Review of The Hollow series by Kim Harrison including Dead Witch Walking & The Undead Pool. The Hollows books are page turners and i read all of them in a very short amount of time. The world building is interesting and so is the magic, which involves dealing with demons.
My review from 2014 of The Hollows series by Kim Harrison
I think The Hollows is one of the best urban fantasy series out there! Rachel Morgan the protagonist is such a wonderful character. She is so well-rounded. She got tons of flaws and makes mistakes but that just makes her human. She is not one of the flat “strong female characters” that sadly takes up too much of the genre.
The world of Cincinnati
The Hollows is an urban fantasy series set in an alternative version of Cincinnati, where a bioengineered virus wiped out most of the world’s human population – exposing the existence of supernatural communities that had long lived alongside humanity.
The world is full of vampires, mages, shifters, pixies and of course demons. We can’t forget about the demons as those become very important in the series.
My review of Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
Rachel Morgan is a witch and x-law enforcement. She opens up a private investigator firm with her vampire and pixie partners. Dead Witch Walking is very much in the angry trousers vaine of urban fantasy.
My review of The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison
The Undead Pool was really hard to put down, it was captivating and funny. All the relationships gets explored and are deeped. I kept finding excuses to listen to it. I definitely recommend it.
My review from 2014 of The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison
Title: The Undead Pool
Author: Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows
Genre: Urban fantasy
Themes: Friendship, love, respect, racism
This is one of the books I have been looking forward to the release of. And I was lucky enough that the audiobook came out at the same time as the paper book (yeah) so I could continue to listen the series rather than reading it.
Rachel Morgan has complicated and very real relationships, not least with her roommate Ivy who is a vampire. Earlier in the series Ivy was in love with Rachel without it being reciprocated. She also has a really complicated relationship with the elf Trent. Rachel’s love life is a bit part of the series without it slipping into paranormal romance territory (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Friendship, love and respect are among the biggest themes in the series. But it also delves into darker subjects such as racism and race relations. The tensions between the human world and the supernatural subcultures comes to the forefront of this installment of the series.
Another theme that keeps coming back are the dysfunctional relationships between child and sire in the vampire world. Those relationships comes not only with a huge power imbalance but also with addiction and attraction. All the themes are delved with intelligently, nuanced and with respect for the lives involved.
Oh and The Undead Pool is funny as well – mustn’t forget that there is a big portion of humor in the books. And of course there is snark, it wouldn’t really be urban fantasy without it, now would it?
I should probably also add that I couldn’t put the book down. I kept finding excuses to listen to it. I definitely recommend it.
The only big problem with the series is, that if you read them close together you get the same information over and over again. It does sometimes feel like the series is rehashing the same issues over and over again.
The stats: The Undead Pool
Published: 2014 by Voyager
Length: 423 pages
Read: March 23 to 25, 2014
Author: female, white, USA
The protagonists: females, bisexual, adult, witch, USA, Cincinnati, able-bodied
This review was originally posted: April 3, 2014. Updated and edited June 30, 2023
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