Publisher: HarperTorch
Publication Date: January 25, 2005
Goodreads Description:
It's a tough life for witch Rachel Morgan, sexy, independent bounty hunter, prowling the darkest shadows of downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night.
She can handle the leather-clad vamps and even tangle with a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is definitely pressing the limits.
Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child's play - and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.
Review:
If you haven't read Dead Witch Walking, please don't spoil yourself. Skip this review.
I really enjoyed coming back to Kim Harrison's Hollows. Everything good I have come to expect from her was present, and almost everything I didn't like was improved. I am pretty sure that The Good, The Bad, and The Undead has sold me on the Hollows series for a while.
The fabulous world Harrison constructed in Dead Witch Walking was further embellished and enriched, without detracting from what she had already created. All the characters I had grown to love in Dead Witch Walking were also back in all their glory. Jenks and his family just keep getting better and better, and I LOVE how much more we get to see of Edden (and the introduction of Detective Glade.) The dialog is often so witty and funny that I can't help reading bits aloud to whomever happens to be in the same room. If the wardrobe was as important this go round as the last, I thankfully didn't notice it. (Except, perhaps, for the hilariousness of Jenks in polyester, but that was worth it!)
I was so right about there being more to Trent that the first book let on, and I am glad that he is working his way (albeit slowly) into the 'good guy' camp, because Nick is seriously boring and way more trouble than he is worth. It was also wonderful to get some of the back story for Rachel's family. I love the way these elements were each woven into the current mystery--which again was nicely tied up with the end of the book, while opening more questions for the series story arc.
I was also grateful to see how the relationship between Rachel and Ivy was treated. Harrison changed the chemistry between them--it is now much more about blood lust (and other spoilery things) than about plain old lust. I think this solves most of the problem I had with their relationship in Dead Witch Walking, but not all of it. It felt a little too retroactive; Dead Witch Walking happened, and I would rather Harrison have addressed the issue head on than to rewrite their relationship to avoid it, but so be it. The way things end for Ivy in this book is... intriguing to say the least. I am so ready for Every Which Way But Dead.
Rating:
3.5 of 5 stars
This review also appears on Goodreads. I purchased my copy from Barnes & Noble for Nook.
