Damico, Gina. Rogue.

Damico, Gina.  Rogue.   Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt Brace  2013  326p  $8.99    ISBN 978-0-544-10884-4   hs  Fantasy  VG-BN     

With lots of droll wit and sarcasm, Ms. Damico has once again brought Lex, Uncle Mort, Grotton, Driggs and all of the others back into the business of facilitating passage to the afterlife, by actually saving the Afterlife.  In this, the third book in the trilogy Croak, the characters are again well drawn, with plot twists leading to a very different and difficult ending to the trilogy.  Having read so many dystopian trilogies lately, and been somewhat disappointed in the quality of their second and third books, this is a most welcome title.  Ms. Damico has managed to write a trilogy of books in which all are excellent reads.       

Summary: In this book, the last of the trilogy Croak, the story takes the quirky heroine and her gang of grim reapers around the globe to close the portals that lead to the Afterlife.  Only by sealing these portals can the process of death and the passing of souls return to what is considered to be normal.

     

Afterlife-Fiction, Dystopian novels                         --Lynn Fisher

Damico, Gina. Croak.

Damico, Gina.     Croak.  Graphia, see Houghton Mifflin     311p       $8.99

978-0-547-60832-7       hs          VG    Fantasy    

Croak, a town in upstate New York, becomes the summer home for Lex when her behavior and grades dictate that a change of venue would benefit not just Lex, but her family and school as well.  Expecting to be working on her uncle Mort’s farm slinging manure, Lex instead finds that Mort manages the town, whose entire population is engaged in the business of reaping souls and managing their transition from this life to the next one.  Lex learns that she is to be a killer, the individual who “kills” a dying person, and she is paired with Driggs, who is the culler who gathers the souls.  They are just two of the 85 or so citizens of Croak who are all Grims, engaged in one aspect or another of the task of transitioning souls to the afterlife.  Lex finds that she adapts well to the job, but while working with Driggs she finds that there are deaths that aren’t “normal”.  Lex, Driggs and other young Grims investigate these deaths and find them to be criminal, and that one of their own is the culprit.  The storyline and narrative in this fun but morbid tale are very engaging, and with the grim humor that is infused throughout the book, YA’s will find this a very enjoyable read.  It is a highly recommended addition for high-school and public library collections.

Death – Fiction, Macabre – Fiction, Fantasy                       -- Lynn Fisher