Rachel Morgan returns for another pulse-pounding, blood-soaked ride through Cincinnati’s supernatural underworld
“It never ceases to amaze me how someone can possess the world or nothing at all, and still have their happiness hinge on the small moments between them and the ones they love.”
In Trouble with Cursed, Kim Harrison comes back to tap into the magic of The Hollows. Something is scintillating about coming back to a world you knew so well after the final curtain has come down and the characters have taken their final bows. And after 14+ books, you get a sense of who they are. Trouble With Cursed by Kim Harrison is a testament to just how lucky the urban fantasy genre is to have Harrison among its ranks. She is foundational to the genre.
When the series ended “officially” with The Witch With No Name, it was a spectacular conclusion for our witchy witch, Rachel Mariana Morgan. It was a worthy finale. And yet, Harrison wasn’t done. Rachel has so much more life to live, to give, and chaos to cause. Now, three books past that once-final ending, I couldn’t be happier with where we’re headed. And that is, “Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to a new ally for help—the demon Hodin...In the end, the only way for Rachel to save herself and the city may be to forge a new understanding with her estranged demon teacher, Al. There’s just one problem: Al would sell his own soul to be rid of her. . . .” Basically, this novel is Rachel walking the thin line as the subrosa of the city between the various paranormal groups without losing her moral code and demons are being bad, demons being “good,” and demons being delightfully shifty—business as usual, if“usual” involves infernal contracts and moral landmines.
As a long-time Reader of Kim Harrison, her books are witty, fast-paced, with strong protagonists, full of believable drama among the paranormal community. The political entanglements between species in this novel are a whole lot of demons, and supernatural groups remain one of the series’ strongest elements. While Rachel wasn’t very savvy at first, she was more of a bull smacking into things, she has learned to be wary of the critical undercurrents and details. That we’re this deep into the saga without it feeling formulaic is a feat. Honestly, Harrison could easily spin off half of these characters into solo novels, and I’d happily throw money at them. (A Jenks pixy book? Yes, please.)
“Ah, Rachel?” he said as he hustled to keep up with me. “Is yelling the best course here?” “I’m from the Midwest. It’s how we start.“
Would I recommend this? Absolutely. Even the most hard-bitten grimdark fan could use a breather now and then, and Trouble With Cursed offers just that, without ever feeling “fluffy.” It’s a story with substance: real stakes, emotional depth, and a heroine who refuses to stop fighting. The Hollows has more life in it yet, and if this book is any indication, we’re in for more great things to come.
