[If you are new to these novels, you'd be hopelessly lost if you started here. The novels are heavily serialized and must be read in order to make sense.]
While I enjoyed Kim Harrison's latest novel in the Rachel Morgan series, I found it ultimately unsatisfying and not as well-written as previous novels. It's a problem that I've had with her last three-four novels, which have increasingly focused on the science of the world and less on the characters inhabiting it. It's almost as if the writer has become more interested in providing a scientific explanation for the supernatural occurrences. The last novel went in depth on the science of ley-lines, this one explores in detail the science behind wild magic and the Goddess, the elven deity, who is a communal mind, reminding me a great deal of the Borg in Star Trek. While on strictly thematic level - the Goddess depiction works, I'm not sure the author handled it well on a character level.
Which is fine, if you aren't into characters or reading mainly for the characters. This author excels at world-building and you can tell that her background is in bio-engineering and science. Her world is detailed and multi-faceted. And the thematic arc regarding inter-species relations, the ethics behind bio-engineering, and the inherent racism, and prejudices involved is rather up-lifting.
Unfortunately, it is beginning to overshadow the characters, who are increasingly taking second to third place to the science, ideology or the theme. The plot at times feels like it is at their expense or that it is driving the characters, not the other way around. Various characters who were originally quite complex have become a bit flat and uninteresting in the last three books. Trent, perhaps one of the most complex characters in the series (next to the demon Al), seems to have become domesticated and a shade too nice. It's almost jarring. Ivy, equally, has lost some of her edge and complexity and has over time fallen deeper and deeper into the background. While the other elves are teased about but not quite explored. We get a little bit more on Jonathan, but it feels like a tease. And Quen resides largely in the background, as if the author has sort of put him out to pasture now that she feels she has wrapped up his story arc. Ellasbeth got a little bit more development, but not a lot and still feels like a one-dimensional villain. And Landon and Bancroft felt...a tad cliche and one-dimensional, focusing far too much on the negative aspects of religion. Making it difficult to care about any of them.
The demons on the other hand continue to get quite a bit of development, we learn more and more about them. Newt, who appears in snippets, gets quite a bit, as does Al. But not so much the elves, who are ironically more prominent. Perhaps the next book will dig deeper? I was admittedly hoping for a bit more on Rachel and Trent's past in summer camp as well as their parent's pasts. We get a hint of what happened to Trent's family and Jonathan's relationship to Trent and his family, but not quite enough.
I felt far too much time was spent on trivialities - such as golf, bowling, or ley-line magic, and not nearly enough on character. It's a failing of the more recent novels. The earlier ones - all the way up to Black Magic Sanction and Pale Demon had this development.
Another quibble is the editing has slacked off over the course of the last five novels. I don't know if this is just a side-effect of e-publishing. (I noticed it slacking off around Black Magic Sanction - which is when I started to buy the novels in kindle/e-book format only.) But considering the price of the e-book, the number of continuity errors and grammatical/typos is grating and inexcusable. You can only get away with that sort of thing - if you heavily discount the book.
Please note: I don't blame the author for this - but rather her editors and publishers, who are directly responsible for the copy-editing and how the book appears. I tend to give authors and in particular self-published authors, a lot of lee-way in this area, because I know proofing one's own work is difficult. We don't always see our own mistakes. That's what "editors" are for. [It's why author's pay them. To edit. Or at least it used to be, now they appear to be more invested in acquiring rights, and marketing than well, editing. ]
If you have someone else publishing your work and are working with an editor who is paid to edit it, not to mention an agent, then that's something else entirely. It's a failing I've been noticing lately in a lot of professionally published novels, particularly genre novels. Someone is not doing their job. What happened to good editing? Kim's earlier novels do not have these mistakes. Did her editor decide not to bother? Did the publishing company stop copy-editing the work? If I were the author, I'd be pissed and find another publisher. I know some authors have self-published because of this. It's actually quite easy to self-publish now, and I'm starting to think it may be the way of the future. You can do it on Amazon through Create Space or for free through Kindle E-Books, apparently.
That said? I did enjoy this novel. And I am liking the direct they've taken the Trent and Rachel relationship from a thematic and character perspective, having always been a huge fan of dramatic irony. Their relationship is heavily ironic if you've read all the books. And at this point, you sort of have to, there's no way you could follow this novel without having read the others.
Also, the author's clever referencing of Clint Eastwood films in her book titles continues to charm. This one is a twist on Eastwood's The Dead Pool. It's almost as if I'm playing a game with the author to see if I can figure out which Clint Eastwood film that her book title is based up on. It also makes her titles memorable. Here's a quick rundown of a few of the more memorable titles, in no particular order.
1. Dead Witch Walking - Dead Man Walking
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead - the Good the Bad and the Ugly
3. Fistful of Charms - Fistful of Dollars
4. The Outlaw Demon Wails - the Outlaw Josey Wails
5. A Few Demons More - A Few Dollars More
6. Ever After - Here After
7. A Pale Demon - A Pale Rider
8. A Perfect Blood - A Perfect World
The use of the titles underlines the noir genre - or dark urban fantasy. Rachel and her friends are much like Eastwood's heroes, Dirty Harry and the Man with No Name - not squeaky clean. But dark heroes walking in a dark landscape, capable of horrible things. Rachel is always on the verge of being overtaken by her power. And each of her friends, and lovers, has committed horrific acts and not always for good or justifiable reasons. While I love Rachel, she can at times, come across as rather whiny and immature, or even pathetic - a failing, I think, of the first person narrative voice. And the reason why many creative writing professors caution against its use. I admittedly wish Harrison employed third person. I think it would solve a lot of the series inherent problems.
Harrison, the author, is also doing a half-way decent job of wrapping up loose plot ends here and there. But many characters of whom we've grown attached seem to disappear or be summarily written out with barely an explanation. They are referenced in this book, and Rachel does miss them. But. I think the only two characters that were written out well were Kisten and Matalina. Possibly Skimmer and Piscary. Everyone else, not so much. [Again most likely a problem that could have been easily solved by abandoning the first person narrative voice.] And as a result some of the emotional resonance or heart of the story seems to be lacking. That may have been my problem with it - for a story that is about trusting the heart over the head, it spends far too much too analyzing and on cerebral or head specifics.
And...I hate to say this but sex scenes and romance really aren't Harrison's strong suite. Friendship, frenemy, and conflict yes - romantic relationships not so much. It always comes across as a wee bit on the awkward side. Again, too much science/head, not enough magic/heart. Harrison needs to set aside the scientist, and let the storyteller play. I think the story would be better if she did.
Overall not a bad read.
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Sure to love the book! However the shape it was in leaves me wanting! Obviously been read! But.....
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OneCatEvil
As always Ms Harrison delivers
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 28, 2014
Jim Bowen
A decent enough read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 8, 2015
