| Title | : | How to be Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1937007286 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781937007287 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 292 |
| Publication | : | First published February 28, 2012 |
How to be Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones, #4) Reviews
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*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.0
*Review*
How To Be Death is the fourth book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Calliope Jones is the current President/CEO of Death Inc. aka the Grim Reaper after the tragic events of Serpent’s Kiss. Her real moniker should be clueless femme fatale because without her trusty sidekicks; Jarvis de Poupsy, Giselda aka Runt the hellhound, the Goddess Kali, and her sister Clio, she would be dead by now.
How To Be Death takes place at the annual Death Dinner and All Hallows Eve celebration where magic disappears for 24 hours and everyone is mortal. Calliope is given an original copy of the book known as How To Be Death: A Fully Annotated Guide by a representative of Heaven. It basically tells the holder how to destroy humanity and create the apocalypse. It seems that Calliope’s own father foresaw his own death and gave it to Heaven to watch over until his replacement could be found.
The story turns into a murder mystery after several characters are killed, and the Book disappears. Who is responsible for killing off guests and staff alike? Why do they really want to get ahold of the Book, and why can’t Calliope do anything with a straight face instead of her snarky, nonsensical banter? Her continued jealously of Daniel has gone where no man or woman should ever go and needs to stop. Hasn’t he already shown you how much he loves you?
While I enjoyed the first three books; Death’s Daughter, Cat’s Claw, Serpent’s Storm, I would have preferred to see the series end before this book. The only reason that I’m rating the book with 3 stars is that the murder mystery adds another interesting twist as well as Edgar Freezay of the Psychical Bureau of Investigation. I also like Run a lot. I like Kali’s off cut humor, yet, I’m disturbed by her constantly calling Calliope white girl. I mean seriously are you kidding me?
If you haven’t read this series, please don’t expect a hard assed heroine. You might even consider Calliope to be a Mary Sue character since she mostly focuses on her fashion and shopping rather than dealing with real issues that surround HER company. She doesn’t really solve anything; she is just there in the way most of the time.
Obviously, there will be a fifth book in the series after Marcel – The Ender of Death, comes and once again challenges Calliope to a dual to the death. There was also a surprise revelation in regards to Calliope’s own parentage. At this point, however, the book will need to be stellar in regards to a storyline for me to read it. -
This book was a little different from the previous Death's Daughter novels. It's more like a Agatha Christie murder mystery with some supernatural elements. There are a ton of new characters introduced (many more Death, Inc. employees), and I had a hard time keeping track of them all. The mystery also seemed a little too complicated. It's still a fun book, though, and I'm looking forward to the next book (which is sets up at the end).
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If you’re a fan of the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, throw your preconceived notions of what this book would be like right out the window. The first three books were this big fantastical journey to Callie stepping into her destined role as the President and CEO of Death Inc. Those books were Callie’s struggle between what she wants and what everyone else wants of her. Due to the unfortunate circumstances of Serpent’s Storm (book 3), Callie lost her father and she was forced to make a decision on whether or not she wanted to step in and take the reigns of power. The time has come and the time is now! She makes her decision to follow in Daddy’s footsteps and now our dear Callie is the Grim Reaper. So…..what now?
I had NO CLUE what to expect when I started reading How to Be Death. I only read Serpent’s Storm a few weeks ago and all of the loose ends were fresh in my mind. I didn’t know which direction we were going to go in to solve everything. As it turns out….we went…..ummmm….THATTAWAY! *points in two different directions*
How to Be Death has a COMPLETELY different feel to it than the first three Callie books. The first three were about the journey to get there and How to Be Death is about what happens once she’s there. Step 1 – Learn the job. However, right off the bat, we have someone inserting little wrenchy wreches into all of the gears.
