Title | : | The Golden Age of Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones, #5) |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 0425256154 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9780425256152 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 324 |
Publication | : | First published February 26, 2013 |
My name is Calliope Reaper-Jones (Callie to my friends). I’m Death’s Daughter and—as of very recently—the (reluctant) head of my father’s company, Death, Inc.
I was gradually learning how to be a businesswoman. Had the power suits and shoes down, though the day to day was slow going. Then I was blindsided by Enemies Unknown and sent off to I-don’t-know-where. Not a good thing.
Now not only must my friends and family be frantic, but without a CEO, Death, Inc., can’t function. With the newly deceased left free to roam the Earth, it’s the zombie apocalypse come true.
I’ve got to get back—for my sake and the sake of, oh, all humanity…
The Golden Age of Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones, #5) Reviews
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As the last book in the series it is a very good last addition, but there is enough possibility to continue with more stories set in the Calliope Reaper-Jones universe.
This last book follows multiple characters and that sometimes means there are too many threads. This means you don't always have the sense of urgency and the desire to know what will come next, because it is not untill the end when it becomes clear what exactly is happening and how all characters fit in; especially for the dead humans which heavily feature at the beginning of the book and then at the end.
What is fun is to continue on a journey with great familiar characters. Another part of what makes this a great book is the way the story is delivered, in the first person for the Calliope chapters and the third person for other chapters. The other great thing is how it pulls multiple threads and characters from this and earlier books together; even if that perhaps takes too long.
The character of Freezay was a nice addition to the universe in the last book and he continues to be an interesting character but is largely wasted when it comes to the plot and it's resolution. Great character for a spin-off series, would love to read more about this character. And Amber Benson has already shown in the previous book - How to be Death - that she knows how to craft a great murder mystery novel. -
There were one or two things that went somewhat unexplained to my satisfaction in this and some loose ends that never really got tied up that bug me, but all in all a good book and mostly satisfying end to the series.
I'm left wanting more, but I'm not sure more are forthcoming which is somewhat a disappointment.
One major thing though - the back of the book's description SUCKS...it's so badly off on what the real plot is/was it's not even funny. Whoever wrote it should be fired, it's that inaccurate. -
het vijfde en laatste deel over Calliope de dochter van dood die er alles aan moet doen om de wereld te redden als iemand er alles aan doet om haar te vernietigen en om een zombie plaag te starten. maar gelukkig staat ze er niet alleen voor en heeft ze hulp van familie en vrienden. in dit deel volg je niet alleen Calliope maar nog meer mensen wat voor mij in het begin even wennen was maar was wel leuk want zo beleefde je de gebeurtenissen niet alleen vanuit Calliope. dit boek was weer spannend maar ook grappig en ook ontroerend.
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Decent end to a good series.
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I went into this book with multiple feelings – anticipation (because I ADORE this series), sadness (because it’s the last in the series) and apprehension (because I was seriously afraid that I was going to be disappointed with how it ended).
The Golden Age of Death is the last book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. This was a series I discovered completely by accident. I was perusing Twitter and found Amber Benson. She probably looks familiar to my fellow Buffy fans out there as Tara, Willow’s witchy girlfriend, from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What a lot of people didn’t realize when they were watching the show is Amber Benson also does about 8,000,000 other things aside from acting. She writes, directs, produces, sings and when you get right down to it, she probably even shits rainbows. Because she’s Amber Frikkin Benson, that’s why.
So as I said, I was cyber stalking…..err…..poking around online for Amber Benson info and found a cover reveal for a book by the name of Serpent’s Storm and that’s when I found out about Calli. I proceeded to blow through those books at record speed and totally fell in love with Calli and her world. I even went so far as to drive the 5 hours to Manhattan in March of last year to meet Amber when she was touring for the release of How to be Death (Calliope-Reaper-Jones #4).
I was totally bummed when I found out that The Golden Age of Death was the last Calli Reaper-Jones book. I cherish this series and the idea of no more Calli stories coming out just SUCKS. I was also a little surprised by the lack of earth-shattering hoopla surrounding the release of the book. I am still not sure why the masses aren’t weeping over the end of this series. I certainly want to….
