Audible Review: The Witch with No Name: The Hollows, Book 13 by Kim Harrison

This is a satisfactory conclusion to an engaging series.
The Witch with No Name: The Hollows, Book 13
Written by: Kim Harrison
Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
Series: The Hollows, Book 13
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:09-09-14
Publisher: Harper Audio
Genre: Fantasy Paranormal
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
After 10 years and 13 adventures, at last the triumphant conclusion to Kim Harrison's number-one New York Times best-selling Hollows series!
In 2004, Kim Harrison made her debut with Dead Witch Walking, an electrifying urban audiobook novel full of action, mystery, romance, and humor, which introduced bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan. Over the course of 12 books, Rachel confronted numerous threats, vanquished a range of cunning and powerful enemies, risked her heart, suffered haunting loss, and nearly lost her life. Now, in The Witch with No Name, Kim Harrison brings back her wildly popular heroine for one final, epic battle.
Rachel Morgan's come a long way from the klutzy runner fleeing a bad job. She's faced vampires and werewolves, banshees, witches, and soul-eating demons. She's crossed worlds, channeled gods, and accepted her place as a day-walking demon. She's lost friends and lovers and family, and an old enemy has become something much more.
But power demands responsibility, and world-changers must always pay a price.
That time is now.
To save her best friend's soul and the rest of the living vampires, to keep the demonic ever-after and our own world from utter destruction at the hands of fanatics, Rachel Morgan will risk everything.
©2014 Kim Harrison (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Review:
Rachel Morgan, a human born demon, raised witch has no people who will claim her. The witches (except for her mother) have long since banned her. The humans seek her help in time of crisis but want nothing else to do with her. The elves shun her because she is a demon. And the demons won’t accept her because she is the only one of their kind who can walk in the free world while the rest are trapped in the ever-after subject to summoning or the occasional foray on the surface. Rachel has overcome (at least on a temporary, in a crisis basis) all sorts of dangers and threats from the various Inderlander (supernatural) species.

The head of the vampires and most powerful man in Cincinnati, Rynn Cormell, is threatening Rachel’s best friend, Ivy, a living vampire. Either Rachel finds a way to restore the souls of the vampires or Ivy dies her first death. Rachel twists and turns trying to get out of the problem but there is no way out. In desperation she calls Trent, a former billionaire and top dog in town until his associations brought him down because the other Elves refused to condone his connections with Rachel and demons. The Elven spiritual leader, and maybe Trent’s ex fiancé, have already pushed Rachel to a point where she was almost consumed by the Elven Goddess (The Undead Pool).

Trent has realized that money and power are not as important as embracing those you love. He plans to stand by Rachel no matter the cost. The only people more important are his girls, Lucy and Ray. Together they have to figure out how to fight the Elves who are seeking to destroy the vampires, trap the demons and leave themselves in power.

This story isn’t as full paced action as some of the priors but it still moves along well. There are physiological issues interwoven with the action. And there is enough action to keep it exciting. Rachel, with the help of Trent, Jenks (the pixy), Biz (the Gargoyle) and finally Al (Rachel’s demon mentor), faces major danger and pushes through the challenges.

The epilogue is a bit anti-climatic but it is cute and works. I enjoyed the intensity and the creative wrap up to the series. This is a satisfactory conclusion to an engaging series.

Audio Notes: Marguerite Gavin has become the voice of the Hollows for me and many fans I am sure. She gives personality to the characters and her narration enhances my enjoyment of the story.

This was in my Audible Library from Sept. 2014. This is part of my Audio Challenge. 

Audible Book Review: The Undead Pool: The Hollows, Book 12 by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan is a great character and I really enjoy listening to this series.

The Undead Pool: The Hollows, Book 12

Written by: Kim Harrison

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

• Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
• • Series: The Hollows, Book 12
• Format: Unabridged
• Release Date:02-25-14
• Publisher: HarperAudio

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
My Rating: 4.75 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Number-one New York Times best-selling author Kim Harrison returns to the supernatural adventures of Rachel Morgan in the penultimate book of the Hollows series.
Witch and day-walking demon Rachel Morgan knows magic - earth, ley line, even the forbidden demon magic - and that knowledge has saved her life more than once. But now something - or someone - is attacking Cincinnati and the Hollows, causing spells to backfire or go horribly wrong while living vampires attack humans and Inderlanders alike.
The pressures build when the city is quarantined to contain the unreliable magic, and Rachel must stop the attacks before the undead vampire masters who keep the rest of the undead under control are lost and it becomes all-out supernatural war.
The only way to do so is through the ancient elven magic, but that carries its own perils - for magic always has a price, and gods do not come lightly when called.
©2014 Kim Harrison (P)2014 HarperCollinsPublishers

