Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, has one unspoken rule: take chances, but pay for them yourself. With it, she has turned enemies into allies, found her place with her demon kin, and stepped up as the subrosa of Cincinnati—responsible for keeping the paranormal community at peace and in line.

Life is . . . good? Even better, her best friend, Ivy Tamwood, is returning home. Nothing’s simple, though, and Ivy’s not coming alone. The vampires’ ruling council insists she escort one of the long undead, hell-bent on proving that Rachel killed Cincy’s master vampire to take over the city. Which, of course, Rachel totally did not do. She only transformed her a little.

With Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to a new ally for help—the demon Hodin. But this trickster has his own agenda. In the end, the only way for Rachel to save herself and the city may be to forge a new understanding with her estranged demon teacher, Al. There’s just one problem: Al would sell his own soul to be rid of her. . . .

Given that this is book 16 of the Hollows series, Kim Harrison hasn’t missed a step. The series is as fast paced and exciting as ever with unexpected twists and turns. Just when you think you know what to expect, Kim Harrison changes it up again, bringing you new characters and riveting and exciting action. 

Beyond the fact that I’ve always loved the character of Rachel Morgan, who is never flat and struggles with insecurities and doesn’t always figure out a solution right away but in this book, we get to see a slightly different side to Rachel as she embraces her strengths. I love the way Rachel figures out unique solutions to several challenging problems within the story. 

One of the other elements I love is that Kim Harrison brings up plot points from two to three books prior and then wraps them up in a completely elegant fashion. Since these are plot elements that have been critical to the world for some time, it was fun to see how they were completed and the ending of the novel was perfect, at least to me. I really can’t wait for book 17, especially with such riveting and exciting action. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 pixies