Once The Golden Age of Death released, I dove right in. This series has had so much build up to this final book that The Golden Age of Death is a far more serious read then Death’s Daughter (Calli Reaper-Jones #1) was. The classic sarcastic Calli humor is still there bringing smiles every so often but I cried far more than laughed while reading The Golden Age of Death. I won’t lie. Some HORRIBLE things happen in this book. She wasn’t about to make it an easy exit…
The Basics: As always, this is a very well-written story. Intricate plot lines but not overdone by any means. The story develops at a perfect pace – not so slow that you lose interest and not so fast that everything feels rushed and convenient. I have been saying it since the very first book, Amber Benson is a talented woman and she knows what will entertain.
The cast that we know and love is all here in The Golden Age of Death. We get to follow everyone on their own paths and get glimpses of things from their point of view. Surprisingly enough, I would say that only about a third of this book is actually in Calli’s POV. I didn’t actually calculate that or anything so the percentage might be off. The way the story is structured, you get bits of the puzzle from every POV until you are finally have the whole puzzle together and are caught up on what is going on. Certain characters are given certain pieces of information and no one really knows the entire deal behind what is going on. At first anyway….
We also get to learn far more detail about some of the characters. Characters we have known through the ENTIRE series and just didn’t know ALL of their back story. The fog was lifted with a few of them and it was kind of awesome to get to peer behind the curtain, so to speak.
For the first time in this series, I had a teeny tiny moment of disappointed. The ending. It wasn’t that the ending itself was disappointing. The book ended with a sense of pride. I was proud of Calli. She’s come a looooooong way from the girl we met in Death’s Daughter. My disappointment was in the final scene at the climax of the story. It felt to me like it was over too fast. Like it was a little too easily resolved. And these books have NEVER felt that way. HOWEVER!!! The tail end of the book totally made up for that one little hang up.
I am giving The Golden Age of Death 5 stars! Excellent conclusion to an excellent series! If you haven’t discovered the world of Calliope Reaper-Jones yet, I highly suggest you get on it. You’re totally missing out!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go sulk some more over the fact that this series is done...
http://puretextuality.com/2013/04/26/... -
I went into this book with multiple feelings – anticipation (because I ADORE this series), sadness (because it’s the last in the series) and apprehension (because I was seriously afraid that I was going to be disappointed with how it ended).
The Golden Age of Death is the last book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. This was a series I discovered completely by accident. I was perusing Twitter and found Amber Benson. She probably looks familiar to my fellow Buffy fans out there as Tara, Willow’s witchy girlfriend, from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What a lot of people didn’t realize when they were watching the show is Amber Benson also does about 8,000,000 other things aside from acting. She writes, directs, produces, sings and when you get right down to it, she probably even shits rainbows. Because she’s Amber Frikkin Benson, that’s why.
So as I said, I was cyber stalking…..err…..poking around online for Amber Benson info and found a cover reveal for a book by the name of Serpent’s Storm and that’s when I found out about Calli. I proceeded to blow through those books at record speed and totally fell in love with Calli and her world. I even went so far as to drive the 5 hours to Manhattan in March of last year to meet Amber when she was touring for the release of How to be Death (Calliope-Reaper-Jones #4).
I was totally bummed when I found out that The Golden Age of Death was the last Calli Reaper-Jones book. I cherish this series and the idea of no more Calli stories coming out just SUCKS. I was also a little surprised by the lack of earth-shattering hoopla surrounding the release of the book. I am still not sure why the masses aren’t weeping over the end of this series. I certainly want to….
Once The Golden Age of Death released, I dove right in. This series has had so much build up to this final book that The Golden Age of Death is a far more serious read then Death’s Daughter (Calli Reaper-Jones #1) was. The classic sarcastic Calli humor is still there bringing smiles every so often but I cried far more than laughed while reading The Golden Age of Death. I won’t lie. Some HORRIBLE things happen in this book. She wasn’t about to make it an easy exit…
The Basics: As always, this is a very well-written story. Intricate plot lines but not overdone by any means. The story develops at a perfect pace – not so slow that you lose interest and not so fast that everything feels rushed and convenient. I have been saying it since the very first book, Amber Benson is a talented woman and she knows what will entertain.
