My Five Word TL:DR Review: A Difficult One to Review

You know, I enjoyed Death’s Daughter. I did have issues with it and to be honest I think a gentle nudge to move it along in places wouldn’t have gone amiss, but, in spite of a few little issues I still had a good time and would definitely like to continue with the series.

So, firstly, a little bit of a descriptiion. Jocasta is a student at Beecher University. She chose this particular place because it’s small and remote and Jo is running from everything, hiding away and trying to carve out a normal life. Jo is the only daughter of Death but let’s just say she’s not overly keen to enter the family business and, her life at Beecher is going okay. She has friends, responsibilities and even a secret relationship that is currently enjoying a cooling off period. Then everything starts to go pear shaped, starting with the arrival of a charismatic character and followed by a death with most fingers on campus pointing at jo.

I don’t really want to elaborate on the plot although I enjoyed the murder mystery elements especially as I really wasn’t expecting the story to go in that direction. Basically, the ‘old ones’ are based on Greek mythology. So, Jo’s father is ‘death’ and she has inherited his abilities – even though she tries not to use them. Jo must feed and although she can eat regular food it doesn’t sustain her, she has to take little sips of life, stealing bits and pieces from those around her without their knowledge. She has managed to form friendships and on top of this the campus seems to be a neutral zone in terms of other similarly gifted ‘ones’ so Jo has begun to feel like she’s fallen off her father’s radar..

What I enjoyed about this. Well, it’s an easy read to be honest. The writing was good and although I had a few issues here and there overall it kept me entertained. Yes, it does have something of a ‘popcorn’ feel to it in some respects but on this occasion it felt like ‘the right book at the right time’.

I liked the murder mystery and the way things escalated in an almost astonishing way. I mean, everything eventually descends into absolute chaos.

Jo, well, she’s a bit of a prickly pear, but at the same time, well, she’s had an unusual upbringing and had to learn some hard lessons. To be fair, she makes mistakes but more often than not she is trying to protect her friends. I have conflicted feelings about her because in some respects she comes across as a sulky, if slightly OTT horny, teenager – I expected more maturity from her given her background and what she’s already been through, but, at the same time her behaviour intrigued me. She had a relationship – a forbidden relationship in fact – that has gone quiet for reasons that will eventually become clear. Then, to muddy the waters, an enigmatic, handsome character arrives on the scene and wants to ‘befriend’ her. Now, I’m not in love with love triangles, in fact they positively irritate me but, again, in this instance the newcomer element never really felt like a real love interest – but I could be proved completely wrong in future instalments of course – to me it felt more like a distraction.

So, what’s probably coming through here is slightly mixed feelings but in fact the main issue I had was with the uneven pacing. The entire story takes place over a very short period which isn’t a problem, except I wanted to nudge things on a little, it felt like the story suffered from stutters in certain areas before it exploded into absolute crazy.

Anyway, in conclusion, in spite of a slightly prickly, immature MC and uneven pacing here and there, yes, I enjoyed this and I’m curious to see how things develop in the next book.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars