Finished Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow. This is the second in Saintcrow’s urban fantasy series about Dante Valentine, a nercomance who raises people from the dead. Be warned: there are some spoilers ahead.

In this one, Danny’s mourning the loss of her demon lover Japhrimel (from book one, Working for the Devil). But she doesn’t have time to grieve long. Her friend Gabe asks Danny to help her with a series of brutal murders, all of which lead back to Rigger Hall, the school where Danny and other students were horribly abused as children.

This book was quite a bit darker than the first one, much more so than I expected. Poor Danny’s about to snap from grief over losing Japhrimel already, and then she has to confront the horrors of her childhood. Not a light read at all. 

Still, Danny is a very likable character as she tries to work through her grief and adjust to her new demon-enhanced body. She gets a little whiny toward the end of the book, but she does have a lot to deal with. And once again, I enjoyed Saintcrow’s blend of magic and technology. (Plus, there was a glossary of terms in this book. Yeah!)

But overall, I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first book for one reason — Japhrimel. Although Dante thinks about him constantly, the demon doesn’t show up until the last few chapters of the book. His appearance reminded me just how much I liked him in the first book — and how this book suffers from his absense. (Jace is just not a good substitute for the demon, which Dante and the reader quickly realize.)

But I get that Japhrimel’s resurrection was part of the climax and not the middle arc of the story. Still, if you’re a Japh fan like me, this book ends much better than the first one. 😎

Overall, if you’re looking for a dark urban fantasy read, give Dead Man Rising and the rest of the Dante Valentine series a try. Thumbs up.

Up next: The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter.