I love, love, love this author and so expectations were suitably high - especially given how incredible the Gone series was. Fortunately, this book is also incredible!

I think it could be read as a stand alone novel however so much of it is set in the aftermath of Gone and if you love that series you're so invested in the characters and the world it's set within that I'd definitely recommend you start there first. I'm just glad the end of Gone wasn't really the end! I was literally fizzing with excitement to get my hands on a copy of this.

As soon as I started reading, I was instantly drawn straight back in to a reality where impossible things had happened and yet are completely believable with Michael incredible writing and world building. It's so complete, thorough and engaging that you're immediately back there, alongside them living through it with them.

For fans of the Gone series it is an absolute must read. Full on, no holds barred action-packed book that will seriously get your pulse racing. For those who haven't read the Gone series - WTAF? Read them, now, they are amazing and you won't regret. You'll be bereft they are over which is why it's so awesome that Monster is now available - because you'll be literally desperate to know what happens after.

This book is set four years after Michael Grant's hugely enjoyable Gone series, which kept me glued all the way through the six books in the series.

I was not really very impressed with this attempt to revive the series though - perhaps it should have been left well alone Mr Grant.

This did not really add anything for me, so I will not be pursuing this reboot.

Another great title from Michael Grant! Brilliant as always.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free ecopy for review.

I don't remember what drew me to this book in the first place to be honest. I have never read a Michael Grant book and hadn't really planned to, the synopsis is not a story I would usually go for either. However, I am so glad I did! This book was phenomenal!

Unknowingly, I picked up the 7th book in this series without having read any of the other six (yay!) but I don't feel like I've missed anything not knowing the previous story. The prologue does a brilliant job of filling you in on the details that are important, but also building the suspense so that I couldn't put the book down!

I liked the brutal honesty of the book, knowing this was YA and was from a series that was quite old I wasn't prepared for the graphic elements of it. But they really do add to the story. Grant has a fantastic way of telling the story and making you feel like you are really there alongside that characters, who are also fantastically written and diverse. 

I'm incredibly glad I took a risk on this book and will 100% be picking up the previous six books from the Gone series. I highly recommend this books for fans of superheros and action. The only thing that could have made this better for me personally would be knowing more about the backstory of the world so nothing to fault this book for!

When the dome came down, they thought it was the end of the troubles. Truth is, it was just the beginning
Shade Darby witnessed events that day, with devastating consequences, and vowed never to feel that powerless again. Now, four years later, she gets her hands on a part of the meteor that began it all – and that’s when she changes
Trouble is, Shade’s not the only one mutating, and the authorities cannot allow these superpowers to go unchecked . . .
Very disappointing- nowhere near as good as the GONE series.

This is a new series based after the Gore books but works very well on it's own as there is enough background to bring you up to speed on it.

The book involves more meteorite crashing down to earth but this time all over the world and more people being mutated.

It's a very good YA book, which has enough action and adventure to keep people interested

I will admit I took a punt on this one as I fancied something completely different to read alongside my normal books and had seen this authors Gone series mentioned many times before and was intrigued with the fandom surrounding it. After checking it would be ok to read as a newcomer to the series I delved in and wow!, prepare for your imagination to be blown with teenagers who have contracted a virus and now have unique superpowers but it's how they all respond differently to these powers that shows the diversity of the characters portrayed. How the story is segmented & the roller coaster writing urges you to read on as you are left with cliff hangers.
I am glad I read it and can see why it's a very popular series with younger readers.
My thanks go to the publishers, author and Netgalley in providing me with this arc in return for a honest review.

I am almost ashamed to admit that this is the only one of Michael Grant's books that I have read, his previous books seem to have been on my tbr list forever but I just haven't got around to reading them. I loved this dystopian superhero story and I was glued to the pages until I finished it. Some genuinely scary chapters and some gross out moments that were a little bit too bloody for my usual taste kept me on the edge of my seat and I'm very much looking forward to reading following books. I'll certainly never look at a certain picture book character in the same way again!

I had no idea this was the start of a new series rather than simply a continuation of the Gone series. In a way it is, but it is the aftermath of The Fayz and introduces new characters to the story while keeping a few of the originals. 
Michael hasn't diluted the gory details which is what made the Gone series so fantastic for me. I hope his writing will continue to be brilliant as the Monster series goes on.

Another action-packed episode in the story, with hints of something very curious going on. Hero, villain or something else...it looks like everyone will get to decide their own role!

A brilliant book that smudges the line between hero and villain, superhero and monster...

