Serpent's Storm

I am not sure why I continue to read this series. Maybe I have hope that it will get better because it has such an interesting concept about Death and the entire Afterlife being run as a corporation. Maybe, because of skimming the reviews, the consensus has been that the series does get better.

Amber Benson has two more books to prove those reviewers right. Serpent's Storm started off well in its prologue. I believe that it was third person perspective instead of Callie's. The gist of it is that Callie's duplicitious older sister, Thalia, makes a pact with the Devil. She is from her cell in Purgatory in order for her to take over Death Inc. and for the Devil to take over the Kingdom of Heaven.

Callie and the former Devil's protegé and her current boyfriend, Daniel are called to battle over the title of C.E.O. of Death after the current one is killed. Along the way, Callie loses a friend, gains an adversary, and faces an enemy from the past.

Calliope Reaper-Jones is a horrible character. Just terrible! She's vapid, shallow, idiotic, and incredibly sex-crazed. It was like the publishers told Benson she needed more sex scenes and she gave it to them ten-fold. Did they at least further the story? Nope. Just killed some trees.

I mentioned above that the prologue was interesting. That's because it wasn't told from Callie's point of view. It made me think that maybe I might respond more favorably to the books if I didn't have front row seats to Callie's incoherent, selfish, and whiny thoughts.

I also hated the ending. A lot was going on but it never felt exciting. It was also anticlimatic. Is that really how Thalia is going to be taken out? Seriously? I felt that this was originally supposed to be a trilogy so it tried to have a no holds barred feeling to it. Some characters died, some were revealed to have ulterior motives, etc. I never fully invested in them to care about these developments.

The one thing that puzzles me is that I cannot believe how many good reviews Serpent's Storm has gotten.

The third book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, SERPENT'S STORM certainly packs a punch. While Callie's experiencing…well, shall we say, the bliss of coupledom with her hot man, her psycho sister, Thalia, escapes from Purgatory and heads out to wreak havoc with the Devil at her side. So, Callie trots off to work, totally unaware that her entire life is about to transform. Normal? That's just not gonna happen for poor Callie, no matter how much she may want an average life. Death's Daughter's life is about to change completely—starting with several rather shocking deaths.Amber Benson certainly enjoys putting her characters through Hell (and Purgatory and Heaven). Callie doesn't have time to recover from one blow when another knocks her upside the head and sends her reeling. Unfortunately, she doesn't take the proactive approach, and I really wish she would. It's understandable that she doesn't want to get too involved in her father's business; it is all about death and running Purgatory, after all, and she'd love nothing more than to be normal. But she has more of a duck-and-cover attitude rather than stepping up and learning about her powers, her father's job as Death, and all the intricacies of this paranormal life she's a reluctant part of. Really, there were so many times I just wanted to shake her and tell her to stop acting like such a wimpy, airheaded girl.Daniel (Callie's hot boyfriend) pretty much disappears for much of the book, leaving Callie in the lurch. She really could have used his help and his knowledge. Of course, it's not really his fault but still. So I guess it's no wonder Callie's intrigued by this new, scruffy guy who shows up while she's running around trying to save Purgatory from Thalia and the Devil. But even if this dude is cute in a Seattle-Grunge-Scene-in-the-80's way, doesn't she see how skanky he is? (See, this goes back to my belief that she's an airhead.) Stick with Daniel, girl. He's a good guy who's trying to turn his life around, and he really, really likes her. Maybe even loves her.Despite Callie's general cluelessness, she's an awesome character who can really kick butt when she has to. I'm looking forward to see her grow and mature as a character. She's already made some huge steps forward in this story (she still has a ways to go but I have faith) and, with all that she has to do after what happened (Gah! I want to talk about everything that happened but I can't or I'll wind up giving the plot away. Just go read it so you know what I'm talking about.), she'd better learn all that she can quickly so she's ready. SERPENT'S STORM puts its characters through the paces and drags the reader along for a crazy ride. I look forward to seeing how much abuse Callie can take in the next installment of this series.

Calliope never dreamed that she’d be back to square one after finally reaching Cloud 9 with a decent guy, but her older sister has escaped from prison and bent on destroying the family business. This time, however, her sister means business – and this time Calliope has to make the hardest decision in her life. Is taking over Death Inc. worth losing the one man she has grown to love? Will she be able to save her sister from her evil ways? Who knows, but for Callie, it is do or die – and she’d rather not die. This was the book that caught my eye at the library – and I hunted the 1st two books to properly begin the series. Which was a good call on my part since serpent's storm really takes us back to the beginning in a way, but with darker and heart-breaking undertones. Calliope definitely matures in this 3rd installment – no longer able to rely on others to do all the work for her, left with only her intuition and resolve to not let her sister and the Devil win. While there was romantic tension, I was not sold on the relationship between Callie and Daniel to care all too much of whether they sank or swam. Amber Benson has such an interesting world that keeps on expanding and improving that I hope that we get to see where Callie goes from here.