Product Description

The 7th 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. The demon, Algaliarept, although banished back into the everafter has infected others of his kind with his interest in a witch who can channel demon magic. Rachel soon finds herself with not one but three hellions on her tail; and one of them is even crazier and more dangerous than all the fairy assassins, weres and vampires on the planet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7437 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Review
'Action packed chick-lit with a supernatural twist' The Times 'A spellbinding blend of sharp wit and vivid imagination. A wonderfully fun romp through the supernatural world' Kelley Armstrong 'Discovering a new series like this is like finding buried treasure' Diana Gabaldon

About the Author
The only girl in a large family of boys, former tomboy Kim Harrison invented the first Brigadier General Barbie in self-defence. She shoots a very bad game of pool and rolls a very good game of dice. When not at her keyboard, she enjoys lounging on the couch with a bowl of popcorn watching action movies with The-Guy-In-The-Leather-Jacket. She plays her Ashiko drum when no one is listening, and is hard to find when the moon is new.

Customer Reviews

A banshee - it's a scream!
If you're reading 'White Witch, Black Curse', chances are you're already a confirmed fan of Kim Harrison's 'Hollows' series, featuring witch and professional bounty hunter, Rachel Morgan. If you're not, and have just come across the book by chance, I'd advise you to put it aside until you've read the preceding six volumes, as the book contains so many references to previous events that you'll find it quite hard going without knowing the back story.

For Rachel fans, all the familiar faces are back: Ivy, still struggling with her vampiric nature; Jenks, four inches of potty-mouthed heroism; Al, always out to exploit the slightest weakness; and Trent, although he's restricted to a single, minor appearance. Added to them, there's able support from more minor characters like Glen, no longer such a secret tomato addict; Skimmer, not surprisingly full of hate and rage; and Rachel's mother, finally moving on.

With such a cast of characters, and a weight of previous events, perhaps it's not surprising that Rachel's kept as busy as ever: this time around, she has to contend with hunting down a Banshee - an aura and soul-sucking killer in the Hollows' universe; continuing to try and recover her memory and find the murderer of her vampire lover, Kisten; and dealing with demon Al, who's abducted Pierce, a ghost and former acquaintance of Rachel's from her teenage years. All of these threads are neatly resolved by the end of the book - in some cases perhaps a little too neatly: a Banshee attack conveniently prevents Rachel from pursuing Al into the Ever-After, after Pierce's abduction, and the final showdown, again conveniently, takes place somewhere that triggers her recollections of Kisten's murder. One gets the feeling that, after the exceptional revelations of 'The Outlaw Demon Wails', Harrison wants to take a breath, so to speak, and clear up remaining loose ends, all the better to move the overall Hollows arc forward. And, there are certainly enough new elements introduced to rouse readers' curiosity: ranging from Pierce - a devious character who enjoys playing with demons, but who seems to push all Rachel's buttons; intriguing hints in the quest for Ivy to keep her soul after becoming undead; and Trent's mysterious gift - a set up for the next book, if ever there was one.

So, is 'White Witch, Black Curse' worth the wait and the read? There's certainly plenty to enjoy: the dialogue is as snappy as ever, the action is well-described, and we do finally get to find out who killed Kisten. If Trent hardly figures, and Al is less of a presence than he was in the last book, well, they can't dominate every one of Rachel's adventures. I certainly found it difficult to put down, and will be keeping it on my shelf to re-read while waiting for the next one. My main gripes would be that, as I said above, some events seemed a little too convenient, and we didn't discover anything new about the nature of the Ever-After, and how Rachel's lessons as Al's student are going. I can only hope that's something lined up for the future. As Rachel says at the end of the book, `I love my life,' and all I can say, is that I love reading about it, and will continue to do so.

White Witch, Black Curse
White Witch, Black Curse sees Rachel, independent runner and witch tackling several issues left over from previous adventures as well as some new ones. First she's busy trying to find out who murdered Kisten with the help of Ivy, at the same time she's drawn into locating a Banshee who may have attacked Glenn. As well as this she has to rescue a character named Pierce who appeared in a short story Harrison wrote. WWBC is by no means as good as the past few books have been but still holds up well -- being rather akin to some of the earlier books in my opinion.

There was a lot to do here and the usual plot arcs (the demons and the elves) were dropped for these plot lines to be finished up. And they all are (in the usual breezy, fun manner)! The book was a little slower paced at the start but towards the end we're treated to the usual fever pitch as things backfire for Rachel.

White Witch, Black Curse centres a good deal more around Rachel, Ivy and Jenks -- we see them all investigate crime scenes together and just generally run their business. This was nice as they're really like a family, I found it sweet! As a result quite a few key players were missing in this book, notably: David, Ceri, Keasley and Minias etc. Quen is in the background of a scene but doesn't speak to Rachel.

Things have changed for the characters though. Ivy has experienced some character growth and seems much less uptight and unwilling to touch other people. She shows some endearing protectiveness towards Glenn, which, considering how they met is a huge step forward. She also seems more determined than ever to keep her soul after she dies... seeing her friendship with Rachel also strengthened by the work they do together on Kisten's murder.

Jenks on the other hand is worrying about his wife, and is acting a little more irritable/petulant than usual. Whilst Rachel continues to live a more emotionally responsible life -- although I wonder how long that's going to last given the final scene! She also faces new problems when she finds out something that could make her life very very difficult (I'm certainly intrigued to see how things pan out). The new character Pierce isn't my cup of tea. I kind of find the way he talks really irritating... needless to say it gets old quickly. Although, I didn't get a good enough feel for the character to decide one way or the other on him -- but I'm not keen as it stands. Al continues to be hilarious and I adored every moment he was there.

My beloved Trenton Kalamack only makes but the briefest of appearances. Rachel mentions him several times but it's not until she actually bumps into him that she lets slip he's been adamantly avoiding her since their little sojourn together into the ever-after in the previous book, and that she's been desperately trying to reach him ever since to explain. Rachel gets extremely upset when Trent makes it clear he doesn't want to be anywhere near her -- a huge shift in their dynamic has occurred/is occurring here. That loathing/hatred she used to hold Trent with is just... gone. I was pleased because I really thought Rachel would slip back into old patterns with him, but she doesn't hate him anymore, she cares for him. Kim Harrison said recently that the ninth book would have Rachel and Trent going on a road trip together. She wouldn't say what's going to happen between them but needless to say the setup has been laid here for a change in dynamic, whatever it may be. They give off a Clark Kent/Lex Luthor vibe to me in some ways, their lives were always going to intertwine for good or ill.

Overall, a very enjoyable read. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

Still going strong but...
I enjoyed the book as I always do but like other reviewers have said I believe this is wrapping up the lose ends from the other books. If your a hollows fans don't miss out on reading this book as it answer some questions and I think Kim is setting the scene for the next book. Can't wait for the next instalment with Trent and Rachel. Still a good standard compared to other books in the genre and I think the next instalment will be back to the high standard of other books in the series.