Black Magic Sanction

In Black Magic Sanction long time fans of Kim Harrison's series about Rachel Morgan a bounty hunting witch living in Cincinnati, have a chance to truly appreciate and enjoy how Harrison has grown in her craft as a writer. Building on the threads left at the end of the last book Rachel discovers that the coven of witches who ordered her shunned for dealing with demons is trying to capture her so they can surgically neutralize her. Unfortunately for them and luckily for Rachel she has not committed any crimes so instead of having the police arrest her they start a guerrilla war to capture of kill her. Since they are willing to torch a building she *might* be inside but Rachel holds back from using dangerous magic even in self defense it raises interesting moral questions about who really is a black or white witch. Also in previous books of all the Inderlanders, various magical beings, witches seemed to be the weakest. Among vampires and were-wolves and things that go bump in the night, witches seemed like the innocuous wimps of the occult, support troops to the true monster. Here they are seen as a real threat not to be underestimated. The real charm here is Harrison's writing. She has created a rich and well developed world and in her earlier books she was sometimes so eager to show off parts of it that the plots became very cluttered with sub-issues. Even more enjoyable as in what I think was the best book in the series, Fist Full of Charms, Harrison strips away a lot of the usual cast of characters and settings some of which could be seen as crutches for her writing. Before she had left town. In Black Magic Sanction her supports are pulled away by the enemy who start neutralizing her carefully built up support systems. The book is so well put together that even though there are references to a lot that came before, you don't feel that you're missing anything if this is where you started the series. As the book unfolds so do hard truths and ugly lies and we learn that nothing is black and white. The effect on the character is that we see Rachel as more rounded and developed person as she becomes more adult. The effect on the book is a moving, in pacing and emotion, easy read that is quite enjoyable.

Let me start out by saying that I am a huge fan of this series so this review might sound a little biased! While I enjoyed Harrison's previous book it was definitely not one of my favorites in the series. Black Magic Sanction, however, was everything I look forward to in these books. For me this installment had the perfect mix of both action and drama, with enough down time that the book didn't feel rushed. Rachel is still a little on the morose side of the spectrum, but this has never bothered me. In point of fact, one of the many aspects of the series that I love is that characters are imperfect and do what they can within their situations. The same can be said of Black Magic Sanction, where Rachel is once again forced into an impossible scenario without much hope of doing things the way she would like to. Al is a bigger player in this book as well which is always enjoyable. His dialogue never fails to make me laugh, and his penchant for chaos always keeps the plot interesting. Some of the scenes are a little predictable, but not enough to where it takes away from the overall enjoyment of the book. On the contrary, Black Magic Sanction has several twists that I had not seen coming at all. The ending is fantastically written and creates a foreboding that left me anxious for the next. Long time fans of the series who were let down by the last book should definitely give this one a chance! You won't be disappointed.

I think this series is a lot of fun! However if you just stumbled on this book and haven't read the others you will still enjoy it, but you will also be missing a LOT. Much of the character development not to mention the foundation for the plot was done in other/earlier books. So do yourself a favor and start The Hollows/Rachel Morgan series at the beginning! If you have read the others you will love this one. As usual Kim Harrison's characters make you laugh, and even cry (not telling you why - that would give it away & I don't want to spoil any part of this book for you!) Loved it! Just a warning - recommendation: read it on the weekend!!! It is really hard to put it down and I was reading till 2 am before I found a place I felt I could stop for the night!

I often find it difficult to review a new book from a favorite series because my feelings are pretty simple. They boil down to, "I love this series, I love this book, I wish I didn't have to wait a year for the next one!" That's how it is with Kim Harrison's books anyhow. I am totally hooked on The Hollows. I figure if you're reading this review you're probably not new to Kim Harrison. The Hollows is not a series that can be read out of order (for any newbies who've found there way here: start with Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, Book 1)). If you've enjoyed the direction that the series has been heading over the past few books, Black Magic Sanction will fill you with glee. If not, what's wrong with you? What are some little plot teasers I can throw out. Well, the villain of Black Magic Sanction is the coven of ethical and moral standards. As judge and jury to the witch population, members of the coven tend to be ruthless and power hungry...so it shouldn't be any surprise that these ruthless, power-hungry witches have found a way to use white magic for dark purposes. I really enjoyed this aspect of the novel - seeing a witch with an aura as clean freshly windexed glass use white magic to do some pretty black deeds, for selfish reasons, really drives home the point that however ugly Rachel Morgan's sooty aura is, she's the one fighting the good fight. Sometimes appearances really are deceiving. We see a lot more of Pierce, the former ghost, who serves as this book's dangerous love interest. We don't see enough of Trent, who makes a couple of brief yet crucial appearances. Nick turns up again, and boy, if you thought you couldn't hate Nick any more than you already did, you will find out that you were wrong. That little snothead is just about the most despicable fictional character I've ever encountered. But the sexy/evil enemy/ally that really shines in this book is Algaliarept. I've always thought Al was a great character; when he appears in a scene, I know it's going to be fun to read (even if I know Rachel won't enjoy what happens very much). But until Black Magic Sanction I was never even slightly tempted by him as a romantic interest for Rachel. That's right, I said "until," and no, I am not explaining any further. There's one really major thing that happens in Black Magic Sanction that all of Harrison's devoted readers have been dreading for a while now. We know that pixies have short life spans - and Jenks and Matalina have reached the ripe old age of 20, the sunset years of their species. But just try to imagine The Hollows without Jenks. It's impossible, right? He's the magic ingredient. Him and his whole family. Well, we get a day of reckoning in Black Magic Sanction so keep your tissues handy. I cried big fat tears over this one. That's about it. Ugh, another year until the next book!

Rachel Morgan has gotten herself in trouble again... but it's not her fault. The coven has shunned her for being a black witch, but she is only doing what she thinks is right, which usually involves saving peoples lives, including her friends. She is still Al's (the demon) student; Pierce is still around, although this time he has a body, and a nice one at that. There is a little crush or romance going on here, but it doesn't overshadow the story at all.... Rachel is being very cautious with her heart this time around since she is still so distraught over the loss of Kisten. She is bound and determined not to get her heart broken again. In this installment of the latest Kim Harrison book, there is humor, edge of your seat drama, some seriously sad things, and just all around one big joy ride of entertainment. The characters are so intense and intriguing. This has to be one of my all time favorite series, and even though I've sworn not to buy hardcover anymore, I couldn't resist this and didn't even try. And was not disappointed. Kim Harrison has a way of weaving an unbelievable story into something believable. I couldn't put the book down. Not only is Rachel and amazingly strong character, although you can easily see her humanity and the chinks in her armor, she has the best friends in the world in Ivy, a live Vampire, and Jenks, a pixie...who would do anything for her, and have, just as Rachel would go to the ends of the earth for them. The angst and competition between Trent and Rachel is still there, stemming from childhood and it's hard to believe they haven't killed each other yet, but there is a respect there that will keep them playing the "I hate you" game for some time to come. For some reason I really like Al. The demon is funny, rude, and scary...but it's obvious he cares about Rachel in his own way, despite having no compunction about killing anyone, possibly even her some day. Rachel does spend a little too much time dwelling on things like whether she should do certain things to people who are attempting to kill her. She is trying to retain her humanity, but she really needed to be spending more time on self defense, even if it meant killing... such as a group of vicious fairies... who are a huge part of the tragedy that happens in the book that changes the lives of all 3 of them. Jenks especially. If you have never read a Kim Harrison book, you should. I was hooked from the start... get the first one, and don't stop until you're done.