Customer Reviews

Where Demons Dare. Kim Harrison

5 star:		(138)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Over the course of five Hollows novels, Harrison has teased and alluded to readers about Rachel Morgan's true heritage. Is she really a witch? What did Trent's father exactly do to her DNA? Why does Ceri never let on about what she knows regarding Rachel's unusual talent in kindling demon magic? How is it related to Trent's research for the elf race? Why do demons gravitate towards her as if they have an ulterior motive? Why? Because they do!

Finally, Harrison lets the cat out of the bag in a big way...but she doesn't give it to us all in one big enchilada. The entire meat of the book is a lead in to what we have been waiting for but we stop a few times, glean more along the way.

Two main aspects to this latest tale that stand out significantly are: 1)there is more of a presence and focus on family ties both from Rachel's true family and her urban Hollows one i.e., Rachel's mom has a very dark secret related to Rachel's father, Keasley is revealed, Quen is in dire trouble, Rynn Cormel, the charismatic new Cincy vampire master makes an appearance, Ivy and Rachel come to an agreement of sorts with their blood balance, David the Were appears more nurturing, the addition of Marshal (the witch from Mackinaw Island) provides a potential new love interest, and Ceri...well she's got a bun in the oven from an unlikely source and 2) Rachel's true heritage.

It even gets more complicated and spicier as the search for Kisten's killer ensues, Trent asks Rachel to go on a mission to the Ever-After so that she can retrieve a piece of ancient Elven DNA-that might be able to repair the damage that the demons wrought in the last war. Couple this with Al on a nightly release when some mysterious person keeps summoning him from his jail in the Ever-After-even Minias is hard pressed to catch him. All in all, it's not just a bad day for Rachel but a bad week-Halloween week no less.

Readers get the big payoff and a glimpse into one possible direction that Harrison might be taking the series-one that is freaking irresistible! I felt like giggling and skipping around in a circle chanting a mantra: "We're going to the Ever After- We're going to the Ever After" like it's a really neat school field trip. Well hell...it is! My permission slip is signed and I'm ready to go!

After staying up nearly all night to finish reading (got the book early), and a triple espresso in the shower to wake me up, it was well worth every minute. Worth savoring and re-reading!

Kudos Harrison, did it again!-Laughter in One Word: `mouse burger", and the dialogue between Jenks and Bis was so freaking funny I laffed so hard and loud, that I probably woke my neighbors! (c)Nicola Mattos

There's no doubt about it. Harrison has done it again and raised the stakes ever higher with her latest and greatest Hallows book. It's hard to believe this is only book six; it feels like Rachel's character has been with us forever and she only gets more "real" as the series continues. As surely as Rachel twists curses to get herself out of yet another sore spot, Harrison is twisting readers into an absolute fit of excitement with her wicked way with words.

The Outlaw Demon Wails wastes no time and swings into the demon action with the very first chapter. With a trio of sneezes from Rachel, Al's back in crushed green velvet and as ready to wreak havoc as ever. It's October and as the Hallows and Cincinatti residents prepare for the week-long Halloween festivities, Rachel is once again fending off Al's rigorously murderous attentions. Someone is letting him lose from his ever-after jail cell and Rachel has to find out who has it in for her enough to do so. The list of possibilities is long, to say the least. And suddenly, not only is Rachel in danger, but everyone she loves and cares about are too. With guilt and heartache weighing heavily on her with Kisten's demise, not to mention more than one shocking family secret, Rachel is mentally and physically tired. And when a desperate witch just can't take anymore, she'll do anything to save those she loves.