The cast that we know and love is all here in The Golden Age of Death. We get to follow everyone on their own paths and get glimpses of things from their point of view. Surprisingly enough, I would say that only about a third of this book is actually in Calli’s POV. I didn’t actually calculate that or anything so the percentage might be off. The way the story is structured, you get bits of the puzzle from every POV until you are finally have the whole puzzle together and are caught up on what is going on. Certain characters are given certain pieces of information and no one really knows the entire deal behind what is going on. At first anyway….
We also get to learn far more detail about some of the characters. Characters we have known through the ENTIRE series and just didn’t know ALL of their back story. The fog was lifted with a few of them and it was kind of awesome to get to peer behind the curtain, so to speak.
For the first time in this series, I had a teeny tiny moment of disappointed. The ending. It wasn’t that the ending itself was disappointing. The book ended with a sense of pride. I was proud of Calli. She’s come a looooooong way from the girl we met in Death’s Daughter. My disappointment was in the final scene at the climax of the story. It felt to me like it was over too fast. Like it was a little too easily resolved. And these books have NEVER felt that way. HOWEVER!!! The tail end of the book totally made up for that one little hang up.
I am giving The Golden Age of Death 5 stars! Excellent conclusion to an excellent series! If you haven’t discovered the world of Calliope Reaper-Jones yet, I highly suggest you get on it. You’re totally missing out!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go sulk some more over the fact that this series is done... -
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5-4
*Review*
The Golden Age of Death is apparently the fifth & final novel in Amber Benson's Calliope Reaper-Jones series. The story itself is a continuation from How to Be Death in that a key player from that book continues to make deadly moves and alliances to finally get rid of Callie as the head of Death, Inc. and replace her with his own puppet. There is also a new player that is introduced who wants to go even farther and bring about a reign of destruction down on humanity in his wake. There are so many players involved in the plans to destroy Callie that you really need to pay attention, or at least have read the previous installments to understand who they are and why they hate Callie so much.
Calliope (Callie) Reaper-Jones is known as the Grim Reaper, President & CEO of Death, Inc and a person who is more interested in fashions and shopping, than understanding what it takes to be Death. She's a bit of a mess overall in that she rushes in when she should stand down and think before she acts. Callie has actually come a long way since becoming CEO and head Grim Reaper of Death, Inc after her father was murdered and betrayed by his own daughter thanks to people like Jarvis. Callie, in her own words, is mercurial, chaotic, reckless, headstrong, stubborn, and has a good heart who feels that she needs to protect everyone which is why she takes steps to ensure that Death, Inc. is in good hands in case something bad happens to her and why she suddenly disappears and doesn't tell anyone where she's going. She's in love with Daniel, the Steward of Hell and really doesn't care for the fact that she's immortal.
The only real negative I can admit to is that we don't really get enough of a story from Callie's point of view in my humble opinion. We see her finally accepting Marcel's challenge to fight to the death and then realizing that someone is trying to kill her and everyone loyal to her and install someone from Callie's past. In the process, more about Callie's past and future unfolds to the point where alliances are made, betrayals run rampant including someone close to Callie, and Callie has no choice but to put plans together to protect her replacements from harm. If this was, in fact, the last book like everyone is saying, I would have preferred to read her thoughts as she was trying to unravel who was trying to kill her so badly, rather than some of the secondary characters that were introduced including the ghosts.
