Kim Harrison: Rachel Morgan | Hollows Series Reading Order + Author Q&A
Author photo by Myra Klarman Photography
“I like to think that for every act of magic there ought to be a price.”
Find the complete reading order of Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan AKA The Hollows Series, plus the author on switching from epic fantasy to urban fantasy, why she restarted the Rachel Morgan series, and her scientific approach to magic.
Kim Harrison’s urban fantasy Rachel Morgan / The Hollows series is set in an alternate universe where supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, witches, what have you) live among the human population, and the historical Space Race was replaced by a race among the nations in genetic engineering.
The series stars Rachel Morgan, a bounty hunter witch who works with local law enforcement and faces threats both natural and and supernatural. The stories also follow Rachel’s relationships with her partners, a living vampire and a pixy, as well as her personal relationships with males of different species. Although the series was thought to have wrapped up with 2014’s The Witch With No Name, Harrison returned to The Hollows with American Demon in 2020.
Includes links to video clips and more great stories!
Harrison’s approach to magic is to write it as another brand of science:
“I actually have a Bachelor’s degree in science. It always bothered me, the black box of magic where you wave a wand and say a word and something happens. That just never pleased my sensibilities, so I tried to put a spin on the magic that goes back to science in some ways. The magic is run in my universe by ley lines. I take that, which is mythical, but then I go in and say, “Well, maybe it’s a rift in time where the energy is leaking through or maybe it’s the back end of a wormhole.” So, I try to find a basis for it. It turns out they are a kind of slice in the fabric of time where you can get to an alternate reality where the demons have been and so it goes on. I do like basing things on science when I can.” (SOURCE: Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy)
“I wouldn’t miss a Kim Harrison book for anything.”—Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels
“The world of the Hollows is fast-moving, funny, harrowing, and scary, and—the greatest compliment to a fantasy—absolutely real.”—Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander novels
JUMP TO A SECTION
List: Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan / Hollows books in order
Conversations: Kim Harrison Rachel Morgan / Hollows Author Interviews
Descriptions: Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan / Hollows books in order
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The Turn: The Hollows Begins with Death (Rachel Morgan Series Prequel)
Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan Series #1)
The Good, The Bad, and the Undead (Rachel Morgan Series #2)
Every Which Way But Dead (Rachel Morgan Series #3)
A Fistful of Charms (Rachel Morgan Series #4)
For A Few Demons More (Rachel Morgan Series #5)
Outlaw Demon Wails (Rachel Morgan Series #6)
White Witch, Black Curse (Rachel Morgan Series #7)
Black Magic Sanction (Rachel Morgan Series #8)
Pale Demon (Rachel Morgan Series #9)
A Perfect Blood (Rachel Morgan Series #10)
Ever After (Rachel Morgan Series #11)
The Undead Pool (Rachel Morgan Series #12)
The Witch With No Name (Rachel Morgan Series #13)
American Demon (Rachel Morgan Series #14)
KIM HARRISON ON SWITCHING FROM WRITING EPIC FANTASY TO WRITING URBAN FANTASY
Urban fantasy was really new; it didn’t even have a name yet. This was just about when Jim Butcher started writing and Charlaine Harris and [Laurell] Hamilton. Hamilton had really broken ground. She wasn’t the first, but she was the first who made it marketable. Then Butcher and Charlaine came along and then I was shortly behind them, but I was still writing as Dawn Cook.
My publisher at Ace passed on the manuscript and so my agent shopped it around. It took about a year, actually, before somebody picked it up. What you read in Dead Witch Walking really is not what I wrote. There were so many tweaks and changes and shifts. It was more young adult. It was more quirky. I had puns all over the place, so it needed a lot of work. I really don’t blame Ace for passing on it, because it was not what you see on the shelf.
One of the odd quirks about the publishing industry is that book buyers will often give a new name more of a chance than they will an old name with a kind of “meh” track record. Now, the Dawn books were doing okay, but they hadn’t accelerated, so my new publicist wanted to make a clean break from the Dawn books.
