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Book: “Death’s Daughter” by S. A. Barnes
Publishing Info: Bramble, May 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Jocasta’s carved out a normal life at Beecher University—well, as normal as possible with a name like Jocasta and being the only child of Death.
She has good friends and a messy situationship with her former TA. But her friends, her crush, and her classmates don’t know the truth about who—what—she is. They would be horrified to discover Jo must feed to survive—and she feeds on them. But she refuses to take lives, feasting instead on their disappointments, failures, and rejections. It’s not a perfect system, but it works.
Until a sexy stranger—and descendant of Lust—shows up on campus because Death just named Jo as his successor, making her a powerful ally and a massive target.
Jo’s safe little bubble is about to burst, but she will do anything to protect the people she loves. Even if it means becoming what she hates…
Review: I’ve read and enjoyed a few of this author’s horror/sci-fi books, so I was excited to see that she was branching out into the fantasy genre! I’ll admit, I was a bit concerned about the whole “descendant of Lust” thing, though, as that sounded like just the sort of tack into cheese that romantasy too often takes.
Unfortunately, this one didn’t work nearly as well for me as the horror/sci-fi works have in the past. I will say that this author is still incredibly “readable.” The prose is approachable, and the pacing and plotting remain steady throughout the book. With her other works, the horror aspects pulled me through some of the more lackluster moments for characterization and plotting, but sadly here I didn’t have that same hook to pull me through. That said, readers who enjoy contemporary romance and, perhaps, urban fantasy may have a different experience here than I did.
Sadly, while the “popcorn film” nature of the writing did get me through the book, I really struggled with almost every aspect of it. For one thing, the world-building itself was incredibly lackluster. The reader is thrown into this world, given some brief nods to a Greek-mythology inspiration, and then left to just go with it. For her part, Jo is also very uninformed about this world, and while it can work to use a main character’s own ignorance as an entry point to the world, here it just felt a bit tedious. Jo must be a blank slate so that, through her, the reader can learn more. But that also leaves her… a blank slate.
I was also very underwhelmed with the main hook of the story, that Jo is Death’s daughter. Everything about this sounds like it should be interesting. But in reality, it’s all presented in such a humdrum manner that I found myself quickly losing interest in Jo’s abilities or urges.
I was also displeased to discover a love triangle at the heart of the story. There is a brief nod to this in the book description, but I guess I read that much more as a “previous love interest” that would be quickly set aside for the new one who is introduced. Instead, this felt very much of a certain time in urban fantasy writing, where every long-running series starts out with a love triangle (see Mercy Thompson) that slowly resolves over the first few books. It’s not a style I’d like to see come back, and the author’s attempts here felt very familiar, with the ultimate endgame of the situation reading fairly obvious to anyone familiar with urban fantasy tropes.
Overall, I was left fairly ambivalent about this read. At best, I can say that it was a quick read. But while I enjoyed that “popcorn” nature in her sci-fi/horror books, here it felt like the fantasy world and the characters all lacked the depth to truly make them stand out. And the romance was an incredibly tired return to a format that peaked ten years ago. Perhaps readers who are keen for a nostalgic urban fantasy read will enjoy this. But sadly, it wasn’t for me.
Rating 6: While it was a quick read, it wasn’t one that I particularly enjoyed. The world-building was lackluster, and the love triangle was familiar and tired.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Death’s Daughter” can be found on these Goodreads lists: All the New Romantasy Books Arriving in May 2026 and Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2026.
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