The story intertwines characters like Noh, a clairvoyant who can see ghosts and is supposedly Callie's friend from boarding school; Jennice a Real Estate agent who has a surprising gift that comes in handy in a pinch as well as her own destiny; Kali the Hindu Goddess of Death and Destruction who has become Callie's friend, supporter, protector, and probably the character I loved the most in this book as well as the series; Runt, the female hellhound daughter of Cerberus is also amazing and I love her. Then there's Clio, Callie's younger sister who is in love with the Hindu God Indra, and a person who has amazing abilities all her own that she's kept a secret from everyone, including Callie. Callie also relies heavily on her Executive Assistant Jarvis De Poupsey who has the patience of a Saint. Marcel, the Ender of Death, comes through in a pinch as well and becomes Death's Champion, protector, and a character you have to admire for his fortitude in being Death's rival.
In the end, I was happy that I took copious notes on all the characters that were written into the story, and what they were doing and who was doing what to whom, and who was betraying whom thinking he knew was was best for Callie. If you think I am kidding here, I'm not. There are POV's from Daniel, and the Man in Gray, and people who have been killed and end up as ghosts in the Man in Gray's machine, as well as Edgar Freezay, and Callie's sister Clio. It seems that Benson wanted to give each of her characters one final curtain call, including Callie's mother Caoimbe, before calling it a day and exiting stage left. The ending, while expected, was sad and also devastating. Not sure anyone, except Kali, saw this happening to Callie.
Released February 26, 2013 -
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro
Spoilers!!
Let me try and not give everything away, but just in case OBS did add a big SPOILER at the top of this post. Why? Well, because, this book was just amazing! First, we have the topic of Death, which is quite something to talk about or in this case, write about. But, in this novel, Death, takes the pretty appearance of the young and fashionable, Calliope Reaper-Jones, former Death’s daughter.
In this latest book, The Golden age of Death, Callie not only has to work hard in order to keep on with her father’s legacy, Death Inc., but she also has to fight and deal with those who want to erase her existence from her own universe, time and space. Poor, Callie, she’s still a new CEO and she already has to look for her replacement.
I have to admit that I’m in love with this book and its characters, I even felt emotional for some of them at the end, but you would have to read it to know. This is definitely a series I recommend for all of those trying to find something refreshing to read. I know, I have been. I hadn’t felt such an appeal for a series like this one, in a while and the reading pace was just comfortable enough.
For those of you new to the series, like me, author Amber Benson gives us a brief description of what has been going on in the other books, putting us up to date with Callie’s life. She also describes to the reader her own design of Hell and Purgatory; with its divisions here and there and its very interesting. Makes one, wonder, how it’ll look after Callie finishes remodeling it. Could it look less scary?
Something that keeps the reader interested in the story, since the beginning, is Callie’s mysterious disappearance. It makes us curious as to what happened to her; is she alive, who took her, what will happen with Death Inc., and while all of these goes around, we get glimpses of random humans dying and their souls being collected for the Afterlife, to later become part of a big puzzle, that I must say, really fit well with the story.
The author gave us fight scenes, revealing scenes, funny scenes, cheesy scenes, emotional scenes and every kind of scene the book needed, shaping it perfectly at the end. As much as I liked the characters and hated those that needed to be hated, I grew a soft spot for Marcel, the Ender of Death, what could I do. The way he was portrayed made him so likeable. Another one was … Noh! I also have to add a, WOW, at the plot twist at one of the final chapters, who would have thought of a disguise?
All in all, this was a good book to read. It has everything it needs to keep one wanting for more. Which, makes me wonder about that ending. What does author Amber have in the future for her readers? We will just have to wait and see. Read this book if you’re into Lady Death vs. Hell & Heaven and its minions, and you might even end up like me, searching for the rest of the books in the series. Or, just give it a try, maybe one of the other characters will draw you in.
http://openbooksociety.com/article/th... -
This is the fifth book in Amber Benson's Calliope Reaper Jones series. Which has surprisingly grown more addicting and more "grown" up with each successful novel. As I stated in my review of "How to Be Death" each of the previous four novels had a different feel to them, a different theme and style. In each case the audience is shown a more mature version of Calliope and Ms Benson. As she continues to write, her characters seem more comfortable with their sexuality and motives. Which is delightful.
There is a sense of confidence that comes through more and more with each novel.
The book begins off for the races right off the bat and you get sucked in for the ride. There is very little exposition to introduce the recurring characters as they come in; as it should be since this is book five.
