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A review by leahjanespeare
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
3.5
My official small blurby thing:
A mix of The Hunger Games and The Scorpio Races, I couldn't put down this debut. Koral's harsh world of terrifying monsters and an oppressive regime has made her ruthless. She has to be, in order to survive, to protect her family. I loved following her and the other contestants' bloody adventures in the Glory Races.
Now, that being said....
This is a great debut. The writing is good, and there are some great ideas here. I'll definitely be looking for future titles from this author. And I loved about 85% of the book - unfortunately toward the end it failed to deliver. It got really messy and seemed to set up a LOT (but as far as I can tell, it's a standalone??) and then it suddenly ended. I think it should have either been the first in a series, or made longer to properly flesh things out (it's on the short side for a YA fantasy at 350 pages).
There are a lot of social issues addressed in here--class struggles, oppressive governing system, domestic abuse, etc. Also, I really loved her characters because they were complex, messy, and I rooted for all of them, even though everyone is pitted against each other. Worldbuilding though could have been better, character development can't carry the whole book, especially a fantasy.
Anyway, since she tried to fit SO MUCH (good stuff!) in such a short standalone book, by the end she didn't have the follow through to pull it off. I think another editing pass would have helped.I was super bummed. But like I said, I see big potential, and will definitely keep an eye on the author.
A mix of The Hunger Games and The Scorpio Races, I couldn't put down this debut. Koral's harsh world of terrifying monsters and an oppressive regime has made her ruthless. She has to be, in order to survive, to protect her family. I loved following her and the other contestants' bloody adventures in the Glory Races.
Now, that being said....
This is a great debut. The writing is good, and there are some great ideas here. I'll definitely be looking for future titles from this author. And I loved about 85% of the book - unfortunately toward the end it failed to deliver. It got really messy and seemed to set up a LOT (but as far as I can tell, it's a standalone??) and then it suddenly ended. I think it should have either been the first in a series, or made longer to properly flesh things out (it's on the short side for a YA fantasy at 350 pages).
There are a lot of social issues addressed in here--class struggles, oppressive governing system, domestic abuse, etc. Also, I really loved her characters because they were complex, messy, and I rooted for all of them, even though everyone is pitted against each other. Worldbuilding though could have been better, character development can't carry the whole book, especially a fantasy.
Anyway, since she tried to fit SO MUCH (good stuff!) in such a short standalone book, by the end she didn't have the follow through to pull it off. I think another editing pass would have helped.I was super bummed. But like I said, I see big potential, and will definitely keep an eye on the author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence