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Journal Entry 1 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Sunday, September 17, 2006
2006 Book #34 - Rachel Morgan 04: A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison
This along with about two other series by other authors are among my guilt pleasure books of witches, werewolves, and vampires. I got into this one because the main character, Rachel Morgan, seemed like a real ambitious and skilled witch when she got out from under the agency for whom she worked and managed to survive when everyone thought she was dead meat. Apparently leaving that job is like leaving the Mafia. I also picked it up because it seemed to be along the lines of what Anita Blake used to be when her series first started and for which I was looking for a replacement since Laurell K. Hamilton decided to take that character nowhere.
Here's the plot summary from the back of the book: The evil night things that prowl Cincinnati despise witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan. Her new reputation for the dark arts is turning human and undead heads alike with the intent to possess, bed, and kill her - not necessarily in that order.
Now a mortal lover who abandoned Rachel has returned, haunted by his secret past. And there are those who covet what Nick possesses - savage beasts willing to destroy the Hollows and everyone in it if necessary.
Forced to keep a low profile or eternally suffer the wrath of a vengeful demon, Rachel must nevertheless act quickly. For the pack is gathering for the first time in millennia to ravage and to rule. And suddenly more than Rachel's soul is at stake.
I have to say that one thing I like about this series is that Rachel doesn't just pull stuff out of her bag of tricks and not have any repercussions. Every time she does some highly unnatural things via some foul magical means, there's a price to pay for it sooner or later. Now how far the author will take it with evil on top of evil piling up, I don't know. At some point I'm going to start thinking "oh there she goes again, saving the world."
One other thing I like in this book is that after the last one Rachel had a falling out with her pixie partner, Jenks, they start making up and including more of Jenks' character besides being an annoying and arrogant pixie. Something else gets brought up about the future of Jenks working with her. I won't go further than that because it would be spoilerish, but I found it an interesting idea that I look forward to Harrison following through in the next book.
What I don't like is what's mentioned in the first paragraph of the summary. The whole thing about all these beings interested in her and how tasty she is and how powerful she is blah blah blah really irritates me. Everyone seems to want to do this after Laurell K did it and I really hope Harrison scales it back because otherwise I'm going to have to give up this series in disgust as I did with the Anita Blake series. The whole wishy-washiness of Rachel and her "relationship" or none thereof between her and her live-in business partner and roomie vampire Ivy never ceases to annoy me. The whole will they won't they vibe without it being sexual (of course not!) is what annoys me the most. The reasoning Ivy and Jenks comes up with regarding this whole situation and Rachel's behaviour on this is a real beaut and only had me rolling my eyes through it all.
So besides the random evil wanting Rachel and the annoying "relationship" arc, I enjoyed as always the thriller and semi-mystery portions of the book. The drama with the trio getting in too deep and how they get themselves out of trouble was as good as always. It was good to get the whole bit with Nick resolved. Now if only the same can be done with the Rachel-Ivy-Kistin (her actual boyfriend, who's of course a vampire *rme*), I'd be very happy!
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Rachel Morgan 04: A Fistful of Charms
