Review: Death's Daughter - Amber Benson

Daddy's Little Girl

For the last few years I'd been in a state of bliss - living under a self-imposed Forgetting Charm, because I so did not want to go into the family business.  What I wanted was a glamorous career in New York City and the opportunity for a normal life - buying designer shoes on sale, dating guys from craigslist, Web surfing for organic dim sum for my boss.  And then my father's Executive Assistant, a faun named Jarvis, showed up to to tell me that my dad had been kidnapped.

Good-bye, Forgetting Charm.  Hello, (unwanted) responsibility.  Not only am I expected to step into the CEO slot on the company Board, but I have to "prove my worth" by competing against the Devil's protege - who's so hot in more ways than one.  The contest involves finding three (why is it always three?) objects of power.  In Hell.

One of them is this adorable puppy - who happens to be a hellhound.  The others are turning out to be not much fun.  All this so I can take (unwanted) charge of Death, Inc.

My name is Calliope Reaper-Jones, and I'm . . . Death's Daughter

Calliope Reaper-Jones Series:
Death's Daughter
Callie Meet Happy (Short Story in the An Apple for the Creature Anthology)
Cat's Claw
Serpent's Storm

Visit Amber Benson's blog for more information

Review:
Calli has been living in New York for the last few years and has no memory of her family having used a forgetting charm so she could escape and live her own life.  However when her father and older sister are kidnapped Callie has no choice but to go home and take over the family business.  Before the board will accept her as the CEO of Death, Inc she must complete several difficult tasks and with the Devil's protege also wanting the job she will need to work quickly to get the tasks done in time to save her father.

I first heard about Death's Daughter when I stumbled across a video of the author Amber Benson giving a reading from Serpent's Storm on twitter.  The video made me laugh so hard that I immediately ordered all 3 books and I was really looking forward to reading them.  I should have learnt by now never to order more than the first book in a series and this time I think I'm going to take the lesson to heart.  It wasn't that Death's Daughter was a terrible book, in fact I really liked the world the author has created and the different mythology used but for such an original idea I think the execution could have been so much better.

Callie has to be one of the most dislikable main characters I've come across in a long time.  She spends most of her time complaining, whining and in general being nasty to everyone she meets.  She is obsessed with shopping and designer labels and has the hots for every single guy she sees, even the ones she doesn't like very much.  Worse still she seems to assume that just because she fancies someone they must automatically be attracted to her too despite the fact she is constantly saying that she isn't pretty.  It felt like the author was trying too hard to make Callie a funny character with the witty comments that she was constantly coming out with but unfortunately they failed to hit the mark most of the time.  When reading urban fantasy I want the main character to be strong and capable, I don't enjoy watching the heroine sitting around and waiting for someone to rescue her which Callie seemed to spend a lot of time doing.  She certainly wouldn't have survived to the end of the book if she hadn't had help.

Like I said the world created was interesting and I am curious to see if Callie grows up as the series progresses but if I hadn't already bought the books I don't think I would carry on reading.  I actually liked some of the supporting characters and I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable if Callie's younger sister Clio had been the heroine so I hope we get to see a lot more of her in the next book.  I will try reading Cat's Claw and see if there is any improvement on this book but if there isn't then I won't be continuing with the series.

Source: Purchased

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