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Black Magic Sanction (The Hollows, #8)

Kim Harrison

Start date: April 1, 2018

Finish date: April 30, 2018

Discussion: After the Book Discussion

Why we're reading this: Group series read
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What Members Thought

Feb 26, 2010 Melindeeloo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, witches-wizards-mages-sorcerers, demons, favorites

Yay! Harrison has brought her Hollow's series back on track and its filled to the brim with the good stuff that made the earlier books so great.

Rachel, always a magnet for trouble is in deep kimshee here. The Coven for Ethics and Morality (the witch ruling body) wants to imprison, neuter and lobotomize Rachel all without a fair trial because Rachel represents the dirty little secret about the true origins of witches and she is also the key to the demon's return to the Earthly plane.

Black Magic Yay! Harrison has brought her Hollow's series back on track and its filled to the brim with the good stuff that made the earlier books so great.

Rachel, always a magnet for trouble is in deep kimshee here. The Coven for Ethics and Morality (the witch ruling body) wants to imprison, neuter and lobotomize Rachel all without a fair trial because Rachel represents the dirty little secret about the true origins of witches and she is also the key to the demon's return to the Earthly plane.

Black Magic sanction is exactly what I was looking for in the last book (I could have lived without the Kisten rehash entirely). Finally we get to explore a bit of Rachel's apprenticeship to Al and the new dynamics that puts on their relationship. Also, thankfully we've finally (finally!) gotten past all of the blood-balance stuff with Ivy, I was finding that oh-so tiresome. That thread took way too long to resolve itself and actually made Ivy so one-dimensional a character that she wasn't all that interesting anymore, hopefully Harrison will be able to remedy that now that Ivy's moved on and has a new beau.

The constant peril for Rachel as the coven keeps trying to kidnap her and to coerce her by threatening Rachel's home and family keep the book really moving along and results in some really sad and poignant moments for Rachel's family. I love the way that Rachel finally manages to solve her dilemma with the coven, and the way that she manages to accept her ability to do black magic doesn't make her an evil witch (and the way that the coven manages to achieve truly evil results while sticking purely to white magic.)

There is some resolution for Rachel with some characters from the past: Nick, Rachel's lying ex (I always liked the devious little thief), Lee and Trent. The direction that Harrison is taking Bis is also fun.

So bottom line is that Black Magic Sanction is actually worth the hardcover price and has restored my enthusiasm for the series, can't wait to see what's in store for Rachel next.
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