Review:
This is an intensely active series - always danger. There are strange waves of wicked magical energy reeking havoc in Cinncinnati and the Hollows. These are causing magical spells to backfire resulting in physical damage around the city. Strangely the waves seem to be following Rachel Morgan. Meanwhile the undead vampire masters, who control the younger living vampires, have all disappeared and the living vampires are beginning to attack humans and Inderlanders, including some of Rachel’s werewolf pack. Rachel isn’t a werewolf but she is a powerful witch and day-walking demon with a tie to the werewolves through her friend, David, the true Alpha leader.

Rachel has been working as security for Trent while Quinn is away with the girls, Lucy and Rae. Rachel and Trent have enjoyed working together as they dance around their mutual attraction. Trent wants one night with Rachel on a date instead of as security employee. Dangerous but tempting. They are clearly drawn to each other but Trent is expected to marry one of his own kind, a high elven society member, Elsbeth, the mother of Lucy.

As Rachel tries to help the authorities control the chaos in the community, elven leaders arrive with Elsbeth at Trent’s home. The elven leaders suspect that the wild magic may be coming from an elven goddess who is seeking to make contact through Rachel. The tension increases as one of the elven leaders betrays Trent by lying to Rachel, talking her into a ritual that turns out to allow the goddess a partial possession. Tiny bits of sentient energy move into Rachel threatening to drive her mad unless she can find a way to communicate and control them and stop the goddess from more destruction.

This is what I call a ‘high octane’ series! Rachel seems to be a trouble magnet but somehow, with the help of her friends - vampire Ivy, pixie Jenks, David and Trent - she manages to save the city and come out alive. I love the action intensity and the romantic tension that is finally developed in this book between Rachel and Trent. I wonder how Kim Harrison keeps coming up with great plots and I will look forward to the next adventure.

Audio Notes: Marguerite Gavin is a fixture for me with this series. She does such a good job and makes the series more enjoyable listening entertainment.

I purchased the latest installment of this good series with my Audible subscription.

Audio Book Review: Ever After, The Hollows, Book 11 by Rachel Morgan

This latest Rachel Morgan story is absolutely engaging and full of action and intensity.
Ever After: The Hollows, Book 11
    UNABRIDGED
    by Kim Harrison
    Narrated by Marguerite Gavin
        Series: The Hollows, Book 11

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 18 hours and 36 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Audible.com Release Date: January 22, 2013

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

The ever after, the demonic realm that parallels our own, is shrinking, and if it disappears, so does all magic. It’s up to witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan to fix the ever-after before the fragile balance between magic users and humans fails.

Of course, there’s also the small fact that she caused the ley line to rip in the first place, and her life is forfeit unless she can fix it. And that the most powerful demon in the ever after - the soul-eater Ku'Sox Sha-Ku'ru - has vowed to destroy Rachel, and has kidnapped her friend and goddaughter as leverage. If Rachel doesn’t give herself up, they will die.

Forced by circumstance, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack - a prospect fraught with dangers of the heart as well as betrayal of the soul - to return to the ever after and rescue those she loves.

Both worlds teeter on the brink, one on a possible interspecies war, the other for its very existence, and it’s up to Rachel to keep both from being destroyed.

Review:
Rachel is accused by the demons of tearing the ley lines and causing the leakage and shrinkage of the Ever After where the demons live. Rachel has been framed by Ku’Sox, an extremely nasty and powerful demon.  The other demons know that Ku’Sox is lying but they all fear him. Ku’Sox claims that he will deliver a cure to the demons through human babies he has been stealing although he really wants to destroy Rachel and the Ever After.  Rachel is sentenced to die in four days if she can not fix the lines. 

Ku’Sox needs Trent, the Elven business magnate, to help with the chemical research on the babies.  Ku’Sox steals Rachel’s Goddaughter -- Trent’s daughter-- Lucy. This puts more pressure on Rachel and Trent to either yield to Ku’Sox or find a way to defeat him.

Rachel begins to fix the lines with the help of her young gargoyle, Biz, and Trent, but Ku’Sox shows up and snatches them away. Rachel has to find a set of paired rings to keep her tethered as she tries to fix the lines. It turns out the pair she can get have a terrible history as slave rings that were once used by the Elves to keep the demons as slaves before the Elf-Demon War. The only way that Ku’Sox is going to be defeated is if Rachel can convince the Elves and demons to work together and if she can trust them not to betray her.

