The Devil’s Right Hand

The Devil’s Right Hand (2007) Lilith Saintcrow

Dante Valentine has been living in Toscano with Japhrimel, slowly recovering from the events in Dead Man Rising. Unfortunately for her, relaxation and recovery are about to come to a screeching halt when she receives a summons from the Devil himself.

This book had a very different feel from the previous two books in the series. First and foremost, there was a tremendous amount of world building. We know from the previous two books that Danny’s world is different from ours, but in this book we start to get a good look at precisely how different that world is from our own. The book also has a glossary and supplementary materials that give us a hint of what is happening, but doesn’t clarify Danny’s situation very much. It also provides “supplementary reading” in the back that gives us a bit more world building and history than we get in the book. I can’t think of a book I’ve read that does this much world building in the third book in the series.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons we’re getting a lot of world building is because the series has shifted from self-contained books to a series with more the feel of a trilogy. Essentially, the story arc did not end with this book, but instead ramps up for what looks to be a long series where things are not going to be wrapped up for quite awhile.

I’m not thrilled about this.

I have the fourth book in the series, but will out of reading it for awhile, because it looks like things are not going to be resolved for quite awhile. (Looks like I’ll be checking the reviews to see if this story arc is going to wrapped up any time soon.

As far as the story, the Danny in this book reminded me of the Danny in the first book. She seems to be bitchy and cranky just for the sake of being a bitch. Yes, her life is in turmoil, but she seems to react in the worst possible way–knowing while she is acting that she’s doing the wrong thing. This makes it very difficult to like Danny. I know she’s still suffering tremendously from the events in the past book, but it’s hard not to want to tell her to STOP being so frustrating and annoying.

What I did get in this book was a sense of how alien Japhrimel truly is. Which does to some small degree explain why Danny is so frustrated with him, but it takes half the book to get to this point, unfortunately.

If you have not read the previous two books, I am uncertain as to whether you could dive into the series at this point. Yes, there is a tremendous amount of world building, but as I said, Danny is very difficult, and knowing what she had gone through in the previous books did make it easier to deal with. Jumping into the series at this point, you’d be missing that background, and might not be as willing to be patient with Danny. But it could just be me.

As I said, it was a good book, but I did have several issues with it, and am not sure when I’m going to read the next book in the series.
Rating: 7/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma » »
• « « Small Favor