Since it was in a new genre, it really wasn’t an issue for me. My Dawn name really hadn’t taken off, so I said sure. My editor picked out the name. I was either going to be Kim Harrison or Lisa Harrison because she wanted me shelved right next to Hamilton. Yeah, there’s kind of a joke: If you’re going to write urban fantasy, you need to have a name that starts in H, because we’re all over there.
So she picked out my name and from a legal standpoint, it’s also easier to write a new series and change publishers by taking on a pen name because of the legalities. It’s just so much easier, so there are a lot of reasons why people will take pen names. For me, it was so that the books would have a better chance. And that’s also why the wig. I’d been doing publicity as Dawn for a while and my photo was out, and my editor really wanted a very sharp degree of separation so she said: “Get a wig; have some fun with it.” That’s what I did.
READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW: Feature Interview: Kim Harrison by THE GEEK’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY | Lightspeed Magazine
KIM HARRISON ON RESTARTING THE RACHEL MORGAN SERIES WITH ‘AMERICAN DEMON’
Did I plan on restarting the Hollows after The Witch with No Name? Absolutely not! I crafted that epilogue at the end of WWNN so carefully, so lovingly, just trying to get it the perfect balance of happy ending and satisfaction. Rachel deserved a well-earned peace after what I put her through. But the main reason I wanted to step away from the Hollows was to stretch my writing muscles in ways that the Hollows universe couldn’t give me.
Several years spent on published and non published manuscripts with different characters in different worlds outside of that first-person narrative, however, and I began to feel a definite pull back to Rachel and the gang. I’ll be honest. Stretching my writing muscles was great and I learned a lot, but wow, stepping back into Rachel’s voice was truly like coming home. I hope that the readers feel the step from The Witch With No Name to American Demon is seamless. That happy ending epilogue is not out of reach, just put off for a few more years.
READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW: An Interview with Kim Harrison | Grimdark Magazine
KIM HARRISON ON HER SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO MAGIC
The inspiration of the witchcraft rituals and magic systems of earth magic and ley line magic come from several sources. I’ve been asked before if I practice Wicca to which I can answer a sincere no. I’ve made a conscious decision to keep Wicca out of the Hollows, preferring to come up with rituals out of my head, trying to base them on a few laws of nature such as nothing is created or destroyed—just changed, and for every action there is a reaction.
I like to think that for every act of magic there ought to be a price. Waving a magic wand and having a miracle occur should only be allowed after a lot of practice and maybe a little pain, and though I might not detail it out in the manuscript, you can bet I've got at least a theory on how it "might" be done.
I did very little book research—I've only got one “magic manual,” and I only looked at it once to make sure what I was doing made some kind of sense. No charms in it at all, just theory. I pulled on common myth and knowledge that the man on the street might know or concepts that other authors have made into a mainstay. I built on that, trying to keep it familiar but adding my own feel to it.
READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW: A Conversation With Kim Harrison - The SF Site
Trisk and her hated rival, Kal, have the same goal—save their species from extinction.
“My heart breaks for Trisk and the life she had to live after everything happened. The Hollows Series is still one of my favorites. I could read them over and over again.” (JaMonkey)
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to her beloved Hollows series with The Turn—the official prequel to the series that will introduce you to a whole new side of Rachel Morgan’s world, featuring Harrison’s signature “spellbinding blend of sharp wit and vivid imagination” (Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author).
Can science save us when all else fails?
Trisk and her hated rival, Kal, have the same goal: save their species from extinction.
But death comes in the guise of hope when a genetically modified tomato created to feed the world combines with the government’s new tactical virus, giving it an unexpected host and a mode of transport. Plague rises, giving the paranormal species the choice to stay hidden and allow humanity to die, or to show themselves in a bid to save the human race.
Under accusations of scientific misconduct, Trisk and Kal flee across a plague-torn United States to convince leaders of the major paranormal species to save their supposedly weaker kin. Not everyone thinks humanity should be saved, though, and Trisk must fight the prejudices of two societies to prove not only that humanity does have something to offer but also that long-accepted beliefs against women, dark magic, and humanity itself can turn to understanding; that when people are at their worst, the best show their true strength; and that love can hold the world together as a new balance is found.
