Needs less whining and more of the Danny we saw in Book 1.

books:


	• Dead Man Rising (Dante Valentine, Book 2) Lilith Saintcrow Orbit, 2007 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 48 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Needs less whining and more of the Danny we saw in Book 1.

I really, really liked the first book in the Dante Valentine series by Lilith Saintcrow. Dead Man Rising (the second book in this series) was a disappointment.

You meet up with Dante (Danny) a short time after her hunt in the last book and the "death" of Japh. Dante has been recklessly taking bounty after bounty to distract herself from her grief over Japh. Jace shows up to help her out on her bounties and has forsaken all of his connections with the mob for her. Gabe ends up calling Danny in on a grisly murder and Danny finds that these murders may be linked to something that happened at Rigger Hall (the horrible school where Danny was first educated as a psion and tortured, etc, etc).

This book had a lot of action but it wasn't nearly as interesting and crisp as the first book. This book makes no progress in Danny understanding her new half-demon nature. Danny spends most of the time grieving over Japh's death and, when she is not whining about how much she misses Japh, she is sitting around talking about how horrible Rigger Hall was and how she can't bear to even enter the place or think about it. I thought it was all a bit over the top and dramatic, even for Danny. I mean the Rigger Hall incidents were years ago. We all have bad memories from childhood, and hers were much worse than most, but in the first book she seemed to be a reasonably well-adjusted person despite her tough beginning. She spends this whole book whining, grieving, and falling to pieces. I understand Danny is going through rough times but, come on, that doesn't need to be the content of the *whole* book.

I found myself rolling my eyes at Danny's dramatic and strange behavior a number of times. I was hoping all of this was going to lead somewhere profound but even the climax of her facing her fears at Rigger Hall fell dead for me. I really, really hope the third book is better. I liked the first book a lot so I will read the third, if the third follows the second I am done with this series. So in summary this book was passable but not nearly as good as I was expecting.
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Second edition in an exciting new series!

Welcome back Japh! I loved this book, it was a solid read. Very entertaining and action packed.

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Dead Man Rising

Better than the first book in this series. Same gritty feel but with better insight into the main characters. Great fight scenes.

a bridging book

This book bridges the gap between book 1 and the death of Japh and book 3 where Japh is back.
This book deals with Dante's grief and her way of coping bu throwing herself into any form of work she can find.
When she gets asked to help in a police case where people from her old school are being murdered so horribly that their ghosts cannot tell secrets, she has to face her own grief and horrible nightmares of her past to help the people who helped remove a sadistic headmaster ten years ago.
A lot of people wanted another book like book one, but for the character to grow she has to work through her intense grief at losing her lover and closing her cycle of dispair. I found it a good story, not as absorbing as book one, but just a good. We see Dante overcome her greatest fear and triumph. (We know this as there are more books)

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A Dissapointment

I found this second novel in the series to be a disappointment. For me, Danny just does way too much whining and complaining about the same things over and over in this novel. There's not really much room in here for the development of an interesting plot, most of the pages are dedicated to her personal diatribes about: Jace and Japhrimel and the boarding school. There are a few new characters but they are pretty much relegated to very minor contributions. Overall, I didn't find this novel to be very eventful. The first one was really eventful and not solely focused on Danny's whining. I'll probably check out the third one eventually but overall the second novel was a disappointment.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

"Dark fantasy has a new heroine."
--- SFX

When the dead call, she answers.

Bounty hunting is a helluva job, but it pays the bills. And it lets Necromance Dante Valentine forget her issues---like struggling with her half-demon side and the memory of her lover's death.

Now psychics all over the city are being savagely murdered---and a piece of the past Dante thought she'd buried is stalking the night with a vengeance. Too bad she's got no way to tell which fiend--or friend--to trust. Or that her most horrifying nightmares are gathering to take one kick-ass bounty hunter down for the count.

But that's only the beginning. The Devil just called. He's looking for Dante's lover--the one he killed...

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