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angelicide's review against another edition
4.0
Darkly humorous.
A little silly but good.
Left me wanting more.
A little silly but good.
Left me wanting more.
alboyer6's review against another edition
4.0
A good story about Lex who had become a big problem at school with out an explanation. Just about to get expelled from school, her parents decide to send her to live on her uncle's farm for the summer. He lives in the town of Croak and soon learns that the only harvesting that the residents do is the harvesting of souls to send them on to the afterlife. Lex learns she is a natural born Grim. She has found her place but soon discovers some people are being murdered before their time... Good story with clever and funny dialog. Souls of presidents past make appearances, mostly for the humor of it. The ending definitely left me wanting to read the next in the series.
redinteeth's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 Stars.
Quirky, funny, but it never really drew me in the way I wanted it to.
Quirky, funny, but it never really drew me in the way I wanted it to.
catseye6773's review against another edition
5.0
I'm listening to the audiobook at 2x because i can still understand it. but one of the side charactors is fast hyper talker and it sounds crazy when the narrator talks as her
great characters . I love their interactions
great characters . I love their interactions
justlily's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this. I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I loved the twists. I loved all of it. I literally just have nothing bad to say about this book. I cannot wait to read the next one.
audreychamaine's review against another edition
3.0
Lex has been having trouble at school and at home lately. In fact, she is trouble, with the uncontrollable rage and beatings she doles out. For that reason, her parents decide to send her away for the summer to work on her Uncle Mort's farm. However, when she arrives at the town of Croak, she finds out that there is no farm. Instead, this is a town of reapers who cull the souls of the dead, and Lex is the newbie. Everything's going great until the mysterious deaths begin, which just happen to align with Lex's appearance in Croak. She's determined to solve the case, before even more are killed.
Overall, Croak is a good time. The writing is lighthearted for a book about grim reapers, and it was fun to imagine a town like Croak. From the funny titles of stores, to the silly drink called Yorricks they have instead of alcohol, served in a skull mug, you can tell that Damico had a ball thinking about this place. I also loved getting to know all of the characters. Lex meets a diverse group of friends, and the friendship dynamic is great to read. My favorite part was the huge board game they invented by mixing a ton of other board games together.
While the plot moves fairly quickly, the mechanics of the culling and the world got in the way of the mystery for me. I kept getting lost on exactly what was going on. Why were jellyfish important again? And what was it that they milked from black widow spiders? I felt like I should have been taking notes on these details, since they got in the way of my enjoyment of the story. It didn't help that I was reading it on my Nook, which made it harder to flip back and forth. It might have made more sense if I'd have been reading a paper copy.
Even if I had a hard time following the plot at times, I did enjoy Croak. Although, sometimes with the massive amount of puns it might have been better titled Groan.
Overall, Croak is a good time. The writing is lighthearted for a book about grim reapers, and it was fun to imagine a town like Croak. From the funny titles of stores, to the silly drink called Yorricks they have instead of alcohol, served in a skull mug, you can tell that Damico had a ball thinking about this place. I also loved getting to know all of the characters. Lex meets a diverse group of friends, and the friendship dynamic is great to read. My favorite part was the huge board game they invented by mixing a ton of other board games together.
While the plot moves fairly quickly, the mechanics of the culling and the world got in the way of the mystery for me. I kept getting lost on exactly what was going on. Why were jellyfish important again? And what was it that they milked from black widow spiders? I felt like I should have been taking notes on these details, since they got in the way of my enjoyment of the story. It didn't help that I was reading it on my Nook, which made it harder to flip back and forth. It might have made more sense if I'd have been reading a paper copy.
Even if I had a hard time following the plot at times, I did enjoy Croak. Although, sometimes with the massive amount of puns it might have been better titled Groan.
malreynolds111's review against another edition
4.0
I am loving this book. Its moves as a nice clip and the language had me laughing out loud at times.
betwixt_the_pages's review against another edition
3.0
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.
But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.
She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice - or is it vengeance? - whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.
Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?
- - - - -
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Quick Reasons: funky timing in some places; sort of slow plot/action; quasi “mystery”; predictable/obvious plot twists; interesting, complex but also annoying (???) characters
I decided to listen to this one on audiobook (because why not).
So, first things first—the level of sheer snark in this book was awesome. The characters (particularly Lex and Driggs) have witty banter and sassy comebacks down to a SCIENCE, and it was both entertaining and oftentimes laugh-out-loud funny hearing them interact and react to each other/the world. The dialogue is well-written, realistic, and entirely believable (in my opinion) and hearing it as opposed to reading it brought it to a completely different level in my book.
I liked the IDEA of this read. Death has, in recent years, been a character I'm intrigued by and obsessed with (Terry Pratchett's version is my favorite so far, if I'm being honest, though I've read a good many other books with Death as a character or a generalized theme). I was excited, going into this read, for that theme specifically: the play on words (Uncle MORT, the town called CROAK, etc.) piqued my interest and drew me in even quicker. But somehow, the book still fell a bit flat for me.
Despite liking the characters, I found some of their obsessions to border a BIT on the annoying side. (I mean really, Lex, how creepy is it for you to want to kill people who are killing people?! That doesn't spell good news at ALL?!?!?!) Their focuses seemed a bit...one dimensional, most of the time. And some of their reactions to situations, other people, or themselves fell flat overall.
There was also a case of “funky timing 101” going on. At the beginning of the book, when Lex calls home, the dialogue takes about five seconds...but we're told it actually lasted something like TORTUROUS painful minutes? So what did Lex do in all that time, space out? Sing pop songs silently to herself? Try to build floppy toast castles? Why couldn't we be in the moment with her, by hearing the supposedly painful dialogue as it happened? Why couldn't we see her actually react TO her family, instead of it being skipped over? Things like this made the timing awkward and almost hard to follow.
Of course, I had a major case of the zone-outs and feel I probably missed some MAJOR important plot things... I'm not sure if this is due to my uninterest in this story, or to the audiobook's narrator. Regardless, I MIGHT have to go back and actually read the book sometime in the future to see if that helps change my opinions on things. I'd still recommend to lovers of snarky characters, interesting world-building, and Reapers!
But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.
She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her desire for justice - or is it vengeance? - whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.
Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?
- - - - -
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Quick Reasons: funky timing in some places; sort of slow plot/action; quasi “mystery”; predictable/obvious plot twists; interesting, complex but also annoying (???) characters
I decided to listen to this one on audiobook (because why not).
“The list of scars my students have sustained at the hand of your daughter grows longer each week. Poor Logan Hochspring's arm will forever carry an imprint of her dental records!"
"You bit him?" Lex's father said.
"He called me a wannabe vampire. What was I supposed to do?"
"Oh, I don't know--maybe not bite him?”
So, first things first—the level of sheer snark in this book was awesome. The characters (particularly Lex and Driggs) have witty banter and sassy comebacks down to a SCIENCE, and it was both entertaining and oftentimes laugh-out-loud funny hearing them interact and react to each other/the world. The dialogue is well-written, realistic, and entirely believable (in my opinion) and hearing it as opposed to reading it brought it to a completely different level in my book.
I liked the IDEA of this read. Death has, in recent years, been a character I'm intrigued by and obsessed with (Terry Pratchett's version is my favorite so far, if I'm being honest, though I've read a good many other books with Death as a character or a generalized theme). I was excited, going into this read, for that theme specifically: the play on words (Uncle MORT, the town called CROAK, etc.) piqued my interest and drew me in even quicker. But somehow, the book still fell a bit flat for me.
“I wouldn't go around telling people about these shocks of yours."
"Why not?" Lex asked.
"It's like announcing to the would you have crabs. It's embarrassing, and no one'll ever shake your hand again.”
Despite liking the characters, I found some of their obsessions to border a BIT on the annoying side. (I mean really, Lex, how creepy is it for you to want to kill people who are killing people?! That doesn't spell good news at ALL?!?!?!) Their focuses seemed a bit...one dimensional, most of the time. And some of their reactions to situations, other people, or themselves fell flat overall.
There was also a case of “funky timing 101” going on. At the beginning of the book, when Lex calls home, the dialogue takes about five seconds...but we're told it actually lasted something like TORTUROUS painful minutes? So what did Lex do in all that time, space out? Sing pop songs silently to herself? Try to build floppy toast castles? Why couldn't we be in the moment with her, by hearing the supposedly painful dialogue as it happened? Why couldn't we see her actually react TO her family, instead of it being skipped over? Things like this made the timing awkward and almost hard to follow.
Then something happened in the next two seconds, but neither Lex nor Driggs would be able to recall exactly what. All they knew was that after it was over, their eyes met once again, this time in horror.
“Why did you just kiss my ear?” Lex asked nervously.
Driggs winced. “Because you turned your head.”
“I thought that tree . . . moved.”
“Oh.”
Another moment of silence.
Driggs bit his lip. “Do you mind if I try again?”
She swallowed. “Okay.”
Then something else happened, and this time both Lex and Driggs would remember exactly what it was.
Of course, I had a major case of the zone-outs and feel I probably missed some MAJOR important plot things... I'm not sure if this is due to my uninterest in this story, or to the audiobook's narrator. Regardless, I MIGHT have to go back and actually read the book sometime in the future to see if that helps change my opinions on things. I'd still recommend to lovers of snarky characters, interesting world-building, and Reapers!
christajls's review against another edition
4.0
Originally reviewed on Christa's Hooked on Books
Who would have thought a novel about Grim Reapers could be so delightful?
Gina Damico has created the fabulous town of Croak, a mostly isolated community where one third of America's Grim Reapers, live, sleep and work. I loved how creative this setting was. Everything about it was unqiue and catchy and the way everything, from the store to the local bar was named after death - yes some of the names were pretty cheesy but that was part of the fun! They even have there very own drink, which is said to taste like drinking desert. Sign me up for some of that!
Setting aside, what really made me fall head over heels for this book was Lex. She has some absolutely hilarious moments. Shes angry, she's stubborn and she isn't afraid to speak her mind (even if what she has to say is kind of rude). And she was perfectly paired with Driggs, her partner in death. Their personalities seem to clash yet perfectly compliment each other at the same time. I thought the dialogue of their many arguments was spot on.
One of the major sore spots for Lex, in her new found calling, is that often times when someone is murdered they (the Reapers) are able to see exactly who committed the crime but they are forbidden from interfering. Lex feels pretty strongly that they can (and should) do something about all these horrible people in the world. I thought this led to an interesting and thought provoking plot. Amongst the humour, this book was also able to raise some important questions about who should choose punishments, who gets to “play God”, and what exactly justice is. Very clever the way Gina slipped that in.
For those looking for something a little more light hearted, you're going to find plenty to enjoy within these pages. But for those who like their stories a little more complex I think there's plenty here for you as well. I think this book has a unique ability to adapt - depending on you want to get out of it. I can't wait for the sequel so I can read more about the people of Croak and see how Gina Diamaco expands on many of the obstacles Lex is faced with.
Who would have thought a novel about Grim Reapers could be so delightful?
Gina Damico has created the fabulous town of Croak, a mostly isolated community where one third of America's Grim Reapers, live, sleep and work. I loved how creative this setting was. Everything about it was unqiue and catchy and the way everything, from the store to the local bar was named after death - yes some of the names were pretty cheesy but that was part of the fun! They even have there very own drink, which is said to taste like drinking desert. Sign me up for some of that!
Setting aside, what really made me fall head over heels for this book was Lex. She has some absolutely hilarious moments. Shes angry, she's stubborn and she isn't afraid to speak her mind (even if what she has to say is kind of rude). And she was perfectly paired with Driggs, her partner in death. Their personalities seem to clash yet perfectly compliment each other at the same time. I thought the dialogue of their many arguments was spot on.
One of the major sore spots for Lex, in her new found calling, is that often times when someone is murdered they (the Reapers) are able to see exactly who committed the crime but they are forbidden from interfering. Lex feels pretty strongly that they can (and should) do something about all these horrible people in the world. I thought this led to an interesting and thought provoking plot. Amongst the humour, this book was also able to raise some important questions about who should choose punishments, who gets to “play God”, and what exactly justice is. Very clever the way Gina slipped that in.
For those looking for something a little more light hearted, you're going to find plenty to enjoy within these pages. But for those who like their stories a little more complex I think there's plenty here for you as well. I think this book has a unique ability to adapt - depending on you want to get out of it. I can't wait for the sequel so I can read more about the people of Croak and see how Gina Diamaco expands on many of the obstacles Lex is faced with.