A Fistful of Charms (Hollows, #4) (Rachel Morgan, #4)

by Kim Harrison

The fourth book in the New York Times bestselling urban fantasy-thriller series starring sexy bounty hunter and witch, Rachel Morgan. There's no rest for the wicked, even when the taint on your soul isn't your fault. It would be wise for witch and bounty hunter, Rachel Morgan, to keep a low profile right now. Her new reputation for the dark arts has piqued the interest of Cincinnati's night-prowlers, who despise her and long to bring an end to her interference, one way or another. Nevertheless, Rachel must risk exposure. Her ex-boyfriend, Nick, has stolen a priceless Were artefact, and, as tempting as it may be to let the Weres him apart, Rachel feels obliged to attempt a rescue. But other sinister forces also covet the relic Nick has hidden. Some who desire it so badly, they will take the city -- and everyone in it -- apart to wield its frightening power.

• ISBN10: 0060788194
• ISBN13: 9780060788193
• Publish Date: 27 June 2006
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 544
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

A Fistful of Charms is the fourth novel in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. The whole series follows Rachel Morga, a witch for hire with a serious talent for getting herself into massive amounts of trouble.
It’s been almost a year since Rachel left her old job and became a magical bounty hunter. And while she doesn’t regret the transition one bit, she’s got to admit that in some ways it has made her life more complicated.
To add to all of the changes in her life, Rachel is now forced to admit that her ex-boyfriend has done an excellent job of putting her in harm’s way. But she can just add that to the list alongside being a human alpha to a werewolf pack, and being actively hunted by an angry demon. So yeah, no time for vacation in her future.

I should probably mention that I’ve already read The Hollows series (several times), but I recently noticed that I never actually reviewed them. So in preparation for the next Hollows book (so excited!) I’m going to do a reread and review run. But since this is one of my favorite series, I have no problem doing just that. So let’s begin!

“'What’s the matter, grandma,’ I panted, flipping my braid out of the way. ‘Can’t get Little Red Riding Hood down your throat?’”


A Fistful of Charms was another fun and charming read from the mind of Kim Harrison. Though I’m obviously quite a bit biased, since I love this series and all. There’s just so much that happens in this novel, it’s hard not to get wrapped up in it all.
Honestly, I’m not even sure where to start, because there was so much to love about this book. Should I talk about Kisten (my preferred ship for Rachel)? Or how about all of the werewolf politics we got to see? Because that was pretty awesome.
Or how about the fact that Rachel had the perfect excuse to go after her scummy ex-boyfriend. Because that was mighty satisfying. Anybody who has ever faced a rough breakup can probably see a bit of their ex in Nick, and that makes the whole situation with him all the more infuriating (whenever he talks or does something stupid) and satisfying (whenever he gets something he deserves). It’s an odd mixture, but it works out well here.
Oh! And let’s not forget that whole subplot involving Jenks. Holy cow. I had completely forgotten about that whole series of events (even though it ends up being fairly important to his character arc later on).
In short, I loved A Fistful of Charms as much in this read-through as any of my previous takes. Perhaps even a bit more, since I know where a lot of these plots are going to lead in the end.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Chelsea]

Not my favourite of the series so far but still a lot of fun. I was SO GLAD we got some more Jenks in this one. He's easily one of my favourites. We actually got a nice variety of characters in this one and the character development was great. We got to learn so much about everyone and that made me really happy.

Plot-wise I found the middle dragged on a bit but the beginning and ending had lots of action to make up for it. This plot just seemed a bit tamed compared to the other books where Rachel travelled into the Ever After and called up demons. It was far from a bad book, it just didn't quite live up to the others. My expectations might have been too high going into this one but I'm still looking forward to the next in the series!

[celinenyx]

The werewolves are gathering. And only Rachel and her friends can stop them.

As urban fantasy series progress, it becomes harder and harder to summarize the plot without giving anything away. Let's just say that someone from Rachel's past needs her help, and of course, Rachel will even though it puts herself and the ones she loves in danger. For the first time in the series, the book is set away from Cincinnati, giving a glimpse of the wider world she lives in.

Nothing really stays the same in these books. From one installment to the other, there is clear development and growth in the characters. In A Fistful of Charms the relationships between the three partners of Vampiric Charms are central to the book. Rachel and Jenks are still on the outs because she withheld important information from him, and the balance between Rachel and Ivy, her vampire roommate, has always been precarious. The friendship between Rachel and the mouthy pixie has always been one of my particular favorites, so seeing them work out their problems was gratifying.

A lot of people don't like Ivy, but I applaud Ms Harrison for writing a complex female friendship. It's not easy to see what Rachel gets out of it - Ivy, being a living vampire and all, has little self-control over her hunger for her blood. They constantly walk a tight-rope, and one misstep could mean Rachel's death. Yet they keep living together, and I think it's slowly becoming clear that it's not just Ivy that's dependent on Rachel - it works the other way around as well. Rachel learns a lot about herself in A Fistful of Charms, finally some new and interesting dynamics are introduced between her and Ivy.

Sadly missing from this book was Trent. I miss his ruthlessly manipulative ass. It was, however, nice to have a bit of a break from most of the demon things. Having werewolves as the bad guys (and occasional good guys) was a necessary change of pace.

[littleread1]

I think this is my favorite of the series so far!

[Linda]

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

A Fistful of Charms is filled with action, just as the prior books in the Hollows series are. Most of the action happens away from Cincy, though, and it was nice to have a change of scenery. When Jenks shows up in panic, because Jax is missing after leaving with Nick, Rachel puts things in motion to save both of them - even if Nick never called her back or truly broke up with her.

