Dead School

The premise alone caught my attention. I like reading books about the afterlife and the different versions that authors come up with. The school itself is why I rate this 3/5 stars. Once you get to Dead School you find out what you're going to do with your life or current life as you can be reincarnated. Tina ends up being a Guide, which means she'll help a living soul essentially reach their life mission, and since Tina's failed her own life mission 5000+ times, there's more pressure for her to pass her classes so she doesn't end up with a miserable next life.

And with that being said you'd think it would push Tina to do well, to study hard, and create a better future for herself.

Nope. At first, Tina messes up purposefully because she's paired with someone she doesn't like. She also doesn't want to help the soul, Anna, because she didn't get what she wanted in life so Anna should suffer. Tina's a hard character to like. Although she does soften up towards the end, she still makes remarks that turn you off.

The other characters don't seem to have enough to them.

Overall, the premise is great and the world is well thought out and put together. But when your main character is snarky every chance she gets and makes rude comments about the soul she's supposed to guide, it's a turn-off. However, if the premise catches your eye enough, I would still give it a read.

This book is meant to be an easy read and fun escape into a new world... and it REALLY was! The main character, Tina, is a say-it-like-it-is kind of girl.. (or rather, "think-it"). Her thoughts are hilarious and bold. We go onto this journey seeing how she changes from repelling Anna, the slob, to really caring and rooting for her. It's an anti-bullying novel, with growth in all characters, particularly their insecurities and ability to look at each other differently than they initially did.. The author really has a wild imagination, and it reminded me a lot of Tim Burton, Lewis Caroll, a modernized Roald Dahl with a potty-tongue. All in all, it was super fun, and very different from what this genre typically is. Its unique. I enjoyed it

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Dead School by Laura Gia West was described by reviewer David Nora on Goodreads as "Harry Potter meets Beetlejuice". I would not agree completely with the description but it is close.

Tina Crocker hates Valentine's Day and school. She failed at life, love, and everything else she has tried except for playing her guitar. She decides to participate in the school's talent school, kills it, and dies on stage. She is transported to Dead School where she finds out just how much of a failure she has been. Can she pass Dead School or will she fail at this too?

Dead School is not a dark novel and many reviewers did not like the book because they expected it to be. Reading the description shows it is not. In her debut novel, West takes a different look at being dead. Her main character is a failure, sarcastic, flawed person in life and the hereafter but she is likeable.

Dead School is a quick, enjoyable, quirky read that does not fit into the usual slots for describing a book. Go into this with an open mind and just enjoy it.

I am looking forward to reading more from Laura Gia West.

Review published on Philomathinphila.com, Smashbomb, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble on 3/2/19.
https://philomathinphila.com/2019/03/02/dead-school-laura-gia-west/

This book was intriguing to me and I enjoyed it.
Our main character, Tina Crocker, was not ready to be dead. (Who is?) And when she finds herself in that state she reacts as expected.

As for the chapter introducing us to Dead School, I found it a bit tedious. Perhaps the beuracray of being dead was intended to be dull, I'm not sure but this was one of the places that gave my rating a hit.

Another sore spot is, while I understand the author wanting to keep the book friendly for the ages intended, I didn't enjoy certain cursing to be allowed and others not. (i.e $_#@-) Most teens these days use damnit all's and worse consistently, and this just makes certain things harder to read.

On an enjoyment scale, this book was very pleasing to read. Gramatically correct most of the time, but hey Tina is a high school student and a teen being gramatically correct would be harder to believe than Dead School actually existing. It flows smoothly, with the aforementioned chapter as the only exception.

I would recommend this book, despite my least favorite parts.

Dead school is such a fun read I was unable to put it down! Let me just say that the ending leaves you dying ! I really can’t wait for the second installment because I have to find out what happens to Tina, and her new found friend... you will fall in love with every character in here, they are so relatable and outstanding work that puts you right along side Tina. Don’t miss this book, thank you for letting me read this incredible book, learning about love, friendship, integrity and over coming it all !

Dead School is pretty original. I’ve not seen anything like this on the market. However, it just didn’t come across well to me. Tina, the main character, has no depth to her whatsoever. I couldn’t connect to her, so therefore I really didn’t care about her or what happened to her. I think that’s a major point in my disliking the book.

The writing is well done, though. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Dead School and the imaginative way it runs. It was a version of “Heaven” that I’d be pretty cool with!

3/5 for me.

