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Summary

“Charlie Ovid, despite surviving a brutal childhood in Mississippi, doesn’t have a scar on him. His body heals itself, whether he wants it to or not. Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight car, shines with a strange bluish light. He can melt or mend flesh. When Alice Quicke, a jaded detective with her own troubled past, is recruited to escort them to safety, all three begin a journey into the nature of difference and belonging, and the shadowy edges of the monstrous.

What follows is a story of wonder and betrayal, from the gaslit streets of London, and the wooden theaters of Meiji-era Tokyo, to an eerie estate outside Edinburgh where other children with gifts―like Komako, a witch-child and twister of dust, and Ribs, a girl who cloaks herself in invisibility―are forced to combat the forces that threaten their safety. There, the world of the dead and the world of the living threaten to collide. With this new found family, Komako, Marlowe, Charlie, Ribs, and the rest of the Talents discover the truth about their abilities. And as secrets within the Institute unfurl, a new question arises: What truly defines a monster?

Riveting in its scope, exquisitely written, Ordinary Monsters presents a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world―and of the gifted, broken children who must save it.”

From Amazon.com

Review

The TL;DR of this entire review is that the story was interesting, it kept me entertained (read 400 pages in 1 day) but it was unnecessarily long. The book could have easily been 200 pages shorter, minimum.

The story was broken into about 4 parts and it bounced around a little bit through some different times, working to fill in the gaps and show situations from other characters perspectives. I didn’t personally feel that this was necessary. Or it could have been truncated, because it just added a lot of unnecessary reading to the book. I did find that I was skimming a little bit in parts because the situation being talked about had already been covered, but it was just being covered from another angle. I didn’t find it necessary.

It kind of felt like in a movie where there would be a moment and the camera would cut to each person and what they were doing in that moment, but in writing. So it did drag on.

But as for the story itself, it kept me engaged. It felt unique, with these characters and their abilities and what the actual premise was. It really was a page turner. I pretty much read the 660 page book in two sittings. About 260 in the fist and 400 pages in the next. I got drawn into the story itself.

For character development, I felt it was quite minimal. You had characters who were plucked from situations because of their skills and brought to Scotland to this Institute and they all had trust issues. So they began to trust a bit and make some friends, but as for actual character development I didn’t feel it was very strong.

It was more of a story driven story than a character driven story per se. All the characters had their own moments to shine and while Marlowe was kind of the ‘main’ character, all the characters would have their sections and be important to the overall story. So you were seeing their own stories, how they all got to the Institute and then when at the Institute they had their own part to play in the entire story.

Ordinary Monsters was quite a violent and gory book in moments as well. There were these fight scenes with these creatures that would quite literally rip apart characters and the descriptions were quite graphic and painful. So while the writing and story itself probably could be read by YA, I would recommend it maybe for older YA due to some of the graphic scenes.

As for the cast of characters – they were quite a diverse bunch. They all had a different background, they were all very different as people with very different personalities. So it was quite nice to see such a diverse set of characters through both their ethnicities and skillsets.

Apparently there is a second book, Bringer of Dust, but I am unsure if I’m going to read it. This book ended with a ‘cliffhanger’ but not so much one that you actually have to read the next book. I didn’t feel that “I need the next book now” feeling with this one. I personally felt okay with some of the unanswered questions from this story.

Overall I give this story a 3.5 stars. It is a story that is worth a read, but if you miss it you won’t be missing too much.