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All the creatures of the night gather in “the Hollows” of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party—and to feed.
“Strong start to a series…does a lot of work setting up its world, but manages to create interesting characters with compelling problems.” (Inconsistent Pacing)
The first book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's Hollows series! All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party—and to feed. Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining—and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized. A bounty hunter and a witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead—or undead.
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Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child’s play—and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.
“A superb book, beautiful, sexy, mysterious, and violent. I can't wait for the next in the series.” (SF Site)
The second novel in the addictive bestselling supernatural series begun with Dead Witch Walking. To save herself and her vampire roommate, former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan must confront six feet of sheer supernatural seduction—the vampire master—and dark secrets she’s hidden even from herself.
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Rachel made a deal to put away a vampire kingpin. Now her dark “master” is coming to collect.
“By far the strongest installment in The Hollows series. Compelling new characters were introduced, the demon plotline was propelled forward, and Rachel made (some) smart decisions. Madness!” (Fine Print)
Witch and former bounty hunter Rachel Morgan's managed to escape her corrupt company, survive living with a vampire, start her own runner service, and face down a vampire master.
But her vampire roommate Ivy is off the wagon, her human boyfriend Nick is out of town indefinitely and doesn't sound like he's coming back while the far-too-seductive vampire Kisten is looking way too tempting, and there's a turf war erupting in Cincinnati's underworld.
And there's a greater evil still. To put the vampire master behind bars and save her family, Rachel made a desperate bargain and now there's hell to pay--literally. For if Rachel cannot stop him, the archdemon Algaliarept will pull her into the sorcerous ever-after to forfeit her soul as his slave. Forever.
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Savage beasts are gathering to ravage and to rule—and more than Rachel’s soul is at stake.
“I had such a good time with this book. This series is full of wonderful characters facing some pretty exciting situations.” (Carole’s Random Life in Books)
Things are going well for Rachel Morgan, witch, independent runner, and one-third of the runner service Vampiric Charms. She’s got a business, friends, even a semi-regular—and always-sexy—boyfriend. So what if Kisten is a vampire? So’s her roommate Ivy....
But an unexpected call for help sends her out of Cincinnati on a desperate trip to rescue the son of her business partner Jenks. It’s fun at first, even with dealing with a human-sized Jenks (you cannot believe how much trouble a 6-foot pixy can cause, especially when he looks like a supermodel...), but the road trip quickly turns dangerous when confronting an old love becomes a fight for survival.
For seeing Nick Sparagmos again is the least of Rachel’s problems--the ancient, mystical statue he has stolen holds the key to sinister, wild magic that can change humans into Weres. And for the first time in milennia, the Were packs are banding together to overthrow human and Inderlander alike. The fight that follows will shake Rachel’s very soul...and she will never be the same.
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Rachel Morgan has managed to stay just ahead of trouble—until now.
“Powerful mixture of fast paced action, emotion, horror and imaginative fantasy.” (Love Vampires)
Despite dating one vampire and living with another, Rachel Morgan has always managed to stay just ahead of trouble—until now.
A fiendish serial killer stalks the Hollows, and no one living in or around Cincinnati—human, inhuman, or undead—is safe.
An ancient artifact may be the key to stopping the murderer—a mysterious relic that is now in the hands of Rachel Morgan, fearless independent bounty hunter and reckless witch. But revealing it could ignite a battle to the death among the vast and varied local supernatural races.
Rachel's been lucky so far. But even she can’t hide from catastrophe forever.
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There are some lines that should never be crossed.
“I enjoyed it, and it has me in complete anticipation for the next book.” (Linz The Bookworm)
To save the lives of her friends, Rachel did the unthinkable: she willingly trafficked in forbidden demon magic. And now her sins are coming home to haunt her.
