Mihir's Thoughts: Curran Volumes Vol 2.5

So I’m back as B. basically promised that if I didn’t get this review done he would unleash all types of spam-bots on my e-whereabouts. Like the previous post about the Curran Volumes, these were written exclusively by Andrew Gordon (one half of the excellent writing team that is Ilona Andrews). Gordon released two more Curran snippets, one after their character won in a fan voting against that of J.R. Ward a few months ago and recently when an awesome fan mailed them something pretty cool.

With such largesse, all us fans get some truly amazing scenes to read about. Both these snippets are set in the past; the first one is set after the events of Magic Strikes and one week before the events of Magic Bleeds. Read snippet over HERE.

In this snippet, Jim comes to Curran with some dire news about Kate’s past. All of this is already known to us readers as we have been privy to Kate’s thoughts and knowledge of her past through her POV, but it was interesting to see both Jim and Curran digest it. The event shown in the snippet has not been shown in the books. It’s not a big scene, however its importance resonates quite spectacularly as it shows the depth of Curran’s passion for Kate. At the same time we also get to see his foresight as well. As a reader of the books, we often see Curran and his actions from Kate’s viewpoint and so they are colored by her prejudices and her upbringing. So certain things, when viewed from Curran’s sight are not only refreshing but simply exciting. The snippet ends rather quickly and we are left to rue the events that would take place thereby further lengthening the twisted courtship process which takes place between Kate and Curran.

The second Curran POV snippet is set into the latter third of Magic Strikes; read snippet HERE. Once again we get to see events which we have read about but now from Curran’s eyes. This snippet is what the authors reveal to be “smexy”. Gordon’s not overtly comfortable with such scenes and he’s made it clear in the start, “I am not super comfortable with the smexy scenes. However, I was bribed with action figures by Diana G. I did my best to convey the Beast Lord’s thoughts and feelings but we men are simple creatures, not much goes through our head in these situations beyond “Boobies,” and “I got Snu snu” to quote Futurama. The scene where the guys are in pelvic casts, high-fiving each other is pretty spot on. With that said, please take it for what it is, warts and all.”

The scene involves Kate and Curran in a hot tub and we get pretty much what most readers wish for, the twist being that things end up a bit abnormally but considering its Kate & Curran they could be classified as normal. There’s not much I can write about this snippet without revealing what it’s all about. We do however get the depth of Curran’s passion and some might be a bit troubled by it but considering his character, this is pretty much in line. Once he’s set on something, he will do anything to get it done. On a separate note the authors also had to clarify a few things about the scene and one of their inside jokes about their author friends in a post the very next day. I thought this was a bit funny simply because of the level of fan discussion that prompted this second blog post. All things considered Ilona Andrews do have a very active and vociferous fanbase and sometimes they really do voice their thoughts to the extreme.

In all, these Curran snippets and scenes are very much appreciated and both Bastard and I hope that we get more of them along with the books. Lastly, this year sees the release of Andrea Nash’s solo book (titled GunMetal Magic) and a Kate Daniels novella (more info HERE). The book’s cover is different from the look of the Kate Daniels series and some info about it can be found HERE.

Mihir's Thoughts: Curran Volumes - Companion scenes to the Magic series

Hey everyone, I’m Mihir and I’ll be joining Bastard on this blog. Bastard is a person who according to his profile grew up hating reading and later on changed his mind. I on the other hand never knew anything else besides reading, first there were comics and mythological stories and since then it’s been a gradual progression to the current SFF genre. I’m hoping to complement Bastard’s thoughts, reviews and reactions with some of my own which will be in line with this blog’s theme and name “Bastard books and other crap”.

One of my favorite author pairs are Ilona Andrews, the husband-wife team of Ilona & Andrew Gordon who have shot up within the crowded ranks of the urban fantasy sub-genre. They did it by putting out one the best series currently being written, the Kate Daniels “Magic” series. There have been five books along with three short stories out so far. I have reviewed them previously and they can be found over at Fantasy Book Critic here, here, here, and here.

What I like about this series is it has a terrific main protagonist, great characterization which includes the large character tale cast, an awesome magical-post apocalyptic world & over all a mystery at the root of the saga. This series is now in my top three urban fantasy series and one which I will follow all the way to the end.

Now there have been several reviews all over the blogosphere about the books and the short stories but I’ll be focusing on a hitherto unspoken part of the series, the Curran Volumes. There are currently two of these volumes out currently and they have been written by Gordon Andrews exclusively. These pieces feature a fascinating look in to the mind of the one of the most ferocious and scary characters in the books, the Beast Lord Curran Lennart.


In Curran Volume I, the readers are given access to four pivotal scenes spread across the first four books. The first snippet is the one wherein Kate meets Curran for the first time; the second third and fourth ones are from the remaining three books at a certain pivotal time in each of the book. Now three of these scenes have already been read by the readers of the books albeit from Kate’s viewpoint but it is refreshing to re-read them from Curran’s viewpoint. Since we are privy to his thoughts certain plot points come to the fore much more quickly than in the case of the books wherein it occurs at a slower rate, lastly the fourth scene which is not featured in the books is a scene which happens off stage during the third book and helps Curran solve some of his doubts and gives clarity to the climax of that book.

In Curran Volume II: Fathers and Sons, a short story is featured which focuses on the climax of Magic Bleeds. It basically starts in tandem with the last few paragraphs of the book and then expands beyond the book to feature a very powerful scene which showcases why Curran is the beast lord and how powerful he truly is. This event is not shown in any of the books and is not referenced so far in the saga, however it is important for fans of the series to read it as the events which occur will have powerful implications in the pack setup and for the remainder of the saga.

Both these volumes aren't that long, the first volume is of 18 pages in PDF form while the second volume is 20 pages long but even though they are on the shorter side, for fans these stories are gold as they are completely devoted to Curran, his thoughts and his way of life. The first volume has very little action but focuses more on character interactions in each of the stories.

The second volume more than compensates for the action as it has an awesome action sequence and on an emotional level it was very fulfilling to read as well. The second volume in my opinion is the better of the two but that’s just me and I would heartily recommend that fans of the series get their hands on these two volumes as soon as possible.

Both the volumes are available on the author’s website over here and here. They are available in various formats for the reader’s preference and should you be so interested there’s also a 99 cent version available for people who want to reward the authors for their efforts on the same page. Lastly I would like to add the fact that these volumes are meant to be read after reading the books as otherwise new readers will be not be able follow much of what is happening.