March 20, 2011

Pale Demon (Rachel Morgan/The Hollows #9) by Kim Harrison





















Hardcover, 432 pages
Published February 22nd 2011 by Eos (first published February 20th 2011)
ISBN 0061138061 (ISBN13: 9780061138065)
Primary Language: English
Source: Purchased from Hastings

Note: There may be minor spoilers.

The Blurb (www.goodreads.com):

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passenger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

I really just don't even know where to start. The book opens with Rachel planning on going to the west coast to be in her brother's wedding and testifying on her own behalf to get her shunning revoked. But we all know by now how Rachel's plans work out. So instead of a quick plane ride out there, we get a cross country road trip.

Trent, it turns out, is on an honest-to-goodness "ElfQUEST" and has to follow all these rules on how to the coast. He never tells anyone what his quest is, but whatever it is, it's important enough to have brutal elven assassins on his tail. So on top of the assassins after Rachel, she's got a lot of dark magic and death threats to deal with.

As fun as this whole road trip was (and it was very exciting), I felt like the plot didn't even really get started until they made it to the coast. So many world changing things happened at the end, it was hard to pick it all out. Ivy saying goodbye to Rachel really got me. I wasn't sad so much as angry, either. It was like Ivy was giving up, and I hated her for it. And you know the thing that made even more angry? Rachel's brother. He never even makes an actual appearance, but he still managed to piss me off.

I loved getting such an in-depth look at life in the ever-after. I have a bit of a soft spot for Al, and he rose to the occasion. I also love Newt, and seeing in to her life a bit was very satisfying. She may be crazy, but she's crazy smart too, and that makes her VERY frightening. She could tear down the world without blinking, and I feel like I need to know more about her.

And on the twist ending? Finding out what Trent was after all along? I totally called it. And I am really looking forward to how that plays out, along with the fallout from the destruction that seems to follow Rachel wherever she goes. I think I read this book in about two or three evenings, and I had a lot going on that week. It was fantastic!

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