Jocasta just wants to have a normal life. But let’s face it, as Death’s only child, that was never going to happen. So far, she has mostly managed to steer clear of the chaos that comes with being a child of old ones. She’s found a place, a small college town, that seems to be ignored by the rest of the magical community, where she can have friends and exist without hurting anyone. But then Death names her as his successor, and everything changes. Jocasta has never wanted anything to do with her father’s world, but if she wants to save the world she’s built, she may have no choice other than to jump in headfirst. Read S.A. Barnes Death’s Daughter today to see if Jocasta can protect her found family without losing herself in the process.
[Warning: My review of Death’s Daughter contains some spoilers!]
A disappointing daughter looking for peace
Jocasta’s father doesn’t agree with her life choices. From a young age, he tried to teach her the family business, and she has a real talent for it, but she doesn’t want anything to do with it. Understandably, he’s upset that she wants to live in a quiet college town as a perpetual student instead of living up to her potential. But who can really blame her? After all, her father is Death, and the family business is sucking the life out of innocent people.
To avoid killing people and the family drama that comes with being a child of the old ones, Jocasta scoured the globe for a place where she could hide from magic. And she found it in the little town of Beecher, Massachusetts. It’s a place devoid of magic, so the rest of her crazy family isn’t interested in it. Jo can just be a normal(ish) person here.
Until the day her world turns upside down. A stranger arrives who clearly is a magical relative. Then Jo’s best friend ends up dead under her window, having died a clearly magical death. Devon, the new guy, promises he didn’t do it, but he reveals why it probably happened. For the first time ever, Death has named a successor, and it’s Jo. That means that when Death stops being Death, Jo gets his job. It also means that the children of the other old ones are now flocking to Beecher. Some want to become allies with Jo, others want to destroy her to show their own strength. It’s exactly the kind of family drama that Jo was trying to avoid by coming to Beecher in the first place.
By making her his successor, Death has painted a giant target on not only Jo’s back, but on those she loves, too. Now Jo has two choices: she can leave Beecher, but that might not deter all her challengers from hurting the ones she loves. Or she can fight. Jo has never been a fighter; she hates hurting anyone. But she’s not about to let anyone come in and hurt her found family. So fight it is. But she’s going to do it in her way and on her terms. She’s worked so hard to be her own person, and no one, not even Death, is going to change her.
Jo is an enchanting and complicated character in Death’s Daughter
Jo is Death’s only daughter, and make no mistake, she’s dangerous. But she doesn’t want to be. She just wants to have friends, get drunk, and fall in love. The same things that everyone else wants. She’s so happy to have found people who care about her in Beecher, even if they don’t know the real her. And don’t we all feel that way, we just want to be accepted for who we are, even if we never really feel like anyone truly knows us (if you feel truly known by someone all the way to your core, hurray for you, most of us don’t). But we’re afraid that if anyone really saw us, they’d run away. Jo’s worried about the same thing, so she keeps everyone at arm’s length, even when she really doesn’t want to (like with Carter).
But we, the readers, get to see all the sides of Jo, and I dare you not to fall in love with her. She cares so much about everyone around her that she puts herself through constant misery just to keep them safe. When things go south, she could just run and save herself, but she won’t do that. Even the people she doesn’t know on campus feel like her responsibility to her!
But she’s not a complete goody-two-shoes. She knows how to have fun, she harbors some dark thoughts, and she can certainly cause damage when she wants to. Even better, she’s not just a wrecking ball; she has intelligence. She knows how to use psychology to her advantage when dealing with her enemies. That doesn’t mean that she has all the answers. Jo misses some rather important subterfuge happening right under her nose. But she adjusts fast, and she plans well. Will that be enough to save her family and her home? If all else fails, she is Death’s daughter; maybe she can just kill everyone and start over?
An amazing start to a new series from S. A. Barnes
Death’s Daughter is the first book of S.A. Barnes’ new series, Children of the Old Ones. I’d imagine the series will continue to follow Jo but will pull in more children from other Old Ones like Lust, Life, War, and more. Barnes has a great writing style that pulls you in and keeps you turning pages. I read Death’s Daughter in a single day, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the next installment in 2027. Part of what makes Death’s Daughter so great is that it’s an exciting adventure that includes romance instead of a romance with some adventure. I know that might sound pretty similar, but it’s actually quite different! Jo is a strong female lead who experiences some relationship issues, but the story doesn’t revolve around her relationship. That mess is secondary to what’s happening, and that makes both the adventure and the romance better! This is a well-rounded story that will keep you flipping pages until the very last one.
Rating: 9/10
Death’s Daughter by Isabel S.A. Barnes is available now!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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