The Collector by Victoria Scott
Series: Dante Walker #1
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Bought
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: 
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.
I feel like such a hype killer right now. Lately I haven’t been reading any books that majorly impressed me, and with the hype surrounding The Collector, and how many people have been recommending it, I was super excited for this one. I thought it would help me break out of my reading funk. Instead it was average, and kind of boring towards the end, with the main character being the only person who goes through any development at all.
Here’s another list for you guys because YAY, lists!
Things I Liked:
– Dante’s character development. There is no denying that Dante Walker is a bastard, at least in the beginning. He’s basically a demon from Hell, so what do you expect? I full on hated him in the beginning, because he was just plain malicious. But as the novel progressed, Dante started to improve as a person. You should all know by now that I love development and progression, so this was great by itself. Even if I didn’t like him personally.
– The pacing. The Collector was a quick and easy read. It took no time at all to get into the story, and the majority of the book is really well paced. There were a couple of issues that I had when it came to the love story’s pacing, but the main plot itself moved quickly.
– The ending. I kind of knew it was coming, but I was still a bit excited about the last chapter. I’m not sure if I will be reading the second book, however the ending did make me curious. I want to find out what happens! It left me intrigued, and there wasn’t a huge cliffhanger. Points for that!
Things I Didn’t:
– Charlie’s character development. Or lack thereof. Her character was basically a cardboard cut out. We knew that she was a nice person, who eventually decided that she wanted to improve herself, but we didn’t really delve that much into WHY she was a nice person. Her parents are dead, and she’s been adopted, so I was hoping for a bit more backstory or some drama… or just something. She didn’t change all that much from beginning to end, she and Dante didn’t really have any meaningful conversations… She was a terrible character in terms of development.
– Stretched out insta-love. Okay, so it’s not insta-love, because Dante definitely doesn’t love Charlie to begin with. But it was a rushed relationship, and like I said above, there are no meaningful conversations between Charlie and Dante. None that really mattered, anyway. Then, far too early on, they were telling one another that they loved each other. Because apparently they were in love. After a week.
– Dante’s use of “baby” and “my girl”. Okay, it all comes down to personal opinions (doesn’t everything, though), but I despise this. I can’t stand it when guys call their girlfriends “baby”! It’s the worst. And it’s also horrible when they refer to them as “my girl”. Charlie isn’t your possession, bitch. “Your girl” was also used a lot.
My feelings are all over the place for this one. On the one hand, it was quite good since I wasn’t all that bored, but on the other it lacked that special something that should have made me enjoy it. I was very disappointed by Charlie’s character, as well as the love plot. No me gusta.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention the “baby”ing. I don’t really like it when guys call their girlfriends that either, but I can accept it when they have been together for a long time. But now? I WAS SO ANNOYED. The love story didn’t have any build-up. All of a sudden, Dante just decided he loved Charlie?! AND THEN HE STARTS CALLING HER BABY. God, half the time they knew each other he was complaining about how ugly she was. And they kissed ONE TIME. I would be running. I was really hoping they would just end up being friends and there would be no love story at all and Charlie would end up with Blue and Dante would die. Okay, not that. I didn’t hate him as much toward the end. But he just NEARLY escaped ending up on my to-be-killed list. Maybe.
UGHHHHH I HATE IT. Unless it’s Logan saying it to Veronica, but even then I would probably cringe. Just a bit. But their story is epic (*sobs*), so it doesn’t matter!
Hahahaha, I’m still waiting to see this list!
“Baby” and “my girl” *shivers*
I think I will dislike Dante too much to enjoy this book. He sounds like the type of guy I would avoid at all cost in real life, so I don’t think I can deal with it in a book..
I’m surprised he has any fans because the guy is a total prat. I agree, he would probably ruin a lot of people’s enjoyment.
If you’re a hype killer, then I must be a hype destroyer, because I DNFed this one. LOL
Admittedly, I didn’t get super far into the book, but I could already tell it wasn’t going to be something I could enjoy. Charlie was needlessly perfect and naive, and I found her to be so unrealistic and illogical that I couldn’t get to anything else. Such a shame, too, because I do like the concept!
HAHAHA, well you have to stay true to your reputation! 😀
Third review I’ve seen this week that sheds a different light on The Collector. I like the way you break it down into lists like this. I’m glad that Dante goes through some really good development, but it sucks that he’s the ONLY one. It seems like Dante is really the main focus of everything regarding this novel.
I’m glad you like the lists! Sometimes it’s just so much easier to break it down rather than figure out a bunch of paragraphs.
IN LOVE? AFTER A WEEK? *headdesk* oh god, say it isn’t so. Urghhh why does YA rush romance development so often? -.- The baby and my girl thing would annoy me as well. Yeah, all things considered, in spite of the hype, I think I will be skipping this one.
YESSSSSS, it was ridiculous! I was rolling my eyes. I actually thought that since Dante was going through some character development, the relationship and Charlie would as well. Sigh.
Hmm yeah. I’ve seen a few bad reviews of this and your review has finally put the nail in the coffin. Do not think it would be for me AT ALL. NO THANKS.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone because it’s clearly one of those books that are hit and miss… I don’t understand the hype personally but whateverrrrr.
I never really thought of the insta-love until I read your review. It might not be insta-love for Dante, but it was definitely insta-love for Charlie; she mentions that she sort-of loved him and believed in him from the first time she laid eyes on him.
And I never really thought of Charlie until I read your review. I agree, she’s basically a cardboard cut out, she was just soo good.
Actually, now that I think about it, why did Dante and Charlie fall in love? o__o Is it because Dante likes the fact that Charlie is good and honest about herself (although she isn’t THAT honest because she changes to please him)?
And yes, that “baby” thing. I also personally hate “hun.” If my non-existent boyfriend calls me any of those, I would smack him.