How to be Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones, #4)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

How to be Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones #4)

by Amber Benson (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 223 ratings · 29 reviews

All Calliope Reaper-Jones ever wanted out of life was a fabulous job in New York City and a really hot boyfriend. But now, she's the brand-new President of Death, Inc. With the Board of Death breathing down her neck and her dad's copy of How to be Death (A Fully Annotated Guide) unopened, Callie's really feeling the tension. And when the guide book is stolen at a fancy for...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published February 28th 2012 by Ace

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Help me pick my next read!

71st out of 75 books — 46 voters

Psychopomps and Incarnations of Death

28th out of 53 books — 4 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 698)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 24, 2012 Shelley aka Gizmo's Reviews rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-releases, genre-urban-fantasy

*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.0

*Review*

How To Be Death is the fourth book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Calliope Jones is the current President/CEO of Death Inc. aka the Grim Reaper after the tragic events of Serpent’s Kiss. Her real moniker should be clueless femme fatale because without her trusty sidekicks; Jarvis de Poupsy, Giselda aka Runt the hellhound, the Goddess Kali, and her sister Clio, she would be dead by now.

How To Be Death takes place at the annual Death Dinner and All Ha...more *Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 3.0

*Review*

How To Be Death is the fourth book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Calliope Jones is the current President/CEO of Death Inc. aka the Grim Reaper after the tragic events of Serpent’s Kiss. Her real moniker should be clueless femme fatale because without her trusty sidekicks; Jarvis de Poupsy, Giselda aka Runt the hellhound, the Goddess Kali, and her sister Clio, she would be dead by now.

How To Be Death takes place at the annual Death Dinner and All Hallows Eve celebration where magic disappears for 24 hours and everyone is mortal. Calliope is given an original copy of the book known as How To Be Death: A Fully Annotated Guide by a representative of Heaven. It basically tells the holder how to destroy humanity and create the apocalypse. It seems that Calliope’s own father foresaw his own death and gave it to Heaven to watch over until his replacement could be found.

The story turns into a murder mystery after several characters are killed, and the Book disappears. Who is responsible for killing off guests and staff alike? Why do they really want to get ahold of the Book, and why can’t Calliope do anything with a straight face instead of her snarky, nonsensical banter? Her continued jealously of Daniel has gone where no man or woman should ever go and needs to stop. Hasn’t he already shown you how much he loves you?

While I enjoyed the first three books; Death’s Daughter, Cat’s Claw, Serpent’s Storm, I would have preferred to see the series end before this book. The only reason that I’m rating the book with 3 stars is that the murder mystery adds another interesting twist as well as Edgar Freezay of the Psychical Bureau of Investigation. I also like Run a lot. I like Kali’s off cut humor, yet, I’m disturbed by her constantly calling Calliope white girl. I mean seriously are you kidding me?

If you haven’t read this series, please don’t expect a hard assed heroine. You might even consider Calliope to be a Mary Sue character since she mostly focuses on her fashion and shopping rather than dealing with real issues that surround HER company. She doesn’t really solve anything; she is just there in the way most of the time.

Obviously, there will be a fifth book in the series after Marcel – The Ender of Death, comes and once again challenges Calliope to a dual to the death. There was also a surprise revelation in regards to Calliope’s own parentage. At this point, however, the book will need to be stellar in regards to a storyline for me to read it.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Sep 30, 2012 Rodrigo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

On this 4th book of the Calliope Reaper-Jones series, Amber Benson demonstrates an ever growing skill as a writer and story teller. Instead of a simple urban fantasy book, she now gives us a deeper, many layered story with different elements and vivid characters.

