Ever After – Like the finest of wines, The Hollows gets better with age

As you can see, I present definitive proof that I’ve indeed read the book! And man oh man is it fantastic! It’s my new favorite! I normally worry about using that term too loosely because it could diminish the potential quality of the series as a whole, but I genuinely think it’s the best book thus far.  Kim Harrison has done it yet again and all signs point to her doing it two more times, and in epic proportions.

This time the Ever After, home of the demons, is shrinking at an alarmingly fast rate, placing the existence of magic in a pretty vulnerable position; without one there couldn’t be the other.  So as if our favorite itchy witch, Rachel Morgan, didn’t have enough problems, this just sprang up to #1.  If she can’t solve this one, she won’t have any others.  If she can’t fix it, the demons want her head as her botched leyline creation caused this mess in the first place.  And no one wants to see that happen more than her old buddy, Ku’Sox, the former day walking demon who had the misfortune to cross Rachel and lose.  He even resorts to abducting her friend and goddaughter as insurance…and boy is it effective.  Thankfully she’s got Trent Kalamack and Algaliarept by her side to restore balance and take him down once and for all. But the price may be too high for things to ever be the same again.

I know there was criticism about not a lot happening in A Perfect Blood, though I personally enjoyed the old-school Hollows style mystery. But for those of you who didn’t, for EVER AFTER I think a better question is what didn’t happen!  There was so much going on that I genuinely can’t recall a dull moment. I think I felt and continue to feel every emotion possible, but I ultimately finished the book in pure euphoria.  In case you needed a little reminding, Harrison presents really harsh realities and difficult decisions that prove she’s an author with guts. I don’t think I’ve experienced so many pulse pounding moments since For a Few Demons More (book 5). This book left me reeling like no other.

The scenes that take place in the Ever-After were some of the best of the series. The race against the clock really made this book so intense. Learning the history of the demons and the elves and the eventual degradation of their relationship was great, though I would have loved even more insight.  I just can’t get enough of it.

And that brings me to Big Al, who was totally amazing. Fans will absolutely adore him in this book as we learn more about his personal back story.  He’s much more prominent here than in A Perfect Blood and that’s fine by me because he literally lights up the pages and keeps things exciting in his own peculiar way.

After having read Trent’s POV in the bonus chapter of A Perfect Blood, I saw everything he did in a whole new light, and boy was it refreshing.  He’s got his own personal demons to work through and it really makes you feel for the guy.  He is in a rock and a hard place, accepting his actions that have led to certain consequences while still working to find the best solution possible. I loved seeing him use more magic. I feel like elves have a pretty powerful arsenal that deserve more exploration, so it was nice to see Harrison skim the surface here with the insinuation of even greater things.  Magic is amped up for the elves, while more human qualities are amped up for the demons, so it was an interesting trade off.

His teamwork with Rachel was one of my favorite parts of the book.  The tension was insane and placed so well all throughout. It’s seriously amazing to go back and read passages from Dead Witch Walking and then look at them now. Their progress is usually one step forward, two steps back, but the slow burn for this ship is probably what will make it my all-time #1 favorite if they end up together *fingers crossed*.

This book was just about everything I could ask for, but it wasn’t 100% flawless. With so much ever after, elf and demon action, the story manages to throw in a smidgeon of development in vampire politics. Unfortunately it felt very much like an afterthought and briefly broke the overall flow.  We know vampires won’t get a lot of focus until the final book 13, so 10 or so pages of development came off a random at best and forgettable at worst.

All in all, this is an absolute MUST READ for fans of the series.  Since Black Magic Sanction and Pale Demon the series has been invigorated and manages to improve as we reach the final stretch.  That is a rarity for 95% of series that make it this far.  I think it helps a lot that Kim Harrison has an end in sight and continues to write towards that.  Many others have jumped-the-shark by this point. The Hollows is absolutely revving up for a grande finale and I cannot wait to be there.