Book #30

The Outlaw Demon Wails
by Kim Harrison

So after that horrid piece of crud, I went with one I knew I was going to like: The Outlaw Demon Wails, the sixth book in the Rachel Morgan series. I like this series enormously, because I love the main character and I especially love the demons: no little foot-stamping fire-breathing horned homunculi, these; no, these are immortal, intelligent, horridly efficient beings that have very specific goals and go about trying to accomplish them -- and god help you if you get in their way. The nice thing about this series is that's exactly how Rachel is, and it makes for great conflict whenever she gets into it with the demons -- which is pretty much every book, except the first one and the one with the werewolves.

In this one, Rachel just goes right ahead and becomes a demon. Well, not really, but she realizes that she has more in common with demons, in some ways, than with witches, and the full secret of her parentage and the magical inheritance, and the future consequences of her inheritance and what Trent's father did to her, finally come out. It's a great reveal, made even better by how badly Trent deals with it and with Rachel. I've had trouble with Trent in the past, because I've always felt that Rachel's hatred of him was unreasoning in some way; sure, he is a murderer and a drug dealer -- but come on. She lives with, and is in love with, a living vampire who was scion to the most evil being in these books -- and I include the demons in that statement. Nobody compares to Piscary, and Ivy did horrible things when she was in his thrall; certainly worse than what Trent has done building his criminal empire. And Trent's crimes are offset by the amount of good he does -- Ivy's crimes are only offset by her protection of Rachel. So I can see the personal attachment to the murderer who keeps you alive and loves you, no problem there -- but why so much bile for the murderer who kept you alive in the past? Anyway, in this book, Trent not only acts like a complete doofus, but he pulls an incredibly shitty move, selling Rachel out to the demons for a minor consideration, only because he's too stupid to recognize the consequences of what he says. And this guy has the gall to shy away from both Rachel and Ceri because of the demon smut on their souls. Bah.

Jenks is still the best character, and I love Bis, the new gargoyle, who I hope will play a much bigger role in the next one. This one was great as always -- and a really nice resolution to the demon issue, though there is still more to tell, of course. And please, please, let the whole Ivy-bloodsucking-sex thing be done with. Pretty please.