Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

Ivy, Rachel’s life vampire roommate, who would love to be her significant other, is also fascinating – as is the relationship between them. Well, when I recall my twenties, most of the morass I was wading through was largely of my making, too… Granted nothing was quite as entertaining or dangerous as Rachel’s cock-ups, but I am really fond of her vulnerabilities.īut what also makes this series stand out, is that it has some wonderful supporting characters. I get a tad tired of very collected, smart heroines with lots of power, whose only conflict is which man in their lives to bed (yawn…), while Rachel blunders from one mess to another – many of her own making.

The other issue that stood out was just what a muddle the first person protagonist, Rachel Morgan is in. This is a facet of the world I really enjoy – I run to these books for escape and enjoyment, but that doesn’t mean it has to be simple and one-dimensional. The backstory to the world is complex and three-dimensional – and as soon as you think you have a handle on how it works, someone pops up who blurs the boundaries. In this urban fantasy version, other species have now ‘come out’ due to a plague that swept the world, and humans are now confronted with a variety of other beings.

What struck me when I returned to this series, is just how quirky and enjoyable the world is. If that sounds like an action-packed story, full of incident and tension, you’d be right. And then there’s also the small matter of the turf war raging in Cincinnati’s underworld one that Rachel began and will have to navigate before she even has the smallest hope of preserving her own future. Her vampire roommate, Ivy, has rediscovered her taste for blood and is struggling to keep their relationship platonic, her boyfriend, Nick, has disappeared – perhaps indefinitely and she’s being stalked by an irate pack of werewolves.

But eternal damnation is not Rachel’s only worry. To avoid becoming the love-slave of a depraved criminal vampire, bounty-hunter and witch, Rachel Morgan, is cornered into a deal with could promise her an eternity of suffering. This series was one that for one reason or other, I sort of lost touch with – but after dismantling the book mountain by my bed and coming across this volume, I decided to dive back into Harrison’s urban fantasy romp.

Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison