Pale Demon (Hollows, #9)

by Kim Harrison

A stirring instalment of the urban fantasy-thriller series starring Rachel Morgan. A pacey and addictive novel of sexy bounty-hunting witches, cunning demons and vicious vampires.

Condemned and shunned for black magic, Rachel Morgan has three days to get to the annual witches' conference and clear her name, or be trapped in the demonic ever-after . . . forever after.

But a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car going across the country? Talk about a recipe for certain disaster, even without being the targets for assassination.

For after centuries of torment, a fearsome demon walks in the sunlight - freed at last to slay the innocent and devour their souls. But his ultimate goal is Rachel Morgan, and in the fight for survival that follows, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

• ISBN10: 0061138061
• ISBN13: 9780061138065
• Publish Date: 22 February 2011 (first published 21 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

It's been a while since I last read this series. But reading this book made everything come back like I'd just read the other 8 books recently. All the characters have strong, distinct personalities. A lot of the settings and twists are unique. And I really like the variety of fantasy species.

Trent is just as much of a selfish, obnoxious brat as I remembered him being. But towards the end of the book we start to see glimpses of other facets of his personality we haven't seen much of. I liked how Ivy is moving on from her crush/possible love interest focus on Rachel. And Jenks is still crushed by Matalina's death, but he's slowly getting back to an even keel because of his kids, Rachel and Trent.

I loved the part in the beginning, where Rachel thinks everything is going to be fine and she'll be able to fly on a plane. But Ivy and Jenks know better and have planned for worst-case scenario without informing Rachel. You know from that alone that the book is going to be full of surprises and funny moments.

I also really liked the Elf Quest, and the scenes with the Demons. Rachel has always been a fairy smart-mouthed and bad-ass character. But in this book you can actually see her growing into herself more. She's still a smart-mouth, still bad-ass, and still does a lot of things by the seat of her pants. But at the same time, you can see that she's getting a little more confident, and determined.

If you like Urban Fantasy you need to read this series. It's totally one of my favorites. And if you have read the series, but haven't gotten to this book yet, you need to read this book!

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[littleread1]

Fantastic story that gave more insight into several of the characters. Probably my favorite in the stores to date.

[Linda]

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

Pale Demon brings out the best in all the characters I now know and love! In order to save herself, Rachel needs to be at the annual witches conference to try and clear her name.

[tellemonstar]

Cross-posted at Book Reviews with the Blogmonstar

Talk about an crazy roadtrip. Trent is finding his magic powers, Ivy is mostly normal, Jenks is taking his recent loss hard and Rachel is faced with possibly having a lobotomy or living with Al forever. Parts of Pale Demon were kind of boring. Yep, okay I get that we are all in the car trying to make it from one side of the country to the other in three days, and nobody is really thrilled to be trapped in a car with everyone else for that amount of time, including breaks. The side trip with having to save Jenks was interesting though.

I do wish Rachel would just accept that she is a demon and can do crazy magic, and stop worrying about whether she is a bad person for doing it. If she’s not causing harm to anyone, with the exception of self-defence, and she’s not using any curses that require human parts, then she’s still a ‘good person’. It just grates after a while to have her have this argument every single time, with the exception of when she is caught in a fire-fight. Unlike Pierce, who just goes gung-ho with the black magic and doesn’t worry whether he has interpreted the scene in correctly, which he often doesn’t.

The whole ‘tulpa’ thing with the demons in Dalliance was pretty cool. Newt is more than a little crazy, but I think she is also one of the more interesting characters in the series. Who knows what is actually in her memories, and it would be very interesting to see if Rachel could give Newt back those memories. Although whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing would be difficult to know until after it was done. But I don’t think she wants to kill Rachel – I think she recognises that there is something special about Rachel.

I wasn’t at all surprised about what the council said and did once the trial started. I quite liked Vivian though – she’s feisty. I also wasn’t surprised that Pierce stuff things up for Rachel, even though he didn’t do it intentionally (or so he said.) The whole thing with the demon-hybrid Ku’Sox was a bit crazy and weird, but at least things started to pick up once he showed up.

