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A review by katyanaish
American Demon by Kim Harrison
3.0
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did.
First, a little background. I didn't know that Harrison was picking this series back up, so I found out about it when Amazon sent me a release notice. I was excited, because it is one of my favorites, and snapped it right up. Had I known about it with more lead time, I probably would have re-read the series just to refamiliarize myself with all the secondary characters, but since I was late to the party, I just decided to jump in. So I haven't re-read any of it since the last book came out in 2014. I also didn't read my reviews, I just jumped in.
And I was disappointed. Not because I didn't remember stuff - I think Harrison did a good job with easing readers back into the waters without feeling like she was info-dumping, personally, but YMMV - but because Rachel was just ... not like I remembered.
After I finished, I flipped through my old reviews and remembered, oh right. I was really disappointed in the series finale. And all the things I didn't like in that review were present here.
Rachel spent a ridiculous amount of time lamenting that she was holding Trent back. Trent. Ex-supervillain, murdering dickbag Trent. Rachel is holding him back. LOOOOOOOOOOL
I wanted to punch her, honestly.
Elves still face no consequences. In fact, no one does, really. The villain of this book was - again - Landon. Since elves clearly will never be punished - even for attempting genocide and world domination multiple times - why doesn't Rachel just start killing them? I mean really. The world already thinks she's a villain anyway. Which then brings me to ...
... I need a world worth saving. Everyone in this world fucking sucks. And Rachel just takes all of their shit. And when she stands up for herself on the rare occasion - like with Edden, or with Pike - people give her all kinds of shit for doing so, as if she's just causing problems by not letting power-hungry dickheads just walk all over her (in the case of Pike) or happily go along with the assumptions of shitty racist people and working for them to not cause waves.
Fuck them all, at this point, seriously.
My problem is that the world isn't getting better as the series progresses, it is getting worse. The general pop tried to murder her. The elves get worse each book, but never face consequences.
And Rachel is seemingly getting more spineless with each step. In this book, her self doubt was such a constant refrain that I wondered if someone had cast some curse on her to erode her confidence. And the fact that she's defending Ellasbeth and even rationalizing why Trent would be better off with her ... ugh. Firstly, fuck Ellasbeth... that woman is a selfish bitch. Secondly, fuck the elves - they are evil. And while I have my doubts about Trent (I really do, he was a monster, and some things just aren't forgivable).
And fuck Rachel for just going along with it all, at this point. There are so many people in this world just continuing to wreak havoc because they never, ever, ever face consequences. We are freaking 14 books in. Why is there no forward movement? No progress? Why are people like Landon and Weast allowed to continue to shit on everyone? Why is Weast utterly above the law? And frankly, why doesn't Rachel just fucking kill him already? He's a goddamn monster, as bad as anyone else in this shitty world, and he threatens her CONSTANTLY.
STOP PUTTING UP WITH IT.
The world of the Hollows is fucking broken, and as far as I can tell, it always will be, because nothing that occurs in any of these books has shaken the power structure enough to bring justice. And they aren't even trying. Why aren't they front-and-center on the news dumping all the evidence they have about the abuses the elves committed - and the genocides - in front of the whole world? That's the only way the propaganda about the demons will ever stop having weight. Why aren't they telling the world about the Order, a shitty organization run by power-hungry dickheads who operate above the law and are not concerned even one iota about collateral damage.
Why?
It makes no logical sense. And it makes Rachel seem like a goddamn idiot for just letting all this shit happen. A fucking mob almost tore her apart. And she's not doing anything to counter the public narrative. Why? Is she protecting the elves? If so, STOP IT. They are fucking monsters who try and commit genocide on a regular basis, and they need to get taken down MANY pegs so they don't have the power to do this anymore.
It also makes Trent look like an idiot. He's supposed to be the master strategist, but he's just sitting on his hands and letting Landon - fucking LANDON - control the narrative. Fuck off with that.
Ugh.
And then, adding insult to injury, both Al and Ivy were barely present in this book.
