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    Dead Witch Walking
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    Dead Witch Walking
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    Dead Witch Walking
    Ebook506 pages8 hours

    Dead Witch Walking

    By Kim Harrison

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this ebook

    The first book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's Hollows series!

    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 a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead . . . or undead.

    Editor's Note

    Dark & demonic…

    Venture to an alternate, post-virus-apocalypse Cincinnati with sexy, bounty-hunting witch Rachel Morgan. This first installment of The Hollows series will have you instantly hooked.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061742095
    Author

    Kim Harrison

    The only girl in a large family of boys, former tomboy Kim Harrison invented the first Brigadier General Barbie in self-defence. She shoots a very bad game of pool and rolls a very good game of dice. When not at her keyboard, she enjoys lounging on the couch with a bowl of popcorn watching action movies with The-Guy-In-The-Leather-Jacket. She plays her Ashiko drum when no one is listening, and is hard to find when the moon is new.

    Read more from Kim Harrison

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    Reviews for Dead Witch Walking

    4/5

    923 ratings146 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I loved it. This book (and the two that follow it) is thrilling and magical. Its seams are bursting with creativity. It is everything an urban fantasy, a romance, a crime/mystery, and general kick-ass book should be. The series isn't perfect- the first book in particular could be a bit confusing in its world explaining, and its rythm was a bit off. But it really grows into itself over time, and I found it really hard to put the third book down, it was so addictive and smoothly written.

      The basic plot is this: Many humans were wiped out by some sort of disease in a period called the "turn". Then the supernatural creatures realised their collective population was roughly equal to that of humanity, and came out of the closet. Our witchy heroine, Rachel Morgan, quits her job as a runner for the I.S (as a sort of field policewoman for supernatural crime) to start her own private firm with a pixy and a vampire, living in an old church. Many exciting hijinks ensue, as she faces death threats from her former employer, and tries to bring down a big baddie with a front as a benevolent businessman.

      What to expect?
      *A sometimes brash, impulsive, irritating heroine who is completely worthy of our admiration and love anyway.
      *A magic system (that once properly explained) blows all other magic out of the water: potions, charms, ley-line magic, demonic summoning, it has it all.
      *Some fun denizens- pixies, vampires, and witches, oh my! Not to mention leprechauns, fairies, demons, and who knows what else is to come.
      *Some wild and crazy romance.
      *An immersive world- we readers are thrown right into the action, into a world our heroine has lived in all her life.

      Have fun! You're in for a wild ride!
    • 2/5
      Okay I tried. I tried so hard for over 2 months to like this book, but this book is so damn boring I want to scream! You could literally skip over entire chapters and not miss a thing. I'm still torn because I really really want to like this book but I know I shouldn't force myself. Perhaps I will set it aside for right now and pick it up at a later date.
    • 4/5
      Interesting world with a fun, satisfying band of characters. I particularly like Jenks and his family. It had a few editorial issues, but they only upended the suspension of disbelief for a bit. If anything wore on me, it was the number of hair's breadth misses. Were they all necessary? Eh, I wouldn't say no, outright, but they became a bit tiresome by the end.
    • 4/5
      This review first appeared on A Weebish Book BlogAugust has been all about clearing the TBR shelves for me, and DEAD WITCH WALKING by Kim Harrison was one that had me buying even more books. Whoops. The book has been collecting dust for years and nowThe Hollows series has become an eagerly anticipated adventure. I have since purchased the next two books in the series.After years of dead-end assignments and feeling underappreciated, Rachel Morgan breaks her contract as an IS runner and decides to start her own independent runner service. Furious that Rachel took Ivy, his best runner, her former boss puts a hit out on the witch. Determined to shake her death mark, Rachel sets out to uncover evidence of councilman Trent Kalamack’s suspected drug operation.The first novel in The Hollows series introduces readers to an entertaining cast of characters:~ Rachel Morgan, kick-ass earth witch and bounty hunter. She’s smart, sexy, and—as IS soon discovers—rather difficult to kill. She solves a complex case while dodging assassination attempts at every turn.~ Ivy Tamwood is the last of her family’s living vampire bloodline and Rachel’s new wealthy business partner. She has an air of mystery about her, but so far I’ve learned she has a massive crush on Rachel, she’s been fasting from blood for three years, and she’s having a rough time adjusting to living with a human.~ Jenk’s is Rachel’s pixie backup and crime solving partner. The overly blunt honey addict is probably my favorite character of the bunch. He’s a tough as nails warrior, and takes his job as protector seriously. If I were on the run for my life and had to depend on one person, I’d choose Jenks.Not only were the characters on point, so was the world building. The world of DEAD WITCH WALKING is one of alternate history and an urban fantasy masterpiece. The scientific community cracked the genetic code, replacing the space race of the ’60s with bioweaponry. The Cold War unleashed a virus which killed a fourth of the human population and outed the Inderland species—vampires, weres, pixies, etc. About any paranormal creature you can think of is a thing of reality.DEAD WITCH WALKING takes place forty years after the Turn, where humans and Inderland creatures reside side-by-side and the government monitors them all. I loved the complexity of this world and how it all plays a part in Rachel’s rush to solve the mystery and save her life.There is a minute romance between Rachel and Nick, ex-librarian and full human male she wound up rescuing on her adventures. I’m excited to see how their relationship plays out in the rest of the series.DEAD WITCH WALKING was a riveting urban fantasy full of mystery and mystical intrigue. It left me craving more paranormal adventures with Rachel, Jenks, and Ivy. I cannot wait to what’s in store for the crew in THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNDEAD.
    • 2/5
      Rachel Morgan is better than your average urban fantasy heroine. The author's insistence upon stressing Rachel's need to dress "sluttily" sometimes comes off as trying too hard, but as the sex scenes are both rare and hot the overtly sexual attitude can be forgiven.

