Saint City Sinners

Lillith Saintcrow scores again with this 4th episode in the Dante Valentine series. Dealing with issues of truth, loyalty and honor, Dante spirals down a path that seems to have no resolution. As she moves farther and farther from her ties with the "humans", she must face the issue of what constitutes the truth to a demon, and what value it has in her new life as the mate of the fallen demon, Japhrimel. Dante returns to Saint City to extract vengeance, something she equates with her honor, and finds herself a pawn in more than one game. She begins to feel betrayed by the demon in her life, as well as by her god and must deal with the question of just how "human" she is anymore. The reader watches as she makes and breaks promises, spiraling down to despair in a frantic attempt to maintain her honor and her sanity. The characters in this fourth book become more complex and interesting, there is plenty of action and the reader is left waiting for more. I can't wait for the next in the series "To Hell and Back".

Saint City Sinners begins where Devil's Right Hand ended. Dante, Japh, Lucas and Leander have landed in Egypt. Dante receives a message from her old friend from Saint City, Gabe. Gabe needs her help and needs Dante to come to Saint City. Dante must put her deal with the devil on hold and rush to her friend's aid. Since she is going to be helping Gabe, she begs Japh to not pursue Eve. Eve requested Dante's help in the previous book, and Dante feels obligated to help her since she is Doreen's daughter and possibly her own. Japh says he will not be on the losing side and he knows Eve will lose in her battle with The Prince. Dante and Japh are somewhat on the outs with each other throughout this book. It had lots of action but it did not really begin to rock until half way through the book. The first half of the book was the setup. It was a little slow going, but very much needed. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is a continuation and I am looking forward to the last book to see how it ends. It will have to be a heck of a book to tie up all the loose ends. We find out a little more of what Dante is, and what she means to Japh, but once again, she always inserts her independence and refuses to let Japh dictate to her and she does act like a spoiled child, literally. You will recognize the scene when you read it. I wanted to slap her. However, that is just a good indication of how wonderful this series is.

Saint City Sinners rocked! Dante and the gang return to her home city to help Gabe with a case that hit close to home that ends up leaving Dante shattered for it doesn't stop with the one death. People very close to Dante die. Things between her and Japh don't get any better either, even though he fought the devil to save her. For Dante is set on protecting Eve from Japh and he is trying to bring her back to hell. He also continues to leave Dante in the dark about important things. Like the mysterious treasure and its Key. Everything goes straight to hell after that, for one night Dante wakes up and finds him gone, she continues to work on Gabe's case and tries to put Japh out of mind. But then things get really bad, a sedayeen and a shaman need protecting for Eddie had been working a cure for a horrid drug that many people wanted for themselves or to destroy it. Dante is up to her neck in problems and hellhounds, then Eve comes to her and asks her to join her in her rebellion against Lucifer. Everything leads up to the cliff hanger ending where Dante makes several decisions that include the murderer, Japh and much much more. This was a helluva good read! Sorry if the review is not explict about the plot, a lot happened and I don't want to give away any of the good stuff.

With her demon powers on the rise, bounty-hunter Dante Valentine is back on her own turf on a hunt that is more than personal -- Danny's out for vengeance. In Saint City Sinners the action is non-stop with much less of the angst-ridden self dialog that bogged down The Devil's Right Hand (Dante Valentine, Book 3). If there isn't enough going on trying to track down and avenge her friends' killer, Danny is still struggling in her relationship with her demon lover Japhriel. Japh continues keeping Danny in the dark about key information and Danny continues feeling manipulated and betrayed. I believe that Danny is missing much that is going on with Japh by trying to read him as a human. Japh keeps claiming that he is what she is making him, so I think that Danny has more control than she realizes. In spite of Japh, Danny does manage to find out a bit more about about Hedaira and "the Fallen". She also manages to glean a few hints about elements that need to come into play for the larger game and it is clear that Danny is a focal point in the struggle between demon factions out to challenge Lucifer for control of Hell. Danny is also changing, her powers are growing and she is hearing the dead outside of her Necromance trances. Danny is also becoming truly scary, and as she begins mirroring Japh's violence, she very quickly loses the moral high ground she held in the last book. Dante goes from being the betrayed to the betrayer, breaking trust and her word. Ultimately Danny will have to make a choice that will determine whether she will keep a tenuous hold on her humanity or will succumb to the rage that is turning her more and more demon. Saint City Sinners was an enjoyable action packed read with a cliff-hanger ending, Lilith Saintcrow is definitely back on her game, I've already got her next book on my wish list. If you can't wait until January for your next Lilith fix, you might want to look for two of her older dark fantasy series: Watchers series: Dark Watcher (The Watcher Series, Book 1) Storm Watcher (The Watcher Series, Book 2) Fire Watcher (The Watcher Series, Book 3) Cloud Watcher (The Watcher Series, Book 4) Society series: The Society (The Society Series, Book 1) Hunter, Healer (The Society Series, Book 2)

Saint City Sinenrs starts off where the last book left off with Dante and Japh on a hover to Egypt to meet up with the remainder of their crew. While Dante and Japh's relationship is rather tenuous, both are making an effort to "give" a bit. While there, Dante receives a message from long time friend Gabe to come back to Saint City ASAP. When she and her retinue arrive, Dante is shocked to see how many changes there have been since she left. She soon learns that Eddie has been murdered, and Gabe requests Dante's help her avenge his death. She finds out that Gabe never mentioned in all the time that Dante was gone that she and Eddie had gotten married, and had a child. Dante is hurt that Gabe never mentioned it, and goes through a lot of turmoil trying to figure out where to go and how to accomplish her goals. Add onto that the constant conflicts with Japh, who she cant seem to decide if he's good news or bad. After that the bodies start piling up, and Dante is in for a whole lot more terrible news. Everyone and their brothers are out looking to get a hold of Valentine, and she wants to know WHY. With Mob, Demon, and Merc attacks galore, Dante is in for one helluva ride. This book was by far the best one yet. Saintcrow has FINALLY stopped mentioning the "black molecule drip nailpoilish" every other page, and the action is non-stop. Japh and Dante both do some pretty despicable things in this book, and Dante finally gets a few answers to some questions she's been having. The relationship between the two is at a breaking point, and I'm not sure if thats a good or bad thing yet. I really like Japh's character, but after everything that happens, Im not sure if thats gonna last. Dante and Japh both make some very hard choices in this book. It is well worth the read.