Review: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UNDEAD

The Good, The Bad And The Undead by Kim Harrison
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.

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.

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.

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

Review: DEAD WITCH WALKING

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
Book 1 of the Rachel Morgan series

Genre: urban fantasy, chick lit

About Dead Witch Walking:

Forty years ago a genetically engineered virus killed half of the world's human population and exposed creatures of dreams and nightmares that had, until then, lived in secret alongside humanity.

Rachel Morgan is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, apprehending criminals throughout modern-day Cincinnati. She is also a witch.

Used to confronting criminal vampires, dark witches and homicidal werewolves, Rachel's latest assignments - apprehending cable-stealing magic students and tax-evading leprechauns - have prompted her to break her thirty-year contract with the I.S. and start her own runner agency.

But no one quits the I.S.

Marked for death, Rachel is a dead witch walking unless she can appease her former employers and pay off her contract by exposing the city's most prominent citizen as a drug lord. But making an enemy of the ambiguous Trent Kalamack proves even more deadly than leaving the I.S.

Source: Info in the About Dead Witch Walking was taken from the back of the book cover.

Review:
This book reads like a female Harry Dresden by Jim Butcher. And just like the Dresden Files, delivers a wonderful reading pleasure!

It took a while to get into the story but I eventually did. The story telling quality while superb is not quite a masterpiece, a 4 out of 5. The story itself while not exactly an original is still quite good, another 4 out of 5. Character development is very very good! I would give it a 5 out of 5. The female protagonist is "human" enough to feel tired and defeated but still hero enough to still want to do the right thing. Makes the readers feel like, "hey I'm not perfect like that but maybe, just maybe, I could be a hero too". I will not say how or what the ending was because that will give out spoilers, but I would rate the ending a 4.5 out of 5.

Here's the kicker. My paperback copy is the UK edition with the ugliest cover ever!! The publisher's UK art department so needs to be fired! Holding that yellow book in my hands is even uglier. A yellow cover for an urban fantasy book?!? In the sales & marketing grid, this cover art will get a rating of zero in a scale of 1 to 5.

I enjoyed this book and would read another Kim Harrison work again. Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries