Maybe I listed my likes and dislikes, had a little short paragraph, or a few sentences to convey my feelings on the book, but whatever the "review" is, all of them are short and simple. (hence the clever name)
Today I'm reviewing the Croak trilogy!
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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?
Review
I just finished reading this book for the second time because it's been seven years since the first read and I still hadn't continued the series. My feelings towards this book remain the same, it is still a 3-star book. I expected more humor in this book. Plenty of reviews mention that hilarity, and I wondered if I missed all the humor the first go-round. Damico is wonderful at writing humor, and her other books have made me laugh in the past, but I found this book low on humor. The ending is especially sad. Lex, our MC, is full of snark and sarcasm. Actually, most of the characters are full of wit and sarcasm, and I loved seeing them play off of each other. I also found the scenes in the afterlife amusing. Yet, because this is a book about death, I couldn't relax in the humor. I do like the idea of the reapers, and I think Damico took a unique spin on the concept. Overall, it was a good idea that I reread the book because I really didn't remember anything.
(Here's a short list of what I remembered before my reread: It dealt with reapers, the uncle rides a motorcycle, and Poe is in the afterlife)
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
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Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn
souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.
To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?
Review
Like the last book in the series, I struggled to find hilarity. Yes, the characters are witty and sarcastic, and I loved their repertoire, but...there is so much stress. The characters are constantly in danger and there is so much hate being pushed towards them. This isn't a series I would recommend if you want a feel-good read. I did like how the world of the reapers is expanded upon. The characters go to a new location, and there are also new characters added to the group. I didn't agree with Lex's decision at times. She continues to be upset that criminals get away with their crimes and don't get punished in death. She sometimes agrees with the side they are fighting against. I understand where Lex is coming from, but Damning is such an extreme. Overall, this book does raise the stakes and take the series in an interesting direction.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
Lex is a teenage Grim Reaper with the power to Damn souls, and it’s getting out of control. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.
The gang heads for Necropolis, the labyrinth-like capital city of the Grimsphere. There, they discover that the Grimsphere needs a reboot. To do that, the portals to the Afterlife must be destroyed…but even that may not be enough to fix the damage. Things go from bad to worse, and when at last the fate of the Afterlife and all the souls of the Damned hang in the balance, it falls to Lex and her friends to make one final, impossible choice.
Review
I've come to the end of the Croak series. Damico certainly throws a lot at her characters in this book. With each book, the characters are in more perilous situations and no one is safe. Like the last books, I struggled to find humor. Again, the characters provided humor in their dialogue, but it's so hard to find comic relief when the characters are put under so much risk. Also like the last book, I had difficulty with Lex's logic, but at least she comes to an understanding in this book that she shouldn't be the one to make those decisions. The ending is quite a twist and is a very risky ending. I don't know how I feel about it. [highlight to view spoiler] I'm not too upset by the ending mainly because I wasn't incredibly attached to the series. I didn't quite understand why Lex thought she should sacrifice herself. Maybe it was meant to show a change in her logic (that she shouldn't punish criminals), but what made her fit for that punishment? This was also the THIRD book I've read this month in which the MC died at the end. I need to read more uplifting books [end of spoiler] I did like that the end was left open-ending. My YA lit teacher would have called it an "optimistic ending" (his theory was even if a YA book had a sad ending, there was always a sense of optimism)
Overall, I liked this series. It got progressively darker with each book, but I did like how the plot expanded and twisted throughout the trilogy. It won't go down on my favorites list, but I don't regret finishing the series.
Overall, I liked this series. It got progressively darker with each book, but I did like how the plot expanded and twisted throughout the trilogy. It won't go down on my favorites list, but I don't regret finishing the series.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
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