A few of the loose ends from the previous books do get tied up in How to Be Death. However, that is certainly not the focus of the book. The focus of the book is the Death Dinner / Masquerade Ball (Callie’s first big event as the CEO of Death Inc.) and the classic whodunit that it becomes. If you love old school murder mysteries (or the game Clue), you will LOVE How to Be Death. Although there are some horrific events in this book, the different direction we see Callie go in is a fun one. A true suspenseful mystery, How to Be Death is also riddled with some seriously comical moments. Then again, I don’t think it would be a Calliope Reaper-Jones novel if it wasn’t.
How to Be Death saw the return of many of my favorite characters – Kali, Jarvis de Poupsey, and Runt among them. We also get introduced to a new character, Edgar Freezay, that I genuinely hope to see become a regular character. He’s funny, intelligent and quite possibly a little nuts. He makes every scene he is in just a teeny bit better.
There were some moments that also made me almost squirt soda out my nose, including a reference to a sexual act that I about died reading only because I don’t think I have ever seen the term typed out before.
The best thing about this book? The Chuck Norris style roundhouse kick to the pelvic area that you get hit with at the very end. No, I’m serious. You will NEVER see this coming!! To top it off, the book is left WIDE OPEN. Luckily, Amber confirmed in my interview with her (click here to read) that she has already started writing book #5 so I will be keeping watch for that release date!
Overall, this is a fantastic book and a wonderful addition to the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. 5 stars!! -
The fourth book in the 'Death' series by Amber Benson is quite different from the previous three books. Where the first three were 'quest' books "How To Be Death" turns in to a murder mystery. I only wished that the previous sentence would have read "quickly turns", since it takes the first half of the book to set up the murder mystery. Since I generally enjoy murder mysteries this book felt more like I was part of the target audience then the previous three did. The books leading lady's enjoyment of clothing and fashion sometimes make me feel like I am not the target audience. There is little bit of that in the first half of the book, but not a lot. The first half primarily deals with setting the scene and introducing the multitude of new characters. The second is the murder mystery bit involving suspect interviews and running around to gather clues. While reading the book I felt that it was better than the last two and especially in the second half I felt that it was on par with the first book. Having given a 4 star review to both the first and third book this automatically means this is also a 4 star book, which feels right with the first half being 3+ stars and the second 5- averaging to 4.
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This was pretty good just as a murder mystery, let alone the urban fantasy aspect to it. Quite a few unexpected twists and turns and really not all that many that I thought I should have seen coming either (which probably means I should have seen them all LOL)
Great continuation to the series. -
Read the book over a few hours, fast paced but the series is clearly winding down.
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Originally posted at
http://www.smexybooks.com/2012/02/rev...
How To Be Death is the fourth book in Amber Benson’s Calliope Reaper-Jones series. A lightweight urban fantasy about a scatterbrained young lady who inadvertently becomes the head of death. Calliope Jones is the current Grim Reaper. Death incarnate. Madam Death. The “girl who can wish you dead.” Not a job she wanted but after her father’s murder and her sister’s attempted assassination and company take over, Calliope has finally stepped up to the plate and taken over as the head of death. This story takes place during the annual Death Dinner and All Hallows Eve. An annual ball where all of death’s conglomerates get together for a weekend. One important fact is that they all become mortal during the duration of the ball. When Calliope is given an original copy of How To Be Death, (complete with a guide on how to start the end of days), it’s stolen before she can ever crack the cover. Soon the weekend turns into dinner mystery theatre when the bodies start piling up and everyone is a suspect.
I wish I could say this book was good, but it wasn’t. A weak plot, dead end subplots, cardboard characters, and annoying, rambling dialogue made this an unappealing read. This book felt like a filler. The main conflict and the lead up were unbelievably drawn out and boring. The storyline drags through out and I found myself wanting to flip ahead to see if anything was ever going to happen. I find it sad that with each book, Calliope seems to become more annoying and immature. From book one to now, I haven’t seen any change in Calliope except she may have become a little nicer. Other than that she still acts like a flake, is passive aggressive when dealing with her life and the people in it, and does asinine things, then gets upset when she has to pay the consequences for them.
