Since that's what's on my mind at the moment, I have my inspiration for this week's T13. With apologies to those Thirteeners who aren't familiar with Kim Harrison, this one won't be that interesting to you. (But this is a genre-busting series with something for everyone, so really, you should just give in and read the series. Then come back and this list will make a lot more sense to you.) Here is:
Thirteen Random Thoughts about Kim Harrison’s Hollows Universe
1. Dammitall. Is Trent a good guy or not? I NEED TO KNOW. Definitively.
2. If the magic in this world is predicated on balance (eg, the price of an earth charm is blood, the price of a demon curse is the black smut on the practitioner’s aura), what is the opposite, the balance, of the smut? It seems like there ought to be a way to eliminate it, not just move it from one being to another. I’m waiting for the angels to show up.
3. What *is* the crazy deal between pixies and elves, anyway?
4. Mild spoiler: So Rachel has witch abilities, demon abilities, carries the vampire virus, and is the member of a were pack. Oh, ‘scuse me, she’s the Alpha Bitch of a were pack (and we LOVE that). What can she do with pixies? Fairies? Elves? Gargoyles? Trolls? Well, OK, I guess she’s not quite at the tipping point yet for being the nexus of all paranormal races in the Hollows.
5. Ivy’s voice is described as a “gray ribbon,” or “gray silk” too often. What does that even mean?
6. I also think that as an expletive, “the Turn” gets overused. “By the Turn,” “Dammit back to the Turn,” etc. etc. OK, I get that it was huge, but has it actually replaced ALL other profanity?
7. Speaking of profanity though, I adore Jenks’ creative vocabulary. “Tink’s tampons”? And the little interplay between Jenks and his son, where the son says “Tink’s diaphragm” and gets called out on it? Hah, so very father/son, and yet totally warped. Love.
8. A lot of this cover art reminds me of the cover of “In the Garden of Good and Evil.” Cool.
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9. I’m very curious about where the focus thing with David could go. I don’t actually think much else is going to happen in this series arc, but according to the setup, *spoiler for FAFDM* the balance of power between the vamps and the weres has shifted. Though I don’t quite get why it was such a *bad* thing for Warren to have it and now it’s an OK thing for David. Still, wouldn’t it be cool to see the Hollows in a couple of generations?
10. Something is UP with that cat Rex. Mark my words.
11. Church bells. Do church bells ring when anyone else in the Hollows does their thing? I don’t think so. What does this mean?
12. I love how Rachel’s mom is emerging as a character. Hope there’s more good stuff in upcoming books.
13. Pretty sure I could do another 13 like this. Have you read any of the Hollows books? What are you curious about? If you could spec a short story in this world about a certain plot point or character, what would it be?
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9 comments:
I had an interesting experience with the Hollows. I started (by accident) in the middle and hated it because the books in no way stand alone). Then I read a shot story about Ivy in (I think) the Dates from Hell anthology and was back in, and started over. Then I burned out on them, much as I did with Anita Blake.
This whole "nexus of all the races" thing is, imo, a failing that a lot of urban fantasy writers fall into. In fact, it feels exactly like Anita Blake did, and I stopped, uh, believing in it.
But I love and am fascinated by Trent. Good guy? Bad guy? I don't really care, because he's an interesting guy.
I'm close to burning out, I think. I'm not enjoying WWBC as much as the previous books -- Rachel seems to be making some really silly leaps of logic about certain characters and it's making me a little WTF. I don't know if she did it in prior books and I didn't notice, or if the writing is a little looser in this last one. Time for a break, I guess.
Great list, makes me want to read the series. A decent urban fantasy novel can be such a hard thing to find. The ones I have read either make the make so important that they forget about the none magical side of things or they make it so rare that it doesn't really make all that much of a difference.
My own Thursday Thirteen is up at http://betweentheticks.blogspot.com 13 guilty little pleasures.
You might also be interested in carpearcanum.com a webnovel that I've just started that is also urban fantasy.
I've never read any of them. Yet. But if you care this much, I'll think about it.
I don't know what the Hollows are but I am going to check it out.
Sorry, read down to the previous post for more info on the Hollows as a series. The first book is Dead Witch Walking.
I haven't read the Hollows yet - I'm almost afraid to start reading it because I do fall into them and HAVE to read the whole thing... your TT is a huge temptatin!
You can see why I commented, a while back (did I? I think I did) that The Hollows series doesn't quite fit into that new trend of angel or demon heroes. It kind of fits into all of them and none of them.
Trent is definitely a fascinating character. And I adore Jenks.
"as an expletive, “the Turn” gets overused."
Oh, I don't know. "Oh my god" gets way overused today. If the Turn is the Big Scary in that world, I can see it being similarly ubiquitous.
"I had an interesting experience with the Hollows. I started (by accident) in the middle and hated it because the books in no way stand alone)."
I started in the middle, with one of the Kisten books. I thought it stood alone just fine. Though once I read the earlier books, I was relieved that there was more to the secondary characters. Trent, e.g., is much more interesting than Kisten.
I do agree with Nicola that the series started to go downhill; I attribute that to getting stuck with a power imbalance: Kisten was weak, and Rachel had to become all-powerful and do everything by herself. Given that dynamic, the relationships start to look less compelling: no one around her is very effectual at helping her, or even understanding her. I thought the last book (haven't read WWBC yet) was transitional--Harrison trying to restart the series.
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