As Rachel searches for the truth behind a terrifying murder, an even greater menace threatens, for the demon Algaliarept will stop at nothing to claim her, and the discovery of a shocking family secret throws Rachel's entire life into question. If she is ever to live free, Rachel must first walk willingly into the demonic ever-after in search of long-lost ancient knowledge.
But when you dance with demons, you lay your soul on the line—and there are some lines that should never be crossed.
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Rachel’s past comes back to haunt her—literally.
“Just grabbed me up and made me cry. [Harrison is] truly a master in building tension and intrigue.” (KD Did It Edits)
Kim Harrison is a New York Times-bestselling phenomenon, in the superstar pantheon along with Laurel K. Hamilton and Charlaine Harris of Sookie Stackhouse fame. Return to “the Hollows” in White Witch, Black Curse, as tough-as-nails bounty hunter witch Rachel Morgan seeks vengeance for the death of her lover among the creatures of the night. Indeed, Charlaine Harris herself has nothing but praise for Harrison’s peerless protagonist, promising, “You’re going to love this bounty hunter!” White Witch, Black Curse is contemporary dark fantasy at its electrifying best.
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Rachel Morgan has never faced off against her own kind—until now.
“This entry in the Rachel Morgan world…sets up some fun action in the next entry and is really very entertaining.” (The Good, The Bad, and the Unread)
Black Magic Sanction is the most complex and emotionally charged adventure yet in author Kim Harrison’s New York Times bestselling series featuring bounty hunter-witch Rachel Morgan. A spellbinding story set once again Cleveland’s vampire, demon, and other supernatural beings-infested Hollows, Black Magic Sanction has the intrepid Rachel trapped in a life-or-death battle against her own kind in a sensational urban fantasy that shows why Kim Harrison deservedly stands in the superstar ranks alongside Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, and Laurell K. Hamilton.
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Rachel Morgan has three days to clear her name or be trapped in the demonic ever-after forever.
“Another excellent installment in the Rachel Morgan series. Kim Harrison’s work just keeps getting better.” (I’d So Rather Be Reading)
New York Times bestselling urban fantasy superstar Kim Harrison is back with Pale Demon—her ninth electrifying adventure featuring contemporary witch Rachel Morgan. This time Rachel's leaving the Hollows, on a cross-country road trip with a pixy, an elf, and a vampire, as she races to clear her blackened name at a California witches' convention in order to avoid an eternity of torment at the claws of a soul-devouring demon. Pale Demon is Kim Harrison at her gothic best—combining mystery, action, intrigue, paranormal romance, and breathtaking dark fantasy in a delicious witches’ brew that fans of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Stephenie Meyer, and Jim Butcher simply will not be able to resist.
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Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other.
“A Perfect Blood is as close to a perfect story as any I have read in The Hollows series (so far –yes, I need to say so far, because this series keeps getting better and better).” (Un-conventional Bookworms)
New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison returns to the Hollows with the electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed Pale Demon! Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the I.S. and the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: a human hate group is trying to create its own demons to destroy all Inderlanders, and to do so, it needs her blood. She's faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more, but humanity itself might be her toughest challenge yet.
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The ever-after is shrinking.
“Ever After is a great addition to the series. With only two more books to go, I am really going to miss The Hollows gang when the series finally ends.” (Talk Nerdy With Us)
Witch-turned-daywalking-demon Rachel Morgan needs to save the demonic realm of the Ever After in the eleventh entry in the New York Times bestselling Hollows series from supernatural adventure master Kim Harrison.
When Rachel sets off a chain of events that could lead to the end of the world—demonic and human—she must use her gifts to save those closest to her while preventing an apocalypse.
Satisfying and sexy, a visit to the Hollows will take readers on a wild journey that will capture their imagination. Fans of Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer won't be able to resist Kim Harrison's alternative universe—urban fantasy Cincinnati complete with vampires, witches, and other enchanting creatures—where spine-tingling adventures and fast-paced action are the norm.
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Strange magic is attacking Cincinnati and the Hollows.
