Dead Witch Walking: Hollows, Book 1

‘Dead Witch Walking’ is the inaugural entry to The Hallows series by author Kim Harrison and one of my earliest introductions to urban fantasy when it was initially released in 2004. I remember impatiently waiting for the next book each year and then staying up late reading and re-reading the stories about Rachel, a witch in Cincinnati who earns a living as a runner – part bounty hunter, part private detective – and constant trouble magnet. Then in 2014, the original series finished with Book 13, ‘The Witch with No Name’, and I did one last read-through of the complete series and shelved the books, ready to pull them out again if I ever felt nostalgic but happy with my memories and ready to explore new authors and worlds. However, in 2020, Ms Harrison published Book 14, ‘American Demon’, which continued Rachael’s adventures and re-started The Hollows series. While purchasing the subsequent books, I haven’t gotten around to reading them as I wanted to start from the beginning. Recently though, I have been thinking about the series and decided that before Book 17, ‘Demons of Good and Evil’ is released this coming June 2023, it was time for me to delve back into this world and see if it is as good as I remembered. I was not disappointed.The books are written from the POV of Rachael Morgan, a white witch who lives and works in Cincinnati as an Inderland Security or I.S. runner. Inderland Security is responsible for policing the supernatural community and is a counterpart to the human-run Federal Inderland Bureau or FIB. The Hollows, as it is affectionately known, is the largest suburb of Cincinnati and home to a significant proportion of Inderlander’s. Now, you may be asking, what are Inderlander’s? In the late 1960s, a deadly virus strain escaped a bioengineering lab and was identified and contained after leaving a modest trail of death. However, before it was destroyed, it mutated and managed to attach itself to the modified DNA sequence of a T4 Angel Tomato. Unaware that a virus was hiding inside the innocuous hosts, they were transported worldwide, and the virus quickly decimated humankind. Within three weeks, a quarter of humans had succumbed to the virus, and civilisation was on the brink of collapse.‘The Turn, as it came to be called, began at noon with a single pixy. It ended at midnight with humanity huddling under the table, trying to come to grips with the fact that they’d been living beside witches, vampires, and Weres since before the pyramids.’The Inderlander species stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight to keep the cogs of society running after discovering that most were immune or resistant to the virus. Suddenly, humans who had long thought they were at the top of the food change found themselves living side by side with witches, undead, were’s, trolls, pixies, fairies, and other supernatural kinds. Humanity’s first reaction to finding themselves confronted by the monsters of myth and legend was to try and wipe the Inderlanders off the face of the planet. However, they quickly discovered that without the intervention of Inderlanders, the death rate would have been far higher, and the world would have fallen apart. So, humanity turned its focus to those individuals and companies responsible for medical research, bioengineering, and biotechnology. It was venting their fear and anger against those that could be responsible for more death and destruction through mere mockeries of trials and little more than legalised murder that caused a second wave of death. With previously widely available medicines prohibited, anyone found operating a biolab was ruthlessly eradicated.Forty years after the events of The Turn, Humans and Inderlanders live in a somewhat tense balance. Rachel’s job is to ensure that her fellow Inderlanders do not encroach upon the humans, and each other, so as not to disturb this equilibrium. However, recently her boss has been sending her on runs customarily given to the interns. Even those are going wrong for Rachel, with assignments that should have been quick and easy turning out disastrously. She is at the end of her rope when a routine run to bring in a leprechaun for tax evasion presents her with a potential for three wishes. Wishes that could help her leave the I.S. and go into business for herself. The problem is that no one breaks their contract with the I.S. The last person that tried died so spectacularly gruesome that he became the whispered warning to all runners.During the run, Rachel has backup in the form of a pixy Jenks, who delights in embarrassing her and making sure she and everyone around her know that he is getting hazard pay after an unfortunate incident Rachel had with a fairy and a frog. Rachel also runs into an old acquaintance, Ivy Tamwood, with whom she was training partners several years ago. Ivy is the last living vampire of the prestigious Tamwood family and a rising star of the I.S. All three