      Ivy, Rachel's vampiric best friend and partner is interesting to a point, but the trials and travails of this wannabe good vampire can be boring.

      Jenks the pixy and his family are win, as are the other inhabitants of the world after "the Turn."
    • 4/5
      This is a book that is at more of the start of the urban fantasy genre - and as a result - not that derivative of the genre tropes. It also is written with an eye for detail, everything is tight, everything makes sense. The main character, Rachel Morgan, is competent, smart, and headstrong. However, she does listen, and learns from her mistakes. There were elements of the plot that were unexpected. I'm surprised that the hot mystery villain guy actually stayed in the role of villain - too many of these types of books have the heroine and the villain teaming up, eventually falling in love, in a morally complicated relationship. Of course, it isn't perfect. I found Rachel to date to quickly after her experiences, and with a guy who was in a predicament that he needs to mentally heal from. I found the description of all the men to be annoying. Does Rachel and Ivy really need to discuss every man that comes across their paths? However, at times, it does fall into a predictable trope of heroine is always on her, but manages to get a group of friends who will die for her. Also add in a father who died in a violent and mysterious way.Of course, you don't read these novels for their high literary value, but, for what it is, its well written, an interesting world, with interesting characters.
    • 4/5
      A blurb inside from Jim Butcher describes the heroine of this book and series, Rachel Morgan, as a blend of Stephanie Plum and Anita Blake. I think Rachel's more reminiscent of Plum than Blake, even though she's a witch in a world of vampires, weres, trolls, leprechauns, fairies and pixies. A "living vampire" Ivy and a pixy, Jenks, are her partners in bounty hunting. Rachel is more soft than hard boiled in her first person voice that carries this narrative and a lot of humor in the beginning is based on her goofy mess ups. The book is set in an alternate world contemporary Cincinnati. In her world supernatural creatures came out after an apocalyptic plague caused by genetic engineered tomatoes wiped out half of the "norms" leaving the supernatural "inderlanders" a substantial part of the population. Rachel is "dead witch walking" since she dares quit her position with Inderland Runner Services--and that gets a price placed on her head. The book is written decently enough, readable. I appreciated the light humor and the imaginative world Harrison created, even if I could pick at some aspects. At first I found Rachel is irritatingly whiny and Too-Stupid-To-Live. I don't know that I can say in the end she changed my mind--but I did like several of the secondary characters, including her partners and especially Nick. I also liked the very fact that they have her back--that friendship and learning to work and live together is part of this--a lot of other urban fantasy heroines seem very on their own--Anita Blake--even Sookie doesn't seem to have important friendships. So given that aspect, the light touch, the interesting world--and because I read this series gets better--I might go on to the next book sometime.
    • 5/5
      this is the book that introduced me to paranormal romance,before that i thought that they were all trashy.this book may just be one of the best books i've ever read.almost from the first sentance i was hooked.now i treat any of the hollows book like rare and expencive chocolate,something you saver slowly and completly
    • 4/5
      An interesting take on the supernatural (werewolves, witches, vampires, etc.) A fluff read for me, but a welcome one and a well written one. I will read the next in this series.
    • 3/5
      First book of the Hollows. I am honestly not real thrilled with it, but many UF series take a book or two to really get off the ground. I find Rachel impulsive and annoying and the plot seemed to have some major holes in it, like why she thought the antagonist was running drugs in the first place.

