Serpent's Storm
Spoiler Alert: Don't read this book
Serpent's Storm is the third book in Amber Benson's series about Calliope Reaper-Jones, also known as Death's Daughter. Callie just wants to be a normal girl, living in NYC, working and shopping and going about her life. She even put a forgetting spell on herself so she would think she was normal (and basically abandoned her family in the process). But when her dad (Death) gets kidnapped, she has to step up as a member of her family. The forgetting spell is broken and she gets thrust back into the supernatural world she tried so hard to leave behind.
Honestly, I barely know why I read these books. I grabbed the first two solely because Amber Benson wrote them. The first one (Death's Daughter) was fun, and I think I liked the second one (Cat's Claw) more. The world is actually really great. Amber Benson draws on a lot of different mythologies and her characterizations of the old gods tend to be snarky and self-obsessed, much like the old gods actually were.
Unfortunately, Callie is also self-obsessed and clueless. She's weepy and mostly concerned with her clothes, which get ruined a lot. Honestly, I want to smack her most of the time. I hate when protagonists come across as stupid or slow just so the book can maintain some mystery (this is mostly only a problem in first-person narratives). If I'm constantly figuring everything out before the person telling me the story can figure it out, I get frustrated.
Thankfully there are other characters who are a bit more tolerable. Callie's little sister Clio is smart and sassy and reminds me a lot of Abby from NCIS. Her puppy, Runt, also manages to be smarter than Callie most of the time. The Devil's Protege (aka, obligatory hot guy) also seems to have a decent head on his shoulders. Death's assistant, Jarvis, spends much of the first two books exasperated with Callie who he really is trying his best to help. I would like to buy Jarvis a drink and spend some time commiserating about what an idiot Callie can be. I actually got really angry when he died so early in Serpent's Storm, because his constant presence makes the books far more bearable.
My main problem with these books is that I don't think I'm supposed to hate the main character as much as I do. Amber Benson has described her as being the "every-woman". I think she's supposed to be likable and relatable, or at least tolerable. But she comes across as self-centered and willfully ignorant. One of the gods she meets on her travels asks her why she never seems to think for herself and she replies that it's just easier not to. What kind of a role model is that? Who can possibly respect someone who blindly does what other people tell her because it's easier than trying to figure things out herself? Or believe that she might successfully save the world?
So why did I bother to read the third book? That's a good question. It got some good reviews - most called it the best in the series. And I do remember the world being fully realized and populated with fun, interesting characters. I figured it was worth a shot. I guess I forgot how much I hate Callie. To be perfectly honest I forgot most of what happened in the first two books. I remember most of the characters, but not what they did or why. A summary of the plots ended up being incredibly helpful, though it did detract from the narrative flow and should have been unnecessary. It also got tedious when I was in the eighth chapter and still being fed information about what had happened previously.
Unfortunately, most of the other characters get stripped away fairly quickly. This makes sense. Calliope needs to step up and meet her destiny, and she can't do that if she's constantly relying on everyone else. Which she would. But I definitely feel the lack of the other characters. I want them around to smack her, give her a good shake, tell her she's acting like an idiot. I can't reach through the pages and do that, so I need to live vicariously through Clio or Jarvis.
****
I was writing this review as I was reading Serpent's Storm. I'm leaving the above section as is. It's from when I merely disliked this book. Now I actually hate it. I had some perverse reasoning that since I had paid for the book I had to finish it. And since I was planning to write a review, I really had to finish it. But I got to a point today that pissed me off so much I can't see myself finishing this book. And I have to warn all of you not to pick up this series.
Perhaps you're smarter than me and figured that out from the beginning of this review. But in case you wanted to read it anyway, I'm here to tell you don't.
In the chapter I just read, Callie is running away from the bad guys when one of them grabs her hair, yanks her down the stairs, and hauls her over to the wall of the subway station. He starts kissing her, not in a gentle way, then spins her around and bends her over. She smacks her face on the wall and he takes her hard and fast.
Two problems with what happens next. (1) Callie comes, so clearly she enjoyed what just happened to her (this is how it's presented in the book). (2) Callie thinks of her boyfriend and immediately feels guilty for cheating on him.
So we have rape, victim blaming, implications that it is somehow equivalent to cheating, and implications that since the victim had an orgasm it wasn't really rape.
Coming from the voice of a "strong, female protagonist" that I'm supposed to admire.
I just lost all of my respect for Amber Benson.
