Ever After (Hollows, #11)

by Kim Harrison

[kimbacaffeinate]

As the eleventh book in the Hollows series, Rachel Morgan, Ivy, Jenks, Trent and Al all kind of feel like family and I was excited to see what kind of mess Rachel would find herself in this time. The day-walking demon took me by surprise and this is perhaps one of my favorite books in the series to date.

Rachel is adjusting to being a day-walking demon while awaiting citizenship, her training with Al is going well and things at the church are good. But we all know that cannot last. Quen wants her to work security for Trent, and while the jobs aren’t lining themselves up she is reluctant. Someone is stealing babies and the ley-line she created is sucking up the ever after. If she cannot fix it she will forfeit her life. Rachel is convinced the demon Ku’Sox is behind it and she is ready to do battle. The tale that unfolds was action packed, filled with world building and growth for the characters.

Harrison has created characters that have evoked many emotions from me; love, hatred, anger, frustration, happiness and tears. In this eleventh book we get all of those emotions and more. Rachel’s growth continues and she continues to thinks before she acts. At her core she is good and fair; qualities I have come to admire in her. She still has heartfelt, anger driven moments of wanting to rip people’s throats out but that is Rachel in a nutshell! Trust has never been one of her strong points but finally we are beginning to see her move from depending on herself to realizing others are there for her. Those she loves are in danger and Rachel is a force to be reckoned with. Ivy is absent for most of the novel but we do get an interesting thread about her. Trent is very present in this novel and the interaction between these too is intense and sweet. We see an overall shift in relationship dynamics involving most of the characters and it was exciting and a tad bit scary! Al and several of our favorite demons are present, and Rachel is fearless and even a little cocky when interacting with them. We see loss, and betrayal like only Harrison can deliver.

Epic world building delighted me in this addition of the Hollows. We finally get answers about the ever after, the elves and the demons. *happy dance* Harrison beautifully captures and describes the ever after and its history. If I ever doubted her intentions with the overall arc or wondered at times if she was flying by the seat of her pants those doubts have been abated. Harrison has been to the ever after and I am confident she knows exactly how this ends! The dilemmas and timelines kept me on edge the entire time I was reading. If I had not forced myself to savior the novel it would have been easy to lose myself from the first pages and not resurfacing till the bitter end. I am anxious to see where Harrison takes us next, and if there is hope for a certain couple. I have secret wishes about the world and cannot wait to return again.
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