Book Review: Heir of Monsters, by G. Bailey

A monster has stalked me.
But now I’m hunting him.

My job is to hunt monsters and I’m damn good at it—until a monster breaks into my apartment in the middle of the night and kidnaps me.

Turns out he isn’t just a monster.

He’s the Wyern king.

Wyern’s, a race feared by everyone, are known to be stronger than the fae who rule my world, and no one has seen them in years. The king needs my help to track down his missing sister from within a city his race is banished from and I’m the best he can find.

Only, he isn’t the only one looking for monsters in Ethereal City.

The Fae Queen’s grandson is missing.

Working for fae, monster or not, is risky. Most end up dead and I have too much to lose to end up as one of them.

I’m going to find the missing royals and be careful about it, especially with my grumpy boss breathing down my neck and watching my every move.

The Wyern King is cruel, cold, and unbelievably beautiful for a male… and my new enemy.

I thought this was a middle-of-the-road read. There wasn’t anything especially bad about it, but nothing wowed me either. I liked Calliophe a lot; the writing was readable, and the world seemed interesting. However, I was always a little vague on what made a monster a monster. I sensed this was more than just a non-human with scary features, but rather a going bad of some, turning them into monsters. But I’m not sure, and that’s the problem. Plus, the twist/villain was super predictable.

I also wasn’t particularly invested in the romance for most of the book. Emerson was just such a jerk for so very long, and when Calliophe suddenly ‘caught feelings,’ I was left wondering why. By the end, I at least accepted that they had feelings for one another. But I didn’t feel like, as a reader, I’d been party to them developing. And there is no spice, FYI. I saw this described as a slow burn, but there’s basically no romantic progression here.

So, as I said, middle-of-the-road (with a pretty steep cliffy at the end). I’d probably read the next book if it passed my feed. But I’m not racing out to buy it.

Other Reviews:

Book Review: Coven, by Jennifer Dugan

Leave a reply

Sooo, funny story about how you can think you remember something and be completely wrong. I knew I signed up to read and review Coven, by Jenifer Dugan and Kit Seaton. So, I wasn’t surprised when it showed up in the mail. Usually, when I receive a graphic novel, it’s from Rockstar Book Tours. So, I set the book aside, waiting for the email to tell me my assigned tour date. And I waited and waited and waited.

Finally, it had been so long that I went to the website searching for the tour dates and was confounded to be unable to find anything listed. That is until a few days later when I received a polite email from Bookish First reminding me not to forget to post my review. Oooooh, that’s where I signed up! Bookish First has no assigned dates; I could have reviewed Coven the day it arrived. So, I dived right in.

Emsy has always lived in sunny California, and she’d much rather spend her days surfing with her friends or hanging out with her girlfriend than honing her powers as a fire elemental. But when members of her family’s coven back east are murdered under mysterious circumstances that can only be the result of powerful witchcraft, her family must suddenly return to dreary upstate New York. There, Emsy will have to master her neglected craft in order to find the killer . . . before her family becomes their next target.

I generally really enjoyed this. I thought the art was gorgeous, and the book portrayed the volatile, hyper-focused, but not always very logical mindset of teens well. It handled the grief aspect equally as well.

I liked the plot (though I figured out who the villain was very early on). There was a little humor and a lot of diversity, and I thought Emsy coming to accept her coven as family counted as personal growth. I can imagine her, Ben, and Ash as the power trio of the up-and-coming generation of the coven.

I did think the pacing a bit off; the beginning dragged bit more than needed and most of the action is packed into the last third. Plus, I feel like we could have been given more resolution between Emsy and her California friends. But all in all, I’ll call this a win. I’d be happy to read another contribution from Jennifer Dugan and/or Kit Seaton.