Don't read this book.
Serpent's Storm is the third book in Amber Benson's series about Calliope Reaper-Jones, also known as Death's Daughter. Callie just wants to be a normal girl, living in NYC, working and shopping and going about her life. She even put a forgetting spell on herself so she would think she was normal (and basically abandoned her family in the process). But when her dad (Death) gets kidnapped, she has to step up as a member of her family. The forgetting spell is broken and she gets thrust back into the supernatural world she tried so hard to leave behind.
Honestly, I barely know why I read these books. I grabbed the first two solely because Amber Benson wrote them. The first one (Death's Daughter) was fun, and I think I liked the second one (Cat's Claw) more. The world is actually really great. Amber Benson draws on a lot of different mythologies and her characterizations of the old gods tend to be snarky and self-obsessed, much like the old gods actually were.
Unfortunately, Callie is also self-obsessed and clueless. She's weepy and mostly concerned with her clothes, which get ruined a lot. Honestly, I want to smack her most of the time. I hate when protagonists come across as stupid or slow just so the book can maintain some mystery (this is mostly only a problem in first-person narratives). If I'm constantly figuring everything out before the person telling me the story can figure it out, I get frustrated.
Thankfully there are other characters who are a bit more tolerable. Callie's little sister Clio is smart and sassy and reminds me a lot of Abby from NCIS. Her puppy, Runt, also manages to be smarter than Callie most of the time. The Devil's Protege (aka, obligatory hot guy) also seems to have a decent head on his shoulders. Death's assistant, Jarvis, spends much of the first two books exasperated with Callie who he really is trying his best to help. I would like to buy Jarvis a drink and spend some time commiserating about what an idiot Callie can be. I actually got really angry when he died so early in Serpent's Storm, because his constant presence makes the books far more bearable.
My main problem with these books is that I don't think I'm supposed to hate the main character as much as I do. Amber Benson has described her as being the "every-woman". I think she's supposed to be likable and relatable, or at least tolerable. But she comes across as self-centered and willfully ignorant. One of the gods she meets on her travels asks her why she never seems to think for herself and she replies that it's just easier not to. What kind of a role model is that? Who can possibly respect someone who blindly does what other people tell her because it's easier than trying to figure things out herself? Or believe that she might successfully save the world?
So why did I bother to read the third book? That's a good question. It got some good reviews - most called it the best in the series. And I do remember the world being fully realized and populated with fun, interesting characters. I figured it was worth a shot. I guess I forgot how much I hate Callie. To be perfectly honest I forgot most of what happened in the first two books. I remember most of the characters, but not what they did or why. A summary of the plots ended up being incredibly helpful, though it did detract from the narrative flow and should have been unnecessary. It also got tedious when I was in the eighth chapter and still being fed information about what had happened previously.
Unfortunately, most of the other characters get stripped away fairly quickly. This makes sense. Calliope needs to step up and meet her destiny, and she can't do that if she's constantly relying on everyone else. Which she would. But I definitely feel the lack of the other characters. I want them around to smack her, give her a good shake, tell her she's acting like an idiot. I can't reach through the pages and do that, so I need to live vicariously through Clio or Jarvis.
****
I was writing this review as I was reading Serpent's Storm. I'm leaving the above section as is. It's from when I merely disliked this book. Now I actually hate it. I had some perverse reasoning that since I had paid for the book I had to finish it. And since I was planning to write a review, I really had to finish it. But I got to a point today that pissed me off so much I can't see myself finishing this book. And I have to warn all of you not to pick up this series.
Perhaps you're smarter than me and figured that out from the beginning of this review. But in case you wanted to read it anyway, I'm here to tell you don't.
In the chapter I just read, Callie is running away from the bad guys when one of them grabs her hair, yanks her down the stairs, and hauls her over to the wall of the subway station. He starts kissing her, not in a gentle way, then spins her around and bends her over. She smacks her face on the wall and he takes her hard and fast.
Two problems with what happens next. (1) Callie comes, so clearly she enjoyed what just happened to her (this is how it's presented in the book). (2) Callie thinks of her boyfriend and immediately feels guilty for cheating on him.
So we have rape, victim blaming, implications that it is somehow equivalent to cheating, and implications that since the victim had an orgasm it wasn't really rape.
Coming from the voice of a "strong, female protagonist" that I'm supposed to admire.
I just lost all of my respect for Amber Benson.
Don't read this book.
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