There are even more sub-plots in A Fistful of Charms than before! Rachel is challenged as David's alpha, she uses more magic to transform people, but this time she does it without her earth-charms to make things happen faster - and thus, she has to take the black for her soul that comes with it. Ceri helps her with her magic, and both Rachel and Ceri always has an excuse handy to feel better about using demon magic rather than completely white magic.

It is difficult to write a proper review about A Fistful of Charms without spoiling it, but I am dong my best! There are, however, spoilers from previous books in the series - if not, I wouldn't have much to say at all. The story is very fast-paced, a lot of things are going on, and all the side-characters become a little more important as the readers get to know them better.

The humor is ever-present, and I love how Rachel sees Jenks completely differently in A Fistful of Charms, how she realizes that he truly is a man, that he is strong, and that he sure has a mind of his own. Their adventures away from home, first finding Jax, then trying to find Nick, are very exciting. They don't have the usual suspects around, and they don't have all of their usual allies either. Rachel shows once again that she isn't afraid of a challenge that seems to be impossible to overcome, and she fights until the very end. The few people she decides to trust on her quest turn out to be very helpful, and her little banter with Marshal is really funny! Rachel needs his help to get to the island where she and Jenks think Nick is being held, and he comes through for her without too much trouble.

Rachel continues to be extremely inventive to make sure her run goes the way she wants it to go, and it's awesome to see her in a hostile environment, with her backup being different from usual, and actually saving Nick after all the heartache he put her through. Ivy shows up to help, and they set up an elaborate but very quick plan to make sure the were-packs from out of town will leave Nick alone after all is said and done. At the same time, Rachel knows there is not way she can trust him anymore, and it appears she is right in her assessment of him and the lengths he will go to make sure he, himself, is safe.

Kist and Rachel continue their romance, and I really enjoy Kist a lot! He is dangerous, is not shy about it, and still tries to play by Rachel's rules. He is so good for her, and she is very good for him as well. Ivy and Rachel take their own relationship to the next level, and it almost ends in disaster! They will have a lot of things to talk about for the future, though, but they are all OK when the book ends - even if there are several loose ends when it comes to the ting they are hiding from the were-pack, and what Rachel thinks is the best way to deal with it. Finally, it seems as if Rachel will have some quiet time, and that she will be happy for once.

- only one quote - I was too busy reading to highlight much in A Fistful of Charms

I lay curled up on the cot, my head on the clean smell of the borrowed hotel pillow, and my shoulders covered by the thin car blanket. I wasn't crying. I was not crying. Tears were leaking out as I waited for the ugly feelings to fade, but I wasn't crying, damn it!

[tellemonstar]

Cross-posted at Book Reviews With The Blogmonstar

So Nick is back in A Fistful of Charms and Rachel winds up in a pretty big mess because of him. Why am I not at all surprised?

A Fistful of Charms sees Rachel on a remote island owned by Weres, who hired Nick to find an ancient Were artifact that would essentially lead them to having more power than the vampires. But, because of the pack mentality of most Weres, this would not be a good thing. Especially with that whole Alpha deal.

We see a bit more of David in this book, and I think it’s nice, because he is a good guy and I think he genuinely cares about Rachel, without wanting to date her. Which is exactly what she needs. He’s sort of a big brother figure, certainly more so than her actual big brother who we rarely hear about.

Rachel is beginning to do a lot more demon magic – whether intentionally or otherwise. The spells she uses to turn herself into a Were and to turn Jenks into a person-sized pixy for instance. Although at the time she agreed to use them she didn’t realise they were demon curses. She is starting to see that the world needs to have shades of grey in it, rather than just be black and white.

A Fistful of Charms makes good on the vampire and were politics outlined in previous books, and also the the laws of magic that have been established. The demon magic is probably a trickier area to define, although those rules are slowly coming together as well. This doesn’t always happen in fantasy novels, so it is good to see that, despite some of the weaker points of the storyline, the magic rules are pretty much kept intact.

The weakest part of A Fistful of Charms is Rachel herself. She still continues to do some pretty stupid things – some on impulse, which are much easier to forgive, and some simply because she thinks it will be the easier way out. Unfortunately this usually winds up causing her to be in more trouble than she was at first.

[kimbacaffeinate]

loved it...

[mitabird]

I was disappointed with A Fistful of Charms and it was an effort for me to finish it. It was slow, boring, and I just didn't care at all what was happening. Rachel was on my nerves the entire time. She was so wishy-washy with all of the decisions she made. It was annoying because she didn't seem to learn from her mistakes and continued to make them. The plot wasn't that great to begin with and the solution to the problem got so convoluted. There didn't seem to be very much progress to the relationships and I wondered what was the point of this book. I have the next two in the series in my TBR, but I doubt I'll read them. It's sad because I really enjoyed books two and three.

[ibeforem]

I love, love, love this series! It is easily in my top two that I’ve read in the last couple of years. There’s tons of action, a little bit of romance, and more witches, vamps, weres, and pixies than you can handle. Harrison has created some surprisingly complex characters that grow, change, and adapt in book after book. Especially Rachel, who continues to find out that some people aren’t what they seem, and that it’s hard to live your life in black and white — sometimes those shades of gray are necessary. Jenks takes a pretty (ahem) big part in this one as he searches for his wayward son, something that could have been really gimmicky but instead worked seamlessly. There’s so much packed into this book, it’s hard to believe it only takes place over the course of a week. I have a feeling I’ll be listening to the next book sooner rather than later.