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lexlinguaWell, I have long tried to evade Kim Harrison's The Hollows series, which are already way past the 10-book mark. I don't know why I have tried to avoid them, they are a dark urban fantasy series, the kind I like the best. Maybe I thought they would be too much like Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, which are well-plotted but far too cutesy for me.
Kim Harrison's series revolves around Rachel Morgan, a witch who's a runner (or police officer) for Inderland Security (IS). The IS is the police for the paranormal species of societty, like weres, vampires, banshees, pixies, witches, demons, etc. The IS was established some 40 years ago, when humankind mutated into paranormal creatures due to a virus in bio-engineered tomatoes. Anyone who's seen the movie Contagion can tell that viruses spread like zatt! through innocent-looking food and cause much epidemics.
In book 1, Dead Witch Walking, Rachel's not happy with the kind of chores she's getting as a runner. She's being treated badly, not being paid well, given shoddy jobs-- and she's just about had it. She quits her job. Unfortunately (ha!), the IS doesn't let anyone quit their job so easily. Rachel is now being hunted down by the IS, which is why she is 'dead witch walking'.
Rachel wants to set up an independent detective/runner agency, and is joined in this endeavour by a pixie named Jenks (and his family of 53 pixie kids), and Ivy, a vampire from a pureblood, ancient, royal family, who also decides to quit the IS. Ivy's motives remain shrouded in mystery, but one thing is very clear -- Ivy wants to drink Rachel's sweet blood, and is barely restraining herself (Twilight, anyone?).
Rachel's powers in this books are near non-existent. True, she can brew difficult potions, but each potion takes so much money and time and ration and messy kitchen, that you would wonder why witches would do that. So, instead of potion magic, Rachel tends to rely on raw brute strength. Her stance is never offensive, only defensive, but watching her pound fists into evil guys -- and sometimes, potion-touched armulets-- was something of a killjoy. I expect there will be a lot of development on that point. Rachel's an earth witch (i.e. potion-making witch), and avoids leyline magic (energy magic) which is far more powerful-- and that's going to be a major plot point.
Now, our dear Rachel is impulsive and rash. So whenever she gets time off from being hunted by hitmen sent by the IS, she is busy making madcap plans. One such plan is to trap the dealer of the contrabad drug, Brimstone, and had them over to IS, so that IS may pardon her. According to Rachel, this dealer is Trent Kalamack, the mysterious, ultra-billionaire fellow whose ethnicity-- human or paranormal?-- is unknown, and who is quite possibly, a very dangerous and ruthless criminal mafialord. Not a wise girl, our Rachel.
Book 1 introduces us to all the lead characters in Rachel's world. And every single one of them has some ulterior motive that Rachel knows not of. Clearly, each character is going to get Rachel into a separate kind of trouble-cum-adventure. Why did Ivy decide to quit IS and become Rachel's roommate? Why is the demon named Algaliarept so determined to take over Rachel's soul? What is Rachel's mother hiding (er, I think she is)? Who or what is Trent and why does he want Rachel to work for him? How did Rachel's father die? Is there anything that Jenks can be trapped with?
My absolutely favourite character is Jenks, though. He's not exactly Tinkerbell (though he swears on her a lot), but he's cranky, moody, sensitive, loyal, sharp and shrewish-- and provides a lot of comic relief in the books. He's simply adorable, and provides a sort of father figurely presence to Rachel (who lost her own father in a mysterious demonic death).
Book 1 ends with Rachel getting more puzzles than answers, and with a ceasfire with Kalamack, who Rachel just can't bring herself to trust. Oh, and she also gets a human boyfriend, who may or may not be dabbling in black magic.
Book 2, The Good, the Bad and the Undead, is all about Rachel trying to hunt down a serial killer who targets leyline witches. Rachel suspects it could be Kalamack; she really is obsessed with that crimelord, taking many pains to headbutt with like a bull. Again, there's a lot of action scenes, with Rachel using her fist and not even knowing martial arts. However, an important development is that she begins to use leyline magic-- and lo, and behold, she becomes the familiar of the demon Algaliarept!
Algaliarept, or Big Al, became my new favourite chartacter. Yes, demons are supposed to be evil and terrifying, and Big Al fits the bill. But he's also hilarious, bullying Rachel, taking on different disguises (including Rachel's own mother), and through all his plotting and plundering, I can feel a curious sense of redeemability about him. More to come on that in the coming books, I'm sure.
Trent Kalamack and Rachel are still at loggerheads, she is determined to hate him, he is determined to employ her, and we find that he belongs to an ancient race-- the elves-- who have nearly all died out. He and Rachel also knew each other as kids (though she has no memory of the time, hmm) and that he might know a secret about her father. His moments with Rachel always make her end up embarrassed or humiliated in some way, and it becomes clear that Rachel might be a bit too biased against him. Me thinks doth protesteth too much?
Book 3, Every Which Way But Dead, has Rachel getting dumped, breaking off her bond to Big Al, miffing off Jenks and saving Kalamack's life, fighting off Ivy's passes for blood, and becoming the pack-alpha of a werewolf insurance agent named David. All-in-all, this book did not have any one overarching plot theme or goal, but Rachel had not a single moment of rest. All of the Hollows books are like that, action-packed, events moving with a rip-roaring speed. You will forget what is Rachel trying to accomplish as each action from her ends up into a mighty catastrophe. Collateral damage, Rachel.
The books are great in worldbuilding and characterizations and their action-scenes. But there's not much of detective work going on. It's just run, chase, fight, run. Rachel's magic is however growing more and more demonic, black magic as you would call it. Shapeshifting, summoning demons and bargaining with them. Rachel who always wanted to be the good white witch, is losing that grip. Curiouser, and curiouser.
Would I recommend this series? Hells, yeah. It's too emotionally gut-wrenching and adrenaline-inducing of an adventure to miss.
Reviews of Books 4 to 10 still to come. Book 11 still to come out. Long, long journey, boyo.
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Date: 2012-06-18 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-24 08:42 pm (UTC)