Audiobook Review – Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Down in Atlanta, tempers—and temperatures—are about to flare…

As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate is going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine one.

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more is at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive.

This is a really hard review to write.  I have been putting off writing this review for a month now…like that is going to help me in any way.  I absolutely LOVE this series and everything that the writing team of Ilona Andrews writes.   I had some problems with the narration of this audiobook even though I have enjoyed this narrator on other works.  I am rating this book based on the story and not the narration.  

This is one of those series that gets better with each book.  This is a great book filled with some of the best characters in any story and set in an original and exciting world.  The book has a lot of action which keeps things very exciting.  Every single scene that involves His Furriness, Curran, makes me want to swoon and I seriously have no idea how Kate can keep it together.  I would have loved to see more of Kate and Curran together but I think that every interaction between the pair is memorable because they are so perfectly timed.

The writing is flawless.  I love the humor that finds its way into the story and the fact that these characters are such good people.  They pride themselves on protecting others and will sacrifice as need to achieve that goal.  This book introduces more or the pack politics including the inner workings of the bouda clan.  Since I had read the book a couple of years ago before listening to this audiobook, I found it really interesting to go back and see these characters in this book from early in the series.  It is amazing how the groundwork for later events were laid so early.

I did have trouble with the narration in some areas.  I like the narrator just fine for a large part of the book but some of her voices were just wrong in my opinion.  Julie is a 13 year old girl but in this audiobook she sounds like she might be all of 4 years old.  The voice is not even close to representing a girl of 13.  Raphael sounded like he was deranged or something instead of the suave bouda male that I know him to be.  I thought that Curran sounded too growly (I know that is not a word but I am saying it anyway).  I can deal with Curran’s voice but the other two made me cringe every time I heard them and Julie’s voice was in the book a lot.  I do think that this narrator does a good job with Kate and most of the narration but the parts that were bad were really bad for me.

I would recommend this book to everyone.  I would also recommend that all readers start with the first book in the series, Magic Bites.  This series really needs to be read in order.  I will continue to read everything written by Ilona Andrews that I can get my hands on.  I will probably continue with my re-read of this series on audio simply because I have already paid for the whole series but I would recommend to others to stick to the actual book.