Her Own Spots: Reviewing Gunmetal Magic

Gunmetal Magic (2012)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Series: Kate Daniels #5.5
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 326 (Paperback)
Publisher: Ace

Why I Chose This: My 2019 Resolution Project for Speculative Chic is to read the books in the Kate Daniels series and finish up with a first read of the final book. I first read Gunmetal Magic in 2012.

The Premise:

Some people have everything figured out — Andrea Nash is not one of those people.

After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is to try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend Kate Daniels.

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…and must work with Raphael. As Andrea’s search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, she knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a back seat to saving the world…

Spoiler free!

This installment of the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series only features Kate as a secondary character. So, why am I reading it as part of my resolution project? Because it’s a full-length adventure set in the same world that stars Kate’s best friend Andrea Nash, a woman just as amazing and complicated as Kate herself.

Andrea is many things. Former Knight of Merciful Aid. Intelligent and good at her job. And what’s known as a “beastkin” in this universe, the child of a werehyena (human mother who can turn into a hyena) and hyenawere (hyena father who can turn into a human). It’s a tragic backstory that Andrea has spent her entire life trying to not let define her, until everything goes up in smoke earlier in the Kate Daniels series. I appreciate the authors giving Andrea a book of her own to make sense of her new place in the world.

Importantly, Andrea is not a carbon copy of Kate. She has her own talents and abilities, which get her involved in the adventure of this book separate from her friendship with Kate. Throughout the book, she settles into her new life as private investigator, comes to terms with her relationship with both the local werehyena community (and a specific werehyena in particular), and begins to reconcile with her own heritage as a beastkin. Though romance is involved in this book, the real trial is within Andrea herself, which makes for a much, much better and more interesting read.

As usual, the authors have done their research and introduced us to a new flavor of magic, this time Egyptian in nature. I adored their take on some of Egyptian mythology, especially as it relates specifically to the magical world they’ve created in their own books.

In conclusion: I don’t recommend reading this book if you haven’t already been following the Kate Daniels series. However, I absolutely recommend reading this book if it’s one you skipped because it’s not all about Kate. You won’t regret it.

Featured image via Unsplash.