Read For Free Reapers (Reapers, #1) Conceived By Bryan Davis Shared As Copy

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I'm finding it rather difficult to organize my thoughts about this book, Mostly because this is one of the first novels I've read in the dystopian genre, and I'm not certain how well I enjoy that particular genre, seeing how new I am to all of it.
But let's see how this review goes,

The action in this book carried each chapter along nicely, and there was never a moment for boredom, The suspense is high, the plot moves quickly, and once you got into the story, it was difficult to put the book down, Phoenix narrates the novel easily, and you can't help but want to see him succeed, The whole idea of the Reapers moving about with mystery and purpose is intriguing, I don't think I can say how muchly I enjoyed following this plot, This is the first in a trilogy, and I was surprised when it ended so suddenly, Not that that's a bad thing, of course it just made me greatly curious for the second book, . . which isn't out yet.

The main antagonist in this book was utterly despicable, I hated her from the start, and everything she did made me hate her more, Yet, I thought that she was a little too predictable, bad and heartless enough to put any other villain to shame, but her actions came as no surprise, If she had acted in a more crafty manner, keeping Phoenix and his friends in a greater suspense, I think I would have enjoyed hating her even more, As it is, she did end the book in high form, so I guess I shouldn't complain there,

And of course, my favorite character died, sigh What's with these authors

The part that was a little odd for me was the whole theme of the Reapers, They are a special set of people who are assigned to "districts" and are trained how to reap the souls of the civilians after they die, The reaping process I found a bit disturbing, as the novel left the dystopian genre to dabble in elements of the supernatural, Phoenix and the other Reapers reap the dead souls, carry them in special cloaks, and then transport them to the Gateway where the Gatekeeper takes them to the afterlife, Souls between death and the afterlife are ghosts, and it's not uncommon for the Reapers to be around them, often talking to them, While I'll admit the story itself is fascinating, I didn't much care for all the supernatural references in the book, and I was a little uncomfortable reading about it all.


Advisory: A lot of violence Phoenix and his friends reap souls from dead people, and the descriptions sometimes get graphic, There is also some fighting scenes, mostly hand to hand combat, with a few sonic guns thrown in, Since this novel is about Reapers and their jobs, don't be surprised to see a lot of death, Blood and bruises are a common thing, One character takes the Lord's name in vain, which greatly disappointed me, and there are also a few references to hell, but it is used in proper context,

Also, I found myself a little annoyed with a part of Phoenix's character, I admired how loyal he was to the people in his district, often trying to save their lives instead of letting them die so he could reap their soul, but he dwelled a lot on thoughts of his female friends.
No spoilers here, but he is too easily infatuated with those thoughts, and there were times I believed he took the thoughts too far, There is one kiss, nothing more, but I still didn't care much for it, Phoenix was so lost in these emotions that I almost didn't want him to get any of the girls,

The author sent me a free copy of this book in return for my honest review, I wasnt required to review it positively, nor was I recompensed for my review, All opinions are my own, Good read. It's a book you need to pay attention reading, This is truly an amazing novel, The pacing is lightningfast and there were so many unexpected twists I could barely keep up, The author uses the unique premise to its full potential, I loved the worldbuilding, loved the characters, and the entire idea was just amazing,

There are more darker and more mature elements in here than in Bryan Davis' other novels, so I'd recommend for,

The one thing I wished there was more of is the theme, However, since this was meant to be a facepaced, actionpacked dystopian, and that was just what it was, I'm not complaining

I would highly recommend this book to every dystopian reader! Reapers like all Bryan Davis books is a wonderful captivating book.
Reapers is full of action and adventure with a hint of romance, It is a wonderful Chritian dystopian book and well worth reading, A great way to spend a few afternoons, Be warned though that once you pick it up it will be hard to put back down again, Reapers is dark, seductive, and exhilarating! Davis delivers thrills, chills, and a thought provoking world surrounding death, Brace yourself for a fastpaced story full of danger, emotion, and surprising twists!

This one was intensely powerful and I loved every minute of it! It touched on facets of life, love and loss, and sparked deep seated thoughts and emotions regarding death and the beyond.
It was a beautifully heartbreaking story surrounding the ageold question of “what happens when we die”
So, what came to mind when reading the title Reapers I bet you thought of black hoods, scythes, death, lack of emotion, and/or skeletal figures.
Bryan Davis definitely included the hoods and death, but he also created an emotional story with dynamic human characters and a sense of hope for humanity,

It was engaging, refreshing, and unique, I loved the premise of the plot involving the reaping of souls in an urban dystopian setting, and I felt the immense sentimentality of fearing death and hoping for

a pleasant afterlife.
I was in awe of the world Davis created and the personalities he developed for the Reapers whom you would assume would be jaded from dealing with death so often.


