I’ve hit my half-Cannonball with one of my favorite books of the year. I had hoped for a proper 52 books cannonball, but alas, life happened. I’ve been reviewing The Hollows series by Kim Harrison nearly every Cannonball Read challenge. I was SO close to catching up with the original ending of the series. That is until Harrison restarted it last year with American Demon. I love how has the whole Inderland community in her stories: witches, demons, vampires, werewolves, fairies, elves, pixies, you name it. So I can’t be mad that she’s keeping it going! Beware of spoilers when reading this review since we’re neck-deep into this supernatural world.
This year, I tackled book twelve, The Undead Pool. Demon/witch Rachel Morgan has been working as a bodyguard for her friend, Trent Kalamack. He’s an elf and former familiar to Rachel. Their relationship is complicated after eleven books. They used to hate each other and now they are starting to like LIKE each other. They are using the pretense of Rachel acting as security to hang out around town. Trent is finally letting his guard down. He’s laughing and making eyes at Rachel. It’s delicious! The reality though is Trent is engaged to Elisabeth, a very snotty elf. They have a kid together to further the elf species. Trent is used to doing what’s expected of him. He starts to have second thoughts in this book.
Rachel is a rare day walking demon who finds trouble all time. This time around, magic is overloading all over Cincinnati. It’s causing dangerous accidents and even some deaths. If that’s not enough, all the vampires have gone to sleep and won’t wake up. Without any master vamps, their living vampire charges go off-leash to cause havoc. Eventually, the city goes on lockdown. Police agencies are in chaos since they can’t use magic or have vampire backup. Rachel soon discovers weird elf magic is leaking from her ley line. She created the line in a previous book, so directly connected somehow to the magical mystery. Elves and demons hate each other, so her demon mentors aren’t much help. They want her to stay away from Trent. Of course, Rachel can’t do that. With odds stacked once again, Rachel and her friends have to save the city. Along the way, we finally see Rachel Morgan get a happily ever after (of sorts).
It feels amazing to see Rachel happy (and getting some) after so many books with her heartbroken and grieving. I went through so many emotions while reading this book. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the series. In this one, my favorite Jenks the pixie continues to crack jokes and give advice in equal measure. We get to see so many people from past books too. Trent is so vulnerable to his emotions. I really like this side of him. Rachel is at the center of it all. She keeps it real even when others hate it. She is forced to tend with wild magic, which proved both scary and entertaining throughout the book. Things are not great with the demons or the elves by the end. I can’t wait to read the next one. I’m sure more danger will find Rachel and her friends. As it was meant to close out the series, I expect Harrison to go big!
If you liked True Blood, the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Brigg, or urban fantasy novels filled with an eclectic community of supernatural, pick up this series. You must start at the beginning.
Read more of my reviews of The Hollows books on my blog.