have reasons for wanting one of the leprechaun’s wishes and agree to take one each. Whilst speaking about their unhappiness with working at I.S., Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks decide to quit the service and open a private runner firm.This all seems easy on the surface, with Rachel sure that the I.S. won’t care about her leaving, considering the degrading runs she has been given over the past two years. However, she doesn’t anticipate her boss being infuriated with Ivy cashing out her trust fund to pay out her I.S. contract and becoming untouchable. He vindictively confirms to Rachel that he had deliberately been giving her crap runs and was the cause of the problems she has experienced, but that won’t stop him from using every cent of Ivy’s payout to finance a hit on Rachel.Word soon gets out that Rachel has a giant bullseye painted on her back by the I.S. and becomes persona non grata for the wider Inderlander community. So along with her new business partners and sudden roommates, Ivy and Jenks, Rachel sets about dodging assassins whilst trying to find a way out of her predicament. She devises a plan to force the I.S. to back down if she can catch the white whale of the Cincinnati law enforcement, Councilman Trent Kalamack. Kalamack has been a target of the I.S. and FIB for years but has always managed to slide out from underneath any investigation. His reputation is left untarnished even as law enforcement agencies know he is dirty. Rachel’s pursuit of Kalamack drives the narrative, and there is no dull moment as she catapults herself from one moment to the next.I need to confess that I love Rachel. She is not perfect, but her flaws make her interesting and relatable. Rachel makes mistakes but always owns up to them and never tries to blame others. She is tenacious and headstrong, although sometimes that leans towards obstinate and impulsive to her detriment. Yet, at the same time, we see growth in Rachel’s character and her awareness of her shortcomings. She acknowledges others’ strengths and weaknesses, and although reluctant to rely on others, you do feel that she begins to understand that leaning on others is not a failure but rather an opportunity to add their strength to your own.There is a rich and diverse cast of secondary characters, with Ivy and Jenks leading the way. Rachel, Ivy and Jenks are lovely counterpoints to each other. It is refreshing to read about the typical teething pains you experience when you move in with new people rather than the insta-best friend stereotype. The rich tapestry of characters is beautifully enhanced by the impressive world-building woven throughout the story. There are still gaps in the reader’s knowledge, of course, but there is nothing that will stop your enjoyment of the book.The last point I mention is that even though I have read this book numerous times, I listened to the brilliant audio recording Marguerite Gavin narrated for this review. Sometimes it is a struggle to listen to audiobooks if the narrator cannot distinguish the voices of the individual characters or they don’t voice them in a way that feels true to the character. But Ms Gavin did it all flawlessly. Whether they were female, male, witch, were, or pixie, we had unique voices for each character that were all distinct. I already have Book 2 ready to go and can’t wait to continue the story alongside Ms Gavin.Overall, I loved ‘Dead Witch Walking’ as much as I remember I did all those years ago. Ms Harrison is a natural storyteller, and her writing style flows off the page effortlessly. Rachel is a fascinating main character who takes the reader on a captivating ride from the first page to the last. The book is fast-paced with a well-crafted story and detailed world-building, populated by a range of secondary characters that fill the pages with their personality no matter how short their time is. Now, please excuse me as I am off to start Book 2!4.5 out of 5 stars! Rounded up to 5 stars.‘Dead Witch Walking’ is the first book in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. As of January 2023, the series consists of the following books.Book 1: Dead Witch WalkingBook 2: The Good, the Bad, and the UndeadBook 3: Every Which Way But DeadBook 4: A Fistful of CharmsBook 5: For a Few Demons MoreBook 6: The Outlaw Demon Wails (Where Demons Dare in the U.K.)Book 7: White Witch, Black CurseBook 8: Black Magic SanctionBook 9: Pale DemonBook 10: A Perfect BloodBook 11: Ever AfterBook 12: The Undead PoolBook 13: The Witch with No Name (original series conclusion)Book 14: American DemonBook 15: Million Dollar DemonBook 16: Trouble with the CursedBook 17: Demons of Good and Evil (releasing June 2023)Note: Apart from the main series, there is a prequel book, ‘The Turn’, set in 1966, that covers the virus outbreak and plague catastrophe that created the alternative timeline. There are a couple of novellas, numerous short stories in different anthologies and some graphic novels.

