Just a bit lacking - Rated 
This felt slightly empty compared to the previous two. Dante's compelling and interesting voice was still there as was the humour and angst that made the previous good, what was lacking was a full plot. You can really tell when reading this book that she's laying the foundations for the two to follow and that's it. Personally I like books with a closed plot, which leaves just enough to make another book without feeling as if the authors just cut the book of. Reading this I got the impression that, Saintcrow meant for there to be two books, the origional and a sequel and then when she decided upon a series she had to put something in this book to do so, loosing the qualities I had enjoyed in the previous two.
That said though it was a brilliant book. Just lacking a lot. I would recommend reading it when you have the next to read straight after, otherwise it just feels like the author has cut you off in the middle of the book.
Futuristic supernatural action (let down by occasional whining) - Rated
The heroine of this supernatural series is Dante Valentine, a ballsy necromance psi whose normal life of raising the dead goes seriously crazy when she gets tangled up with all kinds of demons -- including Lucifer himself, the baddest guy of the bunch.
Dante bristles with supernatural prowess; she has an intimate relationship with her god (the god of death, whose hall she may visit to find out what happened to the recently murdered, among other things), and she takes on bounty-hunting jobs to seek out bad-guys psis who prey on normals, bringing them down with a mix of knife and sword-play, plas-blasters and projectile guns. She's led a difficult life; was horribly abused as a child and comes out of it all kicking butt and ready for action.
This is the third book in the series and the action takes place quite a while after the previous adventures. Dante earlier got very (very!) involved with a demon and he/it got so involved with her that he was cast out from hell. He is Fallen, and he has made her his special girlfriend... and that's stranger than it seems because he has physically transformed her. And she doesn't know the half of it.
The plot is driven by Lucifer negotiating with our couple to take on a fixed-term contract, to become his bounty hunters and track down missing demons. The action rushes across a futuristic world, and takes in all manner of other psi characters -- shaman, vampires, and more -- and it's all very cleverly realised and detailed. This is certainly a future which is possible, and credible.
The only flaw to The Devil's Right Hand is that Dante has become completely obsessed with possible betrayal and the actions of her demon lover. She spends more time on 'is he telling me lies?' and 'how could he betray me?' and 'oh poor me' than she does on learning what she is, what powers she has, and getting on with the job. There is always room for soul-searching in this kind of supernatural adventure, and a bit of paranoia spices up the plot, but it went too far for me in this episode. I'd prefer more swordplay and less grizzling.
So this feels like the weakest of the Dante novels to me -- but having said that I still enjoyed reading it. The universe is very well constructed and the characters are engaging and realistic. Japhrimel, Dante's demon, is particularly compelling. I will stick with the series, and hope the next episode has more plot and less puff.
Oh yes -- you could read this as a stand alone novel, but you'll enjoy it more if you understand the back story and have read the earlier ones too. And those are definitely 4-star reads -- so take advantage of any 'buy both' discounts and grab them!
Not such a great read - Rated 
The world-building is great, and some of the best bits in the book are where we see this post-Awakening world. Alas, there's significantly more repetitive internal monologue - doubt, angst, guilt and fear-filled - from Dante Valentine than there is action. There's a point at which she tells herself to shut up - she's annoying herself. Maybe the author should have followed her own advice. There's a good novel struggling to get out, but it's blanketed in epic levels of angst, and in the end, I just didn't care if Dante made it to the end of the book or not. It's not for me, and I can't in all honesty recommend it. Unless you happen to like lots of angst and self-doubt mixed in with the action. In that case, this book is for you!
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