I loved the intensity, in fear and sorrow, of this story. Ms. Harrison’s imagination is wonderfully creative as she develops these plots and interweaves the many species! I liked the increased exposure in this episode to Newt, the ‘crazy’ female demon. This story introduces Biz’ father and a group of flying gargoyles, who are touting Biz as the ‘World Breaker’ and Rachel as his ‘Sword.’ The relationship between Trent and Rachel takes one passionate step forward but two practical steps back leaving the reader to wonder about their future. There are many older characters who are mentioned which helps to fill out some of the backstory. I enjoyed these bits of memory lane, but I did feel there were several unnecessary repetitions summarizing the current problems that Rachel was facing. The action wrapped me to a point where I didn’t want to put the book (or MP3 player) away.

If you are already a Hollows fan I think you will want to grab this latest book. If you haven’t read the series yet, I encourage you to start at the beginning and enjoy getting caught up.

Audio Notes: Once again Marguerite Gavin does a great job with the different voices and the emotional inflections. The accents range from Pixie high (Jenks) to base low (the gargoyles), New York to British. It surprises me how seamlessly Ms. Gavin makes the shifts from one voice to another. I get caught up and love listening.

I was glad to get this for review from Blackstone Audio through Audiobook Jukebox!

Audible A Perfect Blood (Hallows #10) by Kim Harrison

I really enjoy the wonderful characters and action in this series.
A Perfect Blood (Hallows #10)
by Kim Harrison
 Narrated by Marguerite Gavin
LENGTH  16 hrs and 48 mins
RELEASE DATE  02-21-12
Program Type  Audiobook
PUBLISHER  Harper Audio

Genre: Fantasy
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

New York Times best-selling author Kim Harrison returns to the Hollows with the electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed Pale Demon!

Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S. and the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: a human hate group is trying to create its own demons to destroy all Inderlanders, and to do so, it needs her blood.

She's faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more, but humanity itself might be her toughest challenge yet.

Review:
Rachel Morgan was often in trouble as a witch but the Inderland Security, her former employer, is even more reluctant to trust her now that she is a day-walking demon. Rachel works as a private investigator enforcer with her good friends, cool and sexy vampire, Ivy, and mini-sized with the heart of a giant pixie, Jenks. She also gets help from wealthy business man and Elf, Trent and Rachel’s demon teacher, Algaliarept.

Rachel and her team have often been engaged by the human-run FIB (Federal Inderland Bureau) to assist in their cases with non humans, including vampires, witches, werewolves, demons and others. This time they are brought in to help capture a human hate group, HAPA, who wants to wipe out the Inderlanders. The group is injecting witches with rosewood blood in an effort to turn them into demons. Unfortunately the experiments have left behind hideously mutated, dead bodies.

As she often does, Rachel, rushes in without a good plan and backup. This is particularly dangerous as she is wearing a bracelet that protects her from being pulled into the Ever After but also prevents her from accessing many of her magic powers through ley line use. She eventually gets caught and caged with the latest experiment candidate.  Capturing Rachel gives the group a bonus of true demon blood and they are able to successfully turn Winona into a demon who looks like she will survive the mutations.

Rachel and Winona must escape to save themselves and to keep the group from using more of her blood. Every time it looks like the HAPA criminals are caught they slip through the net. Soon Rachel suspects that they are getting inside information.

Ms. Harrison does a good job covering the backstory and characters so someone new to the series could jump in, although they would miss all the good action and Rachel mishaps from prior books. Not to mention a new reader would miss her failed romances and the nuances of her relationship with Trent and several of the other characters.  I enjoy the action in this series even with Rachel’s misadventures and tendency to rush into trouble. I like the friendship with David, her werepack 'leader', and I love Jenks and his vibrant vitality and love. I am very curious to see what's in store for Rachel as she faces the dangers in the next book and as she continues to try to resist her feelings for Trent.

Audio Notes: Ms. Gavin does a fabulous job distinguishing the characters. She is able to get a snarky, Pixie voice for Jenks and a deep, slow voice for the gargoyle, Biz. She inflects the nervousness of Nina the new vampire as well as the arrogance when she is possessed by Felix, the old vampire. Ms. Gavin adds intensity and mood, fear and weariness, with her excellent reading. I have listened to all the books in this series and I do enjoy the voices!

This title was in my Audible Library and I pulled it to read as a TBR.