Angela Roquet

This is a very interesting book, to say the least. It has subtle undertones of Dead Like Me, a really great television show about Grim Reapers from the early 2000's mixed faintly with the writing style of A. Lee Marteniez's Divine Misfortune, all cleverly narrated by Roquet's spunky slack-off protagonist Lana. Also, there isn't a single religion that has not been targeted. Blasphemy, all around. Archangel, Gabriel is a terrible alcoholic, The Grim Reaper himself is a power hungry business show more mogul and the afterlife has become just another job to work at for survival.

The world in of itself is very fascinating, for example, the City of Limbo is where all the Reapers live, some souls that have been harvested can either bribe their way into staying on shore and work in factories in Limbo City to avoid not being chartered off to an afterlife or thrown into the Sea of Eternity. The souls have even created a Union and demanded and won their right not to work on Saturdays!

I will admit, albeit the wry romance and deliberately written situations that creates an early 20's college girl following, I honestly thought the story has an enormous potential to keep me entertained. I would also like to mention the ending for this first volume tricked me into thinking the situation with Seth would be resolved, but that would ultimately kill the series immediately, pun intended. That was a very clever move Miss Roquet. show less

Graveyard Shift (Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc., #1) by Angela Roquet

Lana is a Reaper that lives in Limbo City she brings souls to their destination. The grim reaper is her boss, and Gabriel (An Archangel) is one of her friends. She is offered a promotion which turns out to be more than she expected, if things don't go right it can effect all of eternity.

A fascinating (original) story moves at a steady pace. A twisted take on the "after life". Lana and her friends are likable, their jobs are show more unique. Add to the mix ancient Gods, different religions and where one goes after death. Filled with dark humor, drama and supernatural events. show less

Lana is a Reaper, her job is to transport souls from the land of the living to Limbo city then across the sea to whichever afterlife they belong in. She’s not very good at it – oh she’s competent enough, but she doesn’t have a lot of respect for Limbo’s rules and can see clearly through the nice PR of her boss, Grimm.

So when a promotion lands on her desk she is surprised to say the least. But as she sees more behind the curtain she sees how fragile the while system is. And she show more might be the only one able to keep it running; but she’ll have to fight through the Afterlife Council’s byzantine politics to do it.

This book is immense fun – and the best part is it never ever forgets that. From start to finish it holds onto that no matter what conflicts arise, no matter what complexities rise in the plots not even when faced with dire problems and grief and even angst, the book remembers that it is fun and it never stops being fun and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

I read much of this book with a broad smile on my face – it hits that right balance of being ever-so-slightly silly (Athena runs a dress shop! Archangel Gabriel is an alcoholic party boy slacker they keep around because he has such great PR in the mortal world!) without ever letting the silly get in the way of the world actually working and being coherent, the characterisation being consistent or the plot actually working

It’s silly and fun – but let’s the silly and fun work with plot and characterisation not constantly get in the way of it or just decide that silly fun is all you need in a book and the rest can just manage without it. I like that, too many books that aim for zany only aim for zany

So we have a world with multiple afterlives and Lana and her fellow Reapers ferry souls to those afterlives. Which isn’t as simple as it sounds, Afterlives and gods have territory and power and political clout based on the number of souls that they have (causing many odd alliances and amalgamations) so there’s lots of pushes backroom deals and fudging of the rules between the various factions, with the Reapers squarely in the middle – and underneath it all. With no ability to quit but the threat of “termination” hanging over them and generally considered beneath everyone else, Lana has no illusions about where Reapers stand in the grand scheme of things – as semi-pampered slaves at best. And she’s not unwilling when it comes to a little rule fudging as well.

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Fun and engaging

Light and funny, descriptive and well written. A main character with the right amount of toughness, vulnerability and snarkyness. Will read the rest of the series.