Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsYay! Rachel and Ivy are back!
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 27, 2020
4.5/5
The Hollows are back! I am making a confession here that I am going to be totally biased to this installment of the series. It's a bit like a good friend having long since moved away, having dropped out of contact, only to come back even cooler than ever. So, yeah, if you're a Hollows fan then you should pick this up. I have a few minor issues with the book but that's just because I love the characters and seeing them go through a rough patch is hard.
The premise of the Hollows series is that a tomato-based plague has wiped out a large chunk of humanity. This isn't as bad as it sounds because it turns out that supernaturals were immune to the plague. Witches, vampires, demons, weres, and pixies inhabit the city of Cincinnati, Ohio in as great a number as the humans. Despite being the result of an apocalyptic plague, the setting is mostly silly and fun like the Discworld rather than dark or gritty. There's werewolf accountants, vampire Presidents, and witches who worry more about their kitchens than curses. Hell, the former vampire lord of Cincinnati ran a pizzeria.
Rachel Morgan is a witch investigator that teamed up with her living vampire partner Ivy to solve a variety of complicated plots and schemes that imperil their city. This book opens with a recap of the previous thirteen and if you want to avoid spoilers then I suggest you check out DEAD WITCH WALKING first. It's a great series and you won't regret it. From this point out, SPOILERS AHOY.
AMERICAN DEMON really begins with Rachel dealing with the fact her little family is breaking up. Ivy has moved in with her girlfriend Nia, Rachel and Ivy's church is destroyed, plus Rachel's relationship with elf crime lord Trent has gotten serious enough that they're considered married in some circles. Unfortunately, the public blames Rachel for freeing the demon race from their imprisonment in the Ever After and taking Trent from his elven princess bride. Given Rachel is now classified a demon herself, almost everyone thinks ill of her. Well, poor Rachel can't catch a break and someone has set a monster loose in Cincinnati that is causing people to murder their loved ones.
Much of the book is about dealing with change in relationships and how people drift apart. I absolutely hate the fact Ivy and Nina are moving away from Rachel because, well, I've always been a die-hard Rachel/Ivy shipper. I'm not a huge Nina fan, either, but that's related to the fact I was also a Kisten/Ivy/Rachel fan too. I always hoped that Kisten would end up returning but after a dozen books, I don't see that happening.
The relationship between Trent and Rachel is something that I was really impressed by and I've gone from not being a fan to really liking them (if not as much as Rachel/Ivy/Kisten). Trent used to be ruler of the world but he's taken a heavy hit to stick by Rachel. Really, you could sing the Coldplay song about him. Nevertheless, you can tell he's really happier with her than he was as a bad guy and I want to see where this goes.
The series is really like putting on an old pair of shoes (if I may mix metaphors). Everyone is exactly where we left them and the retcon of the flash-forward to just being a dream that Rachel had is something that allows us to have an exciting uncertainty about what's going to happen next. The baku is a decent-enough threat but a bit one-note as a villain. Landon is a much more interesting threat, even though I want to see him get utterly smashed.
Much of the book is the same good-natured humor and charm the previous ones won me over with. This is not a series to read for high stakes plots, though they occasionally happen, but the delightfulness of the characters. I especially liked newcomer Pike and kind of already ship him with both the heroines. Is it wrong I love this series primarily for the relationships? Well, if it is then I don't want to be right.
