A review by kaabtik
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The first few chapters flew by to me, as it seemed to hit my favorite settings in a book: high stakes, a complicated family, and a past one tries to bury. However, as the book went on, it fell into a tangle of big events upon big events that ultimately lost the intrigue. I had a problem with the pacing, as it felt like a lot of things were happening all at once with little to no pause, and neither Koral nor the readers know what exactly was going on. While the use of first person in present tense is not my favorite, I do think that most of the confusion stemmed from that and it would have been more clear in a different voice, or with multiple POVs. Overall, it was a book that might be someone's next favorite, as the elements were right there but the execution was not it for me personally.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing me this ARC via NetGalley. This does not in any shape or form influence my review on this book.