Review: Pale Demon (The Hollows #9) – Kim Harrison

From Goodreads:

Condemned and shunned for black magic,Rachel Morgan has three days to get to the annual witches’ conference and clear her name, or be trapped in the demonic ever-after . . . forever after.

But a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car going across the country? Talk about a recipe for certain disaster, even without being the targets for assassination.

For after centuries of torment, a fearsome demon walks in the sunlight—freed at last to slay the innocent and devour their souls. But his ultimate goal is Rachel Morgan, and in the fight for survival that follows, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her

Pale Demon brings out the best in all the characters I now know and love! In order to save herself, Rachel needs to be at the annual witches conference to try and clear her name. But the witches will do anything they can to make sure she won’t make it in time. At the same time, Trent needs her help for something he won’t really tell her about – he only lets her know he has to be in Seattly before a certain time, and he wants her to ensure his safety while traveling. Because it’s impossible for Rachel to travel by plane, a road-trip becomes the only option – with Jenks, Ivy and Trent driving with her in her mom’s old car, Rachel needs more than her usual patience.

For a good part of the story, Pale Demon is like a ‘huis clos’ where Rachel is spending all her time in tight quarters with Trent, Ivy and Jenks, and I am amazed at how much the readers learn about each of the characters when some of them are chatting while believing the others are sleeping. My admiration for Trent grew even more, although he truly did some very stupid things because he acted before thinking. But to see Rachel and Trent actually cooperate was awesome, and I really enjoyed the interactions between them during the whole story-arc. During their travels, a lot of things happened, of course! Jenks was kidnapped, somehow Vivian, the witch from the council, ended up being a part of their merry road-trip, and Trent disappeared when Rachel needed him the most.

There were some truly hilarious moments, both between Rachel and Trent, Rachel and Al and of course, between all our good friends and the white witch. I was laughing out loud in several places, and I was just so happy to keep on loving The Hollows just as much in book nine as I did in the very first book. The crafty way Ms. Harrison spins her tales shows that she’s an expert, and I find myself noticing details a lot more, because I have already seen that what might be a detail in one book can become a major plot-point further into the series.

The character development continues to be extremely well done, and I love how they are all growing, but still comfortable with themselves and each other. I also love that Rachel realizes that Trent might not be as bad as she thought in the beginning, even if he is completely ruthless, and will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. The fact of the matter is that his goals might not be that far from Rachel’s own goals, he only goes about getting there differently.

Jenks is more or less back to himself, but even he has more to learn in Pale Demon. It seems that pixy rules aren’t the same everywhere he goes, and wearing red to show he’s not going to poach ends up being wearing red to show something completely different. And much suspense and hilarity ensues from that as well. Rachel continues to show that she has a very strong moral compass, and I can’t help but admire that she stands by her convictions even as she is in danger of being sent to the ever-after to live like a demon.

Even Rachel’s mom shows up to show her support at the annual meeting, and as usual, her foot-in-mouth disease is the root of a lot of laughter. I cannot help but want more of her as well. She is excellent for comic relief, and at the same time, she is a real mother for Rachel. Of course, Rachel doesn’t always see things that way, but she needs as many people as possible in her corner. The ending was making me hold my breath, I was both scared and elated at the same time, and I was just so darned happy I had A Perfect Blood already waiting for me.

Now I’ll go on with my favorite quotes, and of course, I still recommend The Hollows to all readers who love paranormal stories. And I tip my hat to my trio of blogger friends who introduced it to me. You know who you are, ladies 😉

Tren’ts voice – his beautiful, resonant, soothing, political voice – slipped over me even before he got to the gate, and I touched the braid that Jenks’s kids had put my curly red flyaway hair in this morning. I hated that I liked his voice, but it was a familiar hatred, one that had lost its fire long ago.

He sounded angry but not at me, and I could hear a whisper of past arguments with Quen in his tone. Though Trent was the boss, Quen ran Trent’s life, had since Trent’s father died. It had to rankle when the only way Quen would let him go would be with me.

Jenks was right. I thought way too much with my hormones. But seeing Trent sitting cross-legged in jeans, that think black T-shirt, and blood-splattered boots, I was struck by how quickly the businessman was slipping away. It kind of worried me – even as I liked it.

“Do I smell better?” I heard Trent ask Ivy sarcastically as he got in the back of the car. “I liked the way you smelled before, Trent. That was the problem.“

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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