Phoenix was such an endearing character! He was strong, brave, and moral, He also had a vulnerable side which drove his choices and motivated him to go on in a hopeless world,
Singapore was mysterious and intriguing, She added a little humor to the story and a touch of passion, I loved her role in the story and the way she changed Phoenix and Shanghai,
Shanghai was so interesting to read, She just flew off the page with intensity and spunk, She was strong and fierce with a touch of vulnerability,

What a page turner this was! I enjoyed the action and the inclusion of the ghosts and the soul reaping, I consistently found myself deep in thought about spirits, souls, death, and the afterlife, The plot was fascinating and full of surprises, and I fell in love with the intensity and emotion behind it! I decided about halfway through that I am in need of booksand, now!
This was an easy to follow, well written book.
It maintained action and kept interest, Will read second book in series, I just reread this one recently, Although I almost put it down on my reread at first, I did end up finding that I enjoyed it more than the first time around,

This book has a brilliantly constructed plot with some powerful twists that really got me even though I'd read them before, Bravo, Mr. Davis. It has such a good setup for book, which I also reread recently, Unfortunately, bookdisappoints on the buildup this story laid because of seemingly small but, IMO, fatal issues like believability issues, unrealistic character reactions, and way too much schmaltz, But this book is worth a read even if you don't read the rest of the series, This is one of the best of Bryan Davis's books, It's got an amazingly original concept and introduces some new character tropes other than the tired tropes Davis uses in most of his novels,

Two of Davis's most used character tropes are present in this novel the amazing, strong, sacrificial, chivalric male warrior hero and the evil, supernatural, brilliant witch but those tropes excel in this series.
Phoenix, the male hero, is a more complex and interesting character than any other character of this trope Davis uses in other books, And Alex Alex is the piece de resistance of this series, She is a brilliant twist on Davis's overused trope of the brilliant witch and is one of Davis's most marvellous characters ever created, Honestly, Alex takes the show in this series, She is an incredible villain,

Phoenix's two closest allies are rather fliratious and seductive, This made me a little uncomfortable as they did the first time I read this series, but this time around I was also better able to appreciate what a powerful and key piece to the story this was.
Phoenix is truly an incredible character not only for all he goes through but for also how much he resists temptation, It's honestly rather inspiring.

Though the "weakness for women" he supposedly has seemed like hogwash and an unnecessary addition to the story, He clearly didn't have a weakness for women he resisted far more than most men would, and that was without the saving grace and aid of Jesus Christ, While this series is a Christian series, the MC is not a believer in this first novel, It's possibly a little unrealistic honestly, how perfect he is,
That's kind of the main beef I have with all Davis's books, tbh, Christians are not perfect people, Bryan Davis may disagree with me on this, but I believe that Christians do not stop struggling and sinning until they have been brought home to heaven, Though Bryan Davis has indicated a contrary view at times, I don't really think he can deny that Christians sin all the time, Surely he can't deny that he sins on a regular basis himself,

Anywho I'm rabbit holing. This is one of my more rambly reviews, I can tell, XD Apologies y'all.

All in all, this is a fun book and it is very wellwritten,
I hope I don't come out as overcritical in my reviews of Bryan Davis's books, It's just that, last year, when I was hugely obsessed with his books, I gushed on and on about them, . . and was basically the exact opposite of critical, Now, because I came out so strong in favor of them last year, I find it necessary to come out a little stronger on the downsides of these books,
They are not flawless, Many of his books feel rushed and feel like they could have been a little stronger had Davis just spent more time perfecting the books, He churns out many books a year but doesn't seem to take adequate time on each one, This book is clearly one of his most welldeveloped,

I will end this long, rambly review by saying this:
I love Bryan Davis as an author and I love his books most of them, at any rate.
He knows how to tell stories that stir the heart and inspire the reader to action, His books may not be the most wellwritten books out there, but they are uplifting, motivating, and inspiring, and that is the true mark of success,
I love the dystopian genre! In a postapocolyptic Chicago, Phoenix is a sixteenyearold reaper, gifted with the genetic ability to transport souls of the dead to the Gateway and to a better life.
But he doesn't welcome death, Instead, he tries to prevent death at all costs by administering illegal medicine to the dying, When he is caught by the authorities giving pills to a dying little girl, the girl's family is thrown into a prison camp, Phoenix teams up with fellow teen reapers Shanghai and Singapore to try and rescue the family from their unjust punishment, But along the way, he and his friends begin to suspect that the Gateway is not a perfect resting place for the dead, And time is running out to free the prisoners as ruthless Death Officer Alex furiously tries to stop Phoenix at all costs,

