Review--E-ARC Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after...for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

Kim Harrison's latest Hallows book, Pale Demon, takes Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and a few others on a road trip across the good ol' US of A! Rachel is being summoned to the Witch's Annual Business Conference to try to prove to them that she is not a black witch, easier said than done.

But what makes this trip all the more interesting is their other passengers, joining them is Trent, Vivian, and Pierce. Their reasons for being there are numerous, Trent is up to something most likely nefarious and he needs Rachel to deliver him to Seattle for reasons unknown, to Rachel, Vivian is obviously there sent by the council to spy on her and Pierce? Who knows? (Well technically there is a reason, but I can't say)

It was quite a ride! There were several laughs for me along the way and this was before the assassins attempted to kill one of them! And there was still room for more after that. One of the best parts was that St. Louis played a part in the book! I was amazed! And I can't say what happened, but OMFG. Rachel and her friends definitely left their mark in the Gateway to the West!

Rachel does find herself facing the council and it immediately doesn't look good for her...and her agreement with Al about the outcome of the trial looms ever closer.

What can I say about Pale Demon without giving too much away? Only that it was freaking awesome! The roadtrip was only half of it and there was plenty of action and laughs. The other parts of the plot including the trial and the aftermath were chock-full of surprises! And a LOT of surprises! I didn't really see a lot coming. It's hard to tell where the series will go next really with the way it ended, which was another surprise.

I am definitely curious to learn what Rachel will be doing in the future, for things didn't seem too clear at the end. There wasn't an immediate problem that would take her to the next book like we've seen before. So that means a new problem will likely develop to give her life a little more excitement.

Rachel is definitely one tough cookie. She goes through a lot, physically and emotionally in this book, like she has in the previous ones as well, but the intensity always seems to notch up a bit after each one. There were a few more loose strings at the end of this one, not major ones, but just ones that make you wonder what will happen with said character next. And I really want to know what happens next with a particular character, because while I kind of thought it might happen, I didn't really put much faith into the idea and was totally shocked to the core when it happened!!

Overall I give the book 5/5 stars. It was a truly tremendous read and well paced. I was worried it would be a slow pace since there is a road trip involved but I was actually sad when they got to their destination because it was rather fun reading about all their antics and whatnot. And finally learning the mystery of what Trent was up to and why he needed to get to the West Coast. Which is another spoiler that I cannot divulge in.

Looking forward to more of Rachel, Ivy and Jenks and everyone else in the Hallows!

I received this E-ARC from NetGalley

Pale Demon will release February 22, 2011