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teaandtales1's review against another edition
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness
zedihunter's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Death, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Cursing, and Cancer
Minor: Pedophilia and Adult/minor relationship
mangotwist's review against another edition
Jesus Christ. I thought it was just going to be a story about a dysfunctional family that sees monsters but clearly I was wrong. it is very weird and it got to the point where I just couldn't bear to read it any more. Why put that part in?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts
brianna_moye's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death of parent, and Cancer
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, and Gore
lexarch's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Body horror, and Mental illness
malloryfitz's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Torture
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Abortion
talislibrary's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Heavily influenced by Lovecraft, a family find themselves haunted by monsters, one's which visit each generation. These monsters are looking for something, which they all manage to avoid until one family member invites one in!
There are a great deal of themes and topics approached in this book that will make you uncomfortable, including suicide and grooming, hidden in the guise of a monster. Overall A Cosmology of Monsters follows the generations of a dysfunctional family, making the horror of this book all too real!
There are a great deal of themes and topics approached in this book that will make you uncomfortable, including suicide and grooming, hidden in the guise of a monster. Overall A Cosmology of Monsters follows the generations of a dysfunctional family, making the horror of this book all too real!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts
bozzi1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
5.0
📘Spoiler Free Book Review📘
•
“I don’t reject the choices I’ve made, or the cost. It’s not so surprising, I guess. My monster suit always fit better than my regular skin. I was never a guardian, or a hero, but a creator and harvester of fear.”
•
I’m not sure how to give an adequate review of this book. I went into it completely blind and I think that’s the best way to experience this one, so I don’t want to say too much about the plot. Honestly though, I have a hard time even saying what genre it is. Horror? I suppose. There are monsters, but I don’t think they’ll give you nightmares. Part fantasy and part romance, but for me it was mostly a bird’s eye view of some of the harshest aspects of every day life.
•
Relationship struggles, abuse, family, suicide, sexuality, depression...this book tackles the hard topics, in a very real way, while mixing them into a magical tale of horror and love and hope. I can’t say I loved A Cosmology of Monsters, simply because of the heaviness I felt in my heart as I read it. I also don’t have any complaints. The writing is beautiful, the difficult themes are handled very well, I was invested in the characters, and I thought the ending was absolutely perfect.
•
This book is weird in the best way. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I absolutely recommend it.
•
“...life makes monsters of everyone, but it’s always possible to come back. Pain and death are real, but so are love, and family, and forgiveness.”
•
UPDATE: It’s been a few days and I cannot stop thinking about how amazing this book was. I originally rated it 4.5 stars but I think it was just because it broke my heart so unexpectedly. After some time to reflect, I can absolutely say I loved this book and it deserves all the stars.
•
“I don’t reject the choices I’ve made, or the cost. It’s not so surprising, I guess. My monster suit always fit better than my regular skin. I was never a guardian, or a hero, but a creator and harvester of fear.”
•
I’m not sure how to give an adequate review of this book. I went into it completely blind and I think that’s the best way to experience this one, so I don’t want to say too much about the plot. Honestly though, I have a hard time even saying what genre it is. Horror? I suppose. There are monsters, but I don’t think they’ll give you nightmares. Part fantasy and part romance, but for me it was mostly a bird’s eye view of some of the harshest aspects of every day life.
•
Relationship struggles, abuse, family, suicide, sexuality, depression...this book tackles the hard topics, in a very real way, while mixing them into a magical tale of horror and love and hope. I can’t say I loved A Cosmology of Monsters, simply because of the heaviness I felt in my heart as I read it. I also don’t have any complaints. The writing is beautiful, the difficult themes are handled very well, I was invested in the characters, and I thought the ending was absolutely perfect.
•
This book is weird in the best way. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I absolutely recommend it.
•
“...life makes monsters of everyone, but it’s always possible to come back. Pain and death are real, but so are love, and family, and forgiveness.”
•
UPDATE: It’s been a few days and I cannot stop thinking about how amazing this book was. I originally rated it 4.5 stars but I think it was just because it broke my heart so unexpectedly. After some time to reflect, I can absolutely say I loved this book and it deserves all the stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Terminal illness
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
hauntedtesty's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Can't recommend. This is possibly the first book that triggered my eczema from rage, which is somewhat impressive.