One of the things I actually disliked about Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels were the pages of exposition that occurred in each book to reintroduce everything; which is one of the same reasons I avoid Chris Claremont's classic X-Men run. The expositions are understandable since any new reader can just pick up the novel and go; Ms Benson's novels on the other hand are more for die hard fans of a show; by now the "previously on..." are gone and we are pulled in. Yes she does some reintroductions when she needs to but they feel organic; instead of forced.
But where this book and her writing really shines is that she not only seamlessly introduces new characters to the mix, but she mixes genres as well. She brings back the adventures of the two novels and mixes in the mysteries of the last two to create a very unique and fun experiences.
Though it is by far no means perfect; the end seems a little rushed and anti climatic...especially when it felt like something was building to a specific point; instead of an explosion we get a deflation (especially in the Marcel plot).
Not that I minded either because the epilogue makes up for that. You know that just by the last few sentences that the next book (if there is going to be a next one) will be an absolute emotional roller coaster.
That being said, if you have enjoyed the previous novels you will like this one; if you haven't you definitely need to read the others to know what is going on.
As for me, I can't wait and hope there is even more Calliope in my future. -
Whew, I'm glad that's over. No more subjugating myself to a book series with oodles of potential but no payoff in the end. Amber Benson's The Golden Age of Death is the final book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series about Callie's trials and tribulations over becoming the C.E.O. of Death Inc. Golden Age is from Callie's and every other character's POV in the book.
The mysterious Man in Gray has an insidious plan to destroy humanity by merging two universes together. One where Callie is not Death because she doesn't exist and instead her arch nemesis, Frank, is Death. The story itself sounds all right but the execution was poor. The different POVs was very disorienting and undercut the action at times. Personally, I would have liked it if Callie's POV was nixed throught the book and would have appeared like two bookends: one at the beginning and one at the end.
I know she's the main character but I never cared much for Callie. I always found her too oversexed and immature. I think she's in her mid 20's but acted like a girl in her mid teens. I believe that's why I enjoy the writing of Benson's third person POV narrative than I do her first person narrative. Another disappointment of Golden Age was that I never felt the stakes were truly high enough. Once again, this is probably to due my complete apathy to Callie's fate.
She's going to wipe out from existence.
So?
Then, Benson tries to display the real gotcha but it was too little, too late.
Another thing, how do build up a fight between Callie and Marcel, the Ender of Death, and backpedal so damn hard away from it?
The character death wasn't really shocking. Again, although better than Callie, I never like them that much anyway and the inside scoop to their thoughts was not enlightening. It really is a shame because Benson had such a great idea. I say this every review of hers but I really do think that Death as a corporation is an ingenious idea. But I felt like she was trying to do Buffy and all she ended up was with weaker version of it.
Also, there are absolutely no zombies. The book blurb lied. Downright lied. -
I've got to be honest with you, the first half of this book is a hot mess. There's way too much going on and between the flipping between points of view at the toss of a coin, random flashbacks and unfocused yet multiple directions this story was taking, I seriously considered DNFing it.
But I'm glad I didn't. One of the main reasons I didn't is because the first four books in this series are witty and compelling, following the story of Callie Reaper-Jones as she makes poor choices in her love life and tries to navigate the world of Death. With this fifth book (which I believe is the final book in this series), all plot arcs merge and snarl before finally smoothing out into a cohesive story that rather neatly ties it all up in a bow (not the happiest-ever-after bow but a bow nonetheless).
The Man in Gray is out to merge worlds and, in doing so, destroy not only Callie but all of humanity and Callie has to figure out a way to stop him before she disappears forever. There are other evil beings who also want a piece of Callie (because it can't be as simple as just one guy wanting to end the world, right?) and they're after all her loved ones as well.
Personally, I would have liked the story to stay focused on Callie. She's a fun character -- goofy and awkward and totally not prepared for the responsibility thrust upon her when her father died. She does the best she can with what she's got but so many people have tried to sabotage along the way that she still doesn't have confidence in her abilities. But the story is fractured into multiple shards told by characters I liked but didn't really care all that much about, especially when all I really wanted to know was what was going on with Callie.