How to be Death is a much more mature book, both from the perspective of the author as a writer, but also the story itself. People like me, who were disappointed by Serpent's Storm, will find this fourth book to be at least as enjoyable...more

like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Matt rated it 1 of 5 stars

I didn't think it could get any worse than the last three books in this horrendous series, but man, was I wrong. 300 pages' worth of my life wasted on a vapid, dreary whodunit featuring a bunch of boring one-off characters that even Amber Benson doesn't seem to care about. The book's premise strikes me as nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to give Calliope a new environment in which to act like an idiot, trip and fall over constantly, and say lots of vomit-inducing things about fashion and...more

like · see review

Jan 07, 2013 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: supernatural

This was definitely better than Serpent's Storm. The only issue I have with this series is the lacking sense of danger. Sure, the consequences are dire, but there's always this feeling Callie will get out of the situation unscathed. On the plus side, she's finally taking initiative, and there's more of a mature Calliope. Granted, the plot was a race against time and there wasn't time for clothes talk or constant whining, but still. Her actions regarding Marcel also made me happy.

Looking forward...more

like · see review

Feb 29, 2012 Tori smexys_sidekick rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, read-in-2012, review-for-smexybooks, urban-fantasy

Originally posted at http://www.smexybooks.com/2012/02/rev...

How To Be Death is the fourth book in Amber Benson’s Calliope Reaper-Jones series. A lightweight urban fantasy about a scatterbrained young lady who inadvertently becomes the head of death. Calliope Jones is the current Grim Reaper. Death incarnate. Madam Death. The “girl who can wish you dead.” Not a job she wanted but after her father’s murder and her sister’s attempted assassination and company take over, Calliope has finally steppe...more Originally posted at http://www.smexybooks.com/2012/02/rev...

How To Be Death is the fourth book in Amber Benson’s Calliope Reaper-Jones series. A lightweight urban fantasy about a scatterbrained young lady who inadvertently becomes the head of death. Calliope Jones is the current Grim Reaper. Death incarnate. Madam Death. The “girl who can wish you dead.” Not a job she wanted but after her father’s murder and her sister’s attempted assassination and company take over, Calliope has finally stepped up to the plate and taken over as the head of death. This story takes place during the annual Death Dinner and All Hallows Eve. An annual ball where all of death’s conglomerates get together for a weekend. One important fact is that they all become mortal during the duration of the ball. When Calliope is given an original copy of How To Be Death, (complete with a guide on how to start the end of days), it’s stolen before she can ever crack the cover. Soon the weekend turns into dinner mystery theatre when the bodies start piling up and everyone is a suspect.

I wish I could say this book was good, but it wasn’t. A weak plot, dead end subplots, cardboard characters, and annoying, rambling dialogue made this an unappealing read. This book felt like a filler. The main conflict and the lead up were unbelievably drawn out and boring. The storyline drags through out and I found myself wanting to flip ahead to see if anything was ever going to happen. I find it sad that with each book, Calliope seems to become more annoying and immature. From book one to now, I haven’t seen any change in Calliope except she may have become a little nicer. Other than that she still acts like a flake, is passive aggressive when dealing with her life and the people in it, and does asinine things, then gets upset when she has to pay the consequences for them.

I think the problem here for me is she continues to do nothing. She’s still not taking being the head of Death seriously. She refuses to use what little sense and power she has to help herself along. The whole story consists of watching her eat, watching her snark badly, and watching her run around in circles, never quite getting it. If you cut out the padding, this book would have been about 75 pages long. Maybe. She doesn’t even really do anything to help solve the mystery. An outside detective is brought in and she, for unknown reasons, follows him around as he questions suspects and investigators the murders. In two separate occasions she had a chance to regain the book and instead did nothing. Then expresses dismay that the book is once again missing.

The ending is anti climatic with a series of confusing circumstances and crazy explanations that eventually tells us why the book was stolen. And it wasn’t even a very good reason. I’m not sure what is happening in this series but it’s just not for me anymore.

