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Book Review of Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine, Bk 1)

Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine, Bk 1)
jai avatar reviewed on + 310 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


In a futuristic society where paranormals and psionics have been revealed to the general population but still feared and outnumbered, Dante Valentine is a necromancer with a complicated past and a lot of issues. The story starts out with a knock on Dante's door - a summons by the Prince of Hell himself to track down Santino - a demon who has stolen something from him. It gets more complicated because Dante has tangled with Santino before and lost (her friend was viciously murdered). On top of that Lucifer has given Dante a demon assassin as a familiar (Japhramel), and Dante isn't sure about how much she can trust anything a demon would tell her. I enjoyed the world building and the slow-growing relationship between Dante and Japhramel, but there were many scenes where I was left confused by how extremely Dante seemed to react to other characters. I felt like she was being a drama queen who didn't know how to see the world in a mature, logical way - it all came from a self-centered, childish perspective (you hurt me, now I'm going to hurt you and everyone else, and my huge reactions to everything won't make sense). This felt very strange in the context of the storyline. I have read the second book though and I would say certain things about her personality make more sense to me now, but I'm still not sure I like her. I will continue reading and give her a chance, because I do like the world and I do like the plots in these books.