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    Monstrous
    Monstrous
    Monstrous
    Audiobook12 hours

    Monstrous

    Written by MarcyKate Connolly

    Narrated by Brittany Pressley

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    Reminiscent of Frankenstein and tales by the Brothers Grimm, this debut novel stands out as a compelling, original story that has the feel of a classic.

    The city of Bryre suffers under the magic of an evil wizard. Because of his curse, girls sicken and disappear without a trace, and all live in fear. No one is allowed outside after dark. Night is when Kymera comes to the city, with a cloak disguising her wings, the bolts in her neck, and her spiky tail. Her mission is to rescue the girls of Bryre. Despite Kym's caution in going secretively, a boy named Ren sees and befriends her . . . but what he knows will change her world forever.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 10, 2015
    ISBN9780062346124
    Author

    MarcyKate Connolly

    MarcyKate Connolly is a New York Times Bestselling children’s book author and nonprofit marketing professional living in New England with her family and a grumble of pugs. She can be lured out from her writing cave with the promise of caffeine and new books. Twin Daggers is her debut young adult novel, and she’s also the author of several middle grade fantasy novels including Monstrous and Ravenous, and the Shadow Weaver series. You can visit her online at www.marcykate.com.

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    Reviews for Monstrous

    3.5/5

    34 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this one. It has a Brother Grim meets Frankenstein vibe, with a heroic main character that you can't help but love, even though you know she's making one mistake after another. The romance element gives it a YA or at least tween flavor, though I think it is marketed as middle grade. I don't care much for books written in the present tense, but it worked in this case, since the author seemed to be in touch with the heroine's feelings. I do think that at 448 pages, the book is too long. The pace drags, especially in the first half, and the story seems to go round and round in circles. It could easily have resolved all the loose ends and been a real stand-alone novel, and I do kind of wish that it had. But still, a great read.
    • 3/5
      It was an interesting magical take on Frankenstein. Unfortunately, I found the ending dis-satisfying, violent, with several loose ends. For example, how did the evil king survive being thrown into the sea? I was slightly disturbed by the story (young girls killed and kept in cold storage) but read the whole thing because I wanted to know how Kym was going to adapt to normal life after defeating the Wizard. Turning her into a rose bush seems kind of like cheating.
    • 3/5
      Kymera is brought to life Frankenstein monster-style by her father who tells her that she needs to break girls out of prison to save them from the wizard. Kym befriends Ren in the city of Bryne. When she meets Ren and his family, she begins to question all that he father has been telling her. A slow moving read that takes a long time to reveal what is clear to the reader.
    • 4/5
      I've looked forward to reading this for quite a while and it was worth the wait! Monstrous was an epic adventure that was filled with dynamic characters you both loved and hated. I absolutely adored Kym and was deeply invested in everything she went through. I did find the pace near the end a tad rushed but overall this was a fantastic and emotional read that kept you guessing.
    • 4/5
      Monstrous is a very unusual story that starts out a little slowly but quickly builds and builds and builds to a fascinating story.Kymera wakes up after her father creates her. She was murdered by the Wizard that is terrorizing the town of Bryre. Her father was so distraught that he went to his laboratory and used parts of animals and humans to bring her back to life. Needless to say, she is unusual looking with wings and a reptilian tail that has a sharp barb with poison. Her father explains that the Wizard is making the girls of Bryre sick, so she was created to rescue them so they won’t die like her. She sneaks into the city every night to rescue one girl; there is a curfew, so no one should be out and about. If she were seen, the townspeople would be frightened by her appearance. One boy, however, does see her--Ren. Kym is so curious about humans that she can’t help but talk to him. Her cloak successfully hides her bolts, wings, and tail, so a friendship easily develops. As she spends more and more time in Bryre against her father’s wishes and knowledge, Kym begins to feel a kinship with the people and starts to have bits of memory come back from before her death. In these memories, she sees Ren, which is confusing. As the Wizard works his revenge against Bryre, Kym and Ren join forces to stop him. I’ll admit that I think the beginning was a little slow, but I’ve read so many books that I just knew what was really happening. I think you will as well; this knowledge does not ruin the novel in any way. I especially like that it’s a stand-alone novel. Everything finishes with a truly fairy tale ending. There’s magic, good and evil battling, as well as a dragon and other chimera. What’s not to like?
    • 4/5
      For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.Continuing a streak of good middle grade novels, I picked up Monstrous, because I’d heard good things from Dahlia (author of Behind the Scenes/Last Will and Testament/Under the Lights). In a lot of ways, it’s a strange book. It’s surprisingly dark for a middle grade novel, which okay yes I do see that about most of the ones that I read, but those are the ones I like. Monstrous will appeal to those who love fairy tales and who love eerie middle grades.The opening of Monstrous is great. Kymera wakes up, a patchwork creature. This story is essentially a Frankenstein retelling that’s been combined with fairy tales. Her father tells her of her creation; using science, he’s put his daughter back together after many failed attempts, following her death at the hands of the evil wizard. Unfortunately, he could not save her memories. As a bonus, though, she’s now better than human; she’s part cat, part bird, and part snake too.What I love is that Kym is partly a monster. She’s not a sweet human girl trapped in the guise of a monster, at least not entirely. Kym is sweet, but she’s also got animal instincts coming from her animal parts. She’s a predator, and can consume raw rabbit flesh. Annoyed by the family pet, a sparrow-dog combo, she considers eating it. Kym can kill and she’s willing to, despite being a little girl.Connolly also does a really good job with the balance between Kym being a child and being almost a newborn. Kym has instincts and reasoning from her brain’s previous learning, but, without her memories, she’s also a babe in the woods. Everything she knows comes from reading fairy tales and from her what her father tells her. It’s no wonder that, when she meets a cute boy, she immediately decides she’s in love with him, since that’s how fairy tales go, right?Monster did drag for me in the middle couple hundred pages. There’s a very long stretch of time where I knew what the twist was, and I was just waiting for Kymera to figure it out. On the one hand, I think it was pretty realistic, because again she’s days old on some levels, so it would be hard on her. Even so, this period lasted long enough that my attention began to wander. It felt like no narrative progress was really being made.The ending picked back up again, however, getting back to the dark roots. I didn’t expect such a death toll from a middle grade. Connolly was not playing around. I think Kym is an interesting ethical figure, both lovable and, indeed, monstrous. I wish the ending had been less abrupt, because I would have liked to know more of what came after. Why put in all the middle grade romance only to not let the reader know the outcome? How dare.I’m really impressed with Connolly’s debut and will be curious to try whatever she writes next. Dark fairy tales are pretty much always Christina bait, and Monstrous is no exception.