Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond (Hollows Story Collection)

The Hollows & More

Introduction: When I saw that there would be a novella collection by Kim Harrison, I was incredibly excited. Even though I knew that I would have already read many of the ones included due to my obsession with reading everything from the Hollows world. It would just be awesome to have all that yummy goodness in one place. Of course I will admit that it was the new stuff that excited me the most, but I still would have purchased it without it. Yes, I'm that big of a fan. Onto the stories... The Hollows: The Bespelled: While I had previously read this novella it was nice to read it again. It does show a much more abusive Al than the one he has grown to be since being influenced by Rachel for so long. I really love that demon, even if he was rather horrible to Ceri, but then again she really doesn't have anyone to blame but herself as this novella showed her choices. Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel: This was another previously published novella, but one I hadn't read prior to this collection. It was really interesting to see how very different Rachel was back when she was still weak from her childhood. I feel like after reading this that I understand why she is the way she is and her choices so much better. It was in this novella that she learned taking risks is really the only thing that makes her feel truly alive. Also, even though I'm not the biggest Pierce fan, it was fun to see their initial introduction. Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil: Another novella that I had read before, this one shows Ivy in the past right before she met Rachel. I'll admit that I wasn't thrilled about the Kisten and her parts as in my mind he always belonged to Rachel. That being said, this novella gave a really good picture of the mental abuse that both Ivy and Kisten endured over the years. The manipulation is absolutely horrifying, but this novella seemed to show the turning point for Ivy as she finally started to want something more for herself. Dirty Magic: This one was a new one...