Avoid if you have CSA triggers, because the monster grooming a child to the point of a romantic relationship at the age of 16 onwards (shout out to the monster turning into a hot red head for this) was something I read warily, waiting for the endpoint. And then the endpoint is the character remaining in that relationship, with tacit approval from the author? Between this and another young girl being blamed for being in a relationship with her teacher (acting like she's stroppy and unreasonable etc), I saw a theme I hated.
As this was a lovecraftian inspired tale (taken from an interview), I could see the glimmer of a novel where the tragedy and horror is that characters are trapped by terrible decisions, with monsters siphoning the fear and a more clearer 'oh god, its literally groomed a child for sex'.
I will say that the haunted house aspect of the room shifts was good? As it is, avoid. avoid. avoid.
Avoid if you have CSA triggers, because the monster grooming a child to the point of a romantic relationship at the age of 16 onwards (shout out to the monster turning into a hot red head for this) was something I read warily, waiting for the endpoint. And then the endpoint is the character remaining in that relationship, with tacit approval from the author? Between this and another young girl being blamed for being in a relationship with her teacher (acting like she's stroppy and unreasonable etc), I saw a theme I hated.
As this was a lovecraftian inspired tale (taken from an interview), I could see the glimmer of a novel where the tragedy and horror is that characters are trapped by terrible decisions, with monsters siphoning the fear and a more clearer 'oh god, its literally groomed a child for sex'.
I will say that the haunted house aspect of the room shifts was good? As it is, avoid. avoid. avoid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship
rupesaltai's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
**Content warning: grooming**
I really wanted to like A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill. Parts of it I really did like, and the overall story is engaging and keeps you hooked until the very end. However, I felt that there are so many topics this book aimed to cover (family trauma, emotional neglect, the looming presence of the unknown, some aspects of horror, teen drama, even some aspects of erotica), that the main focus of the story got muddled along the way.
To me it felt like a wave of very deeply moving sections intermingled within a binge-worthy low energy Netflix teen show. Definitely worth a look but not what I had expected it to be. I also kept changing my expectations along the way because the intensity and depth of the story kept oscillating so much for my own personal taste. The ending, which was the most engaging part of it all, felt too short and rushed, and I'm left with the feeling that the whole book and its narrative could have been so much more.
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it by any means. It's an enjoyable book. But that's pretty much it. There isn't much horror to it (although the author has mentioned how he drew a lot of inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft, which is mostly apparent in the naming of the book sections), and its darkness was often subdued and not really brought forward to its full capacity in my own personal view. I still enjoyed reading it and never once felt that it got boring or slow.
However, I should add that the story involves the grooming of a young boy, and this disturbing aspect is never really confronted (it's mentioned once by an accessory character who is promptly discarded), but rather is turned into a love story. This left me feeling icky from the very moment it starts around halfway in the book, and it never really went away.
All in all, a good read that could have been a lot more.
I really wanted to like A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill. Parts of it I really did like, and the overall story is engaging and keeps you hooked until the very end. However, I felt that there are so many topics this book aimed to cover (family trauma, emotional neglect, the looming presence of the unknown, some aspects of horror, teen drama, even some aspects of erotica), that the main focus of the story got muddled along the way.
To me it felt like a wave of very deeply moving sections intermingled within a binge-worthy low energy Netflix teen show. Definitely worth a look but not what I had expected it to be. I also kept changing my expectations along the way because the intensity and depth of the story kept oscillating so much for my own personal taste. The ending, which was the most engaging part of it all, felt too short and rushed, and I'm left with the feeling that the whole book and its narrative could have been so much more.
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it by any means. It's an enjoyable book. But that's pretty much it. There isn't much horror to it (although the author has mentioned how he drew a lot of inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft, which is mostly apparent in the naming of the book sections), and its darkness was often subdued and not really brought forward to its full capacity in my own personal view. I still enjoyed reading it and never once felt that it got boring or slow.
All in all, a good read that could have been a lot more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse