Early Review – Magic Binds (Kate Daniels. Book 9) by Ilona Andrews (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 20, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-0425270691
Stand Alone or Series: 9th book in the Kate Daniels series
Source: eGalley from Edelweiss for Review
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Mercenary Kate Daniels knows all too well that magic in post-Shift Atlanta is a dangerous business. But nothing she’s faced could have prepared her for this…

Kate and the former Beast Lord Curran Lennart are finally making their relationship official. But there are some steep obstacles standing in the way of their walk to the altar…

Kate’s father, Roland, has kidnapped the demigod Saiman and is slowly bleeding him dry in his never-ending bid for power. A Witch Oracle has predicted that if Kate marries the man she loves, Atlanta will burn and she will lose him forever. And the only person Kate can ask for help is long dead.

The odds are impossible. The future is grim. But Kate Daniels has never been one to play by the rules…”

I enjoyed this book in the Kate Daniels series a lot. This is the 9th book in the series and last I heard there were 10 books sold in this series. I enjoyed this book a lot but not as much as earlier books in this series; the characters are starting to feel a bit tired to me.

Things are coming to a head between Kate and Roland in this book, the surrounding characters end up being unfortunate bystanders to this brewing battle.

I like that Kate and Curran have settled into a comfortable relationship and have a nice family life; however I will admit this isn’t as exciting to read about as earlier books.

Much of the story is dedicated to Kate trying to find a way around the Witch Oracle’s prophecy. This leads to a lot of Kate running around doing fairly impossible things. While this is entertaining it just got a bit repetitive at times.

I actually found Julie and Roland to be much more interesting than Kate and Curran in this book. I also really enjoyed some of the developments around Christopher’s character. I am hoping we get some sort of side story about Christopher at some point. Additionally I really enjoyed Roman and the parts of the story he is in.

Overall I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t my favorite of the series. I do love that the storyline between Kate and Roland is moving forward but also felt like the characters are getting a bit tired (I suppose it could just be me). Hopefully this series will be wrapping up on book 10 so that it can end on a high note. I would absolutely love to see some spin off series featuring side characters from series. I would definitely recommend this whole series to those who enjoy urban fantasy. This is one of the best urban fantasy series out there.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge