The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison
May. 11th, 2014 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaOverall, I enjoyed it but I had a couple of huge issues.
• There is only one book left in the series and it feels like that isn't going to be enough time to satisfyingly conclude it. There are still two major loose plot threads for instance. First, saving Ivy (and thus all vampires) souls when they become undead. I thought for sure that it was going to happen in this book and was disappointed when it didn't even cross Rachel's mind. Second, saving the Ever After and the demons. It's actually possible that KH didn't intend to go there but I feel like things have built up to a point where Rachel making the Ever After habitable again and saving the demons is needed.
• I loved the mystics. Loved them. They were very cool and I really hope they reappear in the final book. I actually ended up really fond of them, like Rachel did, as if they were a new character. I found them both very amusing and interesting.
• I liked what the book did with the Goddess (she's a collective mind formed by magically-changed sentient particles!) and why the mystics were so drawn to Rachel to begin with (they just happened to be drawn out of her Line and thus tuned to her aura).
• I liked Rachel coming together with her allies, across all the species, in order to stop Landon. It was her bringing together her found family to save the day and it was great. I just wish Glenn had been there as well.
• Rachel and Trent getting together worked well for the most part but also weirdly anti-climatic? I've shipped them almost from the beginning and back then I didn't think there was a chance of them getting together. The books have done a good job at building the relationship to the point where them getting together actually works. They make a good team, and are a good couple but I loved them together less then I was expecting and I'm not sure why.
• There was more Rachel and Ivy in this book which was nice but I think I'll always be sad that the series didn't go in the Rachel/Ivy direction that the first half of the series implied/teased.
• I didn't like how things played out with Al and Rachel at all. WTH, was that ending? Throughout Rachel was worried about what Al's reaction would be to the mystics (and her being with Trent) to the point that she thought he might even kill her. It had me scratching my head. After the past few books I couldn't understand why she would ever be worried about that. Of course, Al wouldn't turn on her! Then the end happened and it really surprised me. Al's hatred for elves is a given but then you have his complicated relationships with Ceri and Trent, so it's not all hate. His reaction just seemed too extreme. It didn't feel sufficiently built up to, or maybe I missed something important while reading the last couple books, but either way it didn't work for me.
• I liked all the Rachel/Newt stuff. Newt's own history with the mystics and the Goddess was interesting.
• I liked how things played out with David. Rachel giving up being alpha of his pack because her life is just too busy to be what the pack needed made complete sense. They started as a mutually beneficial relationship but things change and I like how that happened.
• I find myself worried about Quen surviving the series. He had very little presence in this book and with Rachel and Trent together now I wonder if Quen might not be one last tragic death leaving them as the parents of the girls?
• One issue I was having was with how Rachel's power and abilities were treated. There were a couple instances where she could have conceivably stopped the bad guys but ends up choosing not to (such as when they first capture Landon). Yes, she doesn't want to kill someone but considering how much danger there was for everyone wouldn't that have made more sense?
• I didn't really like what happened with Ellasbeth in the end. We were supposed to be on Trent and Rachel's side during the last confrontation and it was supposed to be one last triumph for them but I honestly found myself feeling really sorry for her. She was being unreasonable but so was Trent. Lucy is her daughter too. This book spent the time giving Ellasbeth more depth. She bonded with the girls and the book showed her being a good mother (to both). She was jealous of Rachel, with reason!, but was civil with her. She was doing her best to make good of a bad situation. That final tantrum doesn't change it.
• Then there was this line: "Lucy is mine by right. And again by ancient trial that you demanded. You stole Lucy from me, Ellasbeth. Slunk away in the night with her in your belly like a thief. I took her back. She's mine." Ugh. That really bugs me. The assumption that Lucy is his 'by right'. That because she is his biologically that means Ellasbeth 'stole' her when she left when pregnant. WTF? That is so wrong. Yuck. The whole stealing her back as per ancient trial always bothered me a little but different species/cultural norms, whatever. I can deal with that part. But I also dislike him apparently thinking that Lucy is his and that he gets final say in everything to do with her. Ellasbeth is her mother; she gets a say as well, ffs.
