4.25 stars. I can't wait to begin the next book in this series. Kate is a strong, sarcastic, and brilliant human who has been left alone in a world where magic ebbs and surges. This creates a world full of checks and inbalances between the living, the dead, and the half-breeds. When Kate loses her guardian, who was killed in the line of duty, she becomes consumed with finding his killer. The answers she finds only bring forth more mysteries and colorful characters. I never knew who to trust through most of this story, but I knew who I liked. Curran, Lord of the Beasts, forms an understanding, a possible alliance, with Kate as her quest helped him answer questins of his own. Will they fight each other or with each other? I wasn't sure about who would survive after everything was done.