The Kate Daniels' series is one of my favorites. It's nice to have a series where each novel is satisfying, but even more, the entire series has a story arc of its own. I've enjoyed watching Kate and Curran's relationship grow stronger and deeper. Curran was awesome in this novel! The characters, even the minor ones, keep getting more and more interesting. In this book, the plot got a little complicated for me in a couple of places, but I enjoyed the mix of Russian myths and Biblical legends. The flowers at the end were a nice touch. Made me wonder. Buddy read with Armina, Asya, Eilonwy, & Evgeny. Last book, Erra, the villainess was evil awesomeness in some hot red spandex body suit. After her, this big bad felt less. I think less because they were more shadowy figures that Kate didn't directly tangle with until the middle to end parts vs battling Erra's zombie plague spreaders from thee beginning. I'm bias, of course, as I love a good plague. The antagonist of this book more so caused events that Kate had to contain/fix. The secondary characters: I still want to harvest Andrea's organs for her dog stealing ways, but as she's a perfect sniper & Grendel has the Lassie routine down, I've decided she's ok. Ghastek - witty & humorous as always. Sad there was so little Saiman. Julie - I'm so done with her, she just causes trouble & annoys. Evkioda - I like her, but I'm suspicious of her agenda. Ascanio - like, I hope he's in the next books. Barabas & Jezebel - I love the boudas. I thought the premise & plot was inventive. At first I didn't care much for it, but still enjoyed the dialogue between characters. When the story picked up, it really rolled. It was a fast read. My favorite parts were....more blood magic & lots of killing. Kate & Curran's taunts. Kate's mocking names for Curran, "His Furriness." Kate's general dialogue. Discovering more about Kate's effed up childhood & parents. (Also, when are we going to learn why Voron offed himself?). The smack down in the petition hall - yes, finally! I had missed Kate spouting rules & regulations at people like a vomiting legal encyclopedia when they crossed her. I'm confused about some points at the end.
