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.