The Good The Bad And The Undeadby Kim Harrison
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780061744518
Series: The Hollows #2
Publication Date: October 13, 2009
Pages: 464
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins
To save herself and her vampire roommate, former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan must confront six feet of sheer supernatural seduction—the vampire master—and dark secrets she’s hidden even from herself.
This is a better written book than the first one – a tighter plot, a (slightly) more likeable MC. But I’m still giving it 3.5 stars because I find the whole situation with Ivy deeply disturbing and the author hasn’t justified it to my satisfaction. I don’t dislike Ivy, but the dynamic – even with the story-line geared toward engendering sympathy – just feels really exploitative.
Rachel’s personality, while improved, still failed to click with me. I have to believe, still, that future books are better; there’s an “Extras” at the end of this ebook (from the library) that had two “articles” written by Rachel Morgan about vampires and fairies/pixies, and her voice in these – dry, funny, a little snarky – is what I expect her voice to be in the books, and so far, it’s definitely not.
In both books so far, Rachel is rather strident about the line between white and black magic and her morals appeared to be set in stone, but when the rubber hit the road in this one, she crossed that line in order to achieve a greater good. But boy, she caved quick; she didn’t waste any time offering and accepting a rather dark deal. View Spoiler » She has a massive fear of ley line magic, but once she figures out she can do it, she starts playing with it in a scene with the pixies that was great, but didn’t do a lot to establish her creditability or integrity as the heroine.
None of this is to say I didn’t enjoy the book; as I said at the start, it’s a much better story. I just haven’t found my groove with the characters yet, and I’m definitely up for book 3. I continue to see hints that future books are going to be more my jam. But I’m glad I can get them at my library; if I’d bought these first two, I’m not sure I’d be willing to go further.