Product Description
It’s a tough life for witch Rachel Morgan, sexy, independent bounty hunter, prowling the darkest shadows of downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night.
She can handle the leather-clad vamps and even tangle with a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is definitely pressing the limits.
Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child’s play — and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.
trekchick @ 5:39 pm
Wow! I thought Dead Witch Walking was excellent, but GB&U knocked my socks off. The events of this book take place a scant few months after DWW, so there is a high degree of continuity to the story line. Several of my niggling questions left unanswered in DWW were resolved nicely. We find out who called up that nasty demon and why. And I was happy to learn that my suspicions about Trent’s species were correct. The relationships and interactions between the growing cast of characters are more complex and interwoven than in the first installment, and Rachel learns that there are so many more shades of gray than she’d like to think about. The mystery is solid and intelligent. The urban fantasy elements are richly textured. Rachel is impetuous and prone to jumping to conclusions (sometimes correctly, sometimes not), but she’s still young and those flaws make her character more believable. All in all, I give this book my highest recommendation, and I can’t wait until the third in the series, Every Which Way But Dead, comes out this summer.
Marc Ruby™ @ 6:07 pm
This is the second in a new series written by Kim Harrison that is based in an alternate world where magic happens and a vampire can be your best friend – during the day. The premise is that a runaway virus brings about The Turn, and when it runs itself out, half the world is occult – witches, fairies, pixies, vampires, etc. And the other half is human, and scared to death of tomatoes. The premise is the same as the old Shadowrun series, but the world of Turned Cincinnati is almost as cozy and familiar as the one we live in. Well, almost.
Our heroine is Rachel Morgan, an independent runner (as in trouble shooter/maker), who almost lost her life to a demon disguised as a vampire in the previous volume. That story established Rachel as a freelance investigator, living with an almost undead vampire (Ivy), in an old church. In the garden live her trusty assistant, Jenks (a pixie), and his family. This would be almost normal if Ivy wasn’t in a perpetual struggle with her desire to eat people and her obvious affection for Rachel, if Jenks wasn’t a potty mouthed mischief maker, and if Rachel didn’t have a knack for careening from one deadly mess to another.
This time Rachel’s problems start when she accepts a contract to help with the investigation of a series of serial killings that is leaving the city’s ley line witches in a bad state of disassembly. Her task is to play a college student in the local University to spy on a particular professor. Rachel, however, believes she is watching the wrong person, and that Trent Kalamack, the man who once turned her into a ferret and dropped her in a rat fight. With Rachel compulsively chasing Kalamack and Ivy trying to desperately avoid her own fate, this is a story that is in perpetual crisis.
The publisher will tell you that Rachel is a combination of Anita Blake and Stephanie Plum. But even though the telling has a dash of Anita Blake’s sexual follies the story lacks the high drama of Laurell Hamilton or the perpetual slapstick of Janet Evanovich. If anything, the stories are more like Jim Butcher’s work. Rachel is interesting, but she as an underlying illogic which creates crises that could be avoided that only get in the way of her real goals. Despite some momentary displays good manners she is primarily a woman who does whatever she wants regardless of consequences, which can be bad news for Ivy and Rachel’s human boyfriend Nick. And for Rachel as well, who finishes this book in trouble on all planes.
If you disregard the improbabilities and the complexities of yet another version of vampire life this is an entertaining book. All this disregarding would be easier if Harrison paid just a bit of attention to the consistency of her characters. As it is, I enjoy her books until almost the end, which is where people tend to step out of character to get the plot to a proper hiatus. If you are finicky (and I’m not) this may bother you. But the story is more than adequate for entertainment.
Alisa McCune @ 8:56 pm
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead is Kim Harrison’s follow-up to Dead Witch Walking. The world of this duo is a future Cincinnati which has survived a genetically engineered tomato plague that has exposed `supernaturals’ to the world. The supernaturals have staked out a community called the Hallows. To humans, the Hollows is like Vegas or New Orleans during Mardi Gras – a definite walk on the wild side and tourist trap.
Rachel is back with a vengeance along with Jenks, her pixie sidekick, and Ivy, the living vamp. The story begins about a month after the conclusion of Dead Witch Walking. Rachel is still struggling to earn her half of expenses at the church with Ivy. Rachel’s new association with FIB – the Federal Inderlander Bureau, police force for humans, finally pans out. On the surface the case appears simple – Sara Jane’s warlock boyfriend has disappeared. Normally IS, police force for supernaturals, would handle the case, but they have a 72 hour waiting period. Rachel jumps at the chance to be involved for the money and Sara Jane is Trent Kalamack’s secretary.
As normal, nothing is as it seems. Dan, Sara Jane’s boyfriend, may be one in a string of grisly murders of ley line witches. Ley line witches tap into the Ever-After using ley lines for their power. Rachel is at a disadvantage as she failed the ley line witch class she took in college. She is also very leery of the Ever-After due to the demon attack in Dead Witch Walking and the death of her father. Rachel finds many links to Trent, but is unable to find hard proof to satisfy Detective Edden of the FIB.
The Hallows is the incredible world created by Kim Harrison. The alternate world of the Ever-After with a demon city is very interesting. Rachel finally takes us to Pizza Piscary and we get to meet the master vampire Piscary himself. Kist and his motorcycle are back to torment Rachel. During the course of the novel, we finally get a much clearer picture of what Trent Kalamack is and what his motives are.
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead far exceeded my expectations after Dead Witch Walking. The storyline branches out in many directions that are unexpected and thrilling to read. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and am anxiously awaiting the third installment, Every Which Way But Dead due out in July of 2005.
Kim Harrison describes herself as born in the Midwest. She has been called a witch, among other things, but has never seen a vampire (that she knows of). She loves graveyards and midnight jazz, and wears too much black. Please be sure to visit her website at: http://www.kimharrison.net/
Anna Balasi @ 11:35 pm
Rachel Morgan returns in the series as eager as ever to bring Trent Kalamack down while she makes small runs on the side (hey, a witch has got to eat!). When a string of witches are murdered for reasons unknown, human cop-shop calls her in as a “consultant”… as if she was ever one to stand around and give advice without doing it herself. This second book in the series is even better than the first. With the I.S. off her back, she doesn’t have to worry (much) about booby-trapped charms and interlander feds out to kill her, now she can concentrate on more important things, like saving her soul from demons, keeping her blood from vampires and preventing a witch-killer from slaying anybody else. She has her work cut out for her.
“Dead Witch Walking” and “The Good, the Bad and the Undead” are a fresh read to smart-aleck bad-guy hunters. Where Hamilton takes Anita seriously and makes her scarier than she’s supposed to be, Harrison has made Rachel way more accessible; a lot less perfect. Rachel Morgan is good at her job, except when she’s being clumsy, or when she’s jumping to conclusions, or bumbling by selling her soul to a demon… not to mention her un-hunky, geek of a boyfriend who’s addicted to demon summoning. Did I mention that Rachel dresses a tad like a slut? Oh, and she wears stinky perfume to ward off her vampire partner-housemate who “vants to suck her blood” because really, as a vamp living with a witch, it’s the proper thing to do. But what really sucks is when Rachel does a “run” or a job and she doesn’t get paid for it. Apparently, that happens a lot with her. Hilarious, but creepy. Serious but irreverent. And unlike most bloodthirsty slayers, Rachel is sort of a monster-cop more intent on arresting them than staking them through the heart, but she does that anyway, but more out of self-defense. Honest! And by the way, she’s still broke.
The plot is straightforward, realistic. Not too many twists, but the simplicity of it raises questions that keep it interesting. I didn’t expect to enjoy this series so much, but wow, I’m totally tagged. I give this book five stars.
Erik Weikum @ 12:49 am
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead is Kim Harrison’s wonderfully funny follow-up to Dead Witch Walking staring our favorite witch Rachel Morgan.
Rachel is once again upto hear neck and sinking fast, as the dead lay-line witches start to pile up. Rachel thinks City Counselman Trent is once again up to no good and this time he’s killing off witches, sooner or later its going to be her turn.
Ivy Rachel’s roomate and potential vampire master has her own problem. The sire of her line wants her to make sure she’s got a handle on Rachel, either that or he’ll do it for her. But Rachel’s luck seems to be holding…to bad-to-worse as usual. Something has felt her playing with the Lay-lines and would like very much to own her body and soul.
Once again Ms. Harrison takes us back to the Hallows situated in Cincinnati, OH here the paranormal freely mixes with humanity, its going to be a hot, deadly night in town tonight.
Take it from me if you like Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Series, Laurell K. Hammiltons Anita Blade series or MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead and Un….. series. This is another wonderfully vampire/paranormal series you definately do not wanta miss!!!