I think the problem here for me is she continues to do nothing. She’s still not taking being the head of Death seriously. She refuses to use what little sense and power she has to help herself along. The whole story consists of watching her eat, watching her snark badly, and watching her run around in circles, never quite getting it. If you cut out the padding, this book would have been about 75 pages long. Maybe. She doesn’t even really do anything to help solve the mystery. An outside detective is brought in and she, for unknown reasons, follows him around as he questions suspects and investigators the murders. In two separate occasions she had a chance to regain the book and instead did nothing. Then expresses dismay that the book is once again missing.
The ending is anti climatic with a series of confusing circumstances and crazy explanations that eventually tells us why the book was stolen. And it wasn’t even a very good reason. I’m not sure what is happening in this series but it’s just not for me anymore.
Overall Rating: F -
How to Be Death is the latest book in Amber Benson’s fictional the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Callie is Death, actually she is the President of Death, Inc. having inherited the position magically from her father. Callie didn’t want the job, all she wanted from life was to have a good enough job in NYC to afford designer clothing, shoes, and purses. She didn’t want to have to save the world from conniving sisters or deal with people trying to steal her job from her (which would be bad, because you know, it would be). Callie doesn’t particularly want the job, but now that she has it (and after three books of messing things up) she’s determined to do the best job she can possibly do, even if it means listening to her inherited right hand faun, Jarvis.
All in all a rather predictable continuation of the series. In fact, one of the characters in the books predicts all the deaths at the beginning of the novel, so they come as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was, despite saying to the contrary, Callie is still a weak character who barely begins to take her job seriously. If not for the fact that the other person who could have her job is crazy, Callie should be fired. She’s had plenty of time to come to grips with her new place in the world and she needs to start doing a much better job. Even her actions in this book are far more passive than aggressive. Her attempts to explain herself and repair her relationship with Daniel are all rather passive, and he makes the most moves, even though it was her actions that led to their break up in the first place.
I understand an empathetic person. Someone who asks questions and takes the human condition into consideration before making judgments. Those are all excellent character traits that Callie exhibits. But often they work as her weaknesses, and everyone else rides in on a white horse to make the hard choices. Her hellhound pup is a stronger female character. I love the series for being new and exciting, for having interesting ideas and unique problems. I quite enjoy how Benson works in both Western and Eastern mythology, using characters from every religion to create a really cool universe for her readers. I’m pleased that Callie has grown, she has gone from a complete whining ninny to a sometimes whiny passive character. So, character growth- to a small degree. I was just hoping for a stronger spurt of growth and a stronger female protagonist.
Read more at
Absurdly Nerdly -
On this 4th book of the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, Amber Benson demonstrates an ever growing skill as a writer and story teller. Instead of a simple urban fantasy book, she now gives us a deeper, many layered story with different elements and vivid characters.
How to be Death is a much more mature book, both from the perspective of the author as a writer, but also the story itself. People like me, who were disappointed by
Serpent's Storm, will find this fourth book to be at least as enjoyable as the first. I particularly found it to be the best of the series.
(The following spoilers doesn't give in dept information on the story, but only some highlights on the plot, and should be safe to read for most people)
Now the head of Death, Inc., Calliope has to start taking care of business. And that means red tape and social functions, two of them being the Annual Masquerade Ball, and Death's Dinner. The dinner in particular happen during the only day of the year where magic doesn't work, leaving everyone on equal footing, defenseless (as far as magic is concerned) and mortal. Yeah, no need to know their immortal weakness during that day. To top things up, an extremely important death arcana artifact is being transferred to Calliope on this very day, something that many would kill to get. And guess what ? Someone actually did kill.
How to Be Death now introduces a murder mystery storyline, happening among the temporary magicless supernatural beings. Something not many writers can pull, but Amber did, successfully.
Highly recommended. -
Oh boy.
