FANGS, WANDS & FAIRY DUST: A PERFECT BLOOD by Kim HarrisonTHE RETURN OF RACHEL MORGAN

Monday, March 5, 2012

A PERFECT BLOOD by Kim Harrison
THE RETURN OF RACHEL MORGAN

A PERFECT BLOOD

453 Pages (HC) 910 KB (Kindle)
Disclosure: Book provided by publisher in expectation that any review would be fair. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions, unless otherwise noted, are my own

There’s nothing more darkly satisfying than time spent in the Hallows—New York Times bestseller Kim Harrison’s alternate urban fantasy Cincinnati where vampires, pixies, and werewolves roam free. Harrison takes us back in A Perfect Blood, as former bounty hunter witch-turned-reluctant day-walking demon Rachel Morgan investigates a series of ritual murders, only to discover to her horror that whomever—or whatever—is responsible is actually seeking her blood....

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to the Hollows with the electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed Pale Demon!

Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S. and the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: a human hate group is trying to create its own demons to destroy all Inderlanders, and to do so, it needs her blood.
She’s faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more, but humanity itself might be her toughest challenge yet.
www.harpercollins.com

In this review I will assume you have a basic understanding of this series. It is the tenth novel-length book in a complex landscape of an alternate reality based on the catastrophe caused by genetically modified tomatoes wiping out a large portion of humanity. It made it safe for the sub-culture of non-humans to come out during the "turn." The book does not stand alone. The books are consistently well written and filled with more characters who grow, change, screw up, excel and screw up more. In this particular story, there are references to at least a half-dozen characters and situations you need the entirety of the series to understand. I had to tap my memory for some of them.

Kim Harrison elevates the quality of the Urban Fantasy genre. A PERFECT BLOOD is a suspenseful ride through Rachel's decision to be cut off from her magic, and an ugly view of humanity's tendency to hate what we fear and fear what we don't understand. In the end, does everyone come out unscathed or scarred.

Rachel and Trent Kallamack, a local well-to-do businessman and politician who happens to be an elf, have a more and more complex relationship and it has a whole other kind of tension bound up with it. It is hard to understand the bond shared by Rachel and Trent. They have known each other since childhood, but travel in different circles. But they have a strange loyalty to each other that I see ending up in the bedroom. Not yet though. -sigh-

I think Harrison is laying down some preparation to either spin Ivy and Jenks off or lose them in some other fashion. Ivy has a new potential love interest as does Jenks. Even Rachel's Gargoyle is changing.

Because of her magic being cut-off, Rachel spends much of the story relying not on magic, but on her more human skills, like profiling. SHe also feels powerless or, at least, inadequate.

The book advances the story, hints at romance, and is a thrill ride of suspenseful action. All the loose ends get masterfully resolved. While undeniably snarky all around, this is perhaps one of the darker installments in the series.

For Harrison fans this is an absolute MUST READ, I recommend the entire series to everyone else as a MUST READ. Harrison's website has excerpts and extras.

I invite you to use my Amazon Affiliate link for more information and/or to buy Kim Harrison's A Perfect Blood (The Hollows).

Here is a video of Ms. Harrison reading from A PERFECT BLOOD, uploaded to YOUTUBE by a Fan.