Dante Valentine, Necromancer and bounty hunter, just wants to be left alone. But the Devil has other ideas.
The Prince wants Dante. And he wants her now. And Dante and her lover, Japhrimel, have no choice but to answer the Prince's summons. And to fulfill a seemingly simple task: become the Devil's Right Hand, hunt down four demons that have escaped from Hell, and earn His gratitude. It's a shame that nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Devil. Because of course, he doesn't tell Dante the whole truth: there is a rebellion brewing in Hell. And there is a good chance that Lucifer is about to be pushed off the throne. But Dante is getting really tired of being pushed around. And this time, she might be angry enough to take on the Devil himself... |
The beginning of this story takes place awhile in the future – apparently Dante has quietly snapped from her last ordeal. The ordeal was focused on in the first book and brought to glaring light in the second, it would have broken almost anybody. She is back with Japh and he has slowly been healing her, but also sheltering and protecting her without her knowledge.
Now they have no choice but to get back into the meat of things as Lucifer tries to be creative in tricking and destroying them both. Once they leave their safe haven together, Dante grows suspicious, hostile, and downright difficult. This is the point in the series for me where I really started disliking the character. She is ungrateful, quick to jump to conclusion, can’t trust anyone, refuses to listen to reason, says cruel things to those who care about her, and is a little too Unfeeling about killing.
She is a necromancer but again little is done with this power. The author prefers focusing on her transformation and the mystery with it rather than her supernatural ability. More focus is spent on her with swords and fighting than anything else. I still really dig Japh – he didn’t reveal everything to her, sure, and he has flaws, sure, but he’s still more than she deserves the way she starts acting to people.
There’s a lot of action in this short novel, like the others, so it’s a quick read. There’s a lot of personal angst that started getting on my nerves and the struggle is focused more on that than anything else, but action scenes when present are fierce and exhilarating.
This dark series is gritty and complex with its unusual hierarchy of demons. Not many of supernatural creatures or people exist. Overall another great book in the series, but not as enjoyable in some ways as the other two; on the other hands, parts of it are more enjoyable than the other two. Go figure.
