From the BLURB:
Novella
set in Kate Daniels world...
Derek Gaunt has no family and few friends. Scarred, solitary, he is the lone wolf who separated from his pack. When those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through magic-drenched Atlanta.
Soon Julie Olsen joins him and what begins as revenge turns into the race to save the city. Their search puts them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.
Derek Gaunt has no family and few friends. Scarred, solitary, he is the lone wolf who separated from his pack. When those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through magic-drenched Atlanta.
Soon Julie Olsen joins him and what begins as revenge turns into the race to save the city. Their search puts them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.
This novella from Ilona Andrews (#8.5 in the ‘Kate Daniels’ universe,
also called book #1 in a new ‘Grey Wolf’ series – INTRIGUINGLY!) I read it in an hour and now I just have to share
my thoughts because, … I think this is one of my favourite pieces of writing
from Ilona Andrews. Like, ever.
First off: everyone by now should know that I’m a huge Julie fan, and
have been ever since she kicked some serious butt in her own short story in ‘An
Apple for the Creature’ anthology. I have also been a long-time Derek and Julie
shipper, probably from the time of book #3 ‘Magic Strikes’ when she didn’t care
that he was scarred. And sure, teen Lothario Asciano poses some interesting
tension in Derek and Julie’s dynamic, but I know who the HEA should be for
Julie when she’s of an age.
‘Magic Stars’ is a delicious slice of suspense and character revelation,
wrapped in an action-adventure for Julie and Derek to go on when they find
themselves investigating the same mystery from different sides.
I would say that if you’re a huge ‘Kate Daniels’ fan, you need to read
‘Magic Stars’ as a priority. There are a few hints about what Julie has been
doing in talking to Roland, which was quickly revealed in last book ‘Magic
Shifts’. There are also revelations about Julie’s awareness of her shifted
relationship with Kate. Both of these crumbs have no doubt been sprinkled in
this novella in a lead-up to bigger revelations in 2016’s ‘Magic Binds’, but
they’re particularly delicious to read from straight from Julie’s perspective.
This book though, is really about Julie and Derek. Julie is sixteen,
mind – so it’s not a romance … it goes deeper than that. We see how comfortable
they are with each other, the trust that’s there when Derek doesn’t think he
can rely on anything in this world, and the foundations that have already been
laid for a future *something*. It’s really special to read, and just has me
desperate for Ilona Andrews to give Julie her own spin-off series, that she
continues to prove she can more than handle.
There’s definitely a hint here that giving Julie her own series would
require her to first go down a dark path … but reading how strong a bond she
has with Derek, I trust that he could bring her back from the brink of
anything. And goddamn, do I want to read the heck out of that!
5/5
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