The Undead Pool

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Undead Pool

Rachel never seems to catch a break. As if saving the Ever After wasn't enough, now pandemonium is breaking out across Cincinnati. Living vampires are inciting riots, their undead masters nowhere to be found, and spells are backfiring. The death toll is rising and the precarious peace between humans and inderlanders is about to break. War is brewing in the distance if things don't settle down. Rachel must rely on elven magic and a possibly insane Goddess to solve her latest slew of problems. Just another day in the life of Rachel Morgan right?

Every Hollows book is a fast-paced ride. This time around Rachel is dealing in elven magic, and drawing closer to the world Trent has been politically maneuvering around all his life. The elves have no hesitation in showing their contempt for Rachel now that she has been labeled a demon. While she knew they were arrogant people, she won't understand the depth of their hatred until she faces it head on.

Kim Harrison has a talent for taking characters you loathe and transforming them into characters you love. And she does it in a subtle way across books, so you feel the full effect of their transformation. Each little act takes them a step farther towards becoming a favorite. I think back to the actions they took originally and can't believe I am now rooting for them to succeed.

This book was a bit steamier than the previous novels, though I can't say it entirely bothered me this time. The relationship was slow to build, taking the space of several novels, so it just felt right to finally see Rachel be with someone again. I'm one of those readers who enjoy the slow burn because it feels more realistic. Instant romances are not my cup of tea.

As always, the characters were a delight to read about and the magic slinging action kept me engaged. I love seeing the creative ways Rachel has to puzzle out her newest problem, and all the pitfalls she has to avoid as she works towards a solution. The Hollows is Urban Fantasy at its finest!

Not my favorite of the series. Harrison is best at introducing characters and worlds. Less good at driving plot. I really missed the demons in this one.

Whaddyaknow? I can like a Hollows book unreservedly and without a list of complaints. I'd forgotten what that felt like.

If you'd told me that Rachel Morgan's penultimate adventure would kick off on a golf course, I'd have told you that you were nuts. But if anyone can start trouble on a golf course, it'd be Rachel. In an interesting change of pace, the trouble that ensues really has almost nothing to do with her – sure, an exploding golf ball that practically creates a sand hazard on the course sounds like something she's responsible – but not this time. Spells and charms are going wrong (mostly in a super-sized fashion) throughout Cincinnati and the Hollows – causing injuries, inconveniences and deaths.

But wait, there's more – something's going on in town that's keeping the Master Vampires asleep, and they're not waking to feed and exert influence over their clans. Which is great if that's something you were working towards, and were prepared – like Ivy was awhile back. But these vampires aren't ready for that level of freedom and self-determination yet. Which means that you've got unstable vampires roaming the streets. Which can't be good for anyone.

This would be enough to keep any Urban Fantasy hero busy – but females in this genre have to have something going on in their personal/romantic life, too (male UF heroes frequently have that it, too – but it doesn't see as de reguerre). So looking to that front, Ellasbeth, Trent's fiancé returns; so naturally, Trent and Rachel go on a date the night before she arrives (their first and last). Everyone's favorite demons, Al and Newt, are not at all happy about how close Rachel is getting to the elf. A couple of elven religious leaders come to town to help with the malfunctioning magic – and they like Trent hanging out with the day-walking demon even less than Al and Newt do. And there's this really familiar-looking blond vampire that Rachel keeps seeing – but that can't be right, can it?.

Yeah, that's enough to keep Rachel, Ivy and Jenks busy.

Here's the best part: It's like Harrison asked herself, “How do I make ol' H. C. happy?” and then things actually happen in the book. Resolution is reached on a lot of these plots that have been ongoing for several novels (even all, or almost all, of the series). Even things I'd forgotten about get tied up. I'm not saying I'm happy because I like all the choices that the characters/Harrison made, because I'm not. But instead of another 400+ pages of Rachel (or Trent or Ivy or . . .) hemming and hawing and then not really reaching a decision on anything, these characters think about their problems, discuss solutions in a constructive manner with each other, and then act on it. They don't all lead to a happily ever after – but they lead to something. Finally.

Harrison's clearly setting the table for the last book in the series and tying up what she can – as well as delivering a pretty cool story. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to just focus on the soap-y ongoing story arcs. The stuff with the vampires and the out of control magic was great, and would've been enough to make this a compelling read. But the ongoing arcs have been such a drag on this series for so long, the fact that they weren't at all this time is leading me to focus on them.

I really don't know how to comment on the master vampire problem or the magic problem without getting into story details – but the implications of both were fascinating, and are the kind of thing that separates the Hollows from most Urban Fantasy. I'm so glad we got these situations.

For the first time in a long time, I can say I'm looking forward to seeing what Harrison does next. I have a lot more hope for her sticking the landing than I've had (even as I dread the fates of a couple of characters).

Let's say 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars, because a big part of the reason I didn't love it was because m/f books just can't compare with m/m for me anymore, and I don't want to rate low based on that. Aside from that, though, this series no longer has deliciously evil characters. Trent and Al both used to be bad guys that I liked for that reason. Now they're both pretty tame, especially Trent.

I do like that Ms. Harrison still clearly puts a lot of thought into the plots, even though we're 12 books into the series. I still enjoy reading about the characters, but I want to see more conflict between them like there was earlier in the series, and it looks like we might have that in the next book between Rachel and Al.

Side note: It was a mean trick to play that got my hopes up for a return of my favorite character, Kisten. I cried when he died in book 5, and have never really gotten over that :(

It was awesome, just like the rest of the series!