The Turn: The Hollows Begins with Death (The Hollows #0)

****SPOILERS***** * * * * * * This book is…terrible. Trent is a sociopath, in the end responsible for killing billions, and never expresses a shred of regret, horror, guilt, or anything except a desire to blame someone else. He resorts to destroying evidence, attempted murder, and sacrificing another elf to Al, all to cover his own guilt. Any why? Some evil master plan? Nope. Jealous of a female coworker, the misogynistic a$$ sabotages her work to try and steal her funding and gain control of other parts of her research. And because of his own incompetence as a genetic engineer, he accidentally releases the Angel Tomato virus, kills BILLIONS, does everything possible to avoid responsibility…and he gets rewarded for this? Because in a gaping plot hole, for the vampires to agree to the Inderlanders coming out, they need some help with managing their blood addition. And it just so happens that Trent has something that he can modify to do so (not mentioned until 99% of the way into the book), so the vamps set him up with a lab and millions of dollars to work on it. Wait, what? Let\’s review: Trent spends the entire book trying to discredit Trisk and her work so that so that when it fails she will be pushed aside and and he can get her funding. Then he royally screws up, kills billions, is caught red-handed despite his best efforts, and he and his OWN work isn\’t discredited? Instead the master vampire basically goes \”tsk, tsk, do better on our blood stuff and we\’ll help distribute it and just drink it down when it comes out of your lab.\” I mean, WHAT? This makes absolutely ZERO sense. I wouldn\’t touch anything that came out of his lab with a 10 ft pole and an environmental suit!!! Honestly? I\’m going to think of this book the way I do the Star Wars prequels and Highlander sequels–pretend it doesn\’t exist.

As a huge \”Itchy Witchy\” fan, I was dying to read The Turn. First, there was the cover lust. Can you believe how awesome this cover is? I just had to have it! The Turn is a prequel to the Hollows series. It probably starts about fifty years before we meet Rachel Morgan in Dead Witch Walking, so there\’s no Rachel. Instead, we get to meet Trent\’s parents: Elyotrisk Cambri (who goes by Trisk) and Trent L. Kalamack (who goes by Kal). Trisk and Kal hate each other. They were classmates and Trent made her life miserable. Trisk\’s a very smart dark elf and due to Kal\’s interference in school, she almost doesn\’t get offered a job after graduating. In the end, she\’s sent by the Elven Enclave to spy on Dr. Daniel Plank\’s research. Daniel\’s a human who has created a virus which can make people sick without killing them and the Inderlanders (supes) want to make sure it\’s safe for them as well. After three years of Daniel and Trisk working together and both succeeding in their research, Trent is sent to oversee the procedure. For those who have read the Hollows and have met Trent (the son), we know he can be selfish, power-driven and arrogant. Well, his daddy is ten times worse. Only a couple of times, he wasn\’t a total bastard. His jealousy and desire for recognition were his downfalls. Trist was not very different from Rachel. She was living in the sixties and she was trying to get her name out. It was hard for her because she was a woman but also because she was a dark elf. It didn\’t matter that she was a geneticist. She still had to break down biases and fight in a world dominated by men. She wanted to help the world. She created the T4 Angel Tomato which could end famine since it was immune to drought and disease. She cared for Quen and Daniel and I do believe in a strange way she cared for Kal. It was wonderful going back to the Hollows world and revisiting such great characters like Al and Quen. The Turn also introduces a very cool pixie, Orchid. She didn\’t have as much of Jenks\’s foul language but she was feisty. I hope we get more books! Cliffhanger: No 4/5 Fangs

It\’s a prequel, so you do know a lot of what will happen- this is the story of Rachel Morgan\’s world came into being. It\’s an alternate history of a world very much like ours with shared technology, music and some political events. Reading the Hollows books is helpful, this is a book that\’s fantastic for the fans but might be puzzling for brand new readers because she doesn\’t re-introduce or reiterate information that was fleshed out in that series. I\’m glad for that, it was able to focus on what was new, which was how this all happened. Kim Harrison has a talent for writing characters who should be utterly unlikable and humanizing them and making them relatable or at least sympathetic. But this book, even though you knew how it had to end for the original series, there was one character who remained completely unlikable for me throughout the book. It made it somewhat harder to read than the rest of her books have been. It\’s still very well written and you can understand the motivations and decisions of the main character. There are several characters from previous books, and some of the same themes. Recommended for fans. Other people will benefit from reading at least a few of the original Hollows books.

When I finished the Rachel Morgan series, I was bereft, didn\’t know what to do with myself! Although Urban Fantasy has become a massive genre, there\’s a lot of books out that just aren\’t that good. For me Kim Harrison and Jim Butcher are the queen and king of this genre, and I\’m delighted to confirm that The Turn is a fantastic return for Kim Harrison. As always with her books, characters are so well developed, their interaction and conversation flows and never stutters. I loved the mix of new and already familiar characters – no spoilers, but Rachel Morgan fans will be happy! Finding out about The Turn, the detail and downright dirty politics before and during was a delight to read. The only problem that me and all other fans now have is waiting to find out if we\’ll get to read more about Trisk and life in a new world. More please 🙂

I didn\’t realise how much I was missing the hollows till I read this. But I was. Missing it. Alot apparently. I loved this book. I loved getting to know these characters (some familiar) in a new way. When they were different people. I was expecting the wonderful story and rich plot because that\’s what Kim does. I wasn\’t expecting to become so emotionally invested in it though. We all know about the turn from previous books. I didn\’t expect to have the throat lump and onion eyes reading about the effects on everyday people. Alice you broke me. I would highly recommend this to everyone. Wonderful book. I hope there is more where this came from.

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