Set four years after the Fayz and Shade Darby, whose mother was a scientist on the outside of the dome, still has nightmares about the day the Dome came down. now her father is tracking more meteorites from the same place as the one that caused all the trouble in the first place. Shade finds one first and this time instead of just special powers people begin to mutate and an all out war begins between mutants and the U.S.Government. Everything and more that i expected from the Author. Sure to be a hit!

4.5* - Well that was one hell of a ride, I was literally exhausted after finishing!

eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for honest review!

So, going into this I'd only read the first in the Gone series so was aware of what the Fayze was but obviously had no idea about how it all ended. If you're at all inclined, even slightly, to read that series then definitely go do that before you get to this one. Monster goes straight in with what I assume is an account of the happenings at the end of the Gone series from the perspective of Shade, someone outside of the Fayze. It also recounts some of the Gone plot throughout the book, so major spoilers are involved!

Equally, this can also be read from this point without having read the Gone series as it provides everything you need to know.

Monster had all the feels of Steelheart (by Brandon Sanderson) at certain points and had me engrossed from the very start. The writing was great, it was humorous and it flowed really well even with its many POVs and little sub plots.

I love superhero stories and I especially love seeing how characters acquire and adapt to their new abilities. We certainly saw some of that but I think my only criticism is that I would have liked to have seen a bit more experimentation to see the characters master their abilities more rather than the crazy hot mess it accumulated into at the end.

I also found that some of the characters went along with certain things way to easily but I suppose when you read a story like this I recommend you forget the realms of realism and just enjoy the ride for what it is.

One of the things I really liked was the diversity of the characters. I read a fair bit of the YA genre but this is possibly the first book I've ever read with a gender fluid character, albeit not an MC but definitely a prominent sidekick. And the characters identity issues were not just mentioned once as a token gesture, it was integrated throughout, always present which I thought was great. As for the representation in this respect I wouldn't really want to comment and recommend you try to find an own voices review for that. There was also PoC and lesbian rep included too.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a fun and frantic ride into superheroes, villains and monsters. Forget about about how realistic some of it is and I'm sure you'll love it too.

Now that summary is a little misleading because, while Shade is an important and interesting character and the amount of ‘new blood’ Grant pulls into this book is impressive I was most excited about the return of Dekka. That’s right guys. One of the main characters is not only a woman of colour but she is also queer and it just made me so happy. I loved Dekka in the Gone books and I’m beyond glad that she got a higher billing in this book.

That’s not where the buck stops in terms of diverse characters though. We also have a non binary character which in itself was a good thing, though I wasn’t 100% comfortable with some of her (the pronoun she selects in the book) dialogue as some of it felt a little stilted or really blunt the fact that Grant chose not to have a white male protagonist when that was almost certainly a large part of the audience for his earlier books is a good thing.

Plot-wise this is an interesting one to talk about. I wasn’t 100% sure about having the events of the FAYZE repeated across the world, I was worried it would just feel like an upscaled FAYZE which wouldn’t be particularly interesting. In a sense that is what occurs but this is far more character driven than I anticipated, the book follows a number of different characters (you could call it multiple POV) all of whom are affected in some way.

What was interesting is the way Grant has upped his ideas of mutation. Where the powers in the FAYZE were quite ‘clean’ no matter the damage they caused the term ‘monster’ is definitely most applicable here. I shall say no more lest I summon spoilers from beneath the depths but trust me it makes for dramatic reading.

One of the last things I’ll say is that, if you haven’t read Gone and the rest of that series you can still read Monster and understand what’s going on. You’ll miss out on a little bit of background and some of the cameos might not be as powerful but it won’t be a total mystery.

I’m interested to see where the next two books in this sequel series will go, this is a strange sensation of simultaneously being a first book and a really quite late on book in a series.

My rating: 4/5 stars

Monster is publishing on the 19th of October so there’s time to order if you want to read this as soon as possible (let me know what you think!)

By the way, I received a free digital advanced review copy of Monster from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

Michael Grant, you once again stole copious hours of my day I will never get back. What an excellent, brilliantly gripping story! I’ll always love Rio and the girls a little bit more, because Front Lines was unbeatable in my eyes, but superheroes (and SuperMONSTERS!) came pretty close.

This story is very obviously a new spin on the World Grant created with the Gone series. Whilst it definitely helps, and probably adds to the reading experience, to have some memory of the Gone characters, as some characters feature fairly prominently, it really wouldn’t matter if this was the first book you’d read in the series – you get a run-down of what’s been going off in the Gone World very early on in the book to give you enough perspective and background.

Monster is very different to Gone; it introduces new characters who have been mutated by meteorites hitting Earth whilst still keeping some old favourites around for more developments. But don’t be fooled into thinking “this sounds a bit like what happened in the FAYZ”. Oh no. These characters don’t just have an extra ability to show off with. These mutations are allowing kids to morph into some pretty horrific monsters – because why should superpowers always be for superheroes? Why should superpowers be a single unchangeable power? Why not have a book about the monsters for once?

