A review by rebecca_simard
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

5.0

An incredible wrap up to the series. The additional POVs provide so much nuance and make you feel how stuck the characters all are. Forces the reader to question how does a society move forward and reach peace after unforgivable acts have been committed. Watching the characters get manipulated over and over again is incredibly frustrating but shows how far power and fear can corrupt these characters we've grown to love. Like a lot of other reviews, my biggest problem with this book is the ending.

I do not like Todd being implied to have survived. As sad as his death made me, I think it was effective storytelling. Todd has spent two books becoming one and the same with the Mayor, to the point where Viola has trouble even telling them apart, both in appearance and behavior. The Return killing him thinking he is the Mayor is the perfectly devastating way to show that Todd has become corrupted by the time he spent with the Mayor and surrounded by violence. But because the parts about him coming back to life/recovering are all the last 10 pages of the series I'll just pretend it didn't happen and enjoy my closure.

5/5 series if you can put up with the characters making bad choices over and over again and a really unique writing style that changes in format throughout the series.