Ever After - Kim Harrison

Date Started - 1/29/13
Date Finished - 2/10/13

Yippee! It's the next installment in The Hollows and I finally get to catch up with my good friends Rachel Morgan, Jenks, Ivy, Trent, Ceri, Quen and all of the rest (and hopefully Al, who was sorely missed in the last book).

In typical Hollows fashion, the action starts quickly. This time our problem is Ku 'Sox, who abducts Ceri and Lucy at the start of the book. He has also managed to move all of the inbalances in the ever after to the line Rachel created, meaning the demons are quickly running out of space. They demand her head and she winds up with four days to save their world.

Of course she figures things out, with help from her gargoyle Biz. And Trent and Al (who does make a nice comeback in this book) - elves and demons working together, who would have thought? They use wedding rings and slaver rings to accomplish the task and open the eyes of the demons as to who was really to blame (Ku 'Sox). Rachel turns him into what all demons used to look like, the demons proceed to hunt him so he'd know what they went through, and they finally catch and kill him (yay!).

One surprise this book held - the untimely demise of both Ceri and Pierce - killed by Ku 'Sox with the help of his familiar, Nick, in the ever after. I felt like they were kind of summarily dismissed though clearly the other characters mourn their loss. I didn't care so much about Pierce but I did think that Ceri was an interesting, complex character, and she will be missed.

Also absent through most of the book was Ivy. She makes a return to help Nina fight the influence of the dead vampire Felix, who is clearly losing his mind. I think Ivy will be the focus of the next book - Rachel is still intent on saving her soul (and helping other vampires as well) and I see that coming to the forefront now that the ever after is more stable.

Finally - romance between Rachel and Trent - we know it's been building for quite some time but we finally see the admission in this book. Of course there is the issue of Ellsabeth coming back into the picture - Lucy's true mother and Trent's former fiancé. He clearly doesn't love her but will do what he needs to do to save the elves. So what will happen now that sparks are flying between the two of them? I look forward to finding out in the next book.

Oh - I have to say, I loved how the book ended, with Al showing up drunk, mourning the loss of Ceri while Trent and Rachel bond in Trent's mother's cabin. The relationships these characters have formed are fun to follow and I thought it was an excellent way to end this installment.