The concept of the book is great and the characters are good as well - the book was interesting. There were moments that could have been more fleshed out but it was a decent read!

Reaper was the first book I have read by Josh Price. It was not exactly as I expected. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

I loved the premise of this book. Two friends, racing to stop the ultimate evil from entering the world. A setup for a globe (and realm) trotting adventure. My biggest issues were the character development was a bit uneven and the pacing was too. Overall enjoyed the story, and with a little more work this could easily be a four or five star book.

The characters were fun, and I enjoyed the world building. This is a promising start to a new series. I loved the strong friendship elements between Aaron and Kyle. The author excelled at giving each character a unique and individual personality and voice. I'm not a terribly big zombie fan, but I also enjoyed how the author made his zombies different than what we normally see.
The reason for 3 stars instead of five is due to the awkward prose and uneven pacing.

Aaron and Kyle have just learned two things: the world is full of unseen magical creatures, and some of them are rather angry. As the newest members of the Gatekeepers, they must race around the world, and against the clock, to stop the Lord of the Damned before he enslaves every living being to his wicked will. Their fight will take them to Hell and back, but regardless of whether they win or lose, their world will never be the same again.
This was an ok book. I appreciated the author trying to create a new world but it didn’t really work for me.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

My Rating : 3

Okay, first of all, the concept of the book is really good and the characters are really interesting when you get into the book. But the structure of the storytelling was slightly weird to read. The main plot of the book is about Reapers and their role in this world. The main character(s) start with a certain plot-line, and another element gets added to the story, and the whole concept is just explained at the same time. Instead of us figuring out the characterization, structure and the plot by ourselves along with the main character, it's almost like a Q&A session from other characters. I found that a bit odd and not appealing. But other than that, the number of characters introduced, relationship between the characters were all good and had really good potential. I enjoyed certain parts of the book and if you are a fan of this kind of narration, then definitely give it a go!

Reaper is an enjoyable and easy read. I found the plot interesting and look forward to Price's next work.

The story started better than it actually was.
The characters seemed so fun and the setting seemed very well-constructed but unfortunately, the plot didn't really go anywhere, which is really sad, because it had a lot of potential in the beginning.

this book is entertaining and engrossing. There's a great world building, the plot and the characters are well developed.
I look forward to reading other book by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Characters: 3.5
Plot: 2
World building: 3.5
Overall: 2.5

This story started out so promising with fun characters and decent world-building, but ultimately, does not deliver on plot or pacing. It is in desperate need of a good edit.

The characters of Aaron and Kyle, our main duo, started out really interesting. I liked their interactions and development as Undertaker and Reaper in the beginning of the story, but then the chemistry between the two just fizzled out the moment the main conflict picked up. Their friendship just didn’t seem strong despite being thrown together in extreme circumstances throughout the story. The relationship between Aaron and Kyle to the other two more prominent characters of Alicia, Violet, and Mr. Lugosi reminded me of the Scooby Gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Alicia, Aaron’s childhood friend, has some huge potential and I like the connection to Alice in Wonderland and where character ends up in the story. Violet as the secret keeper/librarian is not a fully realized character as of yet. Mr. Lugosi seems too simple as well.

The plot is just all over the place. I really enjoyed the pace and style of the first third of novel focusing on establishing Aaron and Kyle’s friendship and introducing Alicia and Violet as well as the supernatural element of the story. It set a nice ton to the story as a Supernatural-esque episodic style of hunting evil beings. But the moment Mr. Lugosi starts to explain everything, the style disappears and the story’s pace disappears. There is a lot of exposition that seems to be missing or just not well done. The introduction of the main conflict of the story doesn’t happen until well after a quarter of the story has already been told. The episode in the Underworld has a lot of potential, but it was destroyed by ridiculous decisions made by a variety of characters that should know better give their thousands of years of experience. The conflict’s move into the real world was just jarring and at the same time, just sloppy. Our main characters seem to just be going with everything, not questioning decisions being made and why on earth are they being charged with so much responsibility from the highest levels of this supernatural society when they are barely out of training have not shown any significant ability beyond that of much more experienced people. And don’t get me started on the “Big Bad” who is just so cheesy and cringey. A thousand years of planning to take over the world and I felt zero threat for anyone anywhere.

The strongest part of this story is the world-building. The use of various mythological creatures and figures was actually quite fun and the added realms of the Underworld and Auz have a lot of potential in future stories. I enjoyed all the allegories to other fantasy or supernatural stories that Josh Price clearly was influenced by. The world building has me excited for what other stories will happen in this series.

Overall, Reaper is in need of a good edit but there is a lot of potential here. Josh Price has an imagination well-versed in mythology and folklore as well as modern fantasy. There is a lot of room to improve in terms of writing skills especially when it comes to character arcs, foreshadowing, and pacing. I am confused at who the target audience is for this book. The characters are in their early to mid twenties but the way the book is written seems to be for a much younger audience. I’m hoping for a stronger second installment soon.

Reaper has a unique storyline with interesting characters. The book is well written and entertaining. The story is a fast read and keeps you involved with the story.