Most Helpful Customer Reviews
153 of 159 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than the first one, January 25, 2005
Wow! I thought Dead Witch Walking was excellent, but GB&U knocked my socks off. The events of this book take place a scant few months after DWW, so there is a high degree of continuity to the story line. Several of my niggling questions left unanswered in DWW were resolved nicely. We find out who called up that nasty demon and why. And I was happy to learn that my suspicions about Trent's species were correct. The relationships and interactions between the growing cast of characters are more complex and interwoven than in the first installment, and Rachel learns that there are so many more shades of gray than she'd like to think about. The mystery is solid and intelligent. The urban fantasy elements are richly textured. Rachel is impetuous and prone to jumping to conclusions (sometimes correctly, sometimes not), but she's still young and those flaws make her character more believable. All in all, I give this book my highest recommendation, and I can't wait until the third in the series, Every Which Way But Dead, comes out this summer.
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86 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Never Nibble on the Neck of the Teeth that Bite You, April 6, 2005
This is the second in a new series written by Kim Harrison that is based in an alternate world where magic happens and a vampire can be your best friend - during the day. The premise is that a runaway virus brings about The Turn, and when it runs itself out, half the world is occult - witches, fairies, pixies, vampires, etc. And the other half is human, and scared to death of tomatoes. The premise is the same as the old Shadowrun series, but the world of Turned Cincinnati is almost as cozy and familiar as the one we live in. Well, almost.
Our heroine is Rachel Morgan, an independent runner (as in trouble shooter/maker), who almost lost her life to a demon disguised as a vampire in the previous volume. That story established Rachel as a freelance investigator, living with an almost undead vampire (Ivy), in an old church. In the garden live her trusty assistant, Jenks (a pixie), and his family. This would be almost normal if Ivy wasn't in a perpetual struggle with her desire to eat people and her obvious affection for Rachel, if Jenks wasn't a potty mouthed mischief maker, and if Rachel didn't have a knack for careening from one deadly mess to another.
This time Rachel's problems start when she accepts a contract to help with the investigation of a series of serial killings that is leaving the city's ley line witches in a bad state of disassembly. Her task is to play a college student in the local University to spy on a particular professor. Rachel, however, believes she is watching the wrong person, and that Trent Kalamack, the man who once turned her into a ferret and dropped her in a rat fight. With Rachel compulsively chasing Kalamack and Ivy trying to desperately avoid her own fate, this is a story that is in perpetual crisis.
The publisher will tell you that Rachel is a combination of Anita Blake and Stephanie Plum. But even though the telling has a dash of Anita Blake's sexual follies the story lacks the high drama of Laurell Hamilton or the perpetual slapstick of Janet Evanovich. If anything, the stories are more like Jim Butcher's work. Rachel is interesting, but she as an underlying illogic which creates crises that could be avoided that only get in the way of her real goals. Despite some momentary displays good manners she is primarily a woman who does whatever she wants regardless of consequences, which can be bad news for Ivy and Rachel's human boyfriend Nick. And for Rachel as well, who finishes this book in trouble on all planes.
If you disregard the improbabilities and the complexities of yet another version of vampire life this is an entertaining book. All this disregarding would be easier if Harrison paid just a bit of attention to the consistency of her characters. As it is, I enjoy her books until almost the end, which is where people tend to step out of character to get the plot to a proper hiatus. If you are finicky (and I'm not) this may bother you. But the story is more than adequate for entertainment.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Like the concept - hate the main character, March 25, 2009
This review is from: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (The Hollows, Book 2) (Hardcover)
I love the idea behind the urban fantasy craze - vampires, fairies and werewolves, all trying to live normal, everyday lives alongside humans. It is a great idea. I wish someone would get it right.
What Harrison writes is fluff fantasy, the sort of thing you read on the bus because you don't want to think too hard and will probably fall asleep anyway.
That's my excuse for having read this - I needed bus reading. I'd read the first book of this series and didn't hate it, so I picked up the second. Now that I've read two Hollows books, I know the reason I didn't like the books is because of Rachel Morgan.
Rachel Morgan is not a strong, intelligent, independent woman. She is a dumb bully. She is aggressive for the sake of being aggressive, reckless and stupid, and does the opposite of what anyone tells her just because someone tried to tell her what to do. She does this even after having the reasons explained to her. She is a teenager in an adult body. I spend my working hours around teenagers. I don't want to read about obnoxious teens on my off-hours.
Rachel's best friend (of what appear to be a whopping three - big surprise) is a vampire. In the world of the Hollows, vampires can't control their thirst for blood very well, so naturally Rachel decides it would be a good idea if the two of them lived together. Everyone is telling Rachel it's dumb to live with a vampire. Rachel refuses to leave, even when her roommate attacks her. In the end, Rachel engages in a bit of heroism on Ivy's behalf. We are supposed to feel that Rachel is dedicated, trusting and protective (like Anita Blake), but I agree with all the other characters: Rachel is dumb.
I also don't like Rachel Morgan because I suspect that she is a Mary Sue for the author. Rachel Morgan is a red-haired witch with a weird sense of fashion. Kim Harrison is also a red-haired witch with a weird sense of fashion. One of Rachel Morgan's unnecessarily aggressive moments was when someone criticized her wardrobe, and in Rachel Morgan's world witches are a different race who have extended lifespans. Wishful thinking, anyone?
Rachel's only likeable moments take place when she is around her boyfriend. She then turns into a pussycat, and chides him for being reckless and stupid. Sigh.
To sum up: I would be happier with this series if the main character was not so dumb. Since that does not appear likely to change, I will be giving the rest of this series a miss.
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