To Hell and Back (Dante Valentine, Book 5) by Lilith Saintcrow

To Hell and Back is the fifth and final book of the Dante Valentine series.

I'm pretty conflicted about this book. Dante is a good character, but my own personal trust issues just can't be happy with the way things turned out.

And in a lot of ways this series reminds me of those action movies where the last third of the movie is just a series of action sequences. One of those movies where you know the movie is coming to a close when almost everyone is dead.

Here is the blurb from the author's site.

Plot. Counterplot. Betrayal. Intrigue. When you’re working for the Devil, it’s all par for the course. You just have to live with it. Right?

Wrong. When you’re Danny Valentine and the Devil double-crosses you one too many times, there’s only one thing to do.

Fight back. No matter how hopeless it is. No matter how suicidal it is. No matter how far the game is rigged in the Devil’s favor.

Those first three words pretty much sum things up. Plot. Counterplot. Betrayal.

The only problem is that there are some things that were not completely resolved. I wonder if the author knew this was going to be the last book, or if she had hopes of there being more. It almost seems as if she left a few loose ends in the hopes she would be writing more books.

I'm going to give To Hell and Back a 7 of 10, and the series is going to end up at a 6 of 10.

Book Rating: 7 of 10
Series Rating: 6 of 10





1. Working for the Devil
2. Dead Man Rising
3. The Devil's Right Hand
4. Saint City Sinners
5. To Hell and Back

Saint City Sinners (Dante Valentine, Book 4) by Lilith Saintcrow

Saint City Sinners is the fourth of five books in the Dante Valentine series.

This series is strongly in the realm of Dark Urban Fantasy. I'm not going to make the mistake of saying that surely it can't get any darker, because I have a feeling it can. With the final book being called To Hell and Back, it's probably a given that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The plot keeps moving and twisting, it's almost a moving target as it turns back on itself and morphs into something else. One more book and I'll know how it ends. At this point I'm exhausted by reading it and can only hope that the series ending is worth the emotions I've spent on the characters and the story thus far.

Here is the blurb from the author's site.

When an old friend calls in a favor, even the Devil’s latest demands take a backseat. Dante Valentine is coming home to Saint City, and she’s in for a surprise. Because one of her few remaining human friends is dead–and Danny’s framed for it.

The killers think they have an easy target. It’s an expensive mistake–because now Dante’s not just mad, she’s out for revenge too…

I'm going to give Saint City Sinners an 8 of 10. But I think I'm going to keep the series at a 7 of 10. I can easily see the series rating going to an 8 if the series ending ties all of the plots up nicely, but I need to see it all tied up before I can do that.

Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





1. Working for the Devil
2. Dead Man Rising
3. The Devil's Right Hand
4. Saint City Sinners
5. To Hell and Back

The Devil's Right Hand (Dante Valentine, Book 3) by Lilith Saintcrow

The Devil's Right Hand is the third of five books in the Dante Valentine series. The third book was much better than the second book, which I didn't really enjoy.

This book begins what I'm betting will be a three book arc. The end of The Devil's Right Hand did not resolve the plot points started in this story. It just kind of ended with no resolutions. But, those plot points were darn good.

I have a feeling the end of this series is going to give you the same feeling as the end of The Sting, where you think you have an idea of what is going on, but you really don't.

Here is the blurb from the author's site.

Dante Valentine, Necromancer and bounty hunter, just wants to be left alone. Too bad the Devil has other ideas.

Dante and her lover, Japhrimel, have no choice but to answer the Prince of Hell’s summons to fulfill a task: become the Devil’s Right Hand, hunt down four demons that have escaped from Hell, and earn Lucifer’s gratitude.

Pretty simple, right? Except nothing is simple where the Devil is concerned, and this time Danny might finally be in over her head…

There are two more books in this series to tie everything up. I am quite interested in how the author is going to do that.

In the meantime, I don't really know how to rate this book. The Devil's Right Hand doesn't complete anything, so I feel like I need to read the next books in order to properly rate it. But, since I haven't read those books, I need to just rate it as best I can. It was much better than the second book, and I think I like where it is going.