• There is only one book left in the series and it feels like that isn't going to be enough time to satisfyingly conclude it. There are still two major loose plot threads for instance. First, saving Ivy (and thus all vampires) souls when they become undead. I thought for sure that it was going to happen in this book and was disappointed when it didn't even cross Rachel's mind. Second, saving the Ever After and the demons. It's actually possible that KH didn't intend to go there but I feel like things have built up to a point where Rachel making the Ever After habitable again and saving the demons is needed.
• I loved the mystics. Loved them. They were very cool and I really hope they reappear in the final book. I actually ended up really fond of them, like Rachel did, as if they were a new character. I found them both very amusing and interesting.
• I liked what the book did with the Goddess (she's a collective mind formed by magically-changed sentient particles!) and why the mystics were so drawn to Rachel to begin with (they just happened to be drawn out of her Line and thus tuned to her aura).
• I liked Rachel coming together with her allies, across all the species, in order to stop Landon. It was her bringing together her found family to save the day and it was great. I just wish Glenn had been there as well.
• Rachel and Trent getting together worked well for the most part but also weirdly anti-climatic? I've shipped them almost from the beginning and back then I didn't think there was a chance of them getting together. The books have done a good job at building the relationship to the point where them getting together actually works. They make a good team, and are a good couple but I loved them together less then I was expecting and I'm not sure why.
• There was more Rachel and Ivy in this book which was nice but I think I'll always be sad that the series didn't go in the Rachel/Ivy direction that the first half of the series implied/teased.
• I didn't like how things played out with Al and Rachel at all. WTH, was that ending? Throughout Rachel was worried about what Al's reaction would be to the mystics (and her being with Trent) to the point that she thought he might even kill her. It had me scratching my head. After the past few books I couldn't understand why she would ever be worried about that. Of course, Al wouldn't turn on her! Then the end happened and it really surprised me. Al's hatred for elves is a given but then you have his complicated relationships with Ceri and Trent, so it's not all hate. His reaction just seemed too extreme. It didn't feel sufficiently built up to, or maybe I missed something important while reading the last couple books, but either way it didn't work for me.
• I liked all the Rachel/Newt stuff. Newt's own history with the mystics and the Goddess was interesting.
• I liked how things played out with David. Rachel giving up being alpha of his pack because her life is just too busy to be what the pack needed made complete sense. They started as a mutually beneficial relationship but things change and I like how that happened.
• I find myself worried about Quen surviving the series. He had very little presence in this book and with Rachel and Trent together now I wonder if Quen might not be one last tragic death leaving them as the parents of the girls?
• One issue I was having was with how Rachel's power and abilities were treated. There were a couple instances where she could have conceivably stopped the bad guys but ends up choosing not to (such as when they first capture Landon). Yes, she doesn't want to kill someone but considering how much danger there was for everyone wouldn't that have made more sense?
• I didn't really like what happened with Ellasbeth in the end. We were supposed to be on Trent and Rachel's side during the last confrontation and it was supposed to be one last triumph for them but I honestly found myself feeling really sorry for her. She was being unreasonable but so was Trent. Lucy is her daughter too. This book spent the time giving Ellasbeth more depth. She bonded with the girls and the book showed her being a good mother (to both). She was jealous of Rachel, with reason!, but was civil with her. She was doing her best to make good of a bad situation. That final tantrum doesn't change it.
• Then there was this line: "Lucy is mine by right. And again by ancient trial that you demanded. You stole Lucy from me, Ellasbeth. Slunk away in the night with her in your belly like a thief. I took her back. She's mine." Ugh. That really bugs me. The assumption that Lucy is his 'by right'. That because she is his biologically that means Ellasbeth 'stole' her when she left when pregnant. WTF? That is so wrong. Yuck. The whole stealing her back as per ancient trial always bothered me a little but different species/cultural norms, whatever. I can deal with that part. But I also dislike him apparently thinking that Lucy is his and that he gets final say in everything to do with her. Ellasbeth is her mother; she gets a say as well, ffs.
