Customer Reviews

Saint City Sinners (Dante Valentine, Book 4)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

The "I love him but I can't trust him" has gotten pretty old by this book in the series, with not enough new to justify buying the book or its successors.

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.

I loved the first two books in the series. So much so that as soon as I could I ran out and bought all the rest of the books in the series. I read the third and found myself not only bored and annoyed by her whining, complaining and general 7year old behavior I was appalled by the blatant way that the men in the book just suddenly took to disregarding her. Now to be fair it could be because she was so immature about everything.

It took me a while before I could bring myself to pick up book number 4 and god not only have I put it aside several times in favor of other things but still I hate to leave any book unfinished and tried yet again.

I am disturbed by the way she cringes from the Japh's every move afraid that once again he's going to hurt her. Its way too battered wife syndrome for my taste. What started as a great series has turned into a whine fest with domestic violence thrown in for the heck of it.

Wish i could give it no stars but it wont let me rate that low. heck i'd give negative stars if i could.

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.

I liked this series at first, but it's sounding more and more like the overwrought self-examination and self-justification of the Laurel Hamilton books. Can we spell P.A.D.D.I.N.G.? I found about a third of the way through that I simply wasn't interested in finishing, because it was clear that nothing was ever going to HAPPEN.

This is the fourth book in the Dante Valentine series by Lilith Saintcrow. I think it was back on par with the first book of the series, I really enjoyed it.

Japh and Dante (Danny) are in Egypt when Dante gets a message from Gabe. Gabe needs her help...now. Japh is not happy about giving up the demon hunt to help Gabe but agrees to do so. Dante begs Japh not to hunt down Eve while she is working on Gabe's case. As usual all hell (literally) breaks loose.

This book gave us back our tough, decisive, independent Danny from the first book. She spends much of her time independent of Japh and finally begins to learn something about her demon nature. I thought it was awesome that she gained power because of Japh gaining power. I really like Lucas as a character. Japh's underlings are all very interesting too. A lot happens in this book and it was fun to read.

Although, once again, this book leaves you right in the middle of things. It must have been torture for everyone to wait for the last book to be released. Luckily I already have it on hand and have started reading it.

This book seems to be even darker than the previous ones; but still a fast and fun read. I am looking forward to seeing how all of this gets wrapped up!

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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)

I was disappointed with the previous book and had hopes she would grow up and stop whining in this one. No such luck. This series started good but is disappointing.

This was a bit sad. I almost needed a box of kleenex to read it. What I like about this series is that while it is dark, it seems more realistic. Saintcrow isn't afraid of making hard decisions to make drama or conflict for a great story. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out who the killer was and finally getting to see what it was that Dante's God had asked of her. Well played! I'm still not quite sure what to make of the relationship between Dante and Japh, but I hope it gets resolved in the next book.