The Undead Pool
4 Stars

Rachel Morgan's witch/demon skills are once again called into action when a series of energy waves cause even the most mundane of magical spells to misfire with catastrophic consequences. As the IS and the FIB struggle with the fallout, Rachel and company work to uncover the source of the energy, but the explanation is more troubling than even Rachel could have imagined and the solution might well mean her death...

While this penultimate installment in the Hollows series mostly lives up to expectations, particularly with regard to Trent and Rachel's relationship, there are one or two questionable aspects.

World building has always been one of Harrison's strengths, but for some reason it takes a strange turn in this book with the exceedingly complex and confusing notion of the mystics. Their exact nature and purpose is never fully explained and the scenes with Rachel interacting with them are downright bizarre.

The Elvish/Vampire conspiracy is also problematic as it comes out of left field with absolutely no foundation or background prior to this book.

That said, The Undead Pool also contains all of the elements I have come to love about the book, i.e., Rachel's loyal and loving (if somewhat insane) family of misfits - Ivy, Jenks, David, Biz, Quen, Belle, Al and even Newt. But the real highlight is, of course, the progression of Rachel and Trent's romance. Let me just say that Trent is one seriously HOT elf, and his scenes with Rachel are endearingly sweet and sexy as all get out!

All in all, a satisfying read and I look forward to reading the last book soon. ( )

This was really good! I decided that this would be the year that I finally got caught up with this series. I am slightly mad at myself for waiting so long because it is absolutely fantastic. I seem to be liking Rachel and the rest of the characters more and more with each installment. I found this to be a book that was incredibly hard to put down.

There is wild magic in town and it seems to be tied to Rachel and as bad as it is, it seems like it may get a whole lot worse before it is over. Things are unbalanced in town and Rachel needs to get things under control or the undead vampires may be at risk. I found this story to be incredibly exciting and I loved the fact that this series can still keep me guessing. There is finally some real development in regards to Rachel and Trent’s relationship and it is just kind of nice to see how much these characters have grown over the course of the series.

Marguerite Gavin is the voice of this series. After listening to all of these audiobooks (and I am just going to ignore book 6 which is read by a different narrator), I honestly couldn’t imagine experiencing this series in any other way. The voices that she uses for each of the characters really allow their personalities to shine. I think that she is able to add just the right amount of emotion and excitement to the story to keep listeners glued to their headphones.

I would definitely recommend this series to others. This is a series that really should be read in order since each book builds on the groundwork laid by the earlier books in the series. This is a series that I can see myself reading again. I cannot wait to pick up the next book very soon. ( )

Honestly, I find the Hollows series to be full of overly complicated plots that don't really make a heck of a lot of sense if you're trying to follow them logically. And still, I love them. I read it for the chracters, which will grab you up in a infuriating, inexplicable, fashion before you know what hit you. ( )

Action packed with most all of the important series characters and a handful of new ones. I can't believe that I've only 1 book left in the series, I've had them so long but didn't want to finish them because then the series will be over for me. Anyways I'll wait a week or two before reading the last one for the first time. ( )

So so good! These books just keep getting better. This reader is very sad that the next will be the last. ( )