A. Lee Martinez

Monster, who runs an agency that deals with mythological pests, encounters Judy when he deals with a yeti she finds at the supermarket where she works, and together they battle an evil being disguised as the local crazy cat lady.

Monster

Kirsten Simkiss

I went into this book excited because I enjoyed this author's other book, Chasing the Moon. However, I didn't enjoy this book as much as Chasing the Moon. Still, I feel like it's a good 3.5 star read - though I rated it 3 stars on here because it makes the average (currently about a 3.8) closer to my true rating. It's not amazing, but it's a fun oncer for me.

First and foremost, I appreciated the world. It's a step different from our own, classifying this novel firmly in the urban fantasy category. The normal world and the world of magic exist side by side. But, unlike Harry Potter where the two worlds are kept separate, they simply overlap. It's just that people who aren't magical either can't acknowledge it or forget it very soon after they stop looking at it. It's a fun concept, especially considering one of the main characters, Judy, is one of the latter type of non-magical human.

Unfortunately, I feel like my enjoyment of the book suffered because I just didn't like Monster that much. He's that sour, grumpy type of character that's supposed to be hard to love for the other characters, but when you have to read his perspective for at least half the book, it gets a little grating. Judy was fun, but I felt like I wanted more from her personality than her just being stubborn and there. Sure, it plays off Monster well enough, but it wasn't really what I was hoping for in the main protagonist. Their abilities were super cool, sure, but the MVP of the book, for me, was definitely Chester, the paper gnome with a mind in another dimension that was way smarter than the life he was spending his time in. I liked him a lot, especially considering he was all the morals and all the brains in the book. Literally, the plot hinged on this one character not being a total waste of space. If this were a Tolkein book, Chester was the giant eagle.

Ultimately, the plot was pretty fun. Two unlikely heroes, a night-shift grocery store clerk and the magic world's equivalent to an animal control guy, and a trusty paper gnome face off against an ageless entity with a thing for cats? Totally an interesting concept. I just wish the main two characters were a little more likeable.

I would recommend this to people with a love for urban fantasy that maybe don't really want all the romance. I mean, there is some sex in the book, but it's not really so much a romantic scene as something mentioned because Monster's girlfriend is an actual succubus - a fact he's very much aware of. And, if that doesn't tell you already, this is definitely geared toward adult readers. As I've said, I didn't love the book, but it was definitely a fun one time read.

Monster

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