Magic Bites (Dramatized Adaptation)

Kate Daniels, Book 1

By: Ilona Andrews

Narrated by: full cast, Nora Sofyan, Michael Glenn, Steven Carpenter, Christopher Walker, Bradley Foster Smith, Robb Moreira, Mort Shelby, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Henry W. Kramer, Ken Jackson, Chris Davenport

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Ilona Andrews invites you to experience the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring the intriguing fantasy world of mercenary Kate Daniels…

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way...

©2007 Andrew Gordon and Ilona Gordon (P)2023 Graphic Audio LLC

Amazing!!!

I loved the audiobook, but this is even better!!! I can’t wait to listen to every single one!!!

I love the separate voices

all the different voices and personalities make everything so interesting. I am thoroughly enjoying this

background music is painful

The story is good. The lead narrator is good also. The others are muffled and sometimes seem to start talking before the narrator finishes.

The music... ugh... painful! Often I turn off the book just to get away from the music and the sound effects.

Hated Kate’s voice

Kate’s voice just didn’t fit for me. I found myself losing the story because of it. I’m going to read the actual book so I can understand the story better.

I’m not wild about the sound effects

I may get book 2 and see how it goes, but the scripted audio format didn’t wow me. Part of this is because I preferred the original voicing of most of the characters as performed by Rene Raudman, especially for main character Kate. A bigger part of me was annoyed by the unnecessary and distracting sound effects. There’s a lot of Muzak playing in the background including a campy Batman-ish ditty played during what should be suspenseful fight scenes. There’s also a lot of grunts and yaks when characters are in pain that were overdone to the point of cringe.

To be fair, the traditional book 1 audiobook is not one of my favorites in the series, so the voicing may be a casualty of an okay opening book. And, I loved some of the voicing here, like for shifter doctor Doolittle or vampire navigator Gastec. Another plus is that scripted audio plays faster.

This also contains:
- a bonus chapter replaying the Kate-Curran meet-cute from Curran’s POV.
- the novella A Questionable Client, which is a part of the Dark and Stormy Knights Anthology
and tells the story of Kate meeting Saiman

Fun

It was enjoyable and fun to hear Graphic Audio’s adaptation of one of my favorite books. I also enjoyed all the different accents of the characters.

Fantastic

I've always loved the Katie Daniel's series. This added a new level to the story. Despite having reread the whole series multiple times, this was a first read of my favorite book. A senerio you can't ever experience until know.
The narration is on point, easy to get used to, and well done. I can't wait for the rest of them!
Also, at the very end is a sample of Half way in the Grave with Cat and Bones! I had no idea and now must buy those too!
Thank you from the BDH!

I am HOOKED!!

I Binged this book. Period. From beginning to end, it’s engaging and beautifully narrated. The story line is complex and the details are well thought out. I’m off to get the next one!!!! The battles are action packed and Kate is officially one of my favorite female leads with all her sass and quirks. Her story evolves so well, and the plot twists keep you guessing. YES!!!

great adaptation of the first in a much loved series

this is one of my all time favorite book series and I am thrilled that GA is doing their adaptation. I adore all of the casting choices in this book, which was my biggest worry going into it. Nora and Micheal (Kate and Curran) were fantastic picks who gave a wonderful performance. I wasn't sure if anyone could do justice to Renee Raudman's original reading of the series, but Nora Sofyan is more than holding her own. Several side characters were also done so well. Jim is FLAWLESS (not something I ever thought I would say about Jim) and I enjoy Derek's voice as well. Saiman is done fantastically. But none of it holds a candle to the casting and voice work done by the voice actor who played the upir. If I or anyone else thought he was scary just on the page or read by Raudman, then GA and this voice actor brought him to life in a truly bone chilling way. I legit had to pause a few times the first time I listened to his first confrontation with Kate on the porch. I tip my hat. 15/10 skin crawling job.

There are not that many outtakes or alterations to this one from the original, or if there are they didn't hugely stand out to me. Magic Bites isn't as long or as deeply beloved to me as some of the later books, so this doesn't surprise me. Overall I'm pleased with the adaptation. If I have any gripes, it's that it's a little hard to understand Ghastek when he's talking through a vampire.

Finally, she nailed my favorite line in the whole book: "Also, the Beast Lord can't hammer for shit!"

great version!

I really liked this adaptation. If you have already read the book, the only thing that may bother you is the pronunciation of names. This made me want to read the whole series again.