- Title: Pale Demon
- Author: Kim Harrison
- Series: The Hollows #9
- Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy
- Category: Witch, Demon, Vampire, Other
- Website: www.KimHarrison.net
After Book 8 I said that I wasn’t going to continue reading this series, and obviously I broke down and read Book 9 anyway. I’m glad I did. This book took me back to some of the key points, plotlines, and characters in the series that have been missing in some more recent books.
The basic concept of this book is that Rachel has to make the trip to San Fran in order to have a trial with the Coven and get her shunning removed. Jenks and Ivy are along for the ride as part of her team. Trent is in the car because he needs to get to the west coast as well (Portland for him) and Rachel is his protection on the trip because Quen will not leave Ceri. Pierce is part of the group after they run into a new demon along the way. And lastly, Vivian from the Coven joins the trip after tailing the team for long enough that they finally put her in their car.
I liked to whole concept of the roadtrip. It made sense to me that Rachel would be blocked from getting to the Coven trial easily, so a roadtrip was the most reasonable alternative. Trent’s story for needing to make this a road trip due to it being an Elf Quest for him was a little more of a stretch, but I didn’t mind because I was glad to see him be a big part of the story.
What I liked the best about this book was that it made good progress in the primary storyline of Rachel’s demon bloodline, as well as Rachel’s relationships with both Trent and Al. We did see another new character in Ku’Sox (a day walking demon), but this character thankfully didn’t take the story off course like new characters have in previous books.
***************spoiler alert*******************
I was thrilled NOT to have to read any more struggles between Ivy and Rachel in this book. They actually have a goodbye scene at one point, but its hard to say if it really meant anything since they all wound up together again at the church at the end. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ivy depart the series even though she has been a key character from the beginning. I just don’t see what more she can contribute to the books anymore with her character’s limitations from the bloodlust.
Al remains one of my favorite characters. He’s obviously dark, but he has a clever mind and a witty sense of humor that make me want to like the bad guy. There is a nice cliffhanger at the end of this book because Al thinks Rachel is dead. She has a choice as to whether she’ll embrace the demon side of her from that point on, and I’m sure we’ll find out in the next book if she decides to or not. In the mean time, Al is off in the ever-after punishing Pierce for letting her die. I’m anxious to read how this turns out.
Bis is an interesting character, and I’m curious to see how he will develop now that he and Rachel are bonded. Although Rachel feels a little strange about the connection between them, I think it is important to have a character that can follow her into the ever after and through the lines (where Ivy and Jenks can not.)
There were only a couple things I didn’t like about this book. First, we weren’t given any insight at all into what happened when Trent and Jenks went to kidnap Trent’s daughter Lucy in Portland. They left and then came back with a baby. I really liked the twist of Trent being a father, but I would have liked to read about their adventure after having read all of it up to that point.
Second, I didn’t like how a few things were left unexplained. For example, how did Trent find out about Ku’Sox and where he was imprisoned? That seems like info that he would only be able to get from a demon. How was Trent able to release a demon from a prison that took a team of demons to lock him into? And, how did the Coven get Rachel’s summoning name? She guesses that it was Pierce who discovered it while he was a ghost, but I remember when she chose the name in a previous book but she did not say it out loud. There were a few odds and ends like this in the book that I didn’t think were explained very well, but perhaps we’ll get answers in the next book.
All in all, I’m happy I read this book and I like the direction it took the series. I hope KH remains on this path and continues to focus on the demon connection & relationships between Rachel, Trent and Al.
