Magic Stars (Grey Wolf Book 1) Kindle Edition

When I saw that there was a new novella being released in the Kate Daniels Series, it was an absolute given that I would have to read it. I am always ready for more Kate and more Curran. Then I took another look at this book and found out that this one isn't focused on Kate or Curran and instead features Derek and Julie and I got even more excited. As soon as I saw some of my friends on Goodreads posting that it was available to purchase on Amazon, I couldn't click the Buy Now button fast enough. I put everything else aside to read this just as soon as I got the chance and I absolutely loved it.This novella is a part of the Kate Daniels series and you really do need to read this series in order. I have always liked Derek in this series. He is just an awesome character that has been through a lot but always seems to bounce back better than before. I really like just about everything there is to like about Derek and the growth of his character during the series. I have to admit that I am not as big a fan of Julie. I don't actively dislike her but I wouldn't miss her if she were suddenly absent from the series. That is until this novella. This Julie is pretty kick ass and I kind of love her a little now.I would also say that this is a novella that you will not want to skip if you are a fan of the series. There is a lot of stuff going on in the short piece that will have a huge impact in the overall story. We seriously learn a lot in this one. I am really excited about the things that happen in this novella. Getting to see this world from another perspective was very eye opening as well. Some of the things that I thought that Julie was clueless about were just wrong. Julie is a whole lot smarter than I have ever given her credit for.Another thing about this novella that is really exciting for me is the fact that it is a part of the Grey Wolf series as well. I can only assume that this means that there will be more stories that feature Derek and I can barely wait. I would highly recommend this one to all fans of the Kate Daniels series. If you have yet to read this series, what is holding you back? Stop what you are doing and find a copy of Magic Bites right now and start reading. It is so worth it. I will continue to read anything written by Ilona Andrews that I can get my hands on.

*** This review was originally published on book blog Will Read for Feels.I’m a big Ilona Andrews fan. Which is why, when I learned that a new novella set in the world of Kate Daniels was out, I knew I just had to buy it. Upon reading the description for Magic Stars, the first in a new spinoff I was even more delighted to find that this book featured two of my favorite supporting characters in the series: Curran’s right-hand and lone wolf Derek Gaunt and Kate Daniels’ adopted daughter Julie Lennart-Olsen.Both have such rich, textured, and pain-filled histories and yet there’s an obvious connection between them (even discounting Julie’s initial hero worship) that I’ve totally shipped this pairing, as they say, ever since it became a glimmer of a possibility.But if you’re a fan, before you get too hyped up by the idea of a Jurek romance, I should say that this book brings them closer together and hints at dimensions of their relationship we have yet to see, but they don’t actually have a big romantic moment yet. I love that the authors are taking their time with this couple. The slow burn of Kate and Curran made them well worth the wait, and I’m anticipating the same for when Derek and Julie eventually let themselves be with each other. I could wax eloquent about why this couple should be together, but I won’t, not just yet, as it’s only the first book in the series (and I hope to see more soon!).When I started reading this, I loved how the authors just jumped right into the action, setting the pace for the entire novella. In the first two chapters of Magic Stars, we see just as many fight scenes. Yet apart from pacing and just general awesomeness, these scenes contribute a lot toward characterization, something you might need if you aren’t too familiar with either Derek or Julie. In the first chapter, it’s all about Derek, and while you get the condensed version of his tragic history as a kind of exposition, the action-packed scene establishes him as hero material: he’s an awesome fighter and quick thinker, but he’s also principled. That his principles may not exactly be that of most people, as far as killing other people is concerned, by no means negates the fact that he has a set of rules and abides by them.Then as we’re just beginning to learn about the mystery that will be the main plot of this story, Julie comes in, and we learn things about her that Kate isn’t aware of, like the fact that she knows the big secret Kate is keeping from her thanks to her sessions with Kate’s scarily powerful dad. Better yet, we see how much Kate’s efforts to allow Julie a childhood are not quite working; Julie is all grown up and has an impressive maturity for 17. This doesn’t negate the solid foundation of care and compassion Kate and Curran have built for her, but she has been through too much to remain a child, and it’s good to see her come into her own as she does here.The feel of this novella is somewhat lighter than the usual Kate Daniels fare, and not just because the characters are 17 and 20. It’s also because the problems they face, while filled with intrigue, action, and danger, nevertheless are not quite as potentially apocalyptic as the ones Kate has to deal with. This was something I quite enjoyed because it allowed me to sink my feet into the world the authors have built, which is a truly fascinating and multilayered universe, as well as to see it from a perspective other than Kate’s first-person POV. And while I’m not entirely sure Magic Stars would be quite as enjoyable for someone who has had no grounding in the world of Kate Daniels, I’m sure the legions of Ilona Andrews fans (and I count myself among their number) will get a kick out of it.

Book number one of a one book paranormal romance dark fantasy series that is a spinoff from the ten book Kate Daniels series by the author. There are several short stories and followon books to the Kate Daniels series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) novella trade paperback published by NYLA Publishing in 2015 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team.Kate Daniels's universe sucks. Forty years ago, the tech world crashed over the entire Earth and was replaced by the magic world in the form of a magic flare. Guns don't work, cars don't work, electricity and phones do not work. But magic works. Good magic and bad magic.After a week, the tech world came back to a drastically changed world. And radically fewer humans. And the magic world came back after a while. And the tech world came back after that. And so on and so forth. Each world can last a few weeks or a few hours.Derek Gaunt and Julie Lennart-Olsen have been called to a home and found the family murdered. The family had a unique object that they were safe keeping and the thieves murdered them for it. Derek and JUlie set off to find the thieves and murderers.I liked everything about the story. I especially liked the very clear distinction between the tech time and the magic time. I had never thought about it that way. The series may be inspired by "Ariel" by Steven Boyett and "Dies The Fire" by S. M. Stirling except those never interchange the tech time and the magic time, they just transitioned to the magic time and never went back.