This book is a prime example of never judging a book by its cover. When I first looked at this book I immediately thought it would be something similar to Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina but upon starting it I saw how much of an opposite it was to my original thoughts. It’s not such a bad difference though because unlike its cover it didn’t have any creepy feels to it, it was very much a quirky book that you’d never have thought to actually like once you’re about halfway through.

The main character, Tina is a girl whose apparently been reincarnated thousands of times always essentially failing at life. When she dies again from an unfortunate Valentines Day incident, she is told that if she does not pass Dead School (a quirky after life where school never ends for teens) as an assistant guide then her next life would be all sorts of unpleasant. I honestly didn’t think I would like this book because of how different the plot was but the character of Tina is one that you can’t help but get endeared with after seeing her grow and learn just what it means to have an out of sorts afterlife.

If like me, you like giving a chance to quirky/different books then you’ll definitely enjoy this one.



**eARC provided in exchange for honest review*

An interesting concept, death but in the abstract. Dead School promised something original, something that could know no bounds. What is death, after all, but an endless question of what if? We surely cannot define something that has not been experienced, we just know it is the end of this 'mortal coil', and the beginning of something new. Laura Gia West promised a complexity, and intricacy that would bound right past our preconceived notions of death, and into more. But, that is where it begins to fall short.While the world building - or perhaps afterworld building? - was delicately and deliberately weave, the characters and their arcs were undeniably unlikeable. Specifically (although the theme seemed to run throughout), Tina our MC. Sure, she has her conventional ARC throughout. Shy girl dies, throws a tantrum and suddenly is no longer shy. I am sorry, because I really wanted to like this book, but that is a cliche I simply cannot absorb. In her ARC, from shy to well, not. Tina seems to loose any concept of decency - that is - she suddenly becomes snarky, argumentative, and self-absorbed. Okay, she is the MC, and I'm beginning to sound like my Mother, but I was inexplicably rooting against this MC. Other honourable, or dishonourable mentions?Alexei - who lets face it, didn't need to be present at all. What did he really offer to the story line? Was he meant to be a romantic interest? Unsure, and unconvinced. Melinda - eh, I mean, ??????Anna - were we meant to feel sorry for her? Perhaps we were meant to relate. Either way, by the end I was impartial to her outcomeCarl - I just, can't? Look at this book, it's bringing out my inner millennial. Story-line wise again, was promising. But it also lacked in the department of sense. Look through my posts, and you'll find a theme of being impressed, and positive. But this is the most positivity you're going to get from me. 

Wonderful concept, mediocre presentation, annoying MC.

Tina Crocker is finally on the school stage finishing her song that she composed. She has an audience that is standing and clapping when the pink metallic heart above the stage falls and kills her. She finds herself going into the gates of dead school. She wonders what dead school is. When everyone is finished with orientation, she discovers that she has lived 5,768 lives and failing each of them too. So she is assigned to be a spirit guide assistant to a spirit guide who is more concerned about how she looks and orders Tina to do the work. Unfortunately, she and the floozy will have some different ways of doing the spirit guide stuff. Will they succeed or not? Will Tina get to go to heaven or what?

Dead School is a fun novel to read. The author has you seeing through Tina’s eyes and thoughts while trying to understand why, where, and what is happening to her in dead school. The author has written a book that lightly touches on reincarnation. Reading this made me laugh and chuckle at the adventures she has. It is also a novel about bullies and stopping them. There is much more to this novel than just the light hearted story as at the same time there are serious aspects to it. I highly recommend reading this novel!

Dead School started out very slowly for me and I worried it would be a DNF for a bit, but it did pick up.

My main issues with this ARC are the same as with others, in that there are editing, grammatical, and random errors that will hopefully be ironed out before the official copy. I also consider this a mostly non-issue because it is an ARC.

Another of my gripes is also a plus, and for that I applaud West. The teenagers in this are very teenagery. Adult me was annoyed at them but teen me likely would have loved this book. It has the afterlife, a ridiculous school, and some vague Potter-esque elements and I think teens will enjoy it.

This was an intriguing book that made me flip pages faster and faster. I thought that the author did a fantastic job on how they put everything together and the way that it ended. This book was well written and the plot was fast and entertaining. Thank you NetGalley.

I really loved this book. I was hooked the whole time. I have never read anything like it. I really hope there is a second book! It seems like the left off for a second. If there is I will definitely be reading it. I want to know what happens to Tina! A+