Harbinger of Books

When I first heard about Dirty Magic I was rather excited because I enjoyed the first two books in Jaye Wells, Sabina Kane series.  

Dirty Magic is about a patrol cop named Kate, who is doing her nightly rounds when she comes across a werewolf who is still covered in the blood of his victim. Of course Kate attempts to apprehend him but things go poorly and Kate has to shoot him. What she did not know is this werewolf is part of a Magic Enforcement Agency (think FBI but for magic users). Now Kate has a few issues the first is she used to create potions but then a tragic even turns her away from magic all together. To atone for her past sins she became a cop but her history has prevented her from being anything more than a beat cop. So you get an idea of how despite she is to take any opportunity to advance her career. In the middle of this she has a teenage brother who resents the choices his sister has made on his behalf and if that is not enough the case takes Kate back into the world she thought she walked away from.

The ironic part about this book is I loved the world! The plot moved rather quickly interesting twists and turns, something’s I thought no way, to obvious actually happened with a twist. That part for me was a lot of fun. The thing is the story is told in first person by Kate and well I did not like her. She is annoying and overly self righteous so I could never quite loose myself in the story which sucked. The side characters I also liked especially Penn and Baba, I even liked the MEA team they are funny.  Anyway the world building amazing, I loved this very fine line between dirty and clean magic it was also interesting to see the cost of magic – addictions and so forth.

While the plot and world are truly well done the characters fell a lot flat. I think maybe there is not enough growth or maybe it is because they seem a bit cliché, either way this was the downer in the book. For example the new partner, Morales, is an ass when we meet him and he is still an ass at the end – the difference is at the end he wants to have sex with Kate. The ex boyfriend,  John Volos, Kate’s first love, who of course is rich and powerful, may or may not still want Kate. So we end up with the possible rich guy who may or may not be sensitive and caring or he may be an evil ass. So while I am not a great fan of the three leads I guess the side characters are still amazing I loved the half baby (LM) who is attached to the giant – that is unique. Again I also loved Baba she is so funny with all of her potions and coven. I thought the Captain was also quite interesting with his ulterior motives, which for me is refreshing normally you get cops on the take who are crooked or just good guys…I like that the Captain was just really self serving.

The first book can always be rocky and this one feels like a set up for the next book Cursed Moon which comes out in August.  I cannot say I loved this book but I did not hate it either. It left me intrigued enough to see what happens next but I hope the character development will match up to this fantastic world.