Reviews - Monstrilio | The StoryGraph

7.45k reviews for:

Monstrilio

Gerardo Sámano Córdova

4.2 AVERAGE

naldo_reads's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

animar19's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A wonderful and unsettling book about grief and the aftermath of loss. Told through a grieving mother and father that create a monster to replace their son. The 4 POVs give such a glimpse of how people process grief differently and lengths they will go to save the ones they love. I also adore how the book (and whole main family) is also so casually queer.

The last POV especially asks more questions about identity, masking, and perhaps how those who love us are flawed but still beautiful. A melancholy read that I will be thinking about for quite awhile.

hessianhighfashion's review against another edition

3.5

An allegory of grief, Monstrilio is a literary horror that delivers a brilliant concept but ultimately missed the mark for me on its delivery.
I’ve tried to analyse what didn’t land because it definitely has some beautifully sad moments. I think it simultaneously under explored some elements and then over explored others. The hunger metaphor was a little overdone and the body horror I didn’t feel was necessary. Adding the disclaimer here that I’m yet to find a book where I’ve felt body horror is necessary, so that might be a me problem.
I wanted to connect more with the characters and while there were fleeting moments where their grief hit hard, there wasn’t enough depth to the characters for me to fully connect to them. I haven’t read anything like it, it’s an original and ambitious novel but one that fell short of its big ideas.

ashiscool's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

autumnthefox's review

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I don’t know what I feel after reading this except tired. I loved how it was split into quarters, each with a different pov, as we only get each character’s thoughts for a limited section of the timeline. I was surprised by how much heart there was, though I feel like each character was limited in their true development. Also, Magos is Sally Bowles and no one can convince me otherwise.