#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 as they’ve never seen it before! 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 … 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 them.
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, but not everyone thinks humanity should be saved, and Trisk fights the prejudices of two societies to prove that not only does humanity have something to offer, but that long-accepted beliefs against women, dark magic, and humanity itself can turn to understanding; that when people are at their worst that the best show their true strength, and that love can hold the world together as a new balance is found.
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A prequel to Harrison’s longstanding Rachel Morgan series, The Turn finally gives readers insight to the events that led to the near destruction of the human race that allowed the supernatural community to reveal itself.
While this might function as a standalone, it’s best consumed with a knowledge of the other Rachel Morgan books. Personally, it had been too long since I had read a Rachel Morgan book, so I’m sure I missed some references, but I was still able to recognize key players and enjoyed getting to know them at their beginnings.
Too much plot would give away key elements, but in general, Harrison does a great job of building a world that contains supernaturals without spending too much time on exposition. The detail and richness of the world tells me that Harrison has every aspect of her world hammered out, but doesn’t feel the need to burden the reader with it.
A thoroughly enjoyable read that sent me back to reread the series.
I’ve read all the Hollows books. This prequel was a shock. Trisk and Kal have been rivals at school since forever. They are both elves, and since elves have trouble breeding since being cursed by the demons, both become geneticists. During “career day” when everyone is offered a job, Kal attacks Trisk. He is furiously jealous of her. She is smarter than him, makes better grades, and he has cheated off her before and got her in trouble for it. The job he had lined up is taken from him because of his actions, which adds to his hatred.
Three years later, he is getting nowhere with his research. Trisk has a lucrative success to her credit and has been working as a spy on the side. Offered the chance to check Trisk’s work and determined to destroy her, Kal jumps at the opportunity.
Trisk’s work is dead-on. Kal can find nothing wrong with it. Instead of admitting that, he sets out to destroy her by sabotaging her work. He only wants to make her look bad, humiliate her, ruin her career, and get the funding she has for his project. Kal releases a plague on the world. When he realizes what he has done, he tries to place the blame on Trisk.
Humans are dropping like flies. The world order is about to change. Only the super-naturals are immune to the plague.
There has to be at least one more book between this one and the first of the Hollows books. The Trent we know is the spawn of Kal. How was he raised to become who he is today?
I’m used to Rachel and Jinx and their friends and cohorts. This was a look at the world before the Turn and explains the Turn which has been referenced so many times in these books.
I enjoyed it. Liked some characters, hated some characters. Met a few when they were really young that will show up later. Can’t wait for next offering.
I wasn’t sure about this “prequel” trend – suddenly it seems everyone is writing prequels to their established (or even finished) series… I was skeptical, it seemed like such a marketing ploy – a way to revive flagging interest, to bring new readers in and keep tired ones holding on… Still, I really enjoyed the Rachel Morgan series, so when I saw this one on NetGalley, I thought it would be worth a look at least. I’m SO glad I didn’t heed my skepticism – this was a great book, as either a stand-alone OR a way to answer a lot of unanswered questions from the series…
The backdrop of all of the action in the Rachel Morgan Hollows books is The Turn – the moment in history when supernatural creatures came out of the closet, in response to the decimation of the human population after a bioengineered tomato killed off vast swathes of humanity. Information is dropped in, here and there, but the full situation is never really explained. It’s history in the Hollows, and a history everyone knows, so there was never any need to go into detail beyond that needed to set the stage for the contemporary events. This prequel gives the history – and so much more. It is a marvelous stage-setting for the full series, but it also reads as a wholly original, free-standing, story of its own.
The story is well-developed, as are the characters. There are explanatory references scattered throughout: it’s exceedingly cool to learn how Al came into the picture, to get Quen’s background, to get a peek behind the curtain at the world of the elves. But they’re all handled as though this was the first time any of them were encountered. That must be tough to do in a prequel that follows thirteen books and numerous short stories, but Harrison manages it handily. I found myself eager to reread the series, to see how many other back stories I now understood. I haven’t read the books in a while now, and am sure there are questions that I now have answered that are long forgotten over the course of the thousands and thousands of pages of Hollows stories I’ve encountered…
Whether you are new to the Hollows or a native, this is a great story and a heck of an adventure.
