As Santorum Warns Satan is Coming, Read This Book and Survive

Review of “Serpent’s Storm” by Amber Benson.

This fictional book presents a uniquely intriguing perspective on the Devil, death, and unworldly creatures in such a fashion it perhaps may be considered mythological by future generations.  The reader faces an untangling of mysteries presented by supernatural forces and how the protagonist Callie deals discovers the intricacies of death and the limitations of immortality.

Callie, the daughter of Death, who is dating Daniel, the Devil’s protégé who seeks to deliver the Devil out of Hell, as both deal with Thalia, Callie’s sister, who has made her own deal with the Devil so the Devil may rule Heaven.  Thalia seeks to control Daniel and make Daniel the new Death under her control.  Death is in a titanic clash with his archrival, the Ender of Death. Death has been kidnapped and Jarvis, Death’s assistant, is a mystical creature who serves as Callie’s advisor in this complex tale with numerous challenges and plot twists.

Callie goes on her own physical and spiritual journey as she seeks to rescue her father and understand her soul.  The reader gets to delve into her psychological issues as she wonders why she pushes boyfriends away and wonder about life as “we go around and around. We learn, what?”  She seeks to discover what life, death, and happiness all are.

Readers go along on a journey that includes visits to purple jellyfish, struggles to rule the Afterlife.  The stakes are high, as Callie faces deciding between being responsible for the deaths of many innocent people while maintaining her struggles for her cause.  Callie faces personal struggles, for how does one fight evil what one’s own sister is that evil?  Callie discovers she is in the midst of the greatest battle of all, one that challenges God for the rule of Heaven.  She faces that challenging question of what does one ask God when one meets God?

There is strength in character growth as Calli learns to think herself rather than relying on others how to respond.  A weakness of the tale is readers learn of some limitations and abilities of characters as they arise rather than beforehand, which changes previous reader assumptions.

This book is for fans of books about fantasy.  It is one of the better written and developed books in this genre.  The story involves God and is written from a perspective that Heaven and Hell exists, so anyone offended by such may find offense.  There are a few sensuous scenes that may not be appropriate for some young readers yet may be appreciated by older readers.  Overall, this reviewer rates this book highly.

Why do so many reviews of this book use the word "chicken"?