Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews Series: Kate Daniel's #5.5
Published by Ace on July 31st, 2012
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Goodreads
After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. She tries to put herself back together by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend.
When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano—the male alpha of the Clan Bouda, and Andrea’s former lover—die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate. Now she must work with Raphael as her search for the killer leads into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta. And dealing with her feelings for him might have to take a back seat to saving the world…
Before I go all “balls to the wall” on this review let me explain something really quick. This is my first introduction to the world of Ms. Andrea Nash. Keep that in mind now.
Moving on.
Gunmetal Magic was the kind of book that hit the ground running, right through a brick wall. I get tired after a day of running errands. Andrea, fought were-hyena’s, snake people, ancient giant dead people, pack enforcers and still made time to get laid, over the course of three days. There was so much action in this one book I needed to wait two full days before picking up a new book or writing this review. My brain was doing that weird overload thing. Kind of like when you watch a Resident Evil marathon followed by an Underworld marathon, it’s just so much to take it. But back to “Gunmetal Magic” it was seriously great. Action aside the plot was a mix of the predictable love interest turned ex turned lover again and I have to find the bad guy and stop him. It wasn’t predictable per se but it never threw me for a loop. I kept getting a bit lost with the world building but it wasn’t rocket science to figure out what certain terms meant. In fact I really liked the cool concept of a world taken back by magic. Never heard that kind of twist on a “end of the world as we know it” story, and it was so detailed that even though I never meet Ms. Nash before I was still able to follow without looking like:
* Kick-ass
* Independent
* Doesn’t take crap from ANYONE
* Great at revenge (purple carpet, you will see)
* Bad ass with a smile on her face
Check, check, checkity check. What more could you ask for in a “kick-ass heroine” (my favorite shelf)? How about a little less pride. That was Andi’s only downfall to me. Her pride was bigger than all of Atlanta and at times it seriously pissed me off that someone so smart could be so freaking dumb. But it wasn’t a deal breaker and she eventually got herself in check.
I’m a little on the fence about how I feel about Raphael. On the one hand he is a possessive, egotistical, and spiteful jerk-face. On the other hand he is sexy as all hell, smart, cunning, kick ass, and sarcastic. Half the book I wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump on that purple carpet with him or punch him in the face with a mallet. I haven’t decided which one yet but I will update you all when I pick. Obviously the supporting characters, i.e. Kate, Corran, Aunt B, Roman were all nice additions and they all spoke my favorite language fluently but they were people who have been seen in the world of Andrea before and I don’t think I was able to build that connection with them. I won’t read the first book with Andrea in it, just because I would annoy myself with all the “this is how this is going to end, I remember from Gunmetal Magic“. But I will read the next one in this series, whenever that may be.