I'd been hearing that at one time this was to be the end of the series, and therefore we'd be seeing a lot of the subplots wrapped up with this installment (even though Harrison's contract has now been extended--which hey, is awesome!). Frankly, I don't agree that that many of them were really wrapped up enough to truly put away. Rather, it read more as if a new chapter had opened in many of them and they'd become even bigger an issue than they were previously. For example, Rachel's lineage has always been of keen interest, what with her surviving a deadly childhood witch illness, one that kills many a witch in infancy. Within this particular subject we have two subplots that intertwine: what Trent's father really did to her in that Make-a-Wish camp and who exactly her father is, a man that had passed on some time ago, a character that we really didn't know much about till this installment. We get oodles `o info on both of these, yet it's such a huge impact that we'll certainly be feeling the effects of them and possibly more info in the books to come. Rachel and Ivy's blood lust marathon...what can I say but that they seem to come to an understanding, finally, of where each stands in this particular relationship. I was especially pleased with Ivy this time, as she finally seems to take a step back and really look at Rachel in regards to the blood lust. I felt she actually listened this time. I do not think it's over, as the new master vamp has made a rather bold claim, but for now, it's come to a much more pleasing, not to mention manageable, point. Ceri's role is as important as ever, and there is a bump of a twist where she and another important character are concerned that ties directly into the main plot of the book. Jenks, as per usual, gets some of the best lines and a very surprising yet wonderful surprise was Rachel's mother. Up till now, her role in this part of Rachel's life has been almost nil, but I have to say that, next to Rachel, she may well have become my second most favorite character. This was a turning point in the series, and that fact is demonstrated in the way Harrison delves back into past installments to bring a lot of info to light and reveal some rather shocking incidents, as well as by incorporating a line that I really didn't think Rachel would ever cross. The following installment will be interesting to say the least, as in a gut wrenching, adrenaline inducing thrill ride, as this one was in spades. There's no need to comment on Harrison's writing/plotting/character development skills other than she has it down solid. As always, I'm feening for the next book and don't know how I'll ever wait another year.

Kim Harrison ended her last book with a shocking twist: the death of Kisten, Rachel Morgan's vampire boyfriend.

And the repercussions of that climactic twist are felt all over "The Outlaw Demon Wails," a glorious follow-up that continues twisting (or is it spindling?) the plot all over. Harrison weaves together a half dozen vital storues into an even more tightly-written, shocking novel -- where we get lots and lots of new revelations and answered questions.

Rachel and her mother are shopping for Halloween costumes and talismans when the demon Al appears, destroys the shop, and nearly kills Rachel. Somebody is summoning him out of demon prison, and setting him after Rachel -- and her personal patch of holy ground is getting a big cramped, due to an increasingly bloodlusting Ivy and Jenks' massive family moving in.

And as Rachel struggle to cope with these problems, she learns that Ceri is pregnant -- and to keep her baby and the elf race healthy, they need a sample of ancient elf tissue from the ever-after. Though Rachel initially refuses, she finds that this elf drama is somehow connected to the terrible secrets of her past -- and a journey to the ever-after might help her defeat Al. But it might also open a Pandora's box of secrets about Rachel's own future...

Rachel's parentage. Her father's horrible death. Her memory loss after Kistan's death. Her friendship with Ivy. The true nature of the witches, elves and demons. Not to mention her future love life.

Yes, all these plot threads get dealt with in an utterly satisfactory way. And unlike many of her urban fantasy contemporaries, Kim Harrison weaves them into a solid, thrilling plot with a good balance of characters, action and humour. And she can keep the storyline twisting right up to the end -- literally. She introduces two massive twists toward the end that have enormous repercussions for Rachel.

It must be admitted that the plot sags in the middle of the book, when Al and the elf problem seem to get derailed in favour of Rachel's love life/social life problems. But Harrison picks up the slack quickly, and she hasn't lost her knack for tightly written, wry descriptions ("Hence the general weirdness of elves eating hot dogs in my backyard") and snappy, entertainingly self-deprecating dialogue ("Fried eggs!").

And there's plenty of quirky situations that help lighten the rather dark mood -- such as a very apologetic gargoyle crashing into Rachel's church. Jenks and his equally troublesome family provide loads of comic relief as well -- gotta love them pixies.

And Harrison's feisty heroine goes through some painful growth, learns more about her family and her true nature, and has some old wounds reopened. In a sense, this is Rachel's "grief book" -- she spends a great deal of time thinking about the loss of her father and Kisten, and freaking out when she starts remembering how they died. Fortunately Harrison avoids letting her heroine become "emo" -- note the hilarious scene where she's ashamed to admit that she's perused a vampire sex book.

But as Rachel deals with her grief and love for Kisten, Harrison delicately introduces a potential love interest. She doesn't spin anything more than chemistry yet, but it's a person who could become something to her in future.

Other characters get fleshed out as well -- we get to see underneath Trent's coolly slimy exterior to some of his hidden feelings, Ivy's vampiric nature, and even Al gets some new dimensions. And even among the peripheral characters, Harrison's quirky sense of humour is present -- just consider the vampire-sex-manual-writing ex-Presidential vampire master.

Kim Harrison's "The Outlaw Demon Wails" has a slowdown in the middle, but revs up fast for a twisty-turny, revelation-filled finale. Urban fantasy as it ought to be.

