Book Review
Title: The Monsters We Deserve
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Genre: YA/Horror
Rating: *****
Review: So, I didn’t know anything about the Monsters We Deserve when I requested it, but Marcus Sedgwick is a well-known author. However, the synopsis (below) doesn’t give much away:
The Villa Diodati, on the shore of Lake Geneva, 1816: the Year without Summer. As Byron, Polidori, and Mr. and Mrs. Shelley shelter from the unexpected weather, old ghost stories are read, and new ghost stories imagined. Born by the twin brains of the Shelley’s is Frankenstein, one of the most influential tales of horror of all time.
In a remote mountain house, high in the French Alps, an author broods on Shelley’s creation. Reality and perception merge fuelled by poisoned thoughts. Humankind makes monsters; but who really creates who? This is a book about reason, the imagination, and the creative act of reading and writing. Marcus Sedgwick’s ghostly, menacing novel celebrates the legacy of Mary Shelley’s literary debut in its bicentenary year.
So, we follow the perspective of a nameless, gender-less author musing on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as the author attempts to find the inspiration for their next novel but failing miserably. As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the author finds inspiration but not in the way you would except as this author loathes Shelley’s greatest work and doesn’t mince words about telling us so. You know what, despite the fact this is just one author’s musing on a book they love to hate I was really enjoying this novel. There are some darker almost supernatural elements hidden in the story, but it really allows you to delve deep into the psyche of an author and how they view their own work as well as the works of others.
As the author continues trying to write a new story, we them tainted with a crippling sense of paranoia especially at night and it just adds something extra to the creepy atmosphere of the novel. As we cross into the second half of the novel, strange and mysterious things start happening to the author and the author is beginning to believe more and more that the monsters we create are real but writes it off as paranoia.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, something happens that totally blew my mind and it turns out the author wasn’t paranoid at all, there are actually supernatural things happening at this old cabin but what appears before the author is no beastie or ghoul but something the author holds a deep affection and a deep hatred for.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we know what is coming but haven’t got a clue as to when or how. The ending of the novel has to author come to terms with the truth and meet their fate in a way that is shocking and stunning all at once. If all Marcus Sedgewick’s writing is like this I will definitely be reading them in the future.
Buy it here:
Hardcover/Paperback: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley
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