Overall Rating: F(less)

like · see review

Dec 13, 2012 Jami Zehr rated it 3 of 5 stars

How to Be Death is the latest book in Amber Benson’s fictional the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Callie is Death, actually she is the President of Death, Inc. having inherited the position magically from her father. Callie didn’t want the job, all she wanted from life was to have a good enough job in NYC to afford designer clothing, shoes, and purses. She didn’t want to have to save the world from conniving sisters or deal with people trying to steal her job from her (which would be bad, because...more How to Be Death is the latest book in Amber Benson’s fictional the Calliope Reaper-Jones series. Callie is Death, actually she is the President of Death, Inc. having inherited the position magically from her father. Callie didn’t want the job, all she wanted from life was to have a good enough job in NYC to afford designer clothing, shoes, and purses. She didn’t want to have to save the world from conniving sisters or deal with people trying to steal her job from her (which would be bad, because you know, it would be). Callie doesn’t particularly want the job, but now that she has it (and after three books of messing things up) she’s determined to do the best job she can possibly do, even if it means listening to her inherited right hand faun, Jarvis.

All in all a rather predictable continuation of the series. In fact, one of the characters in the books predicts all the deaths at the beginning of the novel, so they come as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was, despite saying to the contrary, Callie is still a weak character who barely begins to take her job seriously. If not for the fact that the other person who could have her job is crazy, Callie should be fired. She’s had plenty of time to come to grips with her new place in the world and she needs to start doing a much better job. Even her actions in this book are far more passive than aggressive. Her attempts to explain herself and repair her relationship with Daniel are all rather passive, and he makes the most moves, even though it was her actions that led to their break up in the first place.

I understand an empathetic person. Someone who asks questions and takes the human condition into consideration before making judgments. Those are all excellent character traits that Callie exhibits. But often they work as her weaknesses, and everyone else rides in on a white horse to make the hard choices. Her hellhound pup is a stronger female character. I love the series for being new and exciting, for having interesting ideas and unique problems. I quite enjoy how Benson works in both Western and Eastern mythology, using characters from every religion to create a really cool universe for her readers. I’m pleased that Callie has grown, she has gone from a complete whining ninny to a sometimes whiny passive character. So, character growth- to a small degree. I was just hoping for a stronger spurt of growth and a stronger female protagonist.

Read more at Absurdly Nerdly (less)

like · see review

Mar 04, 2012 Jeska Dzwigalski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Devoured this book over the weekend.

Not ashamed to admit that I enjoy the Calliope Reaper-Jones (aka Death) series, Amber Benson's take on the paranormal romance/supernatural/urban fantasy genre. The characters are imaginative, sarcastic and interesting and the stories have a creative playfulness that I really enjoy. Plus they're quick, fun reads.

This book read as more of a straight-up "whodunnit" than the last few, borrowing some of the more popular murder-mystery motifs (locked room mystery,...more

like · see review

Jul 31, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, ebooks

I was a little disappointed in the last Death's Daughter book--I felt like Callie was a little too dependent on others and didn't stand up for herself enough. I was relieved to see that she's grown up a lot in this book, which may be my favorite of the series so far. I'm a sucker for a good whodunit, and Amber does a great job telling a modern Clue-esque tale while also letting various characters shine. I'm excited for book #5!

like · see review

Jun 08, 2012 Matt Randall rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was a little different from the previous Death's Daughter novels. It's more like a Agatha Christie murder mystery with some supernatural elements. There are a ton of new characters introduced (many more Death, Inc. employees), and I had a hard time keeping track of them all. The mystery also seemed a little too complicated. It's still a fun book, though, and I'm looking forward to the next book (which is sets up at the end).

like · see review

May 20, 2012 Scott Williamson rated it 3 of 5 stars

A nice light murder mystery at an California estate. A page-turner (for me anyway - I read it in one go) with a good amount of humor. The first comparison that comes to mind is Agatha Christie, but only if Ms. Marple was a 20-something, 21st century woman who happens to be Death. This will sit along side Christopher Moore's "A Dirty Job" on my humorous Death shelf.

like · see review

Feb 29, 2012 Stefanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-paranormal-fantasy

Amazing new book in this series. I totally loved the growth of all the characters and how the story set up like a game of Clue. Was shocked by the big surprise at the end regarding Callie's familial ties. My only wish was that the book was longer as I can't wait to find out what happens next in Callie's journey to become the best Death that she can be.

like · see review

Dec 28, 2012 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

The best of the series since Death's Daughter. Benson's got her groove back. The plot kept twisting in tasty fashion, Calliope continued to mature and exude bad-assery and an appreciation for her father's livelihood -- and life itself -- and there was plenty of Kali and Jarvis. Win!

like · see review

Mar 04, 2012 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Best in the series. A quick and entertaining read.

