by Amy Tintera
Series: Monsters #1
Published on July 7, 2020 by HMH Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780358012405
Format: Hardcover
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Seventeen-year-old Clara is ready to fight back. Fight back against her abusive father, fight back against the only life she’s ever known, and most of all, fight back against scrabs, the earth-dwelling monsters that are currently ravaging the world. So when an opportunity arises for Clara to join an international monster-fighting squad, she jumps at the chance.
When Clara starts training with her teammates, however, she realizes what fighting monsters really means: sore muscles, exhaustion, and worst of all, death. Scrabs are unpredictable, violent, and terrifying. But as Clara gains confidence in her battle skills, she starts to realize scrabs might not be the biggest evil. The true monsters are the ones you least expect.
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This Book Explores ALL Types of Monsters
I went into All These Monsters with no real expectations. It’s the first book I’ve read by this author and I don’t read a lot of sci-fi anymore. Whether it was the lack of expectations or the book itself, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book and can’t wait to read the sequel!
Set in the near future, we find our world is fighting off monstrous scrabs that have a tendency to seek out and hunt humans. And, of course, there are groups that are fighting back like the one Clara (the protagonist) decides to join. It made me think of Pacific Rim at first but these monsters are much smaller, and there isn’t really a lot of tech involved in this story. Which isn’t a criticism and frankly, this book wasn’t all about the monsters.
At least not the non-human ones.
For those triggered by domestic and child abuse, both physical and emotional, this might not be a good book for you. The same goes for those triggered by highly abusive relationships. Because that’s where the monsters really come out in this book. Clara comes from a home with an abusive father and throughout the book, it’s a strong element of her past and the relationships she pursues while training and fighting scrabs.
I think that’s what makes this book so important. It not only shows Clara recognizing abuse and escaping it, but also understanding that it’s not normal and it’s not okay, both coming from a parent but also understanding the signs in an abusive relationship. Which, on that note, THANK YOU to the author for not using the “abuser bad boy/love interest” trope. You know, where the story romanticizes the abusive behavior by the mysterious broody love interest? All These Monsters flips things around and it was just really nice to see.
But the story isn’t all about abusive relationships. There’s monster hunting and plenty of action, and Tintera keeps you right there in the midst of it all with the quick pacing and writing that’s easy to fall into. I found Clara’s voice in the story addicting and didn’t want to put this book down. She’s faced so many struggles in her past but here she gets to choose her future and seeing that empowerment on the page was exciting and really moving.
Plus there was quite a large cast of characters to follow along with Clara’s own journey. No dull moments here but I appreciated that the story ebbs and flows enough that I had the chance to breathe before things got exciting again.
And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t consider this book ground-breaking in terms of the concept, but it didn’t matter because the execution hooked me from start to finish. I’m regretting not reading the author’s other books now and will definitely be checking them out in the future, including the sequel to All These Monsters!
I think this is a good book for readers who prefer “softer” sci-fi, as those elements were mostly limited to the scrabs, near-future dystopians, and/or a strong narrative voice. I can’t wait for the sequel and duology conclusion, All These Warriors, next year!
About Austine
I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.
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