The beginning of something with great potential
Personal Experience:
Quote:
“She said monster like being a monster was as special as being an elf.”
Who should read it? Fans of action-packed YA and time travel
Would I recommend it? Yes
Trigger Warnings (source): Abuse (child abuse and emotional); Blood; Corpse; Depictions (including an animal); Death; Death of family members; Emesis; Grief; Massacres; Murder; PTSD; Racism (microaggressions); Torture
Tropes:
** What is this book about? You can check below first **
Only a Monster was a refreshing YA read full of twists! I confess I felt somehow tricked in the beginning, misled even: “What’s happening? Why?” (and where’s the romance that I was promised?)
But the more I read, the more I loved it. The book surely didn’t waste any time, you’re thrown into a mix of emotions and events right away. Perfect for mystery-driven and action-packed story lovers!
Here are some things I LOVED about the book:
🧡 The twists
I want to say I love a twist as much as the next person, but most of the time, I feel incredibly disappointed. Not with this book! Not much is revealed right away, but when the plot surprises us, even if it’s something rather unexpected, it still makes sense somehow, it keeps adding to the story. It enrichens it. I was always excited about the big reveals which made me curious to keep reading the book.
🧡 Time travel
So there’s a lot of time travel in sci-fi books, but not as much in fantasy. I thought the concept (without revealing too much) was quite intriguing. Also really liked how it defied the time travel trope by putting a new spin on the whole “butterfly effect” concept.
And this is what I didn’t like as much:
🌧️ Romance, please?
So obviously this is something personal. I love a good romance in a fantasy setting. In my defence, the blurb made it sound as if romance would be an important part of the plot. There’s literally a “soulmates” trope. Not saying romance didn’t play a role here, but it just felt undeveloped (in so many ways). In fact, if it was about the romance aspect, I’d probably feel nothing for the characters. Luckily, there were other things that made up for this. Plus, I’d like to believe this first volume is just the beginning…
Overall I really liked Only a Monster. It was unpredictable, action-packed, entertaining and addicting! Somehow, it felt incomplete, which is understandable, as this is Monsters #1 and it successfully leaves you with a “this is only the beginning” taste.
