Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow is a story of Dante Valentine, a registered and sword toting necromance. The novel opens with a demon at Dante's door, and a job offer from the devil himself that Dante can't afford to refuse.
Working for the Devil has a lot to love, along with a number of obvious flaws. It's an addictive first person narrative, the sort that sucks a person in until you find you can't put the book down once it's begun. The dark urban sci-fi/fantasy setting is intriguing, as is most of the world-building that went into the novel. Also, the interaction between Dante and both friends and foes is a lot of fun to read. The verbal (and sometimes physical) sparring between characters is quite well done.
What's unfortunate about this novel is that, while the secondary characters are intriguing, the main character is someone you can't help but love and hate. Dante is simply too perfect in some ways. At the same time, her shows of unwarranted bravado can be grating on the nerves. The danger many authors seem to fall into in writing first person narratives is that they identify most strongly with the main character, and can't help but make their main character into something of a caricature of all the perfections they'd like to see in themselves. Although in this first novel of the series, Dante is still a relatively intriguing character, I would recommend that a reader only invest in this and the second novel, Dead Man Rising. After book two, the characterization of Dante only goes downhill. The first two novels, however, are definitely books I would recommend as fun, light reading.
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