La Noche de la Bruja Muerta

This is my 3rd attempt into the vampire/paranormal romance genre. I tried 2 other books (Magic Bites, Guilty Pleasures), they were also disappointments. But this one takes the cake!

I could barely stand 30 minutes of listening this. This is the most over the top of everything I hated about the genre. Kick ass heroine, who is better then everyone else, looks down on “inferior” men trying to hit on her. There is LOTs of name calling, as if just mentioning the word “vampire” you're instantly in love with the story, so, lets exaggerate it.

This also suffers from bad writing, lack of empathy for protagonist, black and white morality, etc.

Read 0:33/13:15 4%.

Kim Harrison introduces Rachel Morgan, witch, Ivy, her vampire partner, and Jenks, pixy and all-around loudmouth. Dark fantasy and romance all in one package. This first book in a series was interesting enough to pick up the second book. We'll see how it goes. Also available in Spanish with the title La noche del la bruja muerta.

Published in mass-market paperback by HarperCollins.

This review is also featured at Behind the Pages: Dead Witch Walking

In Cincinnati, the Inderlander Security polices all supernatural creatures of the city. Rachel Morgan is a runner for the I.S. and she hates every minute of it. Any job she does for the I.S. is either cursed with bad luck, or intern level work. She's a damn good runner, but her boss refuses to acknowledge it. It's time for something to change. When her latest job is to catch a leprechaun for tax evasion she calls it quits. Glad to see her go, her boss never suspects that his best runner, Ivy Tamwood will quit alongside Rachel. Furious, he puts a price on Rachel's head. With the help of Ivy and a four foot tall pixie named Jenks, Rachel has to dodge the I.S. assassins. The only way to make them stop is to buy out the contract she broke by quitting. While Ivy might have the cash to quit, Rachel is penniless. Rachel sets her sights on Trent Kalamack, a millionaire in the public eye who runs the Brimstone drug trade on the side. But no one has been able to prove his hands are dirty. If Rachel can pin him down, she'll be home free.

Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks have been a dynamic set of characters since I first read The Hollows series years ago. Returning to The Hollows to start the series from the beginning is just as fun as it was the first time around. The three just work well together. Ivy, the one who needs a set plan of action and multiple fail-safes in place. Rachel, the one who rushes into things with a half ass plan, and wings it. And Jenks, the wiseass companion who makes sure to never let them live down said mistakes. Sure they may bungle through some jobs, and mess up plenty of times, but you can't say it isn't entertaining to experience it with them.

Kim Harrison has created a vivid urban fantasy world that is only scratching the surface of the Hollows in this first novel. Even though I already know what happens, I found myself immersed in her world and chuckling at the antics of the three characters. This time around I did notice there is a lot of world building stuffed into the first novel. This might slow some people down, but it lays the groundwork for future novels to take off right from the start. Trust me, wading through the information dumps is worth it.

I can't wait to start the next!

I read this book a while ago and liked it then, but I never finished the series. I'm rereading it because I intend to read the entire series. This was a decent debut novel. If you like Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton, this book is of a similar vein, but maybe a little less raunchy. Rachel Morgan is an exciting and funny character who gives us a crash course into an alternative Ohio where every version of supernatural lives alongside humans. With alternative versions of the FBI and colleges teaching witchcraft, the world making seems to be top-notch. I believe book number 14 was just recently released, so I have many books ahead of me.

DNF - PG 137Why?Disclaimer: I don't actually like the common urban fantasy. (I call it thus because I consider the likes of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series as ‘urban fantasy' - though they are not the common type.) I keep trying, because in theory I love the worlds of urban fantasy. In practice, I hate the characters.And, honestly, my sole reason for stopping this book is our main character, Rachel Morgan.Wow, she is just...quite possibly the worst main character I've had the displeasure of reading about in a very long time.When we first meet her, she's on a stakeout and, instead of doing the reasonable thing and dressing to blend into the area, she ‘accidentally' dresses like a hooker. Which she is mistaken for more than once - even though she bemoans that she's flat-chested, though she uses what she's got to distract. ... So, we're off to a bang up start. Oh, let's not forget: she's better than this. That is Rachel's mantra: I am better than this. I'd say don't forget that, but don't worry; if it ever does slip your mind, she's more than happy to remind you.At this point, before the end of the first chapter, I was ready to DNF this book. I had two reasons why I didn't. I'm trying to not kneejerk DNF a book when I haven't given it a chance. (I feel uncomfortable looking at my DNF's an seeing things like ‘DNF at page 20.' I'm trying to stop that.)The second reason is I had a cleaning job where no one was home and this was one of the two audiobooks I had downloaded to my phone. (The other was [b:Witchmark 36187110 Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle, #1) C.L. Polk https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505338133l/36187110.SY75.jpg 57809962] and I'm really not sure which one is worse.)Okay, so, a four hour job nets me:Ivy, a coworker of Rachel's, is a ‘non-practicing' vampire. (Also, not dead , yet.) This non-practicing vampire is a term that is bandied about quite a lot and sounds just as stupid the dozenth time as it does the first.Also, Ivy? She's Oriental. ... No, seriously. This is a book first published in 2004 - and Ivy is described as having ‘Oriental' features. blinks Okay...Rachel says about Ivy that ‘She [Rachel] is confident enough in her sexuality to admit that Ivy looks good.' ... But no homo, bro, right?Then we have the absolute panic Rachel exhibits when Ivy starts to be a little seductive. Then there's the whole Ivy can't control herself and nearly has sex with Rachel and/or rips open her neck and gives Rachel a book for how to date vampires so Rachel can know what she's not supposed to do. Meanwhile Rachel is deep in the throws of the strongest ‘straight man' mentality I've ever seen from a woman. (Horror, gasp There's no way I'm having feelings for my same gender friend. I'm straight, I tell you. STRAIGHT! she howls to the night sky)How about plot?...Uhm...I mean, there's like three attempts on Rachel's life just to liven things up, otherwise the plot goes exactly nowhere.