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Two words: Emotional Investment.

This review is me on a soapbox telling shouting at anyone/everyone within hearing distance to read it�� NOW! So, I guess, this review isn't a review after all. Right before I started Monsters, I was so worried if Ness would kill off one, some, or all his characters. Then I asked myself, “Is that all you can think of?�� My response: a resounding, YES! My concern extending to the living or dying of these people, clearly establishes my emotional investment. If someone were to complain about the eye dialect or what not, I’d probably rabidly say�� “But that’s the point! Prentiss destroyed any chance they had of getting educated. He had the schools burned�� They can’t help being the way they are!�� If someone were to point out that its monstrous size just covers a lot of violence, I’d (again) say, “Because that’s the way it is�� Sans rainbows and robins, the world can be violent and ugly�� but at least there’s some hope.�� So, yes I’m probably too close to the characters; too much a loyal fan of the series to say anything unbiased about the books and the people in it.

I will say that Monsters of Men is not an easy read, at all. It’s��

INTENSE.

ORIGINAL.

GUT-WRENCHING.

Why? There are so many themes in it~ love, violence, prejudice�� heck, it could be about hope (or its absence.) But there’s a distinct absence of a self-righteous voice. All of them admit to doing horrendous things; none claim perfection or total goodness. I love that absence. That typical dichotomy of us = good and them = bad is absent. Basically, it says to me that we are all capable of being monsters. Or more aptly, there are only people~ all capable of doing bad things; all capable of doing good things. That it’s all a matter of choice.

So, yeah, this is me, still on my soapbox�� still insisting that people get there hands on this series. Love it, hate it... just read it!