Hell for Hire (Tear Down Heaven #1) by Rachel Aaron
“Do you have in you to make it epic” – Dementus, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Hell for Hire emphatically answers “Yes” to Dementus’ question. It is the quintessential Rachel Aaron book in that – it packs in a tremendous story and fabulous pacey plotting around terrifically likable characters. Lest we take her for granted, Rachel Aaron crafts a brilliantly imaginative World of Warlocks, Witches, Sorcerers, and Demons and bases it in an urban fantasy setup. If it was Detroit for the superb Heartstrikers series, it is Seattle for this one. The end result is an enormously entertaining action-packed book that starts with relatively low stakes but performs a wonderful switcheroo to escalate to completely different stakes rather organically.
Rachel Aaron’s books are what I classify as hopeful fantasy even when the storm clouds are the darkest that they can be and lead characters at their lowest point. While the world can be dark and fraught with danger, the lead characters are almost hopelessly naively good-natured and empathetic. Hell for Hire is no exception. Adrian Blackwood, a witch and Bex, the demon gang leader share a lot of the characteristics of the lead characters of Heartstrikers. Adrian is a cross between Julius Heartstriker and Tavi (yes, I just finished a heart-pounding and wholly-in-awe re-read of Codex Alera) while Bex is like Marci and Opal from the DFZ. Adrian is highly optimistic and righteous and also naïve in that he will challenge those more powerful than him for the right reasons, while Bex is a problem-solver, a leader, and very responsible to boot – while also prone to making some questionable decisions (a plot device that has no equal in writing history leading to fascinating plot progression)
“If you can’t lower heaven, let’s raise hell” - Jason Aaron, Ghostrider: Heavens on Fire #6
Adrian strives to throw off the shackles that he is under given that he is a male witch and hires Bex and her gang to protect him as he tries to build up his strength. Bex and her demon gang are mercenaries but have a grand quest that they are on for which they need the money (and other things) that Adrian can provide. While they hit off almost instantly, a lot of worldbuilding, on a small scale and large scale happens rather organically. And boy o boy is the worldbuilding rich or what – at the small scale, it is something as simple as talking cats as familiars for the witch or an animate sentient broom. On the larger scale, the worldbuilding is about hells, hell’s power dynamics & ruler, demons’ role, and the larger quest that Bex & co have. As packed with action and as pacey as the book is, the book demands that you pay attention to every small detail as things snowball later into significant happenings. The book is also packed with some cute little nuggets of humor as well that pep up proceedings
“Even deep inside their hidden forest, all witches had heard the chilling tales of lost luggage”
Rachel Aaron’s works have a magic of their own. It is quite possibly due to the optimistic tone of her books and characters – you do have the feeling everything will be alright but that never comes at the cost of character evolution and plot development. While the plot starts simple and harkens towards this being Adrian’s story, the book gradually morphs into something much larger in scope and becomes Bex’s story as well (In fact I would say Adrian plays the Max to Bex’s Furiosa). It also helps that the demon team dynamics is quite fun and have that lived-in feel to it. While not a big issue, I did feel some of the early vulnerabilities displayed by both leads felt a tad naïve and too early to disclose but again what’s artistic license if not the ability to create those situations and moments
Hell for Hire is a terrific start to what promises to be a fantastic and fun series that displays all the great things Rachel Aaron is known for and makes it even better – I can't wait to get my hands on the next book which promises an exciting new paradigm for our leads
4.5 Hells out of 5