Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

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.

Reviewed by celinenyx on

5 of 5 stars

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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.

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  • 11 September, 2010: Reviewed