This book started off slow and confusing to me, and I almost put it down, But about a third into it, I became intrigued, The world came alive in my head and the story started to click, I think I just needed to get a feel of the world, since I am not used to reading about ghosts and reapers though it was pretty fun! The book is marketed as appealing to fans of the Hunger Games, and I have to say the two series share some similarities, such as teens having to grow up prematurely, corrupt leaders, and a love triangle.
Oh, and I liked reading thest person POV of a male protagonist for a change,

Reapers has some Christian elements to it but I think that paralell will be explored more as the series progresses,

A solidstars! I finished reading this at:in the morning, . . So I need some time to process, xP Full review coming later, Any review on this site has spoilers without any other warning, Do not read my reviews unless you dont mind the subject matter being spoiled,

I should start by mentioning that the author of this book is my father, so I am automatically biased, Bear this in mind when reading my review,

Since I intend to release a version of this review on my wifes blog, Ill forgo scenebyscene plot analysis this time,

Reapers is set in a postapocalyptic world that, given the names of cities, appears to be Earth, Given the quasifantasy/scifi genre, I never assume its definitelyEarth, though that is a good assumption, It is sufficiently removed from the apocalypse that most of the old worlds institutions have passed from the cultural zeitgeist, Somewhere in the past, long enough ago that current institutions do not question it, human souls began to manifest as ghosts after death,

These wandering ghosts result in the titular Reapers, genetic offshoots capable of interacting with ghosts who serve as combination pest control and grief counselors, collecting the souls of the dead before they can manifest or cleaning up ghosts.
The ghosts are sent to the Gatekeeper, a mysterious Big Brother type figure who runs the oligarchy that oversees the main characters lives, The exact scope of the Gatekeepers control, whether regional or global, is not explicit, but it is strongly implied to be a world order,

Several things are done very well in ways that are apparent immediately, This is the first postapocalyptic story Ive read where the author doesnt batter the reader over the head with the nature and cause of the apocalypse in constant dialogue and prose choices.
There are no contrivances to talk about the apocalypse, If you arent paying attention, you wont even catch it, but there are a few mentions of persistent fallout, revealing that the end of the old civilization was nuclear in nature.
Whether war or simply accident is not explored, and that benefits the story, After all, we do not constantly discuss the reason for the decline and fall of Rome in everyday life, despite the fact that it essentially ended civilization for hundreds of years.
Why should postapocalyptic characters be any different if their grandparents apparently didnt even witness what happened

Additionally, the reason for ghost collection is deliciously dangled for the reader to ponder.
The party line is that an unreaped soul suffers, but other than a sense of loneliness and confusion, they dont actually seem to suffer, It seems they really need someone to talk to, not a vacuumcleaner reaper, The characters dont explore this much, but they seem to be slowly noticing the problem with the system, Interestingly, despite this apparent problem with the ghosts, their source of conflict is the treatment of the living,

Most of the main characters acquaintances are under the jurisdiction of an “owl” named Alex, Alex is the source of the only things I find dissatisfying about the story, There is incongruity between her apparent authority and her desire to keep certain things hidden, Alex works to keep secrets, but has little obvious motivation for doing so given that she has license to kill, There are hints that there are reasons behind this, so while the author is following the rules of foreshadowing to build up to a bigger reveal in a later book, I dont feel that theres enough of a payoff in this one.
However, since theres apparently a later payoff building up this is not a technical error,
Similarly, I thought that Alex and the main character bantered back and forth in a way that could have been varied and added some comic relief, but instead the only used a single tactic: disarming compliments of the others intelligence.
It was frequent enough that I halfexpected a supporting character to humorously demand that the two stop flirting and get on with the kissing, but it didnt happen, Given the miserable state of the world, I expect they were all too depressed for wisecracks, It makes me miss Walter, a character from the authors debut novel,

One thing I greatly appreciated was getting to read early drafts, The first published version was my third readthrough of the story which should show right away that I really did like it, despite the few style choices I dont care so much for.
The resolution of the final conflict in this version was elegant and very satisfying, compared to the overly complex previous version, Additionally, a new scene earlier in the book allowed certain technical aspects to be explained more fluidly and avoid contrivances,

All in all, this is a solid offering in the dystopian scifi/fantasy genre, It stands out by avoiding several pitfalls prevalent in postapocalyptic works, and delivers a combination of mystery, heroism, and the universal struggle against tyranny,
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