Book Review: Black Dog by Caitlin Kittredge

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Black Dog
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: October 28 2014
Review Source: Harper Voyager

The first installment in a fabulous dark urban fantasy series—think Kill Bill with demons and gangsters instead of martial arts—from the award-winning author of the Iron Codex trilogy and Vertigo comic Coffin Hill

Ava has spent the last hundred years as a hellhound, the indentured servant of a reaper who hunts errant souls and sends them to Hell. When a human necromancer convinces her to steal her reaper’s scythe, Ava incurs the wrath of the demon Lilith, her reaper’s boss.

As punishment for her transgression, Lilith orders Ava to track down the last soul in her reaper’s ledger . . . or die trying.

But after a hundred years of servitude, it’s time for payback. And Hell hath no fury like an avenging Ava .

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

Black Dog is the story of a girl named Ava who is a hellhound. She is controlled by a reaper, Gary, and does his bidding for him. She takes the souls of those lesser demons who haven't been up to any good and brings them back to Gary. Until she runs into Leo who changes her whole outlook on her life and makes her realize she doesn't have to take orders from her reaper. Little does she know that Gary's boss, Lilith, is a demon from Hell...literally.

I don't think I have ever loved a book that hasn't been a romance story as much as I loved this book. The back of the book describes it as a version of Kill Bill  just with demons, and boy is it the truth! I was enthralled in the story and was always wanting to know more about what was going on. Luckily the story would divulge the information I wanted to know, so there weren't many times where I was left wanting to know or understand a part of the lore that held this story together. While there is a romance story within the overall story it isn't what drives Ava-surprisingly I loved that about this story and about her character. She wasn't dying over not getting the guy, she was actually more angry at herself for having feelings for a guy until she gave in.

Caitlin Kittredge has a way with words, she teleports you to this world she has created and then vibrantly paints it for you. Not many authors can do this, not for me at least. So to be able to envision the story in my head rather than just reading another book helped me to not only fall in love with each character more but it also helped me to connect with the characters and their world that they were living in. There's so much more that I want to tell you, but there's so much that you-as a reader-should experience for yourself, especially while reading this book. Please do yourself a favor and read this book!