Pale Demon (Rachel Morgan/ The Hollows #9) by Kim Harrison

Pale Demon (Rachel Morgan/ The Hollows #9)

by Kim Harrison

Publication Date: 2/22/11

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins for the ARC!

Synopsis (courtesy of Goodreads):

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

Review:

OMG - I seriously cannot get enough of Jenks and his adorable "Tink" swears. They make me laugh so hard. 

Ok, that aside, I really enjoyed this book and would rank it as probably my favorite book in the series thus far. Not only do we catch up on how Jenks is doing with his deep loss that occurred in the last book, but also ALOT more about Trent, Al, Newt, the going-abouts in the demonic ever-after, and Rachel too. I think this book is really pivotal in the series in the sense that Rachel has come to realize and accept her status as "of demon origin" and that, hey, it might not be so bad to use black/demon magic against evil comes in the form of a crazy, lunatic day-walking demon that eats souls to live (eww to the imagery involved...).

I was pleasantly surprised how well the book was written, since the last 2-3 books kind of were "Eh" and dragging. But it seems that Kim Harrison has gotten her second wind (hopefully for the next few books too!) with this well written 9th book in the series that reflect upon her early books in the series.

There is a lot of action and fighting that keep you enthralled with the story and rooting for our merry band of characters (Ivy, Jenks, Rachel, Trent)....and sometimes Al too. ;) But along with all the action, there is a lot of focus on changing/evolving relationships between characters (Ivy/Rachel, Rachel/Al, Rachel/Trent, Rachel/Newt) so be prepared for some tears, some WAhhhhhh? moments and some surprises that come out of the left field.

Can't wait for the next book to see what happens! ^^