You very quickly become acquainted with the various characters and their monster potential which is probably the most fun to read about; there’s endless potential for the monsters to be a creative explosion of just about anything you can imagine which makes for a really exciting read. For some people this happened by accident, but for Shade and her friend Cruz they have a little more inside knowledge about what’s going on in the World right now because of Shade’s family history and so they of course decide to steal some meteorite, as you do, and ingest it. Because who wouldn’t want to develop superpowers if it was that easy?

This book has so much action packed into it and remains true to the standard brilliant writing style I’ve come to expect from Grant’s books. It is utterly addictive and complex - Shade and Cruz are on the run, Dekka (who you might remember from the Gone series) is having some nasty experiments done to her to see if her powers will morph into something else, and a bunch of diverse characters are morphing into monsters - and all of these storylines come crashing together to make one bad ass, super addictive, plot. How could you possibly resist?

I wasn’t sure at first if jumping back into a story which came to a good conclusion was really going to be as enjoyable. Would it be history repeating itself? Would it be similar ideas just with a fresh coat of paint and a new face to the characters? But it was absolutely worth revisiting; I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Definitely not what I expected, but that's no bad thing! In some ways this felt closer to Charlie Higson's Enemy series than Gone, but then there'd be a turn of phrase and I'd know what I was reading again. Terrifying, brilliant, and when is the next one out?
Thanks for the chance to read. I will post this review to Amazon when allowed.

I did not finish the whole Gone series but a lot of my pupils have. It did not matter as I had already met or knew of the survivors of the dome and I had some concept of conditions/life within the dome. There are enough clues for you to read this without having read the other series. I enjoyed the concept of the mother rock and the race to stop this rock and the other meteors falling into the wrong hands - which inevitably they do. The creatures that they morph into are suitably fantastical. The characters explore the concepts of hero and monster working for or against a 'corrupt' government. An interesting start with more to follow as it was left on a suitable knife edge!

It's been a while since I visited the Gone universe and I didn't realise how much I missed it until I read Monster. Grant is what I would describe as a 'no holds barred' writer and there is something immensely liberating about that. Producing his signatute soul stew of sarcasm, action, emotional ruin and a liberal bloodbath, Grant easily lives up to hi reputation and produces another great book in the series. Weirdly where I came unstuck was that I now prefer his Soldier Girl series so Gone and its compatriates are a sort of victim of that success for me. That said this was still very enjoyable and I look forward to recommending to a hoarde of teens when the library gets a copy.

I received a copy of ‘Monster’ from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The ‘Gone’ series was one of the first things that got me back into reading after Harry Potter, so when I heard that there was going to be more in the series after ‘Light’ (book 6 in the series) ended so perfectly I was a bit hesitant. Interested, but hesitant. Would this be as good as everything that came before? Would I like the new characters that ‘Monster’ was going to focus on?
I am no longer hesitant. I am excited. This new trilogy is going to be great.
‘Monster’ follows takes place four years after the Gone series ended and follows a group of characters – some new and some old (Dekka!!). It was great to read about the old characters again, see how their lives had been after the events that occurred in the FAYZ. The new characters were great, Cruz is definitely my favourite. I’m not quite sure if I like Shade yet though, I felt that she didn’t really think about the consequences of her actions until she was and her friends were facing them.
The plot was excellent, fast paced and engrossing, violent and gory. A great continuation to the series with an ending that will leave any Gone fan longing for the next book. Monster could also be read as separate book entirely if you don’t feel like catching up on the series.

Rating: 4/5

Thank you to Electric Monkey and NetGalley for the opportunity to review ‘Monster’.

Kids trapped inside an invisible dome created by a virus. As time passes animals start to mutate and the trapped kids develop weird powers. Can they survive? Who can be trusted? A more deadly virus hits Earth and now, adults mutate into terrifying monsters. Can anyone help the human race? Only those kids who have special powers will stand a chance. But are they for good or for evil? Highly tense and good pacing.

Michael Grant's 'Gone' series is one of my all-time favourite series so when I found out that 'Monster' was a follow on I knew I HAD to get my hands on a copy.

I had extremely high hopes for this book and I was not disappointed. IT WAS AMAZING!

I loved how some of the main characters from the FAYZ were present and I found it really interesting to see how they were living their lives after their nightmare. The interweaving of the new characters with the older ones was very well done, and their voice was portrayed beautifully causing you to feel all their emotions and form your own judgements about the villains/heros.

I hope this is the start of a new series?! Because I literally cannot wait to found out how the story continues.

In summary, 'Monster' is a must read for anyone that has read the 'Gone' series....and if you haven't read the 'Gone' series then seriously WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GO!