*shrugs* Like I said, I really did enjoy the second half of the book, once the pieces started to fit together and all the talk-talk-talk became serious action and forward motion. If this truly the end of the series as I suspect, it did well tying everything together and I look forward seeing what Amber Benson produces next. -
Ahh, so. I started this back in January, read about 100 pages, and then stopped. I feel like my inability to read books quickly has nothing to do with how I like them; it's a personal flaw. My reviews almost always include an explanation like this one about why it takes me so long to read these books. Anyway, this past week I felt more motivated to read, and because this is the one I've been putting off for over a year, I made myself read until I was finished.
So, I believe this is the last one of this series, and it was really good. I LOVED how she changed the structure, with the rotating perspectives and the Calliope chapters and the flashbacks and the converging timelines. It made the story so exciting to read! I've been really impressed with how Amber Benson has improved as a writer with each book, and I'm tempted to say this one is her best-written yet. The plot was complicated, but easy enough to follow, and I thought it was really unique and interesting.
I was really glad that it ended with Callie really owning her position as Death, since that's been her huge struggle throughout the series. But I was really unsatisfied with Daniel's death, and the last line being "She just wishes it were enough." I'm sure that was on purpose, but it doesn't mean I liked it! I didn't think it was executed very well, with it happening so quickly and with very little reflection on Callie's part. It should have been given more consideration that made it seem like it was truly important for the story overall, rather than a last-ditch effort to make the ending of the series really dramatic.
Besides that, I thought this book was great and I'm sad that it doesn't seem like there are going to be any more. But whatever else Amber comes out with, you can bet I'm going to be reading it! -
I love Amber Benson's writing, but I have to say, this book and the one before it weren't quite as amazing as the first three. I think this may be the final Calliope book, and if it is, the series ends on a pretty down note.
As for The Golden Age of Death itself, it's a good read. There is a lot of POV shifts, though, especially at the beginning. I don't know that we needed to spend so much time learning about the people who died since only Bernadette played any real role in the story.
While I really liked the character of Noh, I have to wonder how much of her background with Callie was just made up and might contradict what was established (it's been a while since I read book 1). Wouldn't Callie have forgotten all about her when she made herself forget the supernatural world? But even though they would have gone a number of years without speaking, suddenly they're best friends again? It seemed like we were missing a little bit of the history between the two.
If you're a fan of Buffy, you'll love how Benson works Tara's last line of dialogue into the story.
One of the things I didn't like about How to Be Death was the large number of characters introduced. Well, many of them are back, and it took me a bit to remember exactly who they were or what their part in the Death world was. Of course, a few new characters were introduced to make it even more confusing.
All in all, this is a good book, even though it drags in places and moves too quickly in others. I'd like to see one more book in the series to wrap things up a bit better, but I hope it's placed and plotted out a little bit better. -
There comes a time when every living thing must die. Even Death has to end its reign sometime. That's why the Ender of Death exists-to maintain a balance in the world. It's the checks and balance rules of life and death. No one can have too much power. Otherwise, the world can be destroyed. In this fifth and final part in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, we see just how far all the good and evil characters we have come to know will go to save the or ruin the world. Even Callie seems to surprise herself along with her sister Clio. All the excitement of danger was thrilling. **spoilers** Yet the paragraphs in which Callie would remind us about various thing like Jarvis was a fawn or Caoimhe is Calliope's birth mother get old real fast. These paragraphs are littered throughout the whole series. They were something I just had to bite my teeth and grin through. It was a drag, but the action after action scenes made up for it. There were some things I was left wanting to know. Those are some things I'd want to ask Amber if I ever got the chance to ask her.
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This one started rough but ends solid. You just have to shift through the 3rd person narration for characters you've never met and don't care for. Yet some of these characters you end up liking and caring for in the end while some you still don't care for in the end. As the story progresses you can see how these different characters factor in and make sense to the plot but I think the story would have been fine had some of these sections been cut out. When you had characters you are invested in the writting was it's signature Benson flair and I read it with delight. When there were characters I didn't much care for as the main focus the flavor and flare felt flat.