Since there was such a long period between reading the last Calliope Reaper-Jones novel, Serpent's Storm and this one. I totally had forgotten about my feelings toward Serpent's Storm and actually thought it was all right. Why I thought this I can only blame on sporadic temporary insanity. How to be Death is the fourth installment to the Death's Daughter series.
Calliope is starting her duties as the C.E.O. of Death Inc. Such duties include hosting the All Hallows Eve Eve Masquerade and the Death Dinner. Also, she gets possession of the coda to all things about being Death. Callie, being Callie, manages to screw all of these up when the book is stolen from her room.
A dead body of someone not important is left in its stead. More unimportant people die as Callie frets about Daniel and his new beau. Then, the paranormal equivalent of Columbo and Monk comes in and solves the preposterous case. That was it. Even though, Marcel, "the Ender of Death," could have killed Callie during the 24-hour period of no magic but decided to show up in the end and do a lot of talking.
I'm going to finish the series. There is only one left. I am under no more allusions that this series will get better. It won't. The idea is a good one. Death as a corporation? That's a pretty awesome idea. But the characters suck major balls. They are horrible. Callie is one of the worst protagonists I read. The only consistent aspect about Callie is her lack of growth. She radiates with immaturity. The only good thing about How to be Death was that it was a very fast read. -
This was my first book in this series and I was surprised at how easy it was to jump in. Amber Benson does a great job in filling in the back story without being cumbersome. My one trepidation was that Callie is a bit of a fashionista, which I am so not, but the story was not bogged down by fashion and girly things. What I noticed first off was how witty and intelligent Benson's writing is, although her Callie character is more of a slacker. I had to laugh when Callie described herself as not "erudite." Another surprise for me was that this was less of an urban fantasy and more of a supernatural murder mystery, and reminded me very much of the horror comedy movies of the 1970's (think "Clue" meets "Young Frankenstein") that I absolutely loved. There is a zany cast of characters, multiple motivations, and a haunted house. One thing that struck me as a little off was that Freezay (inspector) seemed to be doing most of the sleuthing and deducing, when it would have behooved Callie to be more involved in the process. She is, after all, supposed to be the heroine. However, that was in line with her character and in no way took away from my enjoyment of the book.
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I didn't think it could get any worse than the last three books in this horrendous series, but man, was I wrong. 300 pages' worth of my life wasted on a vapid, dreary whodunit featuring a bunch of boring one-off characters that even Amber Benson doesn't seem to care about. The book's premise strikes me as nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to give Calliope a new environment in which to act like an idiot, trip and fall over constantly, and say lots of vomit-inducing things about fashion and drooling over every man she meets. I think I'm going to write a fan fiction sequel where someone locks Calliope Reaper-Jones into a closet for the rest of eternity with nothing but an endless supply of Teen People magazines. That should be enough to keep her occupied for the rest of her banal eternity as "Ms. Death."
Looking forward to the sequel! -
Although this was the fourth in the series, it read very well. It picked up from a position in what was probably the third, with her stepping in as CEO of Death, Inc. She thinks everything is cushy, but suddenly discovers that her trials aren't over, and again enlists her assistant and other immortals in her quest.
There were two major quibbles I had with this book. One, she is supposed to be an adult but tends to go off in adolescent daydreams at very inappropriate times. Two, it appears that she is clueless as to how to handle a situation without calling on Kali for help.
There is a third, not quite as irritating, but close. Kali keeps calling her "white girl", instead of by name. If the tag was another racial epithet, it would never have seen print in this genre. Nuff said.
I won't read the others in the series. -
Devoured this book over the weekend.
Not ashamed to admit that I enjoy the Calliope Reaper-Jones (aka Death) series, Amber Benson's take on the paranormal romance/supernatural/urban fantasy genre. The characters are imaginative, sarcastic and interesting and the stories have a creative playfulness that I really enjoy. Plus they're quick, fun reads.
This book read as more of a straight-up "whodunnit" than the last few, borrowing some of the more popular murder-mystery motifs (locked room mystery, retired policeman to solve the crime and plenty of femme fatales), while also adding to the Death-lore of the series.