      We'll see how the rest go....
    • 3/5
      I actually rather liked this -- enough that I'm mildly interested in reading more of the series.

      Admittedly, I'm not interested in the, "I will go to the bookstore and scour the bookshelves for it," sense. Not even in the, "I will look for this at the library," sense. Okay, I'm not even interested enough to type in her name at the library website and put her books on hold.

      But! If I found a book of hers while browsing through a second-hand bookstore, I'd probably buy it. More than that, I might buy a few of them -- if it they were a good price, or there was a sale going on.

      The plot was good, the premise of her world was intriguing and mildly amusing, and the only flaw was that her writing felt . . . rough. Like this was her first book, but I got the impression from the blurb that it wasn't.

      It's just not immersive, magical writing, is all. I kept surfacing from the story and thinking to myself, "Wait, that doesn't make sense . . . " then flipping back a couple pages to double-check stuff. And my attention would start drifting (which is odd, when books have always been the only thing to completely focus me), then snap back when a bright gem of a sentence or paragraph surfaced. She has moments of illustrative, beautiful writing . . . but it's all interspersed with chunky, boring stuff.

    • 5/5
      This is the first in an excellent series (except the latest, The Outlaw Demon Wails). A strong female detective type (bounty hunter actually), who is a witch complete with supernatural powers -- no Wicca here:) It is funny as well as fascinating as the author creates a world where humans and supernatural beings live side by side.
    • 2/5
      This book is a mediocre ex-cop detective / magic novel. Think Dresden files but incredibly over the top changes to the world, characters with undiagnosed multiple personality disorder, and a terrible handle of normal plot progression (you know you can use the first 150 pages of the novel to do something, right? ).

      Worst of all is the name dropping. At no point does this book feel like the other knows anything about Cincinnati or spent more than 5 minutes reading a Wikipedia page. What was she thinking? You just ate? How about I offer you Graeters ice cream? (one reference!) We are going to the airport? Wait, I need to say "we are going to the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport", that way it will feel like I'm building setting! (two references!). I could go to the store I MEAN FINDLAY MARKET (three references). Oh yes and Children's Medical Center, Eden Park, and "Newport Mall" all get name dropped as well without any use of the setting. It honestly felt like she thought she had to make a bare minimum number of name drops so people would buy that it was set in Cincinnati.

      All in all this is a great high school sophmore attempt at writing a novel, and one day when she's all grown up she might learn to not follow patterns in her rhetoric textbook blindly and write.something worth writing.
    • 3/5
      If I hadn't known better, I would definitely say this book BEGS for a follow-up. Personally, I have so many questions I want answered. *SPOILERS* Is Ivy really a non-practicing vamp or are Jenks' sense way off. What are Jonathan and Trent and why can't Jenks or anyone else discover what they are. Who is Nick really? Who sent the first demon? Who sent the second demon to Trent? Hopefully, I will get the answers to these questions in next book, The Good The Bad and The Undead
    • 4/5
      I haven't read or listened to fantasy in awhile. An engaging story involving witch Rachel Morgan, an IS (Inderlander Security) runner who quits the IS to go out on her own, taking vampiress, Ivy Tamwood and Pixie, Jinx (Jenks?) with her. A bounty is placed on Rachel's head that the only way she can get out of is by taking down a biodrug runner, Trent Kalamac. Book 1 in The Hollows series.
    • 4/5
      Good reading but not my favorite.
    • 4/5
      Kim Harrison introduces us to the world of the Hollows, a district close to Cincinnati that contains witches, weres, pixys and vampires - all those creatures that humans never realised existed until the Turn. Harrison introduces an intriguing idea to underpin the reason for these supernatural creatures being amongst human beings - in her world, bio engineering went wrong and a mutated virus swept the earth, killing a quarter of humanity. The Inderlanders (all of those supernatural people) had a natural resistance to this virus, and so found themselves able to reveal their presence to human beings. This was with the exception of elves, who, according to records, died out entirely - probably thanks to interbreeding with humans.This particular story centres around Rachel Morgan, a runner for the IS who finds herself given more and more pathetic targets to bring in. Soon enough she snaps and decides to leave the IS and branch out on her own. Leaving the IS has huge repercussions, including a death threat (hence the title 'Dead Witch Walking') and taking with her the slinky vamp Ivy and naughty pixy Jenks.Harrison suffers from the usual problem of a first novel in a recurring series - she has a number of characters to introduce and some info dumping to perform. This creates an issue of pacing - the first hundred or so pages are a little bit of a struggle as we get to know Rachel and the world she lives in, while the rest of the book flies past once the true plot kicks in. I also found that Harrison belaboured the point a little concerning Ivy and her state of control regarding taking blood from humans. However, most of the novel is an absolute delight! Jenks and the rest of his family are mischievous, fun, warm and witty. I absolutely love when Rachel finds herself the same size as Jenks and notices just what a hot guy he is! Another lovely theme was the book that Ivy lends Rachel about how to attract vampire lovers - so that she can avoid doing the many things that are causing Ivy to misread her intentions. The novel has a number of laugh-out-loud moments, but there is also a warm heart to the book. The characters are people you end up caring a great deal about, and you definitely want to know more about them. I will be picking up the rest of this series!
    • 4/5
      Wow! If you like Laurell K. Hamilton, then you absolutly have to read this series. It will blow you away!!!
    • 1/5
      Luckily I did not buy this book. A friend of mine gave me most of the set. I quite like urban fantasy so I cracked open the first book and began to read.