Benson chose the perfect ending for her series, she factors in the sad but there is the promise of a very bright future in the end. -
Started reading May 10th, 2013. As I liked all other books in the series (this being the fifth) and having read one other book by Amber Benson, I am looking forward to it.
Read a few reviews here on goodreads and after finishing it, I have to disagree with them.
Wether this is the final book or not, it is the best in the series.
Daniel is a douchebag and was a bad choice from the heroine as a boyfriend, here he also comes over es being overly dependent on his girl and slightly whiney. Without spoiling the story, I cannot say more, but imho if there are more books she can stay single for all I care or chose a better one.
This book was also better than a few of the ones before, as we where not constantly treated with styling choices or shopping-sprees.
If this is the last one (I am not so sure of it), it was very good ending to the 5-book-series.
Therefore, for me, it is 5 stars. -
Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Associate Reviewer - Kathy M:
*Copy received from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review
Callie, the dark and funny protagonist in Amber Benson’s Calliope Reaper-Jones series, just can’t get a break!
Due to the untimely death of her father (murdered), Callie must now run the family business, Death, Inc. and try to find time for romance with her boyfriend Daniel, the former right hand of the devil.
The Golden Age Of Death is a wonderful mix of macabre humor, witty dialogue, horror and hairpin twists and turns. And without giving anything away, I’ve got to say that the ending completely blindsided me. I enjoyed this book very much.
LITERAL AdDICTION's Associate Reviewer gives The Golden Age of Death 4 1/2 skulls. -
Hm. Too bad, not as good an ending as I had hoped. I read this book in short little increments instead of one go, which did not help matters. It was quite chaotic.
Suddenly, the book is written from the points of view of multiple people, instead of just Callie (which was the case in the previous volumes). The characters are all over the place, and none of them really get to develop depth. Story-wise, character-wise. They all just... do shit. I didn't feel a true connection to any of them, which was a shame. You also never get to find out what happens to the elderly man who dies, which is lame. No, sorry Benson, I am dissapoint. -
I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of authors alternating points-of-view between characters. It seems to me as though someone in the authorial community did a workshop on it or said it was an awesome idea or something, as it seems everyone is doing it now. Not a fan.
Also, the series has been pretty good so far with build-up and climax but this book was about as anti-climactic as I think it is possible to be. Unless of course you actually cared about the extremely weird and dysfunctional relationship subplot of the series. -
This was a good one! It's written a little differently, as Callie isn't in every scene so there is some shifting you'll want to be ready for. But you can truly see how Callie has grown into her role as Death, and how she recognizes that her father, who was a good man and did what he thought was best, still made mistakes that led them to where they are. There's sadness and death, but even if death there is victory, so the saying goes. Give it a read!
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The Golden Age of Death was not what I expected. The ending was not what I expected. If this is the last of Calliope's adventures, she is not getting a 'happily ever after.'
Too many points of view made the story difficult to follow at times, and caused me to take an abnormally long 3 days to read Golden Age.
I have no idea how to rate this book right now; I will sleep on it. -
Although not as good as the last one, it is a definitely a worthy read. I loved the multiple point of view and getting a growing love for the characters. Cant wait to see whats next for these characters.
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I'm going to miss Callie, but this was a nice goodbye. Not my favourite of this series mainly because we didn't spend enough time with Callie (and a few unexpected deaths and unresolved issues saddened the end).
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didn't like this one that much. first, the blurp on the back promised zombies......no zombies. and the PoV kept changing. from first person with Callie, the third with a bunch of different characters.... so, not so much this time.
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A nice conclusion to an enjoyable series, with just enough going on to leave it open for some more if the author wants...but otherwise, sufficiently wrapped up to leave the reader with a nice sense of completion.
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can't really say I am sorry to see this one go
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Great ending to a wonderful series. I was totally satisfied on how this one ended. Highly recommend this series for its creativity, humor and really interesting characters.