“Kim Harrison stuns with The Undead Pool...If there is any book that deserves undivided attention, it’s any one that’s been written by Kim Harrison.” (Literally Jen)
Supernatural superhero Rachel Morgan must counter a strange magic that could spell civil war for the Hollows in this sexy and bewitching urban fantasy adventure in acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison’s Hollows series.
Witch and day-walking demon Rachel Morgan has managed to save the demonic ever after from shrinking, but at a high cost. Now, strange magic is attacking Cincinnati and the Hollows, causing spells to backfire or go horribly wrong, and the truce between the races, between Inderlander and human, is shattering. Rachel must stop this dark necromancy before the undead vampire masters who keep the rest of the undead under control are lost and all-out supernatural war breaks out.
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Power demands responsibility, and world-changers must always pay a price.
“Fast-paced read.” (NPR)
It’s Rachel Morgan’s ultimate adventure . . . and anything can happen in this next book in the New York Times bestselling Hollows series.
Rachel Morgan has come a long way from her early days as an inexperienced bounty hunter. She’s faced vampires and werewolves, banshees, witches, and soul-eating demons. She’s crossed worlds, channeled gods, and accepted her place as a day-walking demon. She’s lost friends and lovers and family, and an old enemy has unexpectedly become something much more.
But power demands responsibility, and world-changers must always pay a price. Rachel has known that this day would come—and now it is here.
To save Ivy’s soul and the rest of the living vampires, to keep the demonic ever after and our own world from destruction, Rachel Morgan will risk everything. . . .
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RACHEL MORGAN IS BACK—AND THE HOLLOWS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
Special Message From Kim Harrison: “Rachel had found her happy ending, her world was, if not perfect, at least not being upended every three months by a new big-bad-ugly or her hidden past. She had gone from entitled ignorance to someone of balance and purpose, she had a family not of blood, but of bond. What more could another book add? But still . . . something wiggled in my thoughts, haunting the breath of time between wake and sleep, and I finally agreed that perhaps the story wasn’t done quite yet.” (Caffeinated Reviewer)
What happens after you’ve saved the world? Well, if you're Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch-born demon, you quickly discover that something might have gone just a little bit wrong. That the very same acts you and your friends took to forge new powers may have released something bound by the old. With a rash of zombies, some strange new murders, and an exceedingly mysterious new demon in town, it will take everything Rachel has to counter this new threat to the world--and it may demand the sacrifice of what she holds most dear.
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To save the city, Rachel Morgan will need to show some teeth…
The new master vampire of Cincinnati has arrived . . . and she wants Rachel Morgan out. No matter where Rachel goes, Constance is there—threatening Rachel's allies, causing city-wide chaos, and, to add insult to injury, even forcing Rachel out of her current quarters. Ever since Rachel found a way to save the souls of vampires, the old undead's longtime ascendancy has been broken. Now Constance sees eliminating Rachel as the key to consolidating her own power.
Rachel has no desire to be enthralled or killed—and she's terrified of what may become of the city if Constance forces a return to the ancient ways. But even a witch-born demon can't stand against the old undead--at least, not alone. And if Rachel refuses to claim the role of Cincinnati's master demon, the city will tear itself apart, taking her and all those who stand beside her with it.)
“This entry relies on the substantial worldbuilding of the previous novels. For dedicated readers, a rousing addition to the series.”—Publishers Weekly
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Trouble with the Cursed (Hollows Book 16)
Rachel Morgan must keep her friends close—and her enemies closer…
Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, has one unspoken rule: take chances, but pay for them yourself. With it, she has turned enemies into allies, found her place with her demon kin, and stepped up as the subrosa of Cincinnati—responsible for keeping the paranormal community at peace and in line.
Life is . . . good? Even better, her best friend, Ivy Tamwood, is returning home. Nothing’s simple, though, and Ivy’s not coming alone. The vampires’ ruling council insists she escort one of the long undead, hell-bent on proving that Rachel killed Cincy’s master vampire to take over the city. Which, of course, Rachel totally did not do. She only transformed her a little.
With Rachel’s friends distracted by their own lives and problems, she reaches out to a new ally for help—the demon Hodin. But this trickster has his own agenda. 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. . . .
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