      Oh boy do I wish I hadn't. We are supposed to think that the main character is a competent witch/bounty hunter, who leaves her job because her boss is giving her the crap work. Well halfway into the book, I can understand why her boss gives her the rubbish work, it's because she is useless. If this woman had to tie her shoelaces, she would fail, she is that inept. This wouldn't be a problem, if the book agreed that this woman is inept, but no, the book quite happily tries to convince us that this witch is good at what she does.

      And then there's the plot. Leaving aside the genetically engineered tomato virus that killed off humanity, we are told that Ivy, a actual good agent, wants to leave with Rachel. The book teases us with a possibly intimate relationship between the two, but the author doesn't go anywhere with it and on top of that, claims that talking about your history apparently makes vamps go all sexually gooey. Yeesh.. I have no idea how it ended as I haven't managed to read past the first quarter of the book.
    • 3/5
      Rachel has a contract on her head. With only a pixie, a vampire and a man recently a rat she must avoid fairies, weres and demons all trying to kill her.
    • 4/5
      Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison is a brilliant bit of trashy supernatural fiction given to me in order to take my mind off things, which it succeeded at admirably. Essentially, the population of supernatural beings (vampires, weres, pixies, fairies, etc.) are at the same level as humans (though humans can also be spellcasters). Rachel worked as a supernatural bounty hunter until decided to go freelance with a vampire and a pixy. Rachel ducks an army of assassains, a evil businessman with his finger in various poisonous pies, and of course gets tangled up with a mysterious human who isn't afraid of supernatural beasties. Unlike Laurel K. Hamilton, Harrison doesn't have a veneer of plot surrounding a pornographic filling. This may not be War and Peace, but it is enjoyable does a good job of world building without clobbering you over the head with exposition. I'll continue with this popcorn like series
    • 2/5
      This book has been recommended to me a few times. I didn't care for the writing, so didn't finish it.
    • 4/5
      When I started this book, it struck me as a combination of Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series, Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake series (before it turned into porn) and Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. Here we go again, I thought, same dog, different leg action. Despite the similarities (magic in the 'normal' world, heroine in extreme danger, allies not entirely trusted), I really enjoyed it. It's well-paced and action-packed, and left enough unresolved issues at the end to entice me into reading the next in the series.
    • 4/5
      This book was recommend to me by one of my co-workers. Normally I would disregard their opinions of books due to the fact that they are always reading romance novels and the whatnot. Anyways, point being I was thoroughly suprised and happy to find that this was a really good read. I find myself dipping further and further into the realm of fantasy especially when it concerns vampires and were-animals. This book has Those Things and many more. I really enjoy a flawed herione. She addresses her short falls and works it out anyways.I really liked that the arthur didn't just stick to one type of mythical creature like some do. It wasn't just witches, or were-animals, or vampires, it's everythingand all things from demons to pixies and faires. My thoughts were always, if you have one you should haveeverything else too. I loved all her characters, they were well thought out and easy to distinguish. Kudos tothe writer and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book.
    • 5/5
      A while back, I picked up Dead Witch Walking, started it, put it down, and walked away. It's so complicated. It's not candy. But after a while, I ran through most of the other paranormal series out there right now and I thought, well, everybody loves Kim Harrison, I might as well give her another shot. And boy am I glad that I did. I devoured all the books through A Fistful of Charms in the space of a week and I can't wait for the next installment of the series.

