June Buddy Read: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

[Sarah]

Jeann and I are reading The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison. It is the second book in her Hollows/Rachel Morgan series. Anyone is welcome to join.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

So I'm on page 72 at the moment and I think the author has addressed the "hard to follow" issue and she weaves in introductions during relevant scenarios. In Dead Witch Walking, they appeared at random times throughout the book and you never really understood some things, such as the difference between living and dead vamps, but this one makes it really clear.

(view spoiler)[I find it interesting how Rachel has suddenly found herself the dominant one compared to her and Ivy. I wonder how that happened? (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

I think she has definitely grown as an author into this book. I can appreciate that she writes the characters better and makes it easier to get a handle on everything. I'm only on page 38 but I'm enjoying it so far.

(view spoiler)[I don't have an answer for that but my assumption is that Rachel is learning to stand on her own. She knows she can't totally rely on Ivy plus Ivy can be kind of unpredictable. (hide spoiler)]

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

So I read the book all day today and up to page 278. Is this a re-read for you too Sarah?

(view spoiler)[I can really see them setting up Trent to be a love interest. The whole thing with Nick being Rachel's familiar is quite funny! It's kind of sad her teacher got ganked as soon as she was starting to be nice, wonder how she's going to get herself out of the binding.

I see Nick slowly turning dark, his use of black magic, black aura, and continual calling of the demon is a bit of a worry. It's also quite sad that they can't have kids, I can't really see it lasting. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

Yes it is a re-read for me. I've read up to book 8 in the series. I'm doing a re-read of the series before I get into 9 and 10. I own all of them it's just been awhile since I've read these and I wanted to refresh my memory :)

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

I just finished the series yesterday, definitely enjoyed this a lot more than the first one :) There's not much I can really say about it but Rachel is definitely developing as a more independent and stronger person and witch.

(view spoiler)[I'm a little disappointed how the whole issue with Ivy was not really resolved at the end. I mean she just found out that her friend has been using her all this time, and the main focus shifted onto Trent and the murder investigation. I wanted to see what that confrontation would have been like, or if there ever was one.

I do think she's asking for trouble for staying in the church, time and time again when Ivy attacks her, she considers leaving but stays for selfish reasons. It's unfair on Ivy, even though she can't control it, but then I guess it balances out later when you realise that Ivy's relationship with Rachel isn't the most selfless either. I do hope they stay friends regardless.

Poor Bob, I can't believe Jenks ended up cooking him up :( after having him in the bathtub all this time!

I'm not sure I'm liking Nick, his obsession with the black arts is getting kind of scary. I'm not really seeing any chemistry between him and Rachel, there's more between Trent than anyone else.

There were some really gory bits that I had to skip over here, wow even I was shocked at the detail and imagination that the author went into describing the murder scenes. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

Sorry I've been slow going with this, it's been a hectic week. I haven't gotten much further than I was when I posted before.

I'm really glad you liked this one more than the first :D

As soon as I can refresh my memory on the book I will post about your spoiler :)

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

Hehe no problems, I'd be keen to hear your thoughts when you've caught up.

[Sarah]

Alright, I've finally finished it! It was better than I remember, and I can't believe it took me so long to re-read it!

(view spoiler)[I think Rachel is waiting to confront Ivy until Ivy is in a better place to hand a confrontation. If Rachel were to confront her now after everything happening with Piscary, and if Ivy were to get hurt by it then Rachel would feel bad. But if Ivy is completely okay and Rachel confronts her then Rachel doesn't have to feel bad if she ends up hurting Ivy. Does that make sense? IDK that's just my idea.

I completely understand about Rachel staying in the church when she should just leave, but she's very right about the danger she would be in if she left. She would be worse off without Ivy than she is with Ivy. At least she can try to talk Ivy down, while another vamp wouldn't care what Rachel said. They would just try to bite her.

It is very said that Bob got made into fish fry, but kind of funny at the same time. Rachel went through all that trouble for nothing. But I think it's a lesson learned for her. She won't take a run without payment up front, hopefully.

Nick is definitely getting in too deep with the demon, and it's becoming dangerous for him and Rachel. I kind of feel bad for how things end up at the end up the book. He doesn't even want to be around Rachel because of her pulling ley line through him. I think she'd be better off trying to find someone else anyway. An Inderlander might be a better match. Personally, I like Trent or Kisten. I don't think she'd really want to be with Trent but they do have chemistry, she just hates everything he does and stands for.

Yeah the murder scenes were pretty graphic. I didn't remember that from the first time (it's been three years since I've read these the first time and a lot has gotten through the cracks). It was pretty nasty business.

I'm glad they figured out what Trent is though, and hopefully they can keep it from Jenks. I really, really like Jenks as a character. He's hilarious but he really cares about Rachel and Ivy. Plus, his wife and kids are great too. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

Did you want to buddy read the next book?

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

Hell yeah! When did you want to do it, see if it fits in with the next bingo shelf?

[Sarah]

Yeah, let's wait and see if it fits with the next shelf called :) then if not we can try to fit it in the next week or so? Does that sounds ok?

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

Yep sounds good. Since you're doing a full re-read, I'll be happy to tagalong for the whole series :)

I have a few books that I need to review but I've got down this title for a challenge before the end of July, so might have to delay it until I've finished those. The week after next should be fine though.

[Sarah]

Awesome! I'm happy to have you tagalong with me :)

The week after next sounds great to me! I'll go ahead and set up a thread now, and put it for the week of the 16th.

[Sarah]

Here's the thread