Review: Pale Demon by Kim harrison

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for her own mysterious business. But Rachel isn't the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that's not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

The ninth installment in Ms. Harrison's Rachel Morgan series is a fast paced ride full of demons, elves, witches and pixies and everything in between. The first half of the book was a little irritating for me at times. Rachel and Trent bicker and make assumptions (par for the course) and Rachel and Co get into trouble at every turn. The second half of the book was much more satisfying for me. Things start really happening and we get to the meat of the story. I do have to say that I guessed Trent's big secret pretty much from the get go and didn't understand why no one else seemed to put the pieces together.

We learn more about demons and Al (who I can't help loving), and we also get to see Rachel and Trent coming to some sort of uneasy alliance. After the developments of Trent's secret and his promise to let Rachel have a part in it and the price they paid to help each other, I'm very interested to see where their relationship goes. I love the affect they have on each other, whether fighting side by side or just fighting with each other, it's never a dull moment.

Ivy and Jenks are fabulous as usual, although I can't help but feel that the whole Jenks gets a restart at life storyline is a bit of a prop and not very fair to him and is more about Rachel and her selfish need for him to be in her life. We see a bit of him trying to deal with living without his wife and learning to enjoy life all over again.

On one hand, we're told that the issues between Ivy and Rachel have finally been worked out, but then a few pages later, it looks like we're heading back into the same twisted territory. I really hope that in the next book we see that they really have come to a better understanding of each other and how to be in each other's lives.

The story progresses quickly and the action comes fast and furious. I enjoyed Rachel a bit more in this one. I think and hope that she's starting to grow up and come into her own and it's a nice change to see.

Final grade: B

Author's Website

Pale Demon at book depository