Black Dog

August 4, 2014
This confusing hodgepodge of the damned—comprising hellhounds, shapeshifters, warlocks, vampires, demons, fallen angels, and two varieties of deadheads, among others—is an inauspicious start to the Hellhound Chronicles. The unnecessary clutter of characters gets in the way of the story and deflects the reader’s attention from the heroine, Ava, a hellhound. In both human and canine form, she collects souls of the damned for her employer, a particularly nasty reaper called Gary. Ava is a potentially sympathetic character, struggling to make sense of her previous life, chafing against the hellish abuse of her reaper, and dealing with the existential loneliness of the hell-bound. Had she not been forced to share the spotlight with a necromancing Russian mobster, an enfeebled fallen angel, and a 1,000-year-old demon, Ava’s strong presence might have been just enough to bring this book back from the dead. Even fans of Kittredge’s Iron Codex Trilogy will struggle with this one.

September 1, 2014
The first book in a new series by Kittredge (Dark Days, 2013, etc.) is the tale of Ava, a girl-turned-hellhound who is convinced to rebel against her abusive master by a necromancer who has an agenda of his own. Foulmouthed, black leather-clad, motorcycle-riding Ava tears through towns lustily ripping bodies apart and "scar[ing] the shit out of bottom-feeding predators." As a hellhound in service to an abusive master, Gary, one of many reapers responsible for collecting souls from the damned, this is all Ava is programmed to do. But when her latest assignment goes awry, Ava is captured and tortured by a necromancer named Leo who wants her to kill Gary. Leo sweetens the deal by informing Ava that the reaper's death will mean her freedom. What does Leo want in return? For Ava to steal Gary's scythe so Leo can kill his own father, a necromancer who will not stay dead any other way. Knowing she's so badly messed up this latest soul-fetching assignment that Gary will kill her anyway, Ava agrees to Leo's plan. But you can never trust a necromancer, and after a skillful double-cross ends up with Gary dead and his boss-none other than the 1,000-year-old demon Lilith-more than a little put out, Ava and Leo set off with Gary's little black book of lost souls, determined to come up with a plan to outwit Lilith, take care of Leo's father and keep them both alive in the process. But one can't help but wonder: Why doesn't the all-powerful Lilith just exterminate the pair with her fearsome abilities at any second? And will it be Leo or his father who has the last word in their game of cat and mouse? A fast-paced read perfect for lovers of dark fantasy that ultimately raises more questions than it answers.

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September 15, 2014

After a hundred years as a hellhound collecting souls for a reaper named Gary, Ava fails to collect Leo Ivanof, a human necromancer who talks her into trying to kill Gary and win her freedom. It doesn't quite work out, and Ava and Leo end up on the run from Gary's demon boss, Lilith, who wants Ava to collect one last soul. But the man she sends her after doesn't have a soul, and now the three of them are running from a pretty angry demon. VERDICT Ava's backstory is told in flashbacks, but she never seems to come alive on the page, waffling between angry ass-kicker and crying victim. Though Kittredge ("Nocturne City" series) employs an enjoyable variation on the standard urban fantasy worldbuilding, with angels, demons, warlocks, and hellhounds, the elements don't gel into a compelling story.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014
There's no gentle way to put it: Ava is a hellhound. Literally. She's a long-serving servant of a reaper (as in the grim . . . ) who tracks down people marked for death and helps them on their way. Sometimes, she's obliged to take canine form to help speed up the process. When Ava foolishly gets involved in a scheme masterminded by someone who has it in for her boss, she winds up with a seemingly impossible task: find the last remaining soul on the reaper's list, or face the end of her own life. She could run scared, but that's not Ava; instead, she goes on the offensive. This is the first book in a new urban-fantasy series, and it's definitely a keeper. The pacing is speedy without being too rapid, the character design is intriguing (Ava's boss, the reaper, is a particularly rich creation), and the story is a clever riff on the tried-and-true revenge motif: woman faces seemingly insurmountable odds to save her own life. Lots of promise here; make this one a series to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)