Liviania’s review of Serpent’s Storm (Calliope Reaper-Jones, Book 3) by Amber Benson
Urban fantasy published by Ace 22 Feb 11
Serpent’s Storm is one of two books I’ve read recently that I loved aside from one element. Amber Benson (yes, Tara of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been improving with each book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, so I’m hoping she’ll deal with it better in the fourth book.
Each book, Calliope has shown she can step up to the plate. But she’s never taken responsibility – it’s always been forced on her. In Serpent’s Storm, she finally makes that leap. But before then, she’s once more thrust into the breach when she unexpectedly becomes Death during what was supposed to be a normal work day. That is, she becomes Death apart from having to kill the other two heirs apparent – one of whom is her boyfriend. She also needs to take on the people who killed her father, the previous Death – one of whom is her older sister. It’s quite the tangle.
Calliope and Daniel don’t spend much time together, but their scenes are well done. They get a particularly cute moment in the middle of the book, when they’re supposed to be fighting to the death. Less cute? Frank, who Calliope has sex with. Frank, who Calliope has sex with after he uses magic to make her more receptive to his advances when she begins their meeting by fighting him. It’s creepy and gross. Calliope knows he coerced her, but everyone still treats the encounter as completely consensual. That’s double creepy and gross. I’m not saying that she needs to be crying and devastated after, but thus far it’s only played out as her willfully cheating on her boyfriend, which isn’t what happened.
But Serpent’s Storm is a good, action-filled urban fantasy with plenty of character development. Several new characters arrive, some with unexpected revelations. Several old characters make cameos, some with unexpected revelations. It can be annoying when an urban fantasy heroine makes a power up, but this one makes sense since Calliope has been Death’s heir since Death’s Daughter. It also works because she still needs to grow into her powers and learn to use them correctly. She also needs to start thinking ahead of her opponents. Her narration is irreverent, injecting the right amount of comedy to keep Serpent’s Storm from being terribly depressing.
I’ll be back to see what Calliope Reaper-Jones does next, but I’m hoping there are no more skeevy subway scenes.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Calliope just wants to make it big in the Big Apple like any other working girl. But Callie is also Death’s Daughter, no matter how much she tries to stay out of the family business. And now her older sister has made a deal with the Devil himself to engage in a hostile takeover of both Death Inc. and Heaven-once they get Callie out of the way.
Read an excerpt here.
Other books in the series:
