I feel like a bad, bad blogger. This week, I’ve been traveling and reading but not blogging. However, you know with all this reading going on, you’ll get to hear about some books. I finished Kim Harrison’s A Perfect Blood, this is the 10th installment in the Rachel Morgan series, and I’m still loving it. As a matter of fact, I was more than a little miffed to realize that there had been not two but three installments published since I’d last followed Rachel into trouble (and believe you me, she is always in trouble). I’ve got some catching up to do.
The Hollows
Kim Harrison has layered her world upon our own. Set in Cincinnati, the Hollows series makes the supernatural part of everyday life. Years ago a virus borne via tomatoes nearly decimates the human population, and the Inderlanders come forward to save them. Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Pixies…they’ve all been living next door to us for years, but The Turn brought them forward to save humanity. Now there’s no going back, and not all humans are glad for the change. Since The Turn, Inderlanders have congregated in an area of Cincinnati called The Hollows where businesses keep hours suited to their clientele, and it isn’t unheard of to see a pixie flitting through a garden.
Rachel lives in an abandoned church with the living vampire, Ivy Tamwood, a pixie family, a gargoyle named Bis, and now one werewolf bodyguard. Rachel doesn’t go looking for trouble, but trouble has always known where to find her. Once again, this sassy, clumsy, stubborn, brilliant, inept character is pulled into a mess not really of her own making. Luckily, she’s been graced with amazing (albeit frustrating and broken) friends ready to help her out. Rachel Morgan stubbornly does what she believes is right, every time. It may not be the best decision, the safest for her (or those around her) or wisest decision, but it is always what she feels is right.
I like Rachel. When she comes out on top, everyone, sometimes including Rachel, is surprised she survived…again. She’s starting to convince the world, and herself, that she’s got what it takes not only to survive but to succeed. That confidence comes in fits and starts, but it is growing. She’s struggling to accept who she is, like a lot of us. (Given, our acceptance of ourselves doesn’t typically have anything to do with wielding magic, but…who knows.) Rachel gets the rug pulled out from beneath her, and struggles to keep her balance.
A Perfect Blood
First Lines:
The woman across from me barely sniffed when I slammed the pen down on the counter. She didn’t care that I was furious, that I’d been standing in this stupid line for over an hour, that I couldn’t get my license renewed or my car registered in my name.
If you haven’t read the series, I highly recommend it. However, with any series with its 12th installment released, it is a challenge to do a review and not give away a bit of what has come before. Go forth, follow Rachel through her challenges and triumphs, and figure out who she is. Harrison has created novels that don’t require reading previous installments, but it does offer a richer experience if you’ve been through the trenches with the characters. If you’re just beginning, stop here and pick up the first book Dead Witch Walking and let me know what you think.
Here be spoilery bits, proceed at your own risk!
So…Rachel Morgan is now a demon who doesn’t reside in the Ever After. She’s not only facing the challenges of proving to the powers that be who rule everything from drivers licenses to tax returns that she is indeed still alive, she’s also struggling with her status as…not a witch. Not everyone is so inclined, however. There is a ritualistic murder and the I.S. is ready to pin Rachel for the crime…or at least get her to solve it for them. Rachel’s cut herself off from the ley lines to keep Al from dragging her back (that is one sneaky demon!), so she’s limited to only the most simple of earth magic. Her blood doesn’t quicken the heavy-duty stuff, and she’s facing some seriously deranged killers who are after her. She’s been given a bodyguard by her father, and this is Rachel. She definitely needs the protection, but she isn’t quite convinced he’s qualified for the job. Then there is her ever enduring complicated relationship with Trent Kalamack…way complicated and getting more so. Oh, and she and Ivy have come to the attention of another dead vampire…because that is exactly what either of them needs. A Perfect Blood is definitely everything I expect from a Kim Harrison novel, and I’m trying to restrain myself from going out and buying the next installment Ever After and the most recent release The Undead Pool. It is hard, but I have a stack of books to read that is growing ever taller…and taller and taller…I have a hard time stopping myself. On the upside, I won’t be bored any time soon!
Current Reading List (a.k.a. half-read novels gracing all the flat surfaces)
- Watchmen
- The Magician King
- Allegiant
- A Clockwork Prince
- The Martian Chronicles
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (In all fairness, this edition contains 4 novels and a short story. I’ve finished one of the novels!)
What are you reading now? I’m always looking for a new book. Happy reading!
‘Til next time,
Jessica
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