glyphs, and I deserved some fried wings, damn it.”

It also sums up the draw (for me) of urban fantasy: in the very best series the heroines are strong-willed, never take crap, and can seriously kick-butt. That, combined with Kate’s staunchly loyal devotion to Julie in this installment, and I’m completely won over to Kate and Ilona Andrews fandom. No matter how much she tries to bury it, Kate does have a sensitive, nurturing, human side to go along with her magical blood. It was also hard not to squeal when her and a certain werebeastie discover they’re on the same page. There’s another brilliantly awesome Curran Kate moment in the epilogue, too, that brought me to my knees, clamoring for Magic Strikes. My luck couldn’t have been better: there’s a bunch of extra goodies to read from Curran’s POV on Ilona Andrews website and the fourth book, Magic Bleeds is set to hit bookstores in May. Self-denied exclamation points, swooning and squealing to follow.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stahl

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Ethan Wate lives in Gatlin, your typical southern town where there’s no McDonald’s or Starbucks, everybody knows your name, and nothing ever changes. Fortunately for him he’s grown up in the atypical Gatlin family, which by the rest of the country’s standards makes him pretty normal. Like not calling the Civil War the War Between the States, not owning a Confederate flag and actually having spent time at the city library. Naturally Ethan’s dreams mostly consist of him leaving Gatlin, but up until the start of his sophomore year a mysterious girl has haunted him.

Enter Lena Duchannes, and these dreams seem to become a reality. The new girl and niece of the town recluse, Lena’s resemblance is striking, and her failure to fit in puts her in a similar state of distress. Ethan tries to befriend Lena but she just pushes him away. He doesn’t care if her family is cursed and if she possesses certain unexplainable powers and has dark secrets to boot. She’s different, refreshing, beautiful and doesn’t belong. Nothing will keep Ethan away from her.

Cryptic enough? After practically inhaling Beautiful Creatures I’m happy to report that it’s as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside, and thankfully that goodness and discovery isn’t spoiled by the book jacket. I will say that in a saturated genre the paranormal aspect feels new and original and is intriguing. To those who are deterred by the length, I reply that I wouldn’t have it any other way. The 550+ pages did justice to the setting and concept as well as allowing a stellar plot to be masterfully weaved and the characters to gradually be explored and developed (particularly Ethan). Lena was harder to see clearly but eventually won me over with all she’s had to endure and what’s coming up ahead. Their relationship is sweet, authentic, and a joy to watch develop.

That said what will really stay with me was the setting – a tangible South so completely realized and fresh that it became a character of its own. If Gatlin is anything like the real South, I must visit this singularly quirky and backward yet lovely planet. I want to meet DAR members, take US history from Mr. Lee, get soaked in a humid downpour and meet Ethan’s three aunties with their framed family trees, syrupy accents, and old-fashioned Southern hospitality. While I felt slightly cheated by the lack of closure the ending offered, it was an impeccable set up for the next installment. A year of pining awaits.

Let it Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle

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Ideally I would begin by saying something like ‘I was in the mood for a Christmas-y read so I picked up this’ but alas, that wasn’t it. The cover design is a better explanation, with the three young adult authors names in big print at the top. Maureen Johnson and John Green both have a knack for writing quirky characters and funny situations, and this isn’t an exception. These three interconnected novellas can really be enjoyed anytime of the year but turned out to be a fun and innocent diversion for the season.

It’s Christmas Eve and Jubilee (yes, Jubilee) has just received a call from her parents, who are stuck in jail for the night after being involved in the Flobie Santa Village convention riot. So instead of celebrating both the holiday and her one-year anniversary with her boyfriend Noah she’s off on a train to visit them. A handsome stranger, the snack car, dozens of cheerleaders later and a severe snowstorm has forced Jubilee out into a Waffle House where-

Tobin, the Duke, and JP are being summoned to check out said cheerleaders while playing Twister. But the snow has other ideas and it will take a car, two couldn’t-be-more-alike twins and good old-fashioned running to make it there in time for cheesy hashbrowns, cheerleader ogling, and a lovesick boy named Jed, looking for someone called-

Addie, who’s bemoaning the lack of a certain guy in her life on Christmas day instead of spreading holiday cheer. The end to their relationship was complicated but it involved a drunk Addie and a using-jerk named Charlie followed by an impulsive break-up and a no-show by Jed for the scheduled Starbucks make-up session. Will Addie be able to save her new pink-haired self from her old self and find Jed with only the help of a teacup-sized pig and the Silver Sneacker seniors? The story comes full-circle at Starbucks when Jubilee, Tobin, and Addie’s lives intersect.

Sound complex enough? While it would’ve been easy for the holiday romances of Let It Snow to become convoluted one of its strongest points is plotting, which is pretty flawless. After reading Maureen Johnson’s opening “The Jubilee Express” I couldn’t wait to see where John Green’s “A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle” would take the story and the characters and how all three would connect in Lauren Myracle’s “The Patron Saint of Pigs.” The continuity was all smooth in this respect. Unfortunately the quality of the stories wasn’t, and I liked each a little less as I read on. My favorite was Johnson’s. Jubilee and Stuart are both funny and engaging and their story interested me. If you’ve read Green before, you’re already familiar with his formula: normal guy; nerdy, witty best friend; and mysterious, unattainable girl. His writing is so smart – it beats me why he doesn’t mix it up sometimes. Nonetheless he’s inventive yet again with a car scene and his characters afford good laughs. I hadn’t read Lauren Myracle before and her story was my least favorite, though there was something snappy about her writing that was striking. Addie’s made some critical mistakes which make her harder to like. Though I think all of the author’s are probably better full-length novel writers the romances were sweet and overall I liked this non-cheesy, non-stereotypical “Christmas” story about the pitfalls of love and winter.