![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison Thoughts
Before reading this book I re-read Black Magic Sanction and Pale Demon and in comparison I found this book very weak. I liked it but not as much as previous books.
Didn't Like
• I didn’t like the lack of Ivy and Ivy/Rachel/Jenks. They felt pushed into the background.
• I felt like the tension about Rachel choosing to accept her place as a demon wasn’t done very well. She accepted she was a demon in the last book, which this one seems to realise causing it to shift to Rachel being worried about Al. Only that didn’t work for me really well either. I was never worried about Al’s reaction. Plus their interactions felt – lacking, after their interactions in the previous book which had Al seeing her soul and them bonding.
• The lack of response from the rest of the demons to Rachel being alive felt off. It probably would have been too much in this book and yet the lack was very noticeable. I find it hard to believe that Newt wouldn’t want to check up on Rachel as soon as it became obvious she wasn’t dead.
• The first FIB/IS take down of the HAPA felt really amateurish. Even with the knowledge of the mole it was pretty bad.
• I really didn’t like how Rachel kept having to be saved. The first time with her escape with Winona worked well for me. The escape was great and she did it without powers and with Winona’s help. Trent showed up at the end once they had saved themselves. So it’s strange that once she gets her powers back she actually seems less competent. In her two confrontations with Eloy she needs Trent to step in both times to save her/the day and that really annoyed me. A big deal was made throughout the book that as a demon she was powerful and yet I just don’t see that.
• I didn’t really like how Glenn was used.
• There was a moment at the end where Ceri gives Lucy to Rachel before leaving. Lucy starts crying and Rachel is all helpless until Trent comes and takes her. Since I had just read Pale Demon it made me think immediately of ... eta: and then I had to leave in the middle of the sentence and now can't remember where I was going with this. Hmm. ...oh, possibly: it made me think of how at the end of Pale Demon the first time Rachel meets Lucy there seemed to be an immediate connection between them and Lucy was happy in her arms. So it made the whole Lucy crying thing in this book feel weird and forced in a way?
Unsure
• I’m not sure how I feel about the men-who-don’t-belong. A powerful human run organisation that no one knew about? Eh.
• I also don’t know how I feel about how the whole elves situation was handled – Trent and Ceri raising their daughters as sisters with them as dad and mom. What does Quen think of that?
Liked
• I really liked how the Rachel/Trent relationship played out. Their interactions were great.
• What we did get of Ivy/Rachel/Jenks was good.
• I loved Winona and the Winona/Rachel friendship. Their escape was great.
• I liked seeing David again. The tattoo was nice. I would like to see more of Rachel’s role in the pack more in the next book. Does she interact with the other Were’s at all?
• I like Jenks and Trent’s continuing friendship.
• I was glad the book didn’t have Rachel sleep with Wayde.
• Rachel sticking her head in the sand about removing the bracelet and her trying to recapture her life before she was a demon is something that makes sense to me for her character. I can buy her doing that.
Didn't Like
• I didn’t like the lack of Ivy and Ivy/Rachel/Jenks. They felt pushed into the background.
• I felt like the tension about Rachel choosing to accept her place as a demon wasn’t done very well. She accepted she was a demon in the last book, which this one seems to realise causing it to shift to Rachel being worried about Al. Only that didn’t work for me really well either. I was never worried about Al’s reaction. Plus their interactions felt – lacking, after their interactions in the previous book which had Al seeing her soul and them bonding.
• The lack of response from the rest of the demons to Rachel being alive felt off. It probably would have been too much in this book and yet the lack was very noticeable. I find it hard to believe that Newt wouldn’t want to check up on Rachel as soon as it became obvious she wasn’t dead.
• The first FIB/IS take down of the HAPA felt really amateurish. Even with the knowledge of the mole it was pretty bad.
• I really didn’t like how Rachel kept having to be saved. The first time with her escape with Winona worked well for me. The escape was great and she did it without powers and with Winona’s help. Trent showed up at the end once they had saved themselves. So it’s strange that once she gets her powers back she actually seems less competent. In her two confrontations with Eloy she needs Trent to step in both times to save her/the day and that really annoyed me. A big deal was made throughout the book that as a demon she was powerful and yet I just don’t see that.
• I didn’t really like how Glenn was used.
• There was a moment at the end where Ceri gives Lucy to Rachel before leaving. Lucy starts crying and Rachel is all helpless until Trent comes and takes her. Since I had just read Pale Demon it made me think immediately of ... eta: and then I had to leave in the middle of the sentence and now can't remember where I was going with this. Hmm. ...oh, possibly: it made me think of how at the end of Pale Demon the first time Rachel meets Lucy there seemed to be an immediate connection between them and Lucy was happy in her arms. So it made the whole Lucy crying thing in this book feel weird and forced in a way?
Unsure
• I’m not sure how I feel about the men-who-don’t-belong. A powerful human run organisation that no one knew about? Eh.
• I also don’t know how I feel about how the whole elves situation was handled – Trent and Ceri raising their daughters as sisters with them as dad and mom. What does Quen think of that?
Liked
• I really liked how the Rachel/Trent relationship played out. Their interactions were great.
• What we did get of Ivy/Rachel/Jenks was good.
• I loved Winona and the Winona/Rachel friendship. Their escape was great.
• I liked seeing David again. The tattoo was nice. I would like to see more of Rachel’s role in the pack more in the next book. Does she interact with the other Were’s at all?
• I like Jenks and Trent’s continuing friendship.
• I was glad the book didn’t have Rachel sleep with Wayde.
• Rachel sticking her head in the sand about removing the bracelet and her trying to recapture her life before she was a demon is something that makes sense to me for her character. I can buy her doing that.