Monster by A. Lee Martinez

Title: Monster
Author: A. Lee Martinez
Age Group: Adults
# of Pages: 295
My Rating: 4.5/5

Judy works at a local food store. You know, the person who stocks the canned goods and organizes those genetically-modified fruits? With such an exciting job, no wonder nothing else ever occurs. But then again, there are those days where you would get those strange customers. Except in Judy's case, they are the most strange. How so? Well, how does a yeti eating up all of the ice cream (except vanilla) you have to stock sounds?

Calling up for help, Judy gets a guy who always changes his skin colour after he sleeps by the name of Monster. His specialty? Taking care of the mythical and bothersome beings that cause mishaps on Earth.

Judy's and Monster's lives become a mess when both of their existences are more troublesome than they are worth.

When I saw the summary of this novel, I knew I had to get it. It sounded absolutely hilarious. I finished it the same day I got it and I was pretty satisfied!

Monster is a different read compared to most adult novels. It has creatures that you never heard of and Martinez made a world of them crawling around without human notice because most people don't have a "sense" for them. Indeed it is a weird novel but I like the weirdness of it.

Monster is an odd character. He once was a normal guy (with knowledge beyond the norm) until he got bitten by a basilisk. Instead of dying, he has a different special power every time he wakes up with a new skin colour. The thing is, he is unable to control what colour he will end up with! To see him have no choice but to use his only ability of the day (it could be from being invisible to blinding you like the sun) when attacked by random creatures is quite amusing. He's a funny guy and it's unfortunate that the story does not explore his history.

I feel bad for Judy. She keeps on forgetting all the supernatural events that happen to her. It really sucks because every time, she would need a memory spell placed on her forehead to remember. And her situation (which you would have to read and find out) just keeps getting dangerous!

What I did not expect at all in this novel was that it evolved around philosophy. A lot of it. Once philosophy came into play, it became a little hard to confusing. But for some reason, I was still compelled to finish the novel. My motto for this book: Just go with it.

I was extremely disappointed that there was no romance at all between Monster and Judy. I sort of figured since the novel is geared toward males, most of "romance" you would get is sex. Even then, the sex scenes do not exist. So those who hope for some love-dovey stuff, you won't find any here.

Overall, Monster is a fun and most peculiar read by A. Lee Martinez. For anyone (especially you men) who are looking for some non-serious novels with no mushy love stuff, this book is for you.

Review copy provided by Hachette Book Group.