Review: The Collector

The Collector by Victoria Scott

Release: April 2, 2013

Source: e-ARC from publisher

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He makes good girls...bad. 

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

When I first agreed to be a part of the cover reveal for The Collector, I had no idea that this book would generate so. much. buzz. And honestly? I probably would not have thought to read this book, if it weren't for the buzz. After all, the premise isn't entirely unique. The bad guy/good girl trope has been used for a long time. So have fictionalized versions of Demons. The fact that I usually stayed away from paranormal also made me wary about this book. But I believed in it, I got excited about it, and I can say that The Collector is worthy of the hype.

Dante walker is a collector (or Demon). He works for "Boss Man" aka the Devil by "sealing" people on earth for their sins and eventually collecting their souls for Hell. Dante's been given special privileges, but he desperately wants that promotion to be able to live on earth. In order to gain that promotion, he has to do one simple thing: collect Charlie's soul in 10 days. Easy, right? He's done it a million times, so why should she be any different? What follows is a fun, emotional, and unforgettable reading experience.

There is just so much to love--from Dante Walker's CLEAR voice, to his dark humor, to his overall character development. I've only seen character development so believable and satisfying in one other book: The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Yes, Dante is bad to the bone. He collects souls for a living by marking them for all their sins, and he's unbelievably arrogant. At first, he  comes off as shallow, evil, and selfish, but as I continued reading, I knew there was more to him than that. Underneath that confidant exterior is someone trying to escape his past, trying to make do with what's he's been given.  

And Charlie. Sweet, Charlie. Sometimes it's easy to write bad people. The trick (if he's the main character) is to make him likable, and Victoria Scott managed to nail that by creating Dante. Other times, though, it's more difficult to make a "good" person without turning her into a 'Mary Sue'. Charlie is no Mary Sue. She has her faults, she has her doubts and fears, but she's just genuinely good. And, despite that fact that she's happy with her life, there's a hidden desire to be accepted and love. It's something any reader can relate to (me, especially).

Victoria's writing is also stellar. She writes with such confidence, and the story's pacing is so smooth. I loved the depiction of good and evil, I loved the many twists in the plot that I did not see coming. So the question is, what didn't I love? Not much.

While I adored the book, I occasionally found myself unsettled by the idea of seals and how "bad deeds" are what drag a soul to Hell. It's my only gripe, and it's very personal and connected to my beliefs, but it won't stop me from reading the Liberator in September. I'm just so excited to see what happens, especially after the mind-blowing end to The Collector.

RATING: 4.5 SLICES