I purchased the Kindle edition and I noticed a ton of spelling errors. I don't think this is due to the author though, because I notice this on a lot of my Kindle books. Are the Kindle books not edited with the same scrutiny as print books?

like · see review

Apr 23, 2012 Christi Barth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amazing how much can happen in 24 hours. This book was as good as all her others, and had a fun, Agatha Christie feel to it. Massive cliffhanger - don't know how I'll survive the wait until the next one!

like · see review

Jun 18, 2012 Nocturne Romance Reads rated it 4 of 5 stars

The newest work from this author/ actress is one not to miss according to Michelle
http://www.nocturnereads.com/2012/05/...

like · see review

Jul 24, 2012 Michael Mckinney rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, much better than the third book. In this book Cal is back with the gang and they must solve a mystery or she could be in real trouble. Benson writes very well and I love her sense of humor.

like · see review

Nov 18, 2012 Impossible A rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, scifi-fantasy

This one was fun. It was a cute little murder who-done-it mystery.

like · see review

Jun 26, 2012 Deborah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think this is my favourite of the Calliope Reaper-Jones books!

like · see review

Feb 07, 2013 Cary Morton rated it 5 of 5 stars

For my complete and honest review: http://wp.me/p37Zro-c4

like · see review

Apr 29, 2012 Gypsie Holley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very "CLUE" ya know, the Who did What in Which Room? Really cool! Loved the ending and the great cliffhanger!

like · see review

Sep 05, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fun read. Agatha Christie meets the paranormal.

like · see review

Feb 20, 2013 Maryanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Love this series

like · see review

Apr 19, 2013 Jamie Zalot rated it 5 of 5 stars

Her usual great book. I loved it. Unfortuantlly it was over too fast. It was so well written I didn't even realise I hadn't read the thirs book in the series. I would tell anyone to read this book as it has a little bit of everything thing in it, fantasy, adventure, romanance.

like · see review

Dec 25, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another truly enjoyable journey into the world and customs of Death, Inc. Although the reveal near the end of the book can be quite confusing, the rest of the novel was great. If you are a fan of the series definitely read this installment as well!

like · see review

May 09, 2012 Nora-adrienne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

How to be death, the third book in the Calliope Reaper-Jones books is fantastic. The twists and turns that take place and the way each one has Calli getting into more trouble with each one is just so entertaining. I love it!

like · see review

Apr 09, 2012 Pure Textuality rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read my full review here --> http://puretextuality.com/2012/02/23/...

like · see review

Mar 27, 2013 Jutta rated it 4 of 5 stars

i'm enjoying these more and more as the series goes on. i like that cally starts to grow up and stop whining so much.

like · see review

Mar 04, 2012 Clare rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Weak installment in the Calliope Reaper Jones series :(

like · see review

Sep 12, 2012 Frank McPherson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another good entry in the series.

like · see review

May 23, 2013 Dawn marked it as to-read

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 23 24 next »

Fantasy

15 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

4 users

Fat > Fat Acceptance

2 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

2 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

2 users

Romance > Paranormal Romance

2 users

See top shelves...

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About How to Be Death

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: How to be Death
avg rating	preview: How to be Death Goodreads rating: 3.84 (223 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11455111-how-to-be-death?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321918188l/11455111.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11455111-how-to-be-death?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]How to be Death by Amber Benson[/url]

How to be Death (Calliope Reaper-Jones #4)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (2)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Amber Benson

Books by Amber Benson

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About How to Be Death