White Witch, Black Curse
Book #7 of the Hollows Series
by Him Harrison
Publisher: EOS (February 2009)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 549 (paperback)
Source: Personal Library
Purchase at:
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 stars)
Symmary
Some wounds take time to heal . . . and some scars never fade.
Rachel Morgan, kick-ass witch and bounty hunter, has taken her fair share of hits, and has broken lines she swore she would never cross. But when her lover was murdered, it left a deeper wound than Rachel ever imagined, and now she won’t rest until his death is solved…and avenged. Whatever the cost.
Yet the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and when a new predator moves to the apex of the Inderlander food chain, Rachel’s past comes back to haunt her.
Literally.
The Good
Rachel’s life sucks. She has been shunned by her witch community for practicing black magic. But she can’t help being a black witch since making an agreement with the demon Al to be his apprentice, having to spend her time in the ever-after one day a week. What makes it worse is that the ever-after burnt smell never comes out of clothes. A witch can only take so much, people. Rachel is also trying to regain her memory of that fateful night Kisten died. Oh, and we get banshees. Oh yeah, horrible little buggers, those banshees.
Let’s talk about the good parts of this book. Finally we get the full story on Kisten’s death. The who, why, and how. I did like that his death forced both Rachel and Ivy to face their true natures. Ivy starts to embrace her vampire nature as Rachel starts to accept that she is no longer just simply a witch. Nope, it’s much more complicated than that.
We meet a few new characters that I found interesting. Ivy’s sister, Rachel’s brother, and her ghost witch friend. Ford, the FBI psychologist was endearing in his own way. I love the direction Bis, the gargoyle, is going. We learn more about him and his potential role in future books. I have a little crush on him. He’s pretty much the cutest thing since sliced bread and his protectiveness is just adorable.
Jenks is still full of awesomeness. His story is getting a little sad though. My heart ached for what he is going through. Rynn Cormel is just a bundle full of mystery. Not a good guy, not a bad guy. He is an overall dynamic character that tantalizes the senses.
I love the direction Trent and Al are going. We don’t see that much of them in this book but they are being set up to be very important characters in future books.
The Bad
I almost gave the book two and a half stars. But I did enjoy reading it enough to recommend White Witch, Black Curse to those who are fans of the series. That doesn’t, however, negate the fact that there are quite a few things that bugged me about this installment.
Pierce. Abracadabra, there’s Pierce. Who’s Pierce? Yeah, I asked myself the same question, even while reading the book. Well, he’s a ghost witch that for some reason we never heard of before but is actually an important part of Rachel’s past. Though I never read it, I guess Harrison wrote a short story that introduced Pierce into the series. So those of us who haven’t read it are pretty much screwed. It’s like he pops up out of nowhere. And I don’t even like him as a character, so that didn’t help.
Harrison decided to rehash the whole Ivy/Rachel relationship thing again. I thought we were done with that but apparently I was wrong.
The Banshee part of the multi-layered plot was uninspiring. It felt like it was just thrown in there to fatten-up a book that was already too long. Introducing a new species to a series this far in was just odd and not well explained.
There were so many conversations that were simply pointless for us to read. Harrsion could have cut at least fifty pages of boring convos that added nothing to the story. There was very little action and not as much mystery as I am use to in a Harrison book.
The Snuggly
We get a kinda sex scene that was a little odd if you ask me.
Overall
This book was very stale. Nothing too exciting happens and the action was lacking. I enjoyed some parts of this book but felt it could have been cut in half. It does move us along in the series enough to satisfy me until the next book. I can’t help but love reading about these characters I have come to care about. I just wish Harrison spent more time on creating a better overall story that was cohesive to the rest of the Hollows series. This book is only for those who are already Harrsion fans who have been reading this series from the beginning.
Kate
This was my least favorite book of The Hollows, and I definitely agree with your comments. But luckily, they get better again!
Jennifer L. Bielman
@Kate – Yeah, worst book of the series. But still readable. I agree, the series gets better again.