Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

24 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I really loved this book. It reminded me of lots of other books but it’s its own creature. It’s got the feel of Addie LaRue and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and it’s got talented kids and a special school like X-Men. 

By the end we’re following at least three storylines, all about a great evil that’s going to release the dead into our world and the forces of good that are fighting to keep that from happening. The children are unusual - one has a separate flesh giant that smells of rotting meat but the rest are more appealing - and the monsters are indeed monstrous. 

I’m delighted to report that there’s a hero cat. I’d have given this five stars even if there weren’t a hero cat, but the hero cat puts this firmly in the ten-star category. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Colonisation

fate_of_ansley's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Cannibalism

pickupthebook's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

When Ordinary Monsters was voted to be our most recent book club pick, I was hesitant at first - partly due to its size and partly because Victorian-era fantasies aren’t typically my jam. However, I was pleasantly surprised within the first few chapters. I immediately became attached to each of the characters and the situations they were thrown into. I really enjoyed that the “good versus evil” theme wasn’t quite what you expected it to be. I feel like the pacing was a little off in places, and I do think the book could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter. Overall, I still really enjoyed this and will most likely pick up the next book in the series when it comes out!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

librarianlayla's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

4/4.5 stars.

Prepare yourself for a heartbreaking, raw, ride. Beautifully written, darkly descriptive, and intense.

The only reason this doesn't get the full 5 stars is because there was very little ebb and flow of emotions. It is mostly fraught, with very few light moments to break up the harshness. But I did enjoy it greatly, and am looking forward to the sequel!

For fans of Miss Peregrine's, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Nevers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Murder, and Gaslighting

katieo156's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

3.5

I enjoyed the story, but this could easily have been two books. There was such a long arc to get to the central setting that I was wearing thin on patience. I'm glad I kept going- I did like the characters and their grit, but I wish we had learned more about the magic and mythology of the book. It was vaguely alluded to and then kind of info dumped, but I feel like there's more left to learn that didn't need to be kept hidden for a sequel. I wondered the whole time if

everyone's instant intense love for Marlowe was part of his powers because it was mentioned so frequently and so soon after anyone met him- guess not.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

massivepizzacrust's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

maregred's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Stalking

emilylikesbread's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Picked this up not knowing much about it. I was a little intimidated by the size bc I’m a slow reader, but I actually got through it pretty fast. I thought the plot was interesting and moved along well. I liked that this take on supernatural abilities was a little darker than what you usually see. Definitely felt unique. I look forward to the sequel 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

krysley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

This is how I've been describing this book to people: it's a mashup of Harry Potter and X-Men with an historical fiction setting. Honestly, I think that's pretty accurate.

J.M. Miro creates some incredibly likeable and interesting characters, from Charlie to Alice to, yes, even Jacob Marber, as well as great atmosphere. However, the story gets bogged done with a back-and-forth timeline and an excessively long story. As an audiobook, I was just waiting for it to be over because it didn't seem to be moving along.

The narrator, Ben Onwukwe, has an absolutely beautiful baritone that fits perfectly in the time period. The issue is that he has atrocious voices for women and children, which often sound like gravely southern American accents for some reason. I got used to the weird voices, but it didn't exactly add to my enjoyment of the listening experience. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail