Croak

By: Gina Damico

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

Fed up with her wild behavior, 16-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?

©2012 Gina Damico (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Something Completely Different

I found this book unexpected but fun. What do you do with your completely defiant teen. You tell them you're sending them to the family farm and then make them into a reaper. It's got some weak spots in the story, but it's a lot of fun.

Great book!

This book really has everything I would look for in an audiobook-a great story that's easy to follow along, a strong narration, and fast enough to keep you constantly engaged. This was one that was hard to "put down" for me. It was an easy read with a good story line, and I bought the second in the series the second I finished the first one.

Really great story for every reader

What made the experience of listening to Croak the most enjoyable?

A different slant on the GRIM REAPER mystique. The fact that, they recruit troubled teens to become Reapers, is really different. People complained about the narrator, however I was able to slow down the narration by 1/4, and it really helped. If your player can do this you may find that many other narrations are enjoyable, especially when it's a female high pitched voice.

What did you like best about this story?

There was a bit of everything, sadness, lots of snarky humor, and interesting twists and turns in the story line. Good character development as well.

What does Jessica Almasy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I had to slow the narration to get a better feel to the story, and by doing that it was very enjoyable. I

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, SPOILER ALERT, when she has to Reap Cory. Very emotional

Any additional comments?

Even though this is really for young adults, as an individual who enjoys urban fantasy, I really did enjoy this story. I'm looking forward to the next in this series.

Annoying main character but story is good

It reads much like 1 book of the Harry Potter series.
I'm up to book 2 so far, (no spoilers, don't worry) but so far the 2 books feel like just 1 complete book of Harry Potter, no relative resolution at the end of each book, just 1 continuous story.

-The book sets up characters well, but then just glosses over certain other things.. plus there's times where I thought I had maybe just tuned out and missed something important, but as it turns out, they author had just decided to skip an explanation, or have a plot hole that was never filled in.

-The narrator is pretty good, but sometimes when Lex (the main character) is feeling sorry for herself, its voiced in a way that sounds like she's really regretful...which doesn't really fit the character... unless of course it was written in that way. And then she goes back to being a self-centred girl that seems to be really immature. So even though you're meant to be following & have a connection with Lex, you end up just feeling annoyed by her.

-I realise that as a guy listening to this, i'm probably not the target audience... but it sounds like the character is just really annoying sometimes, so much of the schenanigans they get into is because Lex is either acting below her age, or being too self-centred.

-The story is interesting enough by itself though, so despite these annoyances and let downs from the main character and the gaps in the story etc, its still worth a listen. I'll be trying to finish this series, and hopefully by then, these bad points might have gotten better.

A great way to tell a grim story.

A young girl going through some troubled times is sent off to visit her uncle Mort for some time out and a maybe some correcting of her ways. But while there she soon discovers that she has a gift. From there she begins training for her new career as a Grim Reaper. But there is more to it than that. She finds that her career is not without hazard to herself and those around her.

This one is well worth the time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It really made the miles go by fast. The book has more then a couple laugh out loud moments as well as some suspense to keep the reader well engaged.

A tip of the hat to Gina Damico for a job well done.

Great book

I really enjoyed this title. Good narration, original story. I would definitely recommend this book. Looking forward to reading book number 2

Young adult fiction

This is very close to the "Dead Like Me" TV series that ran around 2003. It is about a young girl recruited to be a reaper, collecting the souls of the dead.

I got this during a 2-1 credit deal and didn't really know much about it. Its clever, snarky, and light listening. Has some good humor. Not bad, but intended more for the YA crowd.

Its a fairly complete story, although it is set up to be a series. It is fine as a stand-along book.

Welcome to the Grim Sphere

The Croak Series is great, and the first book starts off really strong.

I love the characters in this series, and I'm constantly laughing at and with them. Damico has done an amazing job of crafting a rich fantasy world of Grims. So many authors build off of worlds that others have started, but Damico's world is unique and original.

I also think that Damico does a great job discussing the moral dilemmas that Lex goes through as she is introduced to the Grim Sphere and learns just who she is and what she has to do.

I strongly recommend this series.

LOVED IT!

Imaginative, well written & narrated book! I'm going to buy more of her audio books!

Highly recomended!

I just finished reading through the series and it has been one of the most memorable series I've read in a long time. It is an extremely compelling and gripping story that will have you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended read!