This book embodies the worst characterizations of the current genre. The main character is an airhead who has no sense of focus (who the heck starts letting their attention wander while being STRANGLED?), whines incessently, and is breaking down in tears every other page. She doesn't do ANYTHING right, and yet somehow things turn out ok - through the intervention of others. Even the puppy is more effective at accomplishing tasks.

I honestly felt that the author was simply throwing in random events to make the story more interesting, but did not succeed in distracting from the extreme shallowness of the main character. It defies belief to say that after only 3 years of a forgetting charm and "normal" life (which was much more shallow than a normal life imho) she was that ignorant about her supernatural roots...especially when she claimed to excel at English - which would give her more exposure to literature and basic mythology.

I also did not understand why she was so attracted to every male she encountered. It was inexplicable when she hated a guy one moment and then was wildly attracted and hoping he'd kiss her (even while thinking he was a a**hole) the next. She then goes on to explain that the reason is that society has two opposing ideas of women not being TOO easy, yet not being a prude, so she can't make up her mind. Talk about rationalization.

The story seemed to hop around quite a bit, and the heroine is simply NOT likeable. She's less endearingly persistent and more stupidly stubborn in the pursuit of her goals. She seems to be proud of being the shallow ignoramus that she is, and yet is offended when no one takes her seriously. On top of that, she doesn't actually accomplish anything - it's all done both story and character. I just don't see any appeal in this story, and was close to throwing it in frustration. This one is going straight to the "donate" pile.

I passed Fi section, not Teen or Young Adult.

A few things that really bothered me:

"like" "and like" "I mean like"

Calliope is supposed to be a twenty-something year old immortal but she talks more like a valley girl.

"after crying for twenty minutes" "I felt like crying so I did" "Thats how Clio found me, holding a pillow and crying" "I couldn't stop the tears flowing down my cheeks"

It's like holy crap no wonder people don't think she shouldn't take over Death Inc., the girl can't go five minutes without turning on the waterworks. It got to the point of silly when every chapter she has at least once crying bout. The worst part is the rest of the time she tries to act all tough and brave and smartass but that kind of shows hollow once she starts crying yet again.

The crazy sexual overtones.

I've noticed this with a the other Benson books (The Ghost Of Albion series with Chris Golden). The sex scenes are way over done, there is sexual tension with any and every male that comes onto the page. With the exception of Callie's blind date, she wants to screw every male she meets. The sexual tension isn't believable because it is so overdone. Add to that, overall it's a bit awkwardly done. Like Benson wanted to add sexual scenes but they weren't really needed so she just forced them in anyway.

But all that pales in what bothered me the most:

Every other word was italicized!!!!

That drove me crazy!

Every single last page had at least one italicized word if not more.

(since I can't figure out how to italicize in a review, I'll use the capitalized letters here to represent the italicized words)

pg.208

"'It was no more than three feet long, but slim and pliable in his hands. The length of it had been made from combining two pieces of bone- I was pretty sure they had been some REALLY tall guy's femurs in another life. I wasn't like I was a small arms EXPERT or anything. As far a *I* knew, metal was the ONLY medium of choice when you wanted to decapitate someone special, so what was THIS stuff?"

or on pg. 220

'Clio was right...the whole thing WAS major weird, and what REALLY freaked me out was how in the dark I was about everything. I mean, I didn't even know if it was OKAY that Sea Foam was taking up residence in my bloodstream. And assuming THAT part was cool, how the heck was I supposed to show the board I had POSSESSION of the stupid stuff? It wasn't like I could trot it out like Runt- thank God, at least SHE was on a leash."

It's very, very jarring, annoying and amateur. It feels like reading a note that a thirteen year old girl wrote to her friend in class- 'And then Bobby like, TOTALLY asked me OUT! Isn't it like, MAJOR crazy? I just can't BELIEVE it!"

On top of all that, some paragraphs are written in a very convoluted way that makes it hard to understand exactly what she's trying to say...sort of like if one were to say

"The box, which I had stacked on top of another box, which was also brown, had writing on the side from the sharpie that I had borrowed and then returned to Becky."

It leaves you blinking and saying 'What is happening here?'

Anyway, long story short, I have many reasons for not being a fan of this book, I think young readers might like it, I love the inclusion of Kali but hate the way she's presented like a bad girl teenager who shoplifts from the mall and not like the Goddess of Destruction she's supposed to be.

Feel free to disagree, but I figured I'd get my opinion out there.

This lightweight urban fantasy from actor/director/novelist Amber Benson is a fun way to spend an afternoon. You won't get deep motivations or a rich backstory, but you will get a fun romp through the afterlife with Death's daughter Calliope Reaper-Jones, who is doing her best to avoid the family business lit style with fantasy elements that's much breezier than her Albion books written with Christopher Golden. Definitely worth a read.