276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Only a Monster: The captivating YA contemporary fantasy debut

£8.495£16.99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

I'm really disappointed with this novel. Only a Monster was my most anticipated YA book of 2022. I was promised a cool time travel story and a subversion of the Buffy and the Vampire Slayer formula, with the reader being on the side of the monsters rather than the monster slayer. The marketing team also hyped the book to be the next This Savage Song with some heart-stopping romance thrown in the mix. I think it almost failed to deliver on all of these things that were promised. Don't get me wrong, I was surprised when a few sceneries were described with beauty and written elegance, but it was overshadowed by certain dialogue prompts that made my brows furrow in slight frustration.

I really enjoyed this book, it’s a new world and different from anything I’ve read so far! I’m really looking forward to the next book and I’m hoping to see a reunion of the group through this interaction of Joan and Jamie, I think it’s going to be a different approach to the characters but one that will be quite interesting for the story. Also i don't know half of the people in this book, I sorta zoned in and out because i was so freaking bored and wanted to get it over and done with so i don't actually know what to say lmao.What I was most looking forward to about this book was the romance. I wanted a forbidden romance between monster and monster hunter that drove the plot and characters forward and had me on the edge of my seat. What I got seemed almost half hearted and underdeveloped. There was no chemistry between the main pairing and after the big reveal of their identities at the beginning, there were no more romance centred scenes until near the end when our main character finally remembered that she was meant to have feelings for him. Although, I will say that that scene was really well written and fun to read. It made for an impressive ending. In fact, there was much more chemistry and a compelling relationship between Joan and Aaron and I wonder if that will be explored more in the sequel. I FOUND IT. I think I found my favorite YA Fantasy of the whole year (slightly ironic since this is releasing Feb 2022 and I'm writing this Oct 2021). OH MY GOD THIS BOOK WAS LITERALLY PERFECT AND I AM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS UNTIL IT'S PUBLISHED AND I'M GOING TO BE SHOVING IT DOWN EVERYONE'S THROAT. I can't wait to see everyone's reactions when they read this and I NEED THE SEQUEL IMMEDIATELY. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I CAN WAIT THAT LONG TO READ MORE.

Lots of unanswered and open ended questions at the end (even with the epilogue) but that is what book 2 is for. lol A stunning, dark, romantic, and time travel fantasy with fascinating historical details of England. My biggest question coming into this book was, are the monster’s really bad? Is this going to be a Maleficent (2014) situation where our villain is actually the good guy and the hero is actually bad? But no, Len manages to make you root for the monsters while questioning the morality of what they do. Even though logically, as a human myself, the concept of monsters stealing time from my life just so they can go and party in another time period is repulsive, I still felt myself rooting for Joan and Aaron as they tried to escape the monster hunt. Joan battles with this repeatedly, questioning hers and her own family’s actions as she learns more and more about the monster world. It’s a refreshing take on the monster point of view with the monsters actually being as morally ambiguous as we would expect monsters to be. Don't get me wrong but when you hear the word monster you imagine something demonic and ghastly while in reality the monsters Vanessa Len has created are actually time travelling homicides.And that ending, wow, that ending. It’s complete in itself but also making me excited and impatient for the next book.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment