Once Dead, Twice Shy, Kim Harrison
i decided to start reading this because.. well, why else? because it's kim harrison. and the short story was one i'd never read before, despite my being a huge fan. so the order and the method in my reading this was basically that i went back and dug out the short story, read it, then jumped straight into this book for the sense of continuity. it also made me feel good that it worked out perfectly, because there was no sense of disjointedness at all; the short story literally flows right into the beginning of this book. so, here goes.
i must admit, i had no idea what to admit, and so when i was introduced to madison initially, the thing i was most hung up on was her constant immaturity; there are bigger things at work than she knows, and she is innocent enough to simply whine about the mundane things. i think we know automatically from the get-go who the villains and heroes are, but can't be sure until the big blowup near the end; regardless, it does make for a somewhat predictable read, but i am not complaining overly much. there is still something good in simplicity, i think. for a while there, when grace was introduced, i seriously thought ms. harrison just has a big thing with little people--there has to be a small chibi figure in there somewhere, being cute and annoying. but it turns out she doesn't play such a big part after all, which i guess i'm glad for, otherwise this is just a twin series to her usual, and i'll be getting all her characters mixed up. as it turns out though, nakita bears a striking resemblance to ivy, except without the primal needs part. so i hope there will be no weird chemistry going on between madison and nakita, because that would be sort of disturbing.
strangely, i don't think i feel all that fond toward josh, the human. it certainly looks like that's the direction it's gonna boil up to for a while, but i really think what's-his-name--barnabas?--and madison would make a likely pair. i'm not even really sure why. he seems a bit more sensitive around her, albeit only slightly. maybe. it seems sweet to me, and i'm not sure if i'm just imagining it. josh just seems like an average joe, and so basically anyone else would have been fine for him too, and it doesn't make madison special. i guess i'm sort of a believer of fate myself ;)
let's see, what else.. the twist about 3/4 of the way in caught me off guard, despite my statement that it was fairly predictable. i thought the villain was just gonna turn out to be a corrupted wheel in the system, but it gets slightly more complicated than that--not too much, but just enough to make it a worthwhile and interesting read. i got over madison's annoying quirks halfway through, and sometimes even found it a bit endearing. it was exciting to read about her photography, because it was such a distinct connection for me, as i'm personally really into it. anyway, who knows. i can only hope that these books can come regularly enough to satisfy the publishing company, and yet not ruin the consistency of the quality of her works so far. if the rachel series suffers because of this new series, that would be a huge shame, as i would have no idea where else to turn to, and this series, despite being a decent starter, is not the beloved rachel morgan series i drool for every year.
