ARC Review--American Demon by Kim Harrison

A thrilling return to the #1 New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series, continuing Rachel Morgan’s story.

RACHEL MORGAN IS BACK–AND THE HOLLOWS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

What happens after you’ve saved the world? Well, if you’re Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch-born demon, you quickly discover that something might have gone just a little bit wrong. That the very same acts you and your friends took to forge new powers may have released something bound by the old. With a rash of zombies, some strange new murders, and an exceedingly mysterious new demon in town, it will take everything Rachel has to counter this new threat to the world–and it may demand the sacrifice of what she holds most dear.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


Kim Harrison returns to The Hollows once again with famed Rachel Morgan in American Demon! It's been five years since The Hollows series came to an end, but Kim picks things up shortly where we left off, only a few months have gone by for Rachel and co. It was kind of nice to pick things up right away like you would with any other series, but wow, has a lot happened in this series that I forgot about because you know, over the course of ten years I was reading the original series and over five years ago it ended, but never fear! Kim has a helpful dossier in the beginning that sums up important events and mentions other characters working to give you the quick and gritty version of what happened in the original series.

Rachel has been trying to find some sense of normalcy to her life after everything that happened when the Goddess was reawakened. Her church and home is still destroyed and she's working hard to get it repaired all while living on Kisten's old houseboat. But all is not well in the Hollows, zombies are reportedly running about and then there's been a string of domestic abuse cases that don't add up and before she knows it, Rachel is wrapped up in the case.

It seems all those little happy moments where we saw our beloved characters moving onto a possible happily ever after didn't go quite as they planned. A lot of things keep popping up to derail any sense of peace they might have had. Rachel and Trent have been getting along in their relationship very well, but soon politics come into play that will threaten to tear them apart. Trent's elf status should mean that he marries another elf and have elf babies, but as we know, his relationship with Ellsabeth came to a crashing end. Though she continues to play a role in his life with their daughter Lucy caught in between. Lucy, is positively adorable! I love her and little Ray--Quen's daughter--together! They are the best of friends and quite the hyperactive toddlers! Seeing Trent play Mr. Mom with them was just darling! Though I was bummed when Ellsabeth came into the picture to ruin the happy family moments Trent, Rachel, and the girls had.

Though my memory was stretched pretty thin on all the details of the original series and its finale for that matter, I was able to get back into the grove of things pretty well. The introduction of less famous characters might have been a struggle for me. I was basically trying to remember if I met them before or not. It's possible they had pop-up appearances in the last book or two, but I was able to move through the story well enough with their new additions.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that whatever is causing the domestic attacks between couples soon targets Rachel and Trent, because of course it would target our favorite couple who were just on the verge of a happily ever after moment! What they need to figure out is what is causing these violent attacks and how to defeat it. It's going to take a lot of teamwork from them and their friends to get this issue resolved and the results are...well, let's just say jaw-dropping! I was not expecting that kind of ending from Kim in this first in a revival/continuation series! 

American Demon has everything that I loved about the original series and more! This is pure Rachel gold! I only wish that she and Ivy and Jenks were working together a little more, but it seems fitting at the same time that they're not. As I mentioned before, the characters were moving onto their individual happily ever afters in the last book, so suffice to say that some characters were content with where things left off. But it's comforting to know that they are not entirely gone from the page!

I do want to add that it's probably a good idea to read the first series first. This series has a new title to it, making it somewhat separate from the original, but it's still the same world, same characters. There are mentions of past characters and dealings of events. So spoilers, you know? There's also the fact that you won't quite understand what little things mean, because no emphasis is placed on them but for a passing moment. You lose a lot of context if you don't understand why it's endearing that a two-year-old gives a peace-like sign with her fingers moving up and down! Highly recommend reading the first set of books before diving into this series. Kim Harrison's books is pure Urban Fantasy delight! Kim Harrison, in my opinion, is one of the founding authors of the genre and I am thrilled beyond relief that she is back in The Hollows! The rest of the series from here on out is going to be a blast!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars



American Demon releases June 16, 2020