Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) by Ilona Andrews (4.5/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Kate Daniels series. Last I heard Andrews was contacted to do four books in this series; I sure hope she ends up doing more! This is a great paranormal fantasy series; it is not a romance. It is also not for the faint of heart; the language and gore is described in great detail. I listened to this on audio book and the audio book was very well done.

The magic flare is looming closer and closer. Kate gets a request from the pack to retrieve some maps that have been stolen from them. In retrieving the maps she stumbles upon a man named Bran. Bran is a rogue with a wicked shot and wandering hands and his origins are a mystery. Kate also runs into Red, who asks Kate to return his favor by watching a girl named Julie. Julie's mom has disappeared and Kate is going to help Julie find her mom; that is until she finds out that Julie's mom may be involved with Bran's appearance, who may be involved with a struggle between two ancient gods that would rip Atlanta in two.

I really like this series. The second book was just as good, if not better than, the first. The plot was crazy fast, the fight scenes numerous and well-written. The characters are awesome; I am in awe of how interesting Andrews makes all of the characters, even the supporting ones. The enemies are extremely creative and the world Kate lives in increasingly interesting. I love all of the characters in this book and I love that Kate is powerful but not all-powerful. She makes some mistakes and she honestly is growing as a character.

I love the humor in this book; Kate has a wicked mouth and some of the things she says had me laughing out loud. Curran and Bran also were wonderful characters with many witty comebacks. The only thing that I didn't like about this book is that, at times, too much time is spent on Kate mourning the loss of life. It is good to have some of this in there, but at times Kate's remorse was gone into in too much detail and at oddly inappropriate times. I know it is a small thing, but at times I was rolling my eyes and thinking "okay we get it Kate is sad, on with the story". These scenes made the story drag a bit at parts.

This book expands on the relationship between Kate and Curran, we slowly find out a little bit more about Kate's origins and why her blood is so special. Simone(sp?) is one of my favorite characters in this book and I hope his role expands in future books. Overall this was an excellent book in what is turning out to be a really great series. I really hope we see more than just four of these book; I am so excited to read the third book!