Book 2 of the Rachel Morgan series
Genre: urban fantasy, chick lit
About The Good, The Bad And The Undead:
Rachel Morgan's back, and in more trouble than ever! Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and other vampire novels won't want to miss the second novel in Kim Harrison's addicting--and already bestselling--supernatural series.Source: Info in the About The Good, The Bad And The Undead was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30262.The_Good_the_Bad_and_the_Undead on 018/06/2011.
Former-bounty-hunter Rachel Morgan has it pretty good. She has left the corrupt Inderland Runner Service and started her own independent service. She has survived werewolves, shape-changing demons, bad-hair days, and sharing a church with her vampire roommate Ivy. She even has a cute (if human) boyfriend - what more could a witch want?
But living with a reformed vampire isn't all it's cracked up to be, particularly when your roommate's very bad ex-boyfriend wants her back, and wouldn't mind you in the process. And especially when he's six feet of sheer supernatural seduction, and you've got a demon mark that makes vampires literally hotter than hell....
To save herself and Ivy, Rachel must confront the vampire master - and the dark secrets she's hidden even from herself.
Review:
I had to put this book down several times for extended periods of time because I got irritated with the main protagonist. I knew from book 1 that she can be irritatingly stupid but after I put the book down for sometime I'd forget just how irritating and pick the book up again. It was like that, on and off, on and off, until I eventually finished reading it after more than two years. Maybe a more forgiving reader might find this book a quicker read than I did.
Rachel Morgan, the main protagonist, is just this side of stupid who blunders around from danger to danger and survived by sheer dumb luck. Not only does she endangers herself, but also people around her. WTF!! Character development? I think that rates really low. However, there is also Jenks. Who became my instant favourite pixie! Tends to fly around my head and sass every single character in the book! The pixie image to the right is not quiet right because his wings is suppose to be more like a dragonfly, but that pic is the best I could find.
And then there's the demon, Big Al! The wildcard character, shrouded in mystery and not quite sure yet whether he would turn out to be the biggest bad guy in the entire Rachel Morgan world, but he's likeable to me! I hope he turns out to be not too bad... Come to think of it, everybody else in the Rachel Morgan world is well developed, even the bad guys' characters. It's only the main protagonist who is too stupid to live.
I really like the world building. It's rich and vibrant. It's painted with skillful and masterful flair. It got all the good fantasy elements, fairies, weres, witches, and vampires, yet still feel authentic. The kind of urban fantasy world which really appeals to my fantasy buff self. Despite that, I don't think I would be buying anymore books in this series because I couldn't stand the annoying stupidity of the main protagonist. If ever, I would borrow it from the library than waste my money.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story Telling Quality = 3.5
World Building = 5
Character Development = 2.5
Pace = 1
Plot = 2
Ending = 1.5
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries
I do want to try a book by her, well book 1 ;) But some things seems to be a bit up and down
ReplyDeleteIf you are a forgiving reader and can overlook Rachel Morgan's stupid tendencies then you will most likely enjoy this book because the world building is really good :)
ReplyDeleteAnnoying character huh? I hate when that happens. I'm such a character person. Great review.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read, the protagonist key--your basically "meeting" that character and deciding whether you want to be best buds with her, or throw her out a window. And just like with making new friends, not everyone is going to be a good fit--somebody that I find really annoying might be another person's kindred spirit. I have book one of this series in my TBR, who knows how I'll feel when I get to it. Good review!
ReplyDeleteI think there is a purpose behind this, when the series starts Rachel is young, green, and needs to do a lot of growing up and has a lot of learning to do. Throughout the series, I feel like she really comes into her own; which is more than I can say for a lot of other UF protagonists out there. This is by far my favorite UF series out there. The world building and characters are so strong, it's hard to deny it's greatness. (Book three will always be one of my favorites btw)
ReplyDeleteJuju at Tales of Whimsy.com & fairypenguin, you are right, I might find Rachel Morgan annoying but you might not... Give this series a try and see. Brooke Reviews is right, too, the world building is fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteSucks about the main character. I do want to read one of Kim Harrison's books but maybe not this series.
ReplyDelete