My review copy was provided via NetGalley.
Fellow readers, you cannot imagine my excitement when my NetGalley request to read an advanced readers copy of Kim Harrison’s The Turn, prequel to her amazing series, The Hollows, was approved. The books was as good as any in the awesome series. The review is of course completely voluntary; I always review books that I love.
Most longtime fans of The Hollows have been dying to discover the full story behind the tomato that rocked the world. The big question of how and why the common tomato became the source of such destruction has been answered! It is both fascinating and frustrating to see how the manipulation of those tomatoes, and the machinations of characters that we have long known, changed the course of the world. New readers will be enthralled by Kim Harrison’s amazing twists and turns and will love, and hate, the characters involved. The Turn fits perfectly with other books of the series. I hope Ms. Harrison will break tradition and create more than one book in the time of The Turn.
Reading the Turn has made me want to begin The Hollow for the third time, and it is sure to lead new readers to want to read the whole series.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Getting the back history on the virus and the Kalamack dynasty was nice. My heart breaks for Quinn’s unrequited love and it also explains his overprotectiveness in the series. The narrator did a fantastic job.
The first thing is I am amending this to 4.5 stars because while I did not think it was perfect it was as close as you could get. This is one of my favorite authors and I have followed this series from the first book to the last and was glad that we got this look back. The characters were vibrant and very much alive throughout the story and had my emotions involved from the very beginning. I had definite feelings about everyone that I was introduced to and that means that the writing is amazing to me because I do not always care about what happens to them if they have not been made into credible people in my mind. The locals were nicely done and I was able to visualize them as we moved from place to place.
Trisk and her rival Kal both have the goal of saving their species from extinction. The problem is that Kal wants it for selfish reasons while Trisk really wants to help. This prequel to the Hollows gives us an all-new side to Rachel Morgan’s world, one that has only been hinted at from the future vantage point we have had.
A genetically modified tomato intended to relieve hunger in the world becomes a vehicle for the decimation of the human race. Paranormals are then given the opportunity to either remain hidden and lose a large portion of the population or they can come out and help to save the human race.
My favorite character here was Trisk because she was a woman who was trying to make it in a man’s world and got it even worse because male Elves are even worse than human males when it comes to holding down women. My least favorite, meaning I did not like him was Kal ( Trenton Kalamack) who was a stuck up, classist jerk who treated Trisk like dirt. The rest of them were somewhere in between these two. I also really liked getting a look at the early lives of some pivotal characters who I have had the pleasure to read about before.
I combined audio and reading which did enhance the experience and was a lot more convenient when working around the house. Of course, I recommend it to Hollows fans and even those who may not have read the series yet, because it can maybe jump-start interest.
This is a good read for fans of Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series. It definitely answers some questions about the plague and how/why the Interlanders went public. It also raises some questions too. I did spend a bit of time trying to remember that this was Trent’s father and not Trent himself. Overall, entertaining and it made me want to re-read the entire series again.
I have loved every single book in this series!
This book has its ups and downs, if you have read the Hollows series then it will be mostly ups. We see many of the characters from that series here, even before Rachel and Trent are born which was great and really interesting of what they were in former lives. The 1960s were not a good time for working women, especially as a genetic engineer. Trisk is brilliant, but so focused on wanting credit for her work she gets in her own way. Kal is an ass from the get go only thinking of himself and never seeing the big picture until the end of the book, and then he doesn’t get what he deserves, but some justice. Loved seeing Gally again, he does have fun with this generation of elves. Definitely looking forward to the next in the new books
This book is just a piece of the overall series, this was a great addition to it. Definitely need to read the series, I have read it multiple times, because I liked it so much. Has some really great magic along side a good love story, adventure, suspense and is funny all at the same time!
I love all of the books in this series. Kim is a great Author. I miss these books
Wonderful prequel to the Hollows series.