Pale Demon
4 Stars

In need of protection during his mysterious elf quest, Trent Kalamack cajoles Rachel into allowing him to join her as she travels west for a Coven meeting, and the situation goes downhill from there. With assassins and demons on their trail. Rachel and company will be lucky if they arrive in one piece.

The road trip format of this installment is very entertaining and allows readers to gain some real insight into Harrison's characters, especially Trent whose actions and motivations have been quite obscure until this point. As a fan of Trent's from the first book, it is rewarding to see the humanity lurking beneath his cold and haughty facade, and to realize that his actions, however misguided, have noble intentions.

Jenks and Ivy also join in although neither plays a significant role in this book. In fact, for the first time, they are both rather superfluous in the narrative and function as nothing more than the ubiquitous sidekick and damsel in distress. This is unfortunate as they are both compelling characters in their own right, especially Ivy whose backstory is so appealing, and it is a pity to see their potential being wasted.

Algelirept, on the other hand, becomes more interesting with each installment. The cruel and sadistic demon of the first few books has become both a mentor and a champion for Rachel (although he still reveals his diabolical tendencies from time to time). Moreover, there is some sort of secret in his past that is hinted at and I am hopeful that the details will be forthcoming sooner rather than later.

The villains in this one are both decidedly nasty. Whether it is Oliver, the cowardly and hypocritical leader of the Coven of Ethical Standards, who is not above murdering an innocent witch for his own self-righteous reasons, or the sick and twisted day-walking demon with a huge chip on his shoulder. Both appear to get their just desserts; however, it is still possible that we have yet to see the last of them.

Finally, Rachel is in her element here whether she is fighting off elven assassins, murderous witches, bloodthirsty pixies, or demented demons. She is also beginning to accept her true nature and the powers that come along with it.

In sum, Pale Demon is an action packed and exciting read. The developments in Rachel and Trent's relationship are so intriguing and I cannot wait to see what happens between them. ( )

This book was a cross country action packed story. Rachel, as always, is making a big mess of everything. Characters in this book: Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, Pierce, Vivian Trent, Al, some other demons, and a few new characters. No Ceri this time, since is expecting and "due any day".
While reading this book, it becomes clear that Rachel is a good person, her character is Multi-dimensional. I am glad the Jenks is back to his regulär old self.
If you have read the series so far, contine reading up to and including this book. I, for myself, am advancing to the next volume and i hope that the author will continue to write at this level of storytelling. ( )

I loved this book! I have been having a great time working my way through this series. I am only made that I waited so long to read these books. This book takes Rachel and the rest of the crew on a road trip. Road trip books in a series can really be hit or miss for me but this one was a definite hit. I was glued to my headphones once I started reading.

Rachel needs to get to the west coast and it turns out Trent does as well. So Trent, Rachel, Ivy, and Jenks pile into Rachel’s mom’s car and head out. Of course, they run into more than a few problems along the way. I was especially thrilled to see them visit my hometown of St. Louis and they definitely made their mark during their stay. Once they get to their destination, things become even more intense and I was quite surprised by some of the turns that the book eventually took.

Marguerite Gavin does a fabulous job with the narration once again. She does such a great job with all of the various character voices and flawlessly brings the story to life. I love how she is able to add just the right amount of emotion to her voice to really help the story have the biggest impact possible. I do believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of the story.

I would highly recommend this series to others. This is the ninth book in the series which I would highly recommend reading in order. This book was a ton of fun and there were a lot of big developments that should have some major impacts on future books. I cannot wait to read more of this fantastic series. ( )

Ok, I am now officially on the Rache Trent bandwagon. I was really hoping for Rachel and Pierce to be able to work it out or something but I think I feel pretty much the same way she does now. Poor Al though! The ending made me sad for him- even though he was going to get "revenge". Loved the part about how Rachel made a place in the Ever- After. I could almost picture it. ( )

hb