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hanz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Colonisation
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
There is a lot that I like about this particular book because many questions that have been lingering for a while are answered. We finally learn more about Christopher, Barabas is wonderful, Julie knows things, Kate and Curran do dangerous shit.
One thing that I don't enjoy is the reuse of description for the side characters... When you saw him you thought of sex, he was a devastatingly beautiful boy that would have females eating out of his hand, he was well dressed but gaunt to the point where he looked like he didn't eat enough, she was plump, when Kate first met x,y,z character they were x,y,z and ever since events occurred in a previous book, they now were x,y,z.
I don't think I ever really noticed it before because the time between previous reads was longer but since I'm doing a re-read in order to get to the new release it is definitely there.
The pacing of this one is also a bit jumpy (by design, yes, but still it's jarring). It takes course over the span of two weeks but so much happens and there are so many cuts that I feel like if I did the math for how many magic waves and days/hours get mentioned it might actually break the timeline.
One thing that I don't enjoy is the reuse of description for the side characters... When you saw him you thought of sex, he was a devastatingly beautiful boy that would have females eating out of his hand, he was well dressed but gaunt to the point where he looked like he didn't eat enough, she was plump, when Kate first met x,y,z character they were x,y,z and ever since events occurred in a previous book, they now were x,y,z.
I don't think I ever really noticed it before because the time between previous reads was longer but since I'm doing a re-read in order to get to the new release it is definitely there.
The pacing of this one is also a bit jumpy (by design, yes, but still it's jarring). It takes course over the span of two weeks but so much happens and there are so many cuts that I feel like if I did the math for how many magic waves and days/hours get mentioned it might actually break the timeline.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
MAGIC BINDS revolves around Kate's attempts to avert two terrible prophesied outcomes based on her marriage (or not) to Curran. Based on the guidance of the Witch Oracle, she tries to do the right thing in a series of seemingly unconnected moments which shape her trajectory on the way to the wedding and/or war with her father. She's trying hard not to be a monster. Sometimes she's trying to remember why that matters at all.
There's a little bit of new worldbuilding, mostly related to the history of Kate's family, but this is a book which pulls together things from the rest of the series so far. It's not trying to build more of the world, it's trying to show how Kate and her allies are determined to defend Atlanta.
I love the details about Kate being interrupted with details of wedding planning in the middle of everything. It shows an enormous amount of trust that everyone even can think about this huge party that will mostly likely happen after the battle where they could all die. They believe that they'll survive, even if that's not outright stated as Roman makes Kate answer about yet another wedding detail she hasn't even begun to ponder.
Kate comes so close to crossing a line she promised Curran she wouldn't cross, and it happens early enough that she has time to sit with that moment and process it. She doesn't want to be her father, she doesn't want to be Sharrim. But it'll be hard to save the city without understand him and her role better before the battles to come.
MAGIC BINDS addresses several things which had been somehow unresolved by previous books, such as Julie’s conversations with Roland, Andrea’s pregnancy, Ghastek, Christopher’s mental health issues, etc. The new storyline for this book involves a prophecy which threatens dire consequences whether or not Kate marries Curran, and her actions have the chance to shape which terrible thing happens. She hopes to avert them both. It both introduces and resolves Saiman’s kidnapping, using that as part of the main plot. The technically-not-a-cliffhanger ending leaves one very specific thing to be resolved by the final book, and the final few events leave some others which will need some more concrete resolution later.
Kate is still the narrator, but the growing influence of her inherited powers means she's starting to sound like someone else sometimes. The differences in narration are sometimes made obvious though things like typesetting, but even without that there's a distinct way that Kate-as-Sharrim speaks when she's in danger of losing herself. It wouldn't make sense for someone to start here. The last good entry point to the series was book seven, where there's a detailed synopsis of the series so far. MAGIC BINDS is the penultimate book in the series, the one where big favors are called in, allies are brought to their side, and old rivals are bound to new service. It feels big, climactic, and very cool for someone who has read the main series so far, even more so for anyone who managed to read the various short stories and associated novels which accompany it. For anyone who tries to read this book without that background, there are too many characters and too few explanations of their importance, combined with not enough explanation of even more characters. This is perfectly fine for the penultimate book in a long series, but it does mean it's a poor starting point for someone determined to ill-use it so.
I love this one, it wraps up enough things to let the actual finale maybe have a cleaner ending, but doesn't feel like it's putting things away early. I'm excited for the final book!