      What makes the Hollows so great is exactly that it IS so complicated - all of the characters are multi-dimensional, all the plotlines have layers and then layers and even more layers. Harrison's personal badge is a burning bunny - she says that ideas are like cute little bunny rabbits, they seem so cute and snuggly and then just when you least expect it they catch on fire and become powerful and dangerous. And that's what you get when you read.

      So Rachel Morgan has a problem - she quit her job, and that's not allowed, and now her old boss has put out a contract on her life. When she's not dodging assassins, she's trying to find a way to buy out her own contract and getting messed up in local politics, which are shadowy at best. But for all the darkness outside, she finds warmth and friendship at home, a motley little family. It's great.
    • 3/5
      Took me a while to get into this urban fantasy, but there are lots of interesting secondary characters that make me think the series will be amusing. The style didn't grab me, maybe a bit too hard boiled? But also refreshing to read an urban fantasy story without a lot of bonking! I'll keep reading the series.
    • 3/5
      1st in an urban fantasy series, this was a decent read. Fluff but not as light as say...Davidson's "Undead &" series and WAY more enjoyable. This book is setting up the characters a bit for further adventures, so I was willing to forgive some of the blandness/hitches in story/char. I will likely pick up book 2 to see if it smoothes out and becomes more engaging. At times, the story was a bit slow and often too many things were just hinted at and never resolved - likely as fodder for future books and if that proves to be true, it could be a solid supernatural series. On the plus side, I liked the characters (the supporting ones a bit better than the lead) and the alternate history of the world explaining how humanity lives alongside pixies, vamps, witches, etc...Overall: 3/5
    • 4/5
      This was the first book in The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. She has certainly created an imaginative world and I really enjoyed this story. All of the characters virtually came to life in my head as I listened to the audiobook. I especially enjoy the character of Jenks, who is kind of like the comic relief figure.
    • 3/5
      2.5 stars.

      (I'm writing this at 3:30 am, so it may not be terribly coherent)

      The author makes a big mistake in the opening of this novel: She paints a confusing, wishy-washy portrait of our heroine, bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, and then never really fixes it. When we meet Rachel, she is, while seemingly perfectly competent, at a low point in her career. She is doing her job well, but keeps giving us dumb excuses for why shit is going wrong for her. It is genuinely confusing--I didn't know whether to think she was bad at her job or really good and unlucky.

      Later in the novel we learn that Rachel was set up to fail by a certain nefarious person, but at this point her character flips and becomes mind-numbingly incompetent--missing even the most basic clues that even the least perceptive of readers will pick up (everything is telegraphed waaaay too far in advance)--and remains that way for the remainder of the novel. I have NO IDEA why or how this happened.

      Another weird thing: in the world building, around page 30, Rachel (narrating first-person) specifically says that we never made it to the moon because we were busy with bioengineering in the '60s, but HOW THE HELL DOES SHE KNOW THAT'S EVEN A THING? In a world in which humans have not walked on the moon, why would a person ever point out that there was no moon landing? That's like me saying we didn't walk on Jupiter in the '80s. Or that I didn't ride a unicorn last night. I just don't get it.

      There are also some pretty significant examples of the author using the wrong version of a word, such as gate/gait and lessoned/lessened, and it happens A LOT.

      The one thing that I REALLY enjoyed about this book was the relationship between Rachel and her sexy lesbian vampire roommate/business partner, Ivy. It is such a classic Mary Sue/Alpha male PNR deal except that Rachel is not a lesbian, so the predatory behavior, while still sexy and fascinating, is allowed to be completely creepy and inappropriate, and it means more when Rachel considers caving under Ivy's advances. I love it! Actually, I love pretty much everything about Ivy. At one point (or maybe it's more than once--Harrison repeats herself a lot) she's described as having a voice "like grey silk." Isn't that lovely?

      So there's some fun stuff (the bad guy is super creepy and evil and sexy), and apparently the writing gets better as you head further into the series, so I may revisit it, but I'm done for now.

      If you're interested in reading Kate Daniels without the romantic elements, this series might be right for you.
    • 4/5
      Harrison wields exposition like a club but the characters and the story were fun.