I was glad to pretty much see the back of Pierce, that Rachel and Trent’s relationship is becoming very interesting, that Bis is an awesome gargoyle, and that Jenks is doing ok. I just wish parts of the roadtrip had been cut, and there had been more exploration of Rachel’s demonic-ness.

[Berls]

For more reviews, see: Fantasy is More Fun

WOW!!! I just blasted through this book - easily the best book in the series thus far. Yes, I have to admit that my love of the book probably had a lot to do with Trent - he's not just in it for brief appearances like the other books, he is right in the center! But It's not just Trent - it's Jenks, Ivy, Pierce, Al, Bis, Newt... Everyone is coming out of their comfort zones, growing and changing. The revelations about most my favorite characters just kept coming in this book - Harrison is finally letting us get answers, though she leaves us with just as many NEW questions!

The story centers on the road trip we've all had to take (well minus the demons, vampires, elves, pixies, and witches). You know, that road trip that starts of wrong and just keeps getting worse? You fight with everyone, you have touching heartfelt moments, you sing, you sleep only to wake discombobulated, grumpy and hungry? Well - it's that road trip. The touching moments are great, intermixed with humor and excitement.

Overall the book is a page turner - even the supposed dips/transition moments in the plot kept you moving along, obviously building toward something. There's so much to say about this book - but to avoid giving away the amazing surprises along the way, I'll just conclude by saying: The book is incredible and sure to remain a favorite in the series, regardless of where Harrison goes from here!

[kimbacaffeinate]

By far the best in the series to date :)

[ibeforem]

What do you do when you’re 8 books into a series and you need to shake up the character dynamics a bit?

You take all of your main characters and shove them into a Buick and make them drive cross-country in three days.

Harrison could have written an entire book just about that road trip. Friendships and alliances are tested, and new alliances are formed. Along the way they’re challenged by elves, pixies, and one particularly nasty demon. But some of the most interesting things happen once they reach their destination.

Not only are the interpersonal dynamics in flux, but Rachel also changes a lot. She’s forced to look very hard at herself and make some decisions, once and for all, about what it means to be a white witch or a black witch. And the result of it all could be a sea change for the series

I am still in love with this series. I’ve enjoyed how Rachel has grown and matured, even if she still slips into old behaviors from time to time. Trent is a particularly intriguing character in this book, though I did guess his big secret almost immediately. He could have easily been written off as bit player early in the series, but instead he’s more important than ever. The one big criticism I do have has to do with his quest. I understand that the point of view the book is written in doesn’t allow us to go on the quest with Trent without Rachel going along, but there were still things about it that bugged me. Like, how in the heck did they get back to San Francisco in that amount of time? Ah well.

Harrison has left us at a very interesting crossroads in The Hollows, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

[Melanie]

I really enjoyed this book. It is one of the best of the series (definitely the best since Kisten's Death). It is fast paced and hard to predict. You get to see new sides to Pierce, Trent and Al. You even get to spend more time with Newt (who seems almost stable in several parts of the book). There is also a new demon that you meet. I will say that this book is a cliffhanger, but I can barely wait for the next book. I want to see where Rachel goes next. There are a lot of changes in her life in this book and she has options at the end that she has not had in a while (if ever, really).

[celinenyx]

Stayed up till 2AM to finish this one and I have zero regrets.

Pale Demon was a long-awaited installment in the Hollows series for me. It has one of the highest ratings in the series, and I have heard from multiple people that its their favourite.

At the core of the story is a road trip across the United States, fueled by an elven quest, and Rachel having to appear in front of a court of witches. I am not a huge fan of road trips in books - they always seem so boringly linear - and in Pale Demon too I had a hard time getting into the flow of things. When the story threads finally started to come together, though, this book is wonderful. It moves the overarching story of Rachel's development forward, shuffles around power relationships, and most notably Ivy finally takes a step forward.

The world, the interpersonal relationships, the little snippets of history scattered through the books... The Hollows series just keeps getting better for me, and I for one am not tired yet of impulsive, headstrong Rachel and her crew of random magical misfits.

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Trigger warnings: I wrote this review a while after reading, so this list might not be complete. Death, murder, violence, torture, sexual assault, threat of rape.