Reviews with content warning for Gore - Ordinary Monsters

Too many different plot lines introduced without sufficient cohesion and context. And if I’m not invested in any of the characters by the first 100 pages, I tend to DNF.

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lc_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

If you loved the Penny Dreadful series, this book is going to satisfy your want for something similar!
Ordinary Monsters took a tight hold of me from the very first page and it would not let go!

In this gothic, victorian inspired world there are children with extraordinary gifts, primarily with enhanced regenerative cells. For example, there is a boy who can completely heal himself no matter the injury, and another girl can make herself entirely invisible. These children are called The Talents.
Agents hunt down these talents and take them to a British Estate where they learn to control their gifts and are protected from outside forces, especially from one Jacob Marber - a terrific, chilling villain with so much depth and a great past you can't help but love and hate!

J.M. Miro is a world building master. His descriptions of certain places are beautiful and gritty and painful. He's taken inspiration from all your favorites and collided them together successfully.
Magic school for mutants? Check! Lovecraftian horror? Check! Dickensian conditions? Check!
And the author has taken his time to introduce every character and make you care about them. But don't get too attached because this world is dark and unforgiving.

All in all this was a great first read from a new author and J.M. Miro might be a new favorite of mine. I look forward to the second book.

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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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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kaiyakaiyo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

I actually quite liked this. I still call bullshit on the only black character coincidentally being the character that has to kill themselves then heal themselves repeatedly to help the white chars but everything else was pretty good. White authors using black pain to further plot, color me surprised. Surprisingly fluff-less for a book this big, most chapters had a purpose and I liked that! Would read another in this series, but i hope it’s not this big

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thesupermassive's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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bonniejpg's review

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Interesting story, but I struggled with some of the writing. One passage was especially confusing due to unclear pronoun usage - the entire meaning of the passage changed depending on which character “he” referd to. I read and reread this passage so many times and still could read it either way. Very possible that it’s just me, but I ultimately decided It wasn’t worth it to keep going and risk running into similar issues.

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fate_of_ansley's review

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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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