The Diva Review:
This review is provided by guest reviewer, Lore. Lore and I read the same kind of books and I trust his instincts - so, you should too!
The series that started me on "urban fantasy" gets a 7th book. White Witch, Black Curse came out last week and I could not put it down! This is the latest in the Rachel Morgan Series by Kim Harrison. Yes, I know that officially this is the Hollows series, but honestly there is very little about the area in Cincinnati known as the Hollows in any of the books to continue that moniker. To me the series is all about the ass kicking boot wearing, bounty hunting, bad guy tagging witch Rachel Morgan and the troubles she deals with, so I will continue to call it the Rachel Morgan Series!
Ostensibly the book revolves around the search for her boyfriend's murderer. But nothing is ever as easy as it should be for Rachel Morgan and her partners, Jenks the pixy, and Ivy the living vampire. As the book opens we find that Rachel is using more human means to try to recall the events of that fateful evening that her vampire boyfriend was murdered…. Twice. These means are in the form of Ford, a human psychiatrist that is assigned to her by the FIB and has the ability to read emotions.
I say ostensibly because soon Rachel finds out that her friend Glenn is in the hospital under odd circumstances. Glenn's father runs the local FIB agency and is prodded into letting Rachel and Ivy help in the investigation. What follows finds Rachel and friends in a deadly chase to find the “person” that did this to Glenn. Tie that in with Rachel's suffering reputation and her friend's personal issues, we find that the murder investigation is more a sub-plot.
I would like to caution the reader though from a character standpoint. Kim Harrison brings in a few of her characters from her short stories from her “Hell” books. This may be a good thing if you have followed that those anthologies, but since I have not, it caused some confusion when a character was introduced and was written like I should know who it was. Truly this was no more then a minor annoyance for me, but thought it could have been avoided with a bit more background immediately as opposed to piecing it together.
I would also like to say that although some of the plots and sub-plots are resolved in this book, some readers may not be pleased with the outcome. I found it refreshing to see Ms. Harrison not just give the audience what they might want, bold move and I applaud it. Although I would like to say more, but The Diva would put on her boots and kick my butt if I told any spoilers… and The Diva is scarier then a hungry vampire at a blood bank. :)
Editor's Note: Hmph.Funny.
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