I'm going to give The Devil's Right Hand an 8 of 10. But I think I'm going to keep the series at a 7 of 10. I can easily see the series rating going to an 8 if the next two books tie all of the plots up nicely, but I need to see it all tied up before I can do that.

Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





1. Working for the Devil
2. Dead Man Rising
3. The Devil's Right Hand
4. Saint City Sinners
5. To Hell and Back

Dead Man Rising (Dante Valentine, Book 2) by Lilith Saintcrow

Dead Man Rising is the second of five books in the Dante Valentine series. It was good, but not as good as the first. The first was great, this one was better than okay and right on the edge of good. I hope the next books go back to the quality of the first.

This book made me cry. A lot. Huge elephant tears. There were pages and pages of angst. I found myself skimming through the pages of angst to make sure I didn't miss something important (I didn't) just to get beyond it.

This felt like an "in between book". Kind of like New Moon, you have to have this part of the story for the rest of the story to work, and this part isn't any fun at all. Or, at least I'm hoping there was a good reason for all of that sadness and angst.

Book one was a fun book. Book two was not. For a large number of reasons. The main crime to solve in this book takes Dante back to her own personal hell. Lucifer is sending letters and calling her on the phone, bringing another kind of (more literal) hell to her doorstep. And then there is Jace. And, perhaps most of all, the pain she feels over the loss of Japhrimel.

Here is the blurb from the author's site.

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…

A book doesn't have to be "fun" to be good. It can still be well written and make you cry and be a good book. But, in my opinion, the pages and pages of angst were just too much. Most of it was still well written, but some things were just repeated too many times.

Danny/Dante is still well written and a fully three dimensional character. And the main crime plot is good. And the follow through plot from the previous book is good. It's just that I personally felt the angst was overdone.

I'm giving this book a 7 of 10. If it weren't for a set up of better things to come, I might give it a 6 of 10. The series at this point, after two books, is also at a 7 of 10. I gave the first book in this series a 9 of 10, and I really hope the next books take us back to that.

Book Rating: 7 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10





1. Working for the Devil
2. Dead Man Rising
3. The Devil's Right Hand
4. Saint City Sinners
5. To Hell and Back

Working for the Devil (Dante Valentine, Book 1) by Lilith Saintcrow

The Dante Valentine series has five books, and is apparently finished at five. I've only read the first book at this point, and it was a... most interesting book. Interesting enough that I've purchased the next four books and I'm just waiting for them to arrive.

It was a fun book, and kept me interested. And up later at night than is probably healthy. Though I didn't stay awake until it was finished in one night, I split it up into three nights.

One thing that bugged me at first but worked after a while: The author uses Necromance as a noun, when my brain wants it to be Necromancer. She plays around with a few other words as well, futurizing them into the world she has created. So, not a huge deal, but it bugged me at first.

I'll start with the blurb from the author's site.

Necromance-for-hire Dante Valentine is choosy about her jobs. Hot-tempered and with nerves of steel, she can raise the dead like nobody’s business. But one rainy Monday morning, everything goes straight to Hell.

The Devil hires Dante to eliminate a renegade demon: Vardimal Santino. In return, he will let her live. It’s an offer she can’t refuse.

There’s just one catch. How do you kill something that can’t die?

I like Dante (Danny to her friends). I enjoyed the worldbuilding, even if it is set in some sort of an alternate future reality, which normally isn't my thing. And the storyline was good. We once again have an orphaned protagonist, but that seems pretty par for the course these days.

The set up for the next books in the series is good. The next book is "Dead Man Rising", which gives me hope (I can't say hope for what, or it will be a spoiler). And there are two or three other plot lines started that we will have to wait for future books to find out what happens.

I enjoyed the book, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.





1. Working for the Devil
2. Dead Man Rising
3. The Devil's Right Hand
4. Saint City Sinners
5. To Hell and Back