Rachel Morgan: The Hollows (4) - A Fistful of Charms

By: Kim Harrison

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

The fourth book in the New York Times best-selling urban fantasy-thriller series starring sexy bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan.

There's no rest for the wicked, even when the taint on your soul isn't your fault. It would be wise for witch and bounty hunter Rachel Morgan to keep a low profile right now. Her new reputation for the dark arts has piqued the interest of Cincinnati's night-prowlers, who despise her and long to bring an end to her interference, one way or another.

Nevertheless, Rachel must risk exposure. Her ex-boyfriend, Nick, has stolen a priceless Were artefact, and, as tempting as it may be to let the Weres take him apart, Rachel feels obliged to attempt a rescue. But other sinister forces also covet the relic Nick has hidden. Some desire it so badly they will rip the city – and everyone in it – apart to wield its frightening power.

©2012 Kim Harrison (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"Action packed … chick-lit with a supernatural twist." ( The Times)

"A spellbinding blend of sharp wit and vivid imagination. A wonderfully fun romp through the supernatural world." (Kelly Armstrong)

"Discovering a new series like this is like finding buried treasure." (Diana Gabaldon)

Annoying

I've read a few of the books in this series and enjoyed them despite Rachel's air head nature. This one just erred me virtually from start to finish. When Rachel wasn't too busy find everything in pants attractive, she was trying her hardest to flaunt herself in a skin tight black running suit, including bending over at the waist to put her hands on the ground in front of 3 packs of weres. When she wasn't doing that she and her partners were bullying nick and were looking for excuses to turn on him. I found this story frustrating, boring, sometimes petty and at others immature. I'll be seeing about a refund on this one although I suppose it gives som backstory for future books.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not my Favourite Hollows

I had some trouble with this one and it took me months to actually settle down and read it. I think I found the narrative not as compelling as the previous books in the series. The second half went faster than the first, partially because I picked up the audio-book version and let it read the story to me. However, I think I simply don't like Nick and I do like Ivy, and the latter is missing for a large portion of the first half.



The plot line is fairly interesting, a mysterious item which must be obtained and kept from the bad guys. Complicate that by moving most of the action out of Cincinnati, add in some werewolves, demon curses, a six-foot fairy...



The relationship between Rachel and Ivy progresses in this book, and then it takes two steps back. We learn far more about Jinks, and the werewolves of the Hollows setting. I kind of think one of my problems with this book is that it enters that phase where my only conclusion is that the author decided she hates her characters. I used to see it in role-playing in MMOs where the drama queens would claim they really liked their characters and the way they liked them was do do as many utterly horrible things to them as they could manage. Rachel and Ivy are definitely falling foul of this in this book. It's not that characters should not suffer, of course they should, that's the basis of drama. However, when every single tiny thing they do turns around and bites them, usually in a fairly horrific manner, you start to wonder whether maybe it's because it's the best way the author had to pad out the word count...



Anyway, not my favourite Hollows book. On to the next one, which someone suggested is better.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Jinks takes this one

The reviews of this book have been mixed but I really liked it. It's very different to the other books in the series though it still continues the story well. Jinks is the star of the book!

Kim Harrison has rather suddenly turned Nick into the devil incarnate without much warning but I don't mind that as I thought he was a weak character all along.

I didn't miss Ivy not being in a lot of the book and it was a relieve to not have to continue to go through the - will she, won't she bite Rachel! that does become tiresome. At last towards the end of the book we get a little movement on that side of the story.