Rogue

By: Gina Damico

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

Lex, a teenage Grim Reaper, has the power to damn souls - and it’s getting out of control. Her boyfriend, Driggs, is dead - sort of. 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.

©2013 Gina Damico (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

NOOOOOO!

What did you love best about Rogue?

Sacrifice for the greater good. Wow.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rogue?

Oh every time Mort catches Lex and Driggs in the act. SO FUNNY!

Which scene was your favorite?

The ending. Heartbreaking. Talk about selflessness.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How far would you go to right a wrong?

Any additional comments?

I am sooooo sad to see this series end. I really loved the town of Croak and Lex and the gang. I'll miss these Grims, I feel invested in them. That means Ms. Damico did her job right. I love that even though this was a quite heavy book, it still had those moments of humor which was desperately needed. I'm so glad I picked up the series. HIGHLY recommended.

Perfect trilogy ender

Heartwrenchingly terrible, great - perfect and amazing. I swear to god if anyone ever tries to make this into a movie I will damn them, I will damn them right there on the spot. Oh wait, that wasn't the point... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I can't help myself. This book, this trilogy, is exactly how it should be, Gina Damico you are brilliant.

Excellent story and narrator

Great end to a wonderful beginning. I was drawn in by the story and the narrator kept my attention and I finished the trilogy in the span of 2 weeks. I wish the story never ended but I enjoyed every second of it.

It all ends here

Would you listen to Rogue again? Why?

I would listen to Rogue again because I always miss small things, that later turn out to be important. This book is full of

What other book might you compare Rogue to and why?

Comparatively, I think this book is much like the last book in the Divergent series, Allegiant.

What about Jessica Almasy’s performance did you like?

By book three, I felt that she was really comfortable with the recurring characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

You Reap what you sow. Or do you?

Any additional comments?

Loved the ending.

A wonderful ending

If you could sum up Rogue in three words, what would they be?

Witty, funny, emotional.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rogue?

The ending - I will say no more.

What about Jessica Almasy’s performance did you like?

Her portrayal of Grotton. He was great.

Barely made it through

This is not a good book. Honestly the last 6 chapters I had to listen to at 1.2x the normal speed, just so I could be done with it.
The previous 2 books had plot holes, like situations that were raised and then were never really returned to. It’s more the case in this book.

I think to be fair, I’m the wrong target audience for this book, and perhaps girls 12-18 or what I presume is the true target audience will way more easily gloss over these plot lines that seemingly go nowhere.

Something else that another reviewer on audible mentioned, is that there’s no real indication of time. At one point in time the character Driggs mentions that its’ only been 2 days since they left Croak, but you would have assumed its been at least a month or something.

The book focuses a lot on the city of Necropolis and the idea to incite rebellion and overthrow the President of the Grimsphere, for which Lex, Mort and their little entourage can then do what needs to be done and stop human involvement with the afterlife. However, it does it in a way that you just end up getting bored… there’s running this way, and that.. but all of it sounds almost pointless.

The morality as well in this book and this series is truly terrible. I won't go into it, because i don't want to release spoilers but, its really not great.

The narrator seems to be able to act Lex’s ‘turn on the tears, emotional outbreaks / fake remorse’ a little too well, and hence you end up really despising the main character.
Lex constantly behaves like a child, in terms of not asking what would seem to be important questions to ask. And even though her Uncle Mort appears to treat her like an adult at the start…. ends up still treating her like a child, like with-holding information from her that seems crucial to the overall plan, and then wondering why she’s acting like a child.
If you treat young adults like children they will behave like children. Treat them like an adult and there’s more chance they will act like it.

I wouldn’t be so surprised to learn that this book/ series was written by a 13 or 14 year old, and then polished up by an adult to make it more-or-less sensical and a little more grandiose than the original but not by someone that truly cared about the divergent plots lines and had the courage to tell the teenage author… ‘we’ve either got to cut these out, or make them lead somewhere’

Recommendation?
With so many amazing sci-fi/ fantasy books out there at the moment, it’s a shame to get one that is below average.
The series as a whole could be edited and combined into one book quite easily, and the 3-part distinction seems like a money grabbing ploy.
EG, 1 book that was heavily edited in terms of cutting out plot lines that go nowhere, re-writing characters so that they weren’t so annoying, and generally not meandering in the writing and assuming the reader won’t care…that would perhaps make the story well worth listening to for more than a very narrow target audience which I assume must not care about all these things to rate it 5 stars.
The whole moral of the story seems to be: being arrogant is bad, not communicating enough is bad, treating teenagers like children will ensure they act like children, doing terrible things is ok if you have friends that have unconditional love for you, and apparently ‘call you parents every so once in a while’.
Honestly, it’s decided…I’m returning this book. This did not meet the ‘Great listen guarantee’

Great Series

I really loved this series. It was funny, well write, with a great story line. I would recommend the Croak series to anyone looking for good books to read!

Nice Ending?

The ending was not totally unexpected but was good none the less. Nicely wrapped up.

And so it ends...

Would you consider the audio edition of Rogue to be better than the print version?

I have not read the printed version, but the narration was superb!

What did you like best about this story?

The story flowed ahead, but you found plenty of little whirlpools along the way offering twists to the story.

What about Jessica Almasy’s performance did you like?

Jessica offered one of the best performances I've ever heard. There is narration in the book, which I cannot discuss without spoiling it, but Jessica did a spectacular job of bringing Gina's words to life. All I can say is when you hear someone mention the "cusp of autumn" stand by for an amazingly well written dialog.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wanted to listen to this book in one sitting. But at the same time, I did not want it to be over.

Any additional comments?

PLEASE take the time to listen to all three of these books. They are simply spectacular!

Great Book very sad end

I loved it but the ending was just so very sad every_time_ I_think_about_it_I cry