I enjoyed Kim Harrison books when they first came out. I was looking for more romance, but the story line was great so I bypassed that. I then fell in love with the books when I started to listen to them on my mp3 player. The old narrator, Marguerite Gavin, did such a great job of bringing Rachel to life. I felt more like I knew all of the characters completely and I was just a bystander in their life.

With this latest book, the narrator has changed. Her name is Gigi Birmingham. I HATE HOW SHE READS RACHEL!!!! The first 10-15 minutes into the audiobook I noticed that Gigi reads rachel like she is a 16 or 17 year old. It doesn't help that the first scene is rachel with her mother, that just increased "rachels" (gigi's) childlike behavior and manner of speaking. Also, Gigi makes Jenks voice really high pitch. It doesn't sound right. PLUS, SHE MISPRONOUNCES WORDS. Having listened to the first 5 books read by Marguerite Gavin, I may have become accustomed to the mispronouced words. Hearing Gigi pronouce them differently, DRIVES ME UP THE WALL. She can't even say the word adult right, she completely butchers Piscary's and Takata's names. I may just be used to the way that margeurite said them, but there should be some fluidity between the 6 books, and pronounciation should be fluid between them all. I am totally disheartened at how this new narrator just does not get Rachel and has totally portrayed her incorrectly. I will not purchase the next audiobook if Gigi reads it again. The narrator makes or breaks a book, Gigi mutilated this one. I think I am going to stop listening to the audio and read the book instead, maybe I will enjoy the book better.

This installment in the series, like others before it, tends to rely on two elements to hold the reader's attention: lots of action scenes where Rachel's life is threatened and the reveal of a new talent in Rachel's magic arsenal. Harrison delivers on these two mainstays as always.

Where the novel falls flat for me, however, is the emergence of a trend in Harrison's last three novels: 1) Rachel's ongoing game of "will she, won't she let Ivy bite her?" and 2) Harrison's characterization of Trent Kalamack, who is turning out to be the wimpiest elf I've ever had the misfortune to read about.

Here's the rub: why make Rachel best friends with the second most powerful vampire in the city, if said vampire is always missing in action when Rachel's life is threatened? (Ivy's scenes consist of her holding her stomach, making coffee or working on her computer.) And why make Trent the most feared power in the city, yet make him continuously have to seek Rachel's protection? The worst part is that in the first novel of the series, Harrison made Trent as ruthless and seductive as any well-written master vampire. But by the third novel of this series, she had begun emasculating him and in this novel, he's no more threatening than a member of the F.I.B. or your local politician.

I enjoy the series but no way am I paying hardcover prices for the next one. And if Harrison doesn't resolve the Ivy dilemma and bring Trent back to his origins, I'll be getting them from my library.

Rachel Morgan is one of my all time favorite heroines. I know she does stupid things but strangely enough, I'm always rooting for her to do it because I know that interesting things will come of it. A lot of threads are tied up or at least strengthened in this latest book and I am SOOOO glad since too many series start to lag or fall apart by now. The storytelling was tightly wound and everything happened for a reason.

Rachel is still recovering from the death of her vampire boyfriend Kisten and is trying to move on with life, be a better person, stop acting so impulsive and grow up. But it doesn't seem to matter that her intentions are good becuase she's still being targeted by demons and forced into situations that aren't the happiest.

Her attempts to have a normal friendship with Ivy may finally be paying off even though it's not anything that they would have foreseen as being possible. She has a possible new love interest in Marshal (who's aloso a witch and seems like strong enough person to handle life with Rachel)even though she's fighting it because she knows its too soon after Kisten.

Rachel's mother is a riot and my favorite line from the book may have to be from her...'pee-stained hole' made me laugh out loud. Jenks is awesome as usual and I am loving the mysterious guest in the belfry named Bis and what his arrival portends for Rachel. Al is given some slightly grey shades to his black soul and despite his always frantic attempts to kill Rachel--I kind of like him. He's a great villian and I hope his role continues to grow.

Finally this book ends with the tantalizing thought of what Rachel will become now that her past is revealed and she is heading into the the 'ever-after'. I've a feeling that although she's fighting it, deep inside, she's as excited as we are to be going there. And I just know that in the end, it's going to be a happily ever after for our heroine.

This is the latest book in the Rachel Morgan series. However, U.S. fans who have already read "The Outlaw Demon Wails" will be disappointed if they buy this expecting it to be the next book in the series. This is the U.K. version of that same title.

Having said that, I highly recommend this and all of the other books in the Rachel Morgan series. Please search on "The Outlaw Demon Wails" for more in-depth reviews.

Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan, Book 1)
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (Rachel Morgan, Book 2) (The Hollows)
Every Which Way But Dead (Rachel Morgan, Book 3)
A Fistful of Charms (Rachel Morgan, Book 4)
For a Few Demons More (Rachel Morgan, Book 5)
The Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan, Book 6)

For all the other Audio CDs in this series, Marguerite Gavin was the reader. While her female voice struggled on male characters as male voices generally struggle on female characters, she performs quite well and since the most of the voices in the books are in fact female, it works out well enough. I believe she was a great choice for reading these books and feel strongly that HarperAudio should hire her to re-read this story as this rendition is a virtual disaster.

Gigi Bermingham is a reading disaster. She lacks the ability to make decent voices. I feel her portrayal of Keasley is so stereotypical negro that it borders on racist. What appears to be her extremely limited education makes it so her pronunciations are poor to begin with, but the fact that she apparently didn't bother looking up pronunciations of key words such as Ley in the case of Ley lines, a critical component of the story makes it almost painful to listen to her. Thankfully, her performance of the pixies is so incredibly high pitched that the pain she causes while performing them makes you overlook her destruction of the English language.

When faced with performing accents from different cultures, she seems to feel simply changing the tone of her voice is sufficient. With 5 earlier books performed by another reader, she didn't bother to listen to even one of them to attempt a resemblance of consistency when it would be obvious that listeners of her recording most likely would have listened to the previous books as well.

The quality of this production was so bad that HarperAudio should attempt to bury it so no-one can have the opportunity to judge the quality of their products from this reading.

On the other hand, the story is quite good and deserves a better rating, but I wrote this review to complain about the Audio Book version, not about the story which I feel many others have done an excellent job of.

Loved the Book! As always Kim Harrison makes an interesting and attention grabbing novel. Unfortunately the reader of this book for the Audio version butchers the words so bad it turns me off. I cringe every time she makes yet another mispronunciation. It really detracts from the great story line and very interesting characters. It's been a big downer. Hopefully next time they will pick another reader- one who can actually read. What a concept that would be!

I like this series enormously, because I love the main character and I especially love the demons: no little foot-stamping fire-breathing horned homunculi, these; no, these are immortal, intelligent, horridly efficient beings that have very specific goals and go about trying to accomplish them -- and god help you if you get in their way. The nice thing about this series is that's exactly how Rachel is, and it makes for great conflict whenever she gets into it with the demons -- which is pretty much every book, except the first one and the one with the werewolves (Which are both pretty demony, too, come to think). But the best part about this character and these books is that they focus on the dark part of dark fantasy/paranormal romance, which is often the most interesting part, and yet nowhere in these books does the main character revel in her own angst and Weltschmertz, or demean other people for not understanding the darkness in her soul; she has had to work hard to recognize her dark side as just -- dark. Not evil, necessarily. And as I have watched the character come to terms with this, it has felt like watching an actual person learn to accept themselves for who they are. It has made me sympathetic, and kept me fascinated, through all six books.

In this one, Rachel just goes right ahead and becomes a demon. Well, not really, but she realizes that she has more in common with demons, in some ways, than with witches, and the full secret of her parentage and the magical inheritance, and the future consequences of her inheritance and what Trent's father did to her, finally come out. It's a great reveal, made even better by how badly Trent deals with it and with Rachel. I've had trouble with Trent in the past, because I've always felt that Rachel's hatred of him was unreasoning in some way; sure, he is a murderer and a drug dealer -- but come on. She lives with, and is in love with, a living vampire who was scion to the most evil being in these books -- and I include the demons in that statement. Nobody compares to Piscary, and Ivy did horrible things when she was in his thrall; certainly worse than what Trent has done building his criminal empire. And Trent's crimes are offset by the amount of good he does -- Ivy's crimes are only offset by her protection of Rachel. So I can see the personal attachment to the murderer who keeps you alive and loves you, no problem there -- but why so much bile for the murderer who kept you alive in the past? Anyway, in this book, Trent not only acts like a complete doofus, but he pulls an incredibly crappy move, selling Rachel out, only because he's too stupid to recognize the consequences of what he says. And this guy has the gall to shy away from both Rachel and Ceri because of the demon smut on their souls. Bah.

Jenks is still the best character, and I love Bis, the new gargoyle, who I hope will play a much bigger role in the next one. This one was great as always -- and a really nice resolution to the demon issue, though there is still more to tell, of course. And please, please, let the whole Ivy-bloodsucking-sex thing be done with. Pretty please.