Early Bird Review | Monster by Michael Grant

By Birdie

Monster

About the Book: In the stunning follow-up to the globally bestselling Gone series, Michael Grant continues the story of the teens who morph into superheroes—and supermonsters—when they ingest an alien virus.

Four years after the events of the FAYZ, new meteorites are hitting Earth, and the whole world is exposed to a strange alien virus that gives humans unique superpowers. 

As some teens become heroes and others become dangerously out of control with their new powers, the world will become more terrifying than the FAYZ—and only a monstrous battle between good and evil can save them.

Gone #7
YA Sci-Fi Dystopia
Katherine Tegen Books | October 17, 2017
amazon2 bn2

I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself.  I get so excited when a series I like gets a spin-off, so from the moment I saw Monster was out I was geeked.  I loved the idea of revisiting the Perdido Beach crew, but I never take into account how different the book could be.  I never think about how sometimes it’s best if my memories of a story stay unchanged.  I think that was my biggest problem with reading Monster.

Gone was such an detailed and long series.  The majority of the characters stayed with us through the whole series, and maybe it wasn’t my all time favorite but I loved it enough that it left a mark on me.  When I started Monster I wanted more of the same.  Even though I knew this followup story was going to be more about Dekka, I still wanted the characters to be the same.  Not to give any spoilers away, but it’s not the same at all.  The nightmare they went through has altered them forever, emotionally and physically.  This is an all new story, with mostly new characters.

Unfortunately for me, all those new characters were part of the problem.  There were way too many POV changes.  I was excited to read about Dekka, and because there were so many characters her part ended up being so much smaller than I expected.  Maybe it sounds whiny, but I didn’t want to spend most of my reading time with an all new cast of characters.  I just couldn’t make myself care, which is too bad because I went in with all the cares a fan of Gone could have.

Reviewing Monster is difficult, because the rest of my issues had to do with things I can’t talk about.  I’d almost say it would be better to read Monster as a standalone, but I don’t think you can.  It’s tied enough to the original that you’d be lost without it.  You need to understand the gaiaphage.  You need to have gone through the FAYZ with Dekka to understand why she is how she is.  Yet, then you’re forced to compare, and at least for me Monster came up short.

Here’s hoping everything grows from here.

Thank you to Katherine Tegen Books for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3-feathers

About Birdie

Don’t look for her in any bar, club, crazy raging party, or anywhere there may be a large gathering of strangers. She’s more likely to be found tucked into the corner of the couch watching one of her favorite shows, or preferably under a comforter with her current novel.

13 Responses

  2. TeacherofYA

    I wonder if there will be more after this one. I can’t wait to read it, but I’m scared I won’t like it….I loved the Gone series and I don’t think I could take it if I didn’t like it! 😫

    Like

  3. Whimsically Meghan

    I’ve put myself on the list at the library for this. I’m sorry that it didn’t live up to your expectation. Although it is good to know that things are quite different. I also go into these spin-offs with a edge of caution because you really don’t know what you’re going to get.

    Like

  4. frayedbooks

    I picked this up at NYCC and I was unsure if I could just jump in or if I’d need to read the other books to enjoy it. Seems like I probably won’t end up reading this one anytime soon then 😦

    Like

Tell me something!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.