Pitter Patter of Little Thoughts

So I blew through the Kate Daniels series in a matter of days and I think my perspective on all the books are fairly similar: a pretty easy read with a fairly kick-ass protagonist with romance.

Kate Daniels is a take-no-crap mercenary who finds herself tracking down the murderer of her uncle. Along the way, you meet mind-controlled vampires, were-creatures, and other paranormal stuff you can expect from these post-apocalyptic worlds. Some people laud her story for making the vampires not sexy or sparkly in the sunlight, and while that is true, I disagree because the main love interest isn't the vampire (it's the were-creatures). And let me tell you, she writes quite a bit of fan service on the were-creatures. So no, I don't give her props for making vampires not sexy.

I do give her props for making an interesting world though. A post-apocalyptic world that shifts randomly between tech and magic phases, where cars break down in the magic phase and then spells cease to work in the tech times. It's interesting and I like it. However, I don't think Andrews world-builds quite enough.

I liked Kate and the other supporting cast well enough. Enough to cheer for them and smile at some of the bantering, but I'm not really that invested in them. Kate reads pretty similarly to the other female protagonists in other urban fantasies (i.e. Mercy Thompson, Joanne Baldwin, you name it).

Now, my main problem with Ilona Andrews is this: It feels as if she cannot create new characters or new books. Argh, this frustrates me so much. First, all her books are less about the plot and the world comparatively to the romance. The big climaxes of action in her book where the battle culminates, or the defeat of the book's villain is underwhelming to say the least. There's almost no tension before the climax, as if it were a given they would win. Second, she has a certain type of main female protagonist and an stock male character. And they don't change. From her Kate Daniels series to the Edge series, I feel like I could just interchange all the characters and nothing would change. This is why I love the first book of all her series and then get progressively annoyed at her later books.

Okay, that major rant said, I still opted to give the book and basically her entire series three stars because it was still an enjoyable read. I don't mind reading romances, especially well written ones. And hers are well written. It just doesn't wow me. Read if you want a fairly enjoyable book and you like urban fantasy romances.