Review: ‘Dead Witch Walking’ by Kim Harrison

All the creatures of the night gather in “the Hollows” of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party … and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining — and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ’em back alive, dead … or undead.

I’d never heard of Kim Harrison before, but now I’m wondering why. I discovered her when I asked on Twitter for some urban fantasy audiobook recommendations before Christmas; on Boxing Day I had to drive my son interstate to spend some time with his father, and wanted something to listen to on the way back. Nicole Evelina recommended this series.

My favourite thing about Dead Witch Walking is the world-building. Rachel Morgan’s world is one where, following a terrible virus outbreak halfway through last century, the supernatural creatures all got outed by virtue of the fact that there weren’t as many humans to hide amongst anymore. Now they live in plain sight, tending to stick to their own communities but otherwise part of society.

Rachel, a witch, starts out working as a runner (a type of cop) for Inderland Security — sort of like the FBI for supernatural types. But she decides very early on that she’s tired of getting all the milk runs rather than the real jobs she knows she can do. She’s confident in her own abilities, although that does tend to lead her to be reckless at times. She decides to quit, and two of her IS colleagues, Jenks the pixie and Ivy the living vampire, quit with her to go freelance.

Unfortunately the IS has a policy of not letting runners leave in the middle of their contract, and the consequence is to take a hit out on them — presumably to discourage that sort of behaviour from everyone else.

The hit on Rachel was the one thing I was left scratching my head over. It is commonly known that the IS do this; even the human version of the IS, the FIB, knows about it. But somehow it’s sanctioned? I guess because the FIB figures so long as no one else gets hurt, it’s the supernaturals in-fighting, and whatever, but I just would’ve expected the law enforcement bodies to frown on assassinating people, even if it’s then done on the sly.

The characters were fun. Jenks is sarcastic and has as much attitude as any of the full-size characters, only packed into a pixie-sized package. Imagine if Tinker Bell was able to speak, and that’s what Jenks is like. Rachel’s recklessness is offset by Ivy’s OCD-level of planning, which causes tension between them at times. The other source of tension is Rachel’s paranoia that Ivy wants to eat her. While it’s understandable, it does get a little old after a while. Fortunately, there is character growth on Rachel’s part throughout the book, and I liked her courage and willingness to admit when she’s screwed up.

A comment on the audiobook: the narrator, Marguerite Gavin, was very versatile. She managed to capture Rachel’s general no-nonsense narration — that businesslike delivery — while still acting out her moments of fear and the other characters. One of my beefs with James Marsters’ delivery of the Jim Butcher books is that his delivery is done in a sort of lazy noir drawl that he never breaks up, no matter which character he’s voicing. Gavin is much better (sorry, James!).

Review: ‘Storm Front’ by Jim Butcher

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.

There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

Harry Dresden is an interesting character. Unlike Atticus in Kevin Hearne’s Hounded, Harry has flaws that make him complex and interesting, even if he’s frustrating at times. As an example, Harry has a terminal case of chivalry (other characters accuse him of being chauvanistic and I think they may be right). This lets the females around him play him, or gets him in trouble even when said females aren’t actually asking him to defend them at all. Sometimes I found that annoying — for example, when he refused to tell the female detective what he knew about the murders because it would “put her in danger”, I wanted to bang his head against a concrete wall. But to Harry’s credit, he does seem to realise by the end of the book what an epic mistake this was.

The thing I did like about Harry was that he wasn’t a musclebound action hero-type. In fact, in Storm Front he’s at the losing end of several fights that make it clear that he’s the tall, weedy variety of nerd that spends a lot of time studying. Which makes sense, if you’re a wizard. He’s very self-aware, to the point where he’s self-depreciating at times. But there’s no false modesty or rampant ego here; he knows what he’s capable of and is confident in his skills, but also admits his flaws.

I have a vague feeling I’ve read Storm Front before, but it was long enough ago (and I’m getting old and forgetful enough) that I couldn’t remember most of the plot. Instead, I had a feeling for two thirds of the book that I knew where the whodunnit plotline was going, and alternated between suspecting I’d read it before and wondering whether the plot was just very predictable. I’m coming down on the “I’ve read it before” side of the fence, though. Regardless, the story carries you along to the point where I resented when real life intruded. So there’s that.

The side characters are — with the exception of the Big Bad at the end — all painted in shades of grey. Some of them lean toward quite dark grey, like the mob boss and the brothel-owning vampire — but there is still something sympathetic about them.

Storm Front — and I assume the rest of the series — can be summed up as a magical noir detective novel. Four stars.