Review: Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1) – Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows #1
Published by Harper Torch on 1 July 2004
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 416
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Purchase
Buy on Amazon |

Rachel Morgan is a witch. And what is called a 'runner' which means she's working for law enforcement, finding and bringing in suspects that are not entirely human. Her sometimes partner at work, Ivy is a living vampire, can walk in the sun and partake in religious activities if she wants to. Jenks is a 4 inch pixy with a wicked sense of humor and extremely fast wings. They all end up leaving their employer the same day, even if they know that so far, noone has left the I.S. alive. Moving into a church with Ivy, Jenks and Jenks' family Rachel starts a new life, where she has to hide from killer faeries, a town council man nobody knows what is, and just try to get by and earn enough to stay safe on hallowed ground.

Dead Witch Walking has been on my kindle for a very long time! I went to check, and I actually bought it in September 2010, so yeah, Rachel Morgan and her friends have been very patient waiting for me to really notice them. Lately, three of my very good blogging friends have been talking about The Hollows series and telling me how good it is, so I decided I should at least start reading Dead Witch Walking and see if I agreed with them or not.

I was amazed at how action packed Dead Witch Walking was, with a big cast of characters – both main and secondary. The readers quickly realize that Rachel is a strong character, both physically and mentally, but that she is extremely impatient and unafraid. And there truly are some situations when it is better to feel a little fear and self-preservation rather than to run into an unknown situation ready to fight.

The three main characters are Ivy, the living vampire who doesn’t want to take anybody’s blood, and who is a little moody and extremely strong. She decided to leave I.S. as soon as Rachel explained that she couldn’t take it anymore. Jenks quickly wanted in on the deal as well, and he wanted to be able to bring his whole family (his wife and 54! children) to help Rachel and Ivy during their runs. They are all delightful in their own way, and I love their sense of humor. I think the humor present in Dead Witch Walking is what kept me wanting to turn the pages, just as much as the action and the mystery was.

Rachel gets herself into some extremely tough situations, like transforming herself into an animal with a spelled amulet, and then being caught and put in a cage. Even if the person who caught her knows she is a human in animal-form, she has a very hard time freeing herself, and when she does she ends up freeing another human-animal as well.  I thought it was pretty funny how Rachel trust people fairly quickly, especially when knowing there are several assassins after her.

As the three partners fight to survive, all in their own way, the readers get to know their strengths and their weaknesses, their hopes and their dreams. Dead Witch Waling is a great introduction to a series my friends love, and as soon as I finished reading, my fingers clicked me over to amazon and I bought the next nine books in the series so I could continue reading about Rachel and her merry band of friends and fellow fighters.

Everything was going too well. Something had to be wrong.

He had to work out, though I don’t know where he found the time. I would have given anything to see him in a bathing suit – or less. His legs had to be just as muscular, being the expert rider he was reputed to be. And if it sounded like I was a sex-starved nympho… Well, I didn’t have anything to do but watch him.

I could get used to this, I mused as I carefully stretched my healing body. I hadn’t slept this well since I quit the I.S. It was ironic that here, in a cage in a drug lord’s office, I was safe from my I. S. death threat.

Riding a bike was always a thrill, but as a rodent it was a scent-ual rush.

 

 

 

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