Tag / Calliope Reaper-Jones

by admin

Prolific Authors – 5 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we continue with the 8 authors I’ve read 5 times.

Death’s Daughter – Amber Benson

Amber Benson

The actress checks in with the five entries in her Calliope Reaper-Jones series.

Diane Carey

A stalwart of the Star Trek: The Next Generation novel line, she added a new one, Red Sector, last year after a 23 year absence.

Jeff Mariotte

His two most recent entries come from the long-ignored (by me) Angel series of novels.

Promise Not To Tell – Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon

After feeling unimpressed after finishing my first of her works, Dismantled, in 2010, I eventually gave her another try and have found them much more engaging.

Yvonne Navarro

All five of her works that I’ve read revisit the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe.

Final Girls – Riley Sager

Riley Sager

One of my new favorites, I’ve read all of his novels, including the recently released Survive The Night.

William Shatner

The actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek checks in with his efforts, whatever they may have been, both with his TekWar series and on two Star Trek novels.

Scott Turow

The Chicago-based lawyer should be moving up shortly, as his latest is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

by admin

Book 19 (of 52) – The Golden Age Of Death

The Golden Age of Death - Amber Benson

The Golden Age of Death – Amber Benson

It’s been nearly 2 years since I last checked in on Amber Benson’s Calliope Reaper-Jones series, so it seemed like a good time to dive into The Golden Age of Death, the final installment of the series.  While fantasy is certainly not my favorite genre, I was on board for this series due to Benson, whose work as an actor I’ve admired.  While the last entry, How To Be Death, seemed to turn a page by mixing up the pace, this book was back to the tried and true formula of someone scheming to kill the newly installed grim reaper.

While I certainly enjoyed this series, otherwise I would have bailed a long time ago, I would be lying if I said they were easy for me to get through.  Even finishing up the last 120 pages of so took me well over 2 hours.  Benson has started a new series, about witches of some sort, but I’m not sure if I’ll follow her over.

by jim

Book 13 (of 52) – How To Be Death

How To Be Death - Amber Benson

How To Be Death – Amber Benson

Amber Benson returns for the fourth installment of her Calliope Reaper-Jones series.  This one breaks the mold a bit, as it does not feature someone trying to kill Calliope in order to stop her from taking over Death Inc, but instead is more of a murder mystery, where our heroine works with an investigator to figure out who stole the handbook to her new job and, in the process, murdered Daniel’s date in her room.

The curveball that Benson throws in this penultimate book in the series gave this book a much different feel than the earlier installments.  The new head of Death Inc spends much of the book investigating the murders taking place around her.  Benson also sets up the characters for the next book, set the following day, if the end of this one is any indication.

The last book in the series came out earlier this year.  I’ll need to pick it up at some point.

by jim

Book 15 (of 52) – Serpent’s Storm

Serpent’s Storm – Amber Benson

Amber Benson returns with the latest Calliope Reaper-Jones adventure, which shakes up the status quo a little and forces Callie to face her true potential and go from being Death’s daughter to Death herself.  Of course, she couldn’t do so without first dealing with a plot to by her sister and the devil to take over purgatory and declare war on heaven.

Benson goes a little darker in this third entry in her series, and it resulted in a quicker and easier read.  I started this on the plane to Belfast, read some more during down time in the hotel, and then finished it up in one sitting yesterday afternoon.  Benson has certainly grown as a writer, and I’m certainly looking forward to the next installment.

by jim

Book 8 (of 52) – Cat’s Claw

Cat's Claw - Amber Benson

Amber Benson returns with her second offering in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series.  This time out, Calliope, more comfortable with her lot in life as Death’s daughter, makes a deal with the guardian of hell’s gate that puts her future on the line and takes her to purgatory, ancient Egypt, and Las Vegas.

Benson certainly has the voice of her heroine down, but the story here lacked some of the stakes that made the first outing so enticing.  Things were moving along fine until the end, where everything seemed extremely rushed.  Hopefully, this was just a bit of a sophomore slump and that the next book will be a return to form.

by admin

Book 9 (of 52) – Death’s Daughter

Death's Daughter - Amber Benson

Death’s Daughter is the first in a series of books following Calliope Reaper-Jones, a low-level assistant navigating Manhattan and, by the way, the heir to Death’s throne.  Someone has kidnapped her father, so she must take up the mantle to find him before she is framed for the kidnapping herself.

The multi-talented Amber Benson strikes out on her own with this series, having previosly teamed up with Christopher Golden on previous works.  Here she crafts a believable, insecure woman thrust into a job she isn’t sure she wants or is ready for.  It did take a few tries before I really got into it, but once I did, I ran through the book at a nice clip.  There are two more books in the series (so far), so I’m sure I’ll be checking back on Calliope’s further adventures soon.