Meh. I just don't know. If this is where the series is going, I'm not here for it.
First, a little background. I didn't know that Harrison was picking this series back up, so I found out about it when Amazon sent me a release notice. I was excited, because it is one of my favorites, and snapped it right up. Had I known about it with more lead time, I probably would have re-read the series just to refamiliarize myself with all the secondary characters, but since I was late to the party, I just decided to jump in. So I haven't re-read any of it since the last book came out in 2014. I also didn't read my reviews, I just jumped in.
And I was disappointed. Not because I didn't remember stuff - I think Harrison did a good job with easing readers back into the waters without feeling like she was info-dumping, personally, but YMMV - but because Rachel was just ... not like I remembered.
After I finished, I flipped through my old reviews and remembered, oh right. I was really disappointed in the series finale. And all the things I didn't like in that review were present here.
Rachel spent a ridiculous amount of time lamenting that she was holding Trent back. Trent. Ex-supervillain, murdering dickbag Trent. Rachel is holding him back. LOOOOOOOOOOL
I wanted to punch her, honestly.
Elves still face no consequences. In fact, no one does, really. The villain of this book was - again - Landon. Since elves clearly will never be punished - even for attempting genocide and world domination multiple times - why doesn't Rachel just start killing them? I mean really. The world already thinks she's a villain anyway. Which then brings me to ...
... I need a world worth saving. Everyone in this world fucking sucks. And Rachel just takes all of their shit. And when she stands up for herself on the rare occasion - like with Edden, or with Pike - people give her all kinds of shit for doing so, as if she's just causing problems by not letting power-hungry dickheads just walk all over her (in the case of Pike) or happily go along with the assumptions of shitty racist people and working for them to not cause waves.
Fuck them all, at this point, seriously.
My problem is that the world isn't getting better as the series progresses, it is getting worse. The general pop tried to murder her. The elves get worse each book, but never face consequences.
And Rachel is seemingly getting more spineless with each step. In this book, her self doubt was such a constant refrain that I wondered if someone had cast some curse on her to erode her confidence. And the fact that she's defending Ellasbeth and even rationalizing why Trent would be better off with her ... ugh. Firstly, fuck Ellasbeth... that woman is a selfish bitch. Secondly, fuck the elves - they are evil. And while I have my doubts about Trent (I really do, he was a monster, and some things just aren't forgivable).
And fuck Rachel for just going along with it all, at this point. There are so many people in this world just continuing to wreak havoc because they never, ever, ever face consequences. We are freaking 14 books in. Why is there no forward movement? No progress? Why are people like Landon and Weast allowed to continue to shit on everyone? Why is Weast utterly above the law? And frankly, why doesn't Rachel just fucking kill him already? He's a goddamn monster, as bad as anyone else in this shitty world, and he threatens her CONSTANTLY.
STOP PUTTING UP WITH IT.
The world of the Hollows is fucking broken, and as far as I can tell, it always will be, because nothing that occurs in any of these books has shaken the power structure enough to bring justice. And they aren't even trying. Why aren't they front-and-center on the news dumping all the evidence they have about the abuses the elves committed - and the genocides - in front of the whole world? That's the only way the propaganda about the demons will ever stop having weight. Why aren't they telling the world about the Order, a shitty organization run by power-hungry dickheads who operate above the law and are not concerned even one iota about collateral damage.
Why?
It makes no logical sense. And it makes Rachel seem like a goddamn idiot for just letting all this shit happen. A fucking mob almost tore her apart. And she's not doing anything to counter the public narrative. Why? Is she protecting the elves? If so, STOP IT. They are fucking monsters who try and commit genocide on a regular basis, and they need to get taken down MANY pegs so they don't have the power to do this anymore.
It also makes Trent look like an idiot. He's supposed to be the master strategist, but he's just sitting on his hands and letting Landon - fucking LANDON - control the narrative. Fuck off with that.
Ugh.
And then, adding insult to injury, both Al and Ivy were barely present in this book.
Meh. I just don't know. If this is where the series is going, I'm not here for it.