Black Magic Sanction, by Kim Harrison

One of the things I was really looking forward to before this novel came out was a scene of Rachel in the ever after, and it didn't disappoint. The other thing that all fantasy authors with a modern female audience seems to be good at is the construction of complicated and sultry male characters. This particular one of this series features Trent, billionaire city's son, and the dangerous and devious Algaliarept, demon mentor. Then of course, there's Pierce, heartbroken magical cowboy.

As with most series, a person - or 'a body', as Pierce would say - must read the entire series in order to get the full effect of the changing dynamics between the whole cast of characters. The three characters above seem odd precisely because the first two were fearsome villains in the first two books, while the cowboy just appeared in the last book, and at the very end at that, where he scarcely had a chance to make that much of an impression.

The plot twists are appreciative and many, and I also feel like the author lowered the sex quota here because ultimately, it's more a fantasy - even if there's some science behind it - than science fiction or romance. The one scene that there was, was really primal though.

The action was on par, but it was weird that the final political play was kind of a spoof, something for the fake tabloids to write about. Matalina, Jenk's wife and a total innocent, had to die right in the climax to balance that out. It was the emotional aftermath with Jenks that really made any impact - Matalina was rarely seen, even if she was more than a flat character. I'm curious as to the future dealings that Rachel may have with the fairies in the future, especially since they had the only action scene in the book, where Rachel helped make and pulled back a curse, but was otherwise powerless to do anything.

Among the people short-written this time around were Newt, Ivy and for the purpose of making fun of the enemy, Jonathan. Oh, and David. Finding out that Lee is actually not that much of a villain now is kind of weird. I understand the distinction they make in the line "That was business. This was survival" but it's never going to feel completely right. The new book gives the series a different feel, because after seven books of action, sex and ass kicking, suddenly there's this touchy feely take on politics and interspecies coexistence, with a statement against eugenics to boot. I guess I should have expected this, though - we went from thinking that demons are pure evil and the bane of existence to wondering if Rachel is a demon herself and having a demon mentor who's potentially interested in her. The primary villains this time around are the fellow witches who shunned her, all of whom practice white magic, and Nick, who sadly is the only representative for humankind aside from Glenn the FIB agent.

For the sake of the shippers - wait, Ivy and Glenn? Really? I mean, it was hinted at like two books ago, but I thought that Ivy was just checking him out and that that wasn't the same as him being blood bait. Wrong again. Are we going to hear more about this Krathion guy when we hear about Newt? Now that's a technique - setting up for the next book already in the first chapter. Looking forward to more to come, despite a few mixed feelings about this one.