Will now wait patiently to find out what happens next to Calliope and Death Inc. -
No Deaths have been harmed in the making of this novel.
Calliope has started paying attention to what she's supposed to be doing as Boss of Death, Inc, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet.
x No killing people directly, check.
x Lots of politics with people she doesn't like, check with her advisers.
x Halloween party with Deaths from around the world, check.
x Buy a fabulous dress, check
x Bring what your little sister calls 'the slutty bikini', check
x Realize that your ex-boyfriend is bringing a hot date, now wait one minute!
x And that very girlfriend turns up dead, hey this wasn't in the handbook!
Then the handbook was stolen. And bad, bad things are going to happen if Callie and Friends don't find it, before sunrise.
Fun and funky book. -
Callie has three adventures under her belt. Now it's time for the fancy dinner party to officiate her title. What better time to do so than on All Saints Day. Her and other supernaturals will have twenty-four hours to prove their worth by going without magic. Not only does Callie have to worry about not having magic (again), but she also has to look and play the part of Death in front of other officials. The location is beautiful. The room is elegant. The weather is even better. Nothing can go wrong in the paradise that will host her the party, but it does--in more ways than one. Can Callie stand on her own two feet, or does she falter under the pressure?
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I was a little disappointed in the last Death's Daughter book--I felt like Callie was a little too dependent on others and didn't stand up for herself enough. I was relieved to see that she's grown up a lot in this book, which may be my favorite of the series so far. I'm a sucker for a good whodunit, and Amber does a great job telling a modern Clue-esque tale while also letting various characters shine. I'm excited for book #5!
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Woo, Calliope is back! In this volume, Benson explores the classic detective story. Something I wish I'd known from the start, as I would have paid more attention to the group of party guests Callie meets at the start of the book. Would have made it easier to follow. No matter, though, it was still a pleasure to read. I like detective Freezay, he's a nice edition to the verse. A very enjoyable book, I'm looking forward to part five.
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A nice light murder mystery at an California estate. A page-turner (for me anyway - I read it in one go) with a good amount of humor. The first comparison that comes to mind is Agatha Christie, but only if Ms. Marple was a 20-something, 21st century woman who happens to be Death. This will sit along side Christopher Moore's "A Dirty Job" on my humorous Death shelf.
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Spotted this at the library and picked it up because I was a fan of Amber Benson as Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It took me awhile to warm up to this. Overall, it was a decent book to read over a long weekend with time to kill, but I don't know that I liked it enough to seek out Benson's other novels/the others in this series.
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I really enjoyed this book. Callie has stepped into her role as the leader of Death Inc, and is trying to grow up. She finds out a lot of things about herself and the people around her she didn't know. Some of them aren't so flattering. It's a great mid-point in the series and I like how it leads into the next book. Give it a read - the series has gotten better with each book!
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How to be death, the third book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones books is fantastic. The twists and turns that take place and the way each one has Calli getting into more trouble with each one is just so entertaining. I love it!
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I loved this book, much better than the third book. In this book Cal is back with the gang and they must solve a mystery or she could be in real trouble. Benson writes very well and I love her sense of humor.
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The best of the series since Death's Daughter. Benson's got her groove back. The plot kept twisting in tasty fashion, Calliope continued to mature and exude bad-assery and an appreciation for her father's livelihood -- and life itself -- and there was plenty of Kali and Jarvis. Win!
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Her usual great book. I loved it. Unfortuantlly it was over too fast. It was so well written I didn't even realise I hadn't read the thirs book in the series. I would tell anyone to read this book as it has a little bit of everything thing in it, fantasy, adventure, romanance.
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I have gone from hating Callie to loving her. Amber Benson's characters are so well written. And this book was just so much fun. It was modeled after the old madcap mysteries where an eccentric detective solves a murder at a hotel full of rich bitches. Perfect and silly!