The Hollows is another one of the first Urban Fantasy series I ever read. The bug had gotten me, but I was still new enough to not really know what was available. I think I was just pursuing every lead Amazon gave me, and that was back in the 3-for-4 paperbacks days, so I was in the habit of ordering the first four books in any newly discovered series.Which was a good plan, b/c by the time I finished Dead Witch Walking, I was well and truly hooked, and if I had days to wait before I could start the next book, I might have cried.Rachel Morgan (a witch) lives in one of my favorite UF worlds---the creatures-out-of-the-closet world.The first time I encountered this kind of world, I didn't know what to do with it---it was too foreign a concept for me to unquestioningly swallow. However, upon closer acquaintance, I realized how much simpler things were if the humans knew there really were things that went bump in the night: the hate groups could just be the standard bastard collection of racists and bigots instead of super, secret society types, and the creatures' actions weren't limited to what they could do without being, horror-of-horrors, discovered.Provided there was a reasonable explanation for why the creatures were out in the open, I soon preferred this set-up almost across the board.Unfortunately, that's where my main issue with The Hollows began . . .In Rachel's world, a disease piggybacking off a genetically modified tomato decimated the human population---the creatures, or Inderlanders, were mostly immune to the disease so that when the dust settled, for the first time perhaps ever, the humans and the creatures were, numbers-wise, largely equal.The Inderlanders took advantage of the situation and came out of the closet. If Harrison had left it at that, I probably would have been okay.But she didn't.Nope, she had the silly humans outlaw SCIENCE, b/c they were AFRAID. Afraid of SCIENCE. Afraid of TOMATOES. Just pathetically, ridiculously AFRAID."Outlaw science? What does that even mean?" you ask.Well it means that the masses are dying of previously treatable illnesses, b/c silly humans destroyed the knowledge and shut down (burned down) anything resembling a research facility.So yeah . . . that was a problem.More realistically, the silly humans also tried to deprive any Inderlanders of their jobs, especially if said job was some form of government employment. Newly deprived of gainful employment, the Inderlanders blew their noses at the humans, and started their own government agencies.So there.Rachel works for one such agency, only she's been getting really crappy assignments (or runs) for awhile now, and she's just about ready to quit.Except no one quits I.S. (Inderlander Security), the creature version of law enforcement, before their contract is finished . . .At least no one quits . . . Dun dun duuunnnnn . . . and survives.But Rachel thinks she's found the out she's been looking for when she captures her latest target, a tax-evading Leprechaun, who offers her 3 wishes in exchange for her freedom.It seems like the perfect solution.And it is. Until Ivy Tamwood, another I.S. Runner, former training partner, AND living vampire (can't forget that part), and Jenks, pixy back-up extraordinaire, decide they want in on the action. Ivy even proposes they put out a shingle together and start their own private runner service.What could possibly go wrong?Well, for one, Boss Man at I.S. is seriously pissed about Ivy buying out her contract (living vamps are loaded), so even though he admits to giving Rachel crap runs for the last two years in an effort to get her to quit, he decides to take his anger over Ivy leaving out on Rachel by using Ivy's generous payout to fund the hits he keeps putting on Rachel's life.If that wasn't awkward (HA! Awkward!) enough, Ivy seems to have a bit of a crush on Rachel.And that's problem #2.Roommate situations already have the capacity for awkwardness, but when one of the roommates has "secret" feelings for the other . . . awkward in the extreme. And it has nothing to do with Ivy and Rachel both being female, so calm yourself. It'd be just as awkward if Ivy was a guy. No one wants to be dodging come-ons in their own home. Especially if the source of the come-ons is a vampire who wants to eat you . . . *snorts* . . . that's not what I meant, and you know it.*shakes head at gutter-minded people*BUT, on the whole this book was S-T-E-L-L-A-R. The characters are well-developed from the start, and if you ignore the ban on medical research, the world-building is fantastic too. Rachel is pretty kickass, and has limitless growth-potential, and the dash of romance is ridiculously cute. Action-packed,Dead Witch Walking will grab your interest and hold on to it . . . indefinitely. Don't let that scare you off though. The last book in the series comes out in September, and after that there's no reason you shouldn't be able to return to a productive life. (Disclaimer: Rabid Reads can in no way be held responsible for addictions to really excellent books or the shambles your life may potentially turn into due to your inability to do anything but read.)

Excelente libro y toda la saga de Rachel Morgan, muy recomendable!! Magia, misterio, romance y acción! Y diversión!

An excellent read, found myself wanting to go back and read more, a book which makes you tell others to leave you to read, great characters, lots if fun and mystery and so so much better than Buffy.

It was a great story. Entertaining, action pact with great characters!Will defenetly continue reading the series!Would really recommend

I'm the proud owner of all 13 hollows novels and most of the novellas; this is where the addiction began. It feels like these characters are close friends. Even the support actors are rich in personality. You will (ok, may, we're all different) laugh, cry, cry with laughter, rage, sigh and ultimately read in fascination as all the main protagonists develop. The series only gets better with each book.I highly recommend using the look inside feature to get a feel for if you're going to enjoy Kim's style, then search for the bundles instead of buying each book individually.My rating system: 1= Disliked it, 2= Just Readable... wish/glad it was free, 3= Enjoyable but didn't stand out from the crowd, 4= Very enjoyable, well written, happily bought (will buy) more from this author, 5= Un-putdownable, riveting story, brilliantly written, may have changed my life finding this author.

Absolutely love, love Kim Harrisons Rachel Morgan books.