There's a little bit of new worldbuilding, mostly related to the history of Kate's family, but this is a book which pulls together things from the rest of the series so far. It's not trying to build more of the world, it's trying to show how Kate and her allies are determined to defend Atlanta.
I love the details about Kate being interrupted with details of wedding planning in the middle of everything. It shows an enormous amount of trust that everyone even can think about this huge party that will mostly likely happen after the battle where they could all die. They believe that they'll survive, even if that's not outright stated as Roman makes Kate answer about yet another wedding detail she hasn't even begun to ponder.
Kate comes so close to crossing a line she promised Curran she wouldn't cross, and it happens early enough that she has time to sit with that moment and process it. She doesn't want to be her father, she doesn't want to be Sharrim. But it'll be hard to save the city without understand him and her role better before the battles to come.
MAGIC BINDS addresses several things which had been somehow unresolved by previous books, such as Julie’s conversations with Roland, Andrea’s pregnancy, Ghastek, Christopher’s mental health issues, etc. The new storyline for this book involves a prophecy which threatens dire consequences whether or not Kate marries Curran, and her actions have the chance to shape which terrible thing happens. She hopes to avert them both. It both introduces and resolves Saiman’s kidnapping, using that as part of the main plot. The technically-not-a-cliffhanger ending leaves one very specific thing to be resolved by the final book, and the final few events leave some others which will need some more concrete resolution later.
Kate is still the narrator, but the growing influence of her inherited powers means she's starting to sound like someone else sometimes. The differences in narration are sometimes made obvious though things like typesetting, but even without that there's a distinct way that Kate-as-Sharrim speaks when she's in danger of losing herself. It wouldn't make sense for someone to start here. The last good entry point to the series was book seven, where there's a detailed synopsis of the series so far. MAGIC BINDS is the penultimate book in the series, the one where big favors are called in, allies are brought to their side, and old rivals are bound to new service. It feels big, climactic, and very cool for someone who has read the main series so far, even more so for anyone who managed to read the various short stories and associated novels which accompany it. For anyone who tries to read this book without that background, there are too many characters and too few explanations of their importance, combined with not enough explanation of even more characters. This is perfectly fine for the penultimate book in a long series, but it does mean it's a poor starting point for someone determined to ill-use it so.
I love this one, it wraps up enough things to let the actual finale maybe have a cleaner ending, but doesn't feel like it's putting things away early. I'm excited for the final book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury
cluckieduck's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Another amazing addition to the Kate Daniels world
This book is in the upper echelons of urban fantasy (the whole series, really - I can't believe I got to it so late!). It is the perfect blend of angst, humour, suspense, and action. My only complaint is that the end battle doesn't begin until the 90% mark leading to a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, it didn't take away anything from the overall story - it just leaves me wanting more!
The dichotomy of Kate trying to plan a wedding (with an almost too-helpful Roman) while concurrently trying to prevent a war from reaching Atlanta provided much needed comic relief - the way it all blend together was seamless.
This book is in the upper echelons of urban fantasy (the whole series, really - I can't believe I got to it so late!). It is the perfect blend of angst, humour, suspense, and action. My only complaint is that the end battle doesn't begin until the 90% mark leading to a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion, it didn't take away anything from the overall story - it just leaves me wanting more!
The dichotomy of Kate trying to plan a wedding (with an almost too-helpful Roman) while concurrently trying to prevent a war from reaching Atlanta provided much needed comic relief - the way it all blend together was seamless.
“Can he select the cake?” I pointed at Curran. “This wedding involves two of us.”
“He already did,” Mary said. “These are the choices he narrowed down.”
I turned to Curran. “You narrowed it down to sixteen choices?”
“They were all very delicious,” he said.
“Were there any choices you didn’t like?”
“Yes,” he said. “I scrapped coconut and lime.”
We also get some more amazing page time with the fantastic supporting cast, in particular Christopher, as we finally learn his heartbreaking origins. Kate, as always, provides us with fantastically snippy interactions with them all.
"Control your horse!" Jim snarled.
"You control your horse." Oh wow, now that was a clever comeback. He'd surely drop to his knees and bow before my intellectual brilliance.
"You're the least power-hungry person I've ever met. You're also the most stubborn person I've ever met. Disrespectful. Mouthy."
"You mean independent and proactive in taking initiative.”
Anyways, absolutely in love with Kate, Curran, and their fantabulously intense slice of life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Suicide