Lilith Saintcrow
Working for Devil (2005)
Dante Valentine is a necromance--she is able to visit the realms of the dead and draw spirits back to the world where they can answer questions or communicate again with their loved ones. Although mages and other psis are out and somewhat accepted by the public, necromances still are feared by most of the public. However, they are still needed, and Danny is one of the strongest necromances around--strong enough that she's hired by the devil to track down a rogue demon.
As a heroine, I have to say that Dante is pretty great. She kicks butt, however, that ability comes from hard work, which I always like. Sure, natural ability is good, but hard work is more important. She also has a rough past, but has managed to somehow become a functioning member of society. (Albeit one who isn't really appreciated by most of society.)
As far as the other characters, I really liked the relationships between Dante and Jaf and the way it develops. However, I understood the relationship between Gabe and Danny, but I didn't feel it in the same way. They're best friends, but I don't always feel like I believe it. The other thing that bothered me was the way that Dante never took any time to listen to what people were telling her--even if those things were important. She was consistent about it, but I found it maddening. I wanted to yell at her to take TWO SECONDS and just LISTEN to what people were trying to tell her.
Grr.
However, the storytelling more than made up for those small frustrations. The book moved along at a quick pace, dragging me along with it, even if I thought I would be better off going to bed or doing some other mundane task. I also liked how we piece together the world and Danny's past. We don't quite learn everything, but we pick up enough bits and pieces to learn what Danny's childhood was like (bad) and what the world she lives in is like. (Further advanced than ours. Plus magic.) There was a lot of technology, but it wasn't overwhelming enough to bug me (I don't know why, but most science fiction grates on my nerves. Probably because technology annoys me enough in real life--I don't want to deal with it in my escapism.)
There is also some sex, however, it's not a lot, and it's not overwhelming. It might not be appropriate for younger readers.
Another thing that was done well is that although the story arc was concluded, there were plenty of openings for new stories. I'm a big fan of well done series where each story arc is concluded within a single book, but the characters and the story continue from book to book. My favorite!
Dante Valentine is a good, strong heroine, the story is fast paced, and the writing is good. If you like supernatural fiction, then I highly recommend Working for the Devil.
Rating: 8/10
Dead Man Rising (2006)
Dante Valentine has been taking on case after case to try and forget what happened to her in Rio. Unfortunately for her, it’s not working. She and Jace are keeping busy–and she’s all but running Jace into the ground–but she still can’t keep Japh off her mind.
Things get even worse when her friend Gabe calls her in to help with a case–one of the four necromances in the city has been brutally murdered, and Gabe can’t reach her and hopes Danny can.
Things get even worse when Danny realizes she’s going to have to deal with part of her past that she thought she’d buried so deep it’d never come up.
I read the first book, Working for the Devil over a year ago, ordered the second book in the series, and then somehow never got around to reading it. A discussion with a friend reminded me that I had Dead Man Rising and hadn’t yet read it, so I picked it up.
As I’ve wondered about other books, what the heck was I waiting for? Now I have to admit that the last book I finished was a little bit of a disappointment, so I was ready to be taken in by fast pacing and good writing. But it’s more than that. This story is very well written. The underlying mystery is good, and the characters are better than I remember from the first book.
Dante is still bitchy and unpleasant, but she has reason to be. And IIRC, one of the things that annoyed me about her in the first book was that she refused to listen to anyone else. That wasn’t a problem in this book. Not that it does her a lot of good, but she tries to listen, and even though it’s very difficult for her, she tries to share–as best she can–with those around her.
One thing I particularly liked is that the book did a very good job dealing with a very difficult subject, and that is the abuse of children by an authority figure. She also did a very good job of making you feel what the characters were feeling–something that not all authors are good at.
It’s been a year, so the fine details of the first book are vague in my mind, but I was able to jump right into the story despite that. Does this mean you could read Dead Man Rising without having read the first book? I think you probably could.
Rating: 8/10
Dark and Stormy Knights (2010)
edited by P.N. Elrod
I can’t help myself–I love anthologies. And fantasy anthologies with writers who write their fantasy with a healthy does of mystery? Sign me up! All anthologies have high and low points, but overall this was a fairly strong group of stories.
The book starts off with a current favorite author, Ilona Andrews. This is a Kate Daniels story, only set in the past, when Kate was still working for the Mercenary Guild. And we get to see how she met Saiman, which is a story well worth reading. Plus, this glimpse into Kate’s past was quite interesting. I have to admit that as much as I have been enjoying the series, I really really like independent Kate.
The second story is by Jim Butcher, but is not a Dresden story (although Harry is mentioned). Instead the main character is John Marcone, who we met in an earlier Dresden book. Justine is in trouble, and comes to Marcone for sanctuary as he is a signer of the Accords. Unfortunately a really nasty monster is after Justine, and Marcone doesn’t really have that much to gain by helping her. What was especially interesting about this story was seeing characters like Harry from the eyes of outsides.
The fourth story was Rachel Caine‘s story, “Even a Rabbit Will Bite.” I wasn’t particularly thrilled with her Weather Warden series, so I wasn’t expecting much from this story. Interestingly, it’s a short stand-alone story that I ended up liking very much. Lisel is the last Dragonslayer, and she is to train her replacement to kill the last remaining dragon. An elderly woman is rarely the hero of the story, so I especially liked that twist.
Jack Flemming makes another appearance in P.N. Elrod‘s story “Dark Lady.” A woman shows up looking for Jack, to beg him for help saving her fiancee from the mob. Unfortunately, he double crossed Gordy (Jack’s sort of boss) so there’s not much Jack thinks he can do for her, but being a sucker for a damsel in distress, he tries to help her anyway.
Lilith Saintcrow‘s story, “Rookwood & Mrs. King” was a vampire story, only without the romantic swoony vampires. Which was a nice change. A woman asks Rookwood to kill her husband, and Rookwood starts to refuse until she tells him her husband is undead and haunting her.
The final story was Carrie Vaughan‘s “God’s Creatures” which stars Cormac early in his career, before meeting Kitty. Again, I liked stepping into a characters past, and I also liked learning more about a secondary character–a nice twist that brings you into the world that already exists, but doesn’t do anything to ruin the ongoing storyline if you’re not familiar with the author.
Yes, there were other stories, but they weren’t particular favorites. but the stories mentioned above are well worth the price of the book, especially if you’ve not read stories by these authors before.
Rating: 8/10
Published by St Martin’s Griffin
Dante Valentine: Working for Devil (2005), Dead Man Rising (2006)
Anthologies: Dark and Stormy Knights (2010) edited by P.N. Elrod
