Book Review: Death's Daughter by S.A Barnes. null
Death’s Daughter by S.A. Barnes Book Review
Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes
Published by Tor Publishing Group
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Academia, Black Characters, Mental Health Representation, Dark Academia, Dark Fantasy, Gothic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Death Magic, Elemental Magic, Emotion Magic, Lust Magic, Various Magic, Water Magic, Family Drama, Magic Users, Mental Health, Mythology: Mixed, Supernatural
Series: The Children of the Old Ones #1
My Rating: four-stars
Published on: 5th May 2026
Pages: 304
Disability Representation: Panic attacks
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Forbidden Planet / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones
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After a lifetime of chaos, Jocasta has finally found her home with good friends, great classes, even a messy situationship with her former TA—a normal life.

Well, as normal a life as the only child of Death can have.

She’s always refused to embrace her father’s legacy. Instead of taking lives, she feeds on her classmates’ disappointments, failures, and rejections. Finals week has her feasting, and all is good.

Until Death ruins her life. Again.

Without warning, Death names Jocasta as his sole successor, making her a powerful ally... and a massive target. Devon, a descendant of Lust, claims to want to help her—for a price.

Jo will do anything to protect the people she loves and the life she’s worked so hard for.

Even if it means becoming a monster.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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Death’s Daughter Review

Death’s Daughter by S.A. Barnes tells the story of Jocasta, the spawn of one of the old ones, Death. As the daughter of Death, life has never been easy for Jocasta. She’s finally managed to carve out a slice of normality for herself as a student, and even has a messy situationship going with her TA. Ok, so she’s feeding off her classmates’ negative emotions – no one’s perfect! Jo’s biggest issue is working out what’s going on with her TA until other spawn suddenly start turning up in her town. While some of them, like the gorgeous spawn of Lust, are interested in working with her, others are there to target her. All thanks to her father deciding to name her as his successor without telling her.
 
One of her best friends has just been killed, the body left outside her window, and all evidence is pointing straight at her. As Jo’s life implodes, she has to deal with the legacy that she’s been avoiding her entire life while dodging a detective who is sure she’s a killer.
 
It took me a minute to engage with the main character, Jo. At the start of Death’s Daughter, she introduces herself as being toxic, going as far as to have it tattooed on her body as a warning. She felt like a badly written edge lord at that stage, but as the book progressed, she became a more developed character. The world-building is unique, and I liked the emphasis on the old ones being primordial beings rather than gods. Some of the ones named in the book are Death, Lust, Sanguine and War; concepts that have been around since the beginning of time.

The way Barnes interprets the abilities of each line is interesting. Sanguine, for example, can manipulate all liquids, while Lust can manipulate exactly what you expect, as well as emotions like admiration. I’m curious to see what other spawn turn up in the next book and what powers they have.

There are a lot of plot twists, and I personally liked how Jo came to accept her parentage and abilities. Other reviewers have compared Death’s Daughter to teen dramas like The Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf, and I can see that. Please keep in mind that this is an adult novel, not young adult, and be sure to check the content warnings, as this book is dark and violent from the start.

As mentioned, I’m eager for the next book. The way Death’s Daughter concludes leaves things open for lots of possibilities, and I can’t wait to see how Barnes expands the world she has created.

Book Review: Death's Daughter by S.A Barnes - My book review for Death's Daughter by S.A. Barnes, the first book in The Children of the Old Ones series. null

About S.A. Barnes

About the author: S. A. Barnes. null

S.A. BARNES works in a high school library by day, recommending reads, talking with students, and removing the occasional forgotten cheese stick as bookmark. Barnes has published numerous novels across different genres under the pen name Stacey Kade. She lives in Illinois with more dogs and books than is advisable and a very patient husband.

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