Brilliant. What a joy to return and finally get to see the post-FAYZ world. It's a story that absolutely needed telling - what happened when the FAYZ kids had to reintegrate into 'normal' society, intertwined with a new story that is just as worthy of attention. It is fresh, but still familiar. A new story with all the best elements of the original Gone series. It is dark, dramatic, twisted, shocking and action-packed.

I was thrilled to see the return of a favourite character of mine as a main protagonist. In an attempt to keep spoiler free - the cast are largely new other than this protagonist with only the odd mention or appearance of a couple of characters (one very notable!) Do not be put off by this, though, because the author also continues his trend of including a diverse ensemble of characters. Some brilliant new personalities are introduced who have lots of room to develop in the coming sequels.

I am convinced that fans of the Gone series will not be disappointed, give it a go!

One of my reading highlights this year has been returning to the world created by Michael Grant in the Gone series: what was known as the FAYZ. Monster takes up the story a few years down the line, when the FAYZ is gone but the memories of the events that took place within it still linger. (For those new to the books, you don't have to have read the others, Monster can be read as a self-contained story. The FAYZ was the name for an area of Perdido Beach that became enclosed within a dome, where everyone over the age of 15 was ejected, and many of those who remained gained special powers.)

Some of the characters from the original books make a reappearance in Monster, as well as some completely new. When meteorites start to land on Earth, they contain a virus that when ingested by humans gives them strange powers - unleashing a battle between good and evil...

I absolutely raced through this book, I was sucked in early on and only came up for air and food once or twice until I'd finished. I think I topped the bath water up three times at the end as I wasn't getting out until I'd finished!

Full of action, adventure and with a strong sense of the moral dilemmas that humans face this is a great read.

I devoured all the books in the "Gone" series and one of my favorite characters was Dekka. So it was amazing to find her as one of the main characters in this book. I loved the world building and the characters. The story isn't for the faint hearted, there's a lot of graphic description and a lot of wounded and/or dead. And it's a long story. But with everything happening it didn't feel like 500+ pages. I highly recommend this book and all the other books in this series. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Egmont UK!

Well, that was one hell of a freaking rollercoaster ride. Action-packed the entire way through, it definitely wasn’t a boring read! I have mixed emotions on my view but i will divulge into that in a second.

For everyone who has already read the gone series a long while ago, don’t worry! Michael grant starts this book with rewriting the last scene in the dome from a new character’s POV to help remind us how it ended. Throughout the book, it does mention quite a few big details from the previous 6 books which is a lot of help, since i read this series 5 years ago. HOWEVER if you have not read the gone series before and have been interested, i highly recommend you finish them before starting this book due to all the spoilers revealed. If you don’t care then go right ahead with Monster. It is a completely different story set 4 years after the other books events! Now to my actual review…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters, the setting and the story. Everything flowed well together to create this crazy modern apocalyptic adventure! And once again Michael Grant has done a fantastic job. We come into the story right off the bat with a major problem! Mutagenic asteroids are raining down on earth from the same space body that originally created the FAYZ. Sounds bad? It gets even worse when the government fails to control the rocks falling into the wrong hands (obviously).

Grant has this very dramatic, brutal writing style. We have seen it in his previous books and let me tell you, he did not hold back in this one. There is so much death, gore and just utter creepiness encased in this book: i can’t believe he fit it all in. I feel like he may have improved in his “storytelling” and i really enjoyed the way he made all the perspectives work together in making a global catastrophe feel so close to home.

The characters are made up of a diverse group of adults, teenagers, races and sexuality. When i say diverse i mean VERY diverse. While i mostly liked all the characters i do feel like because there were so many perspectives that some people weren’t heard from enough and i hope in his next releases he lets them shine a bit more. Also, the characters didn’t get enough time to fully develop. While i liked them, i don’t feel like i really know them all that well, apart from maybe Shade Darby. I just wish that each perspective had more of a focus on who they are, why they are making these choices and doing the things they’re doing.

My main problem with the book is that it feels like Michael Grant tried too hard to make his characters. Every one of them has some sort of issue, whether it be mentally or physically. Personally, i like a book that has diversity in it and can help the readers to have one character they can relate to. Unfortunately, i just don’t think this worked in Grant’s favour. it would be fine if he made these characters and continued on in the story/character development with them reacting in certain ways due to their illnesses. However, it seems like every time we switch perspective we have to be reminded again that this person has ADD or is confused about their gender. Maybe its due to lack of character development, but it seemed like everyone is a walking issue instead of a person.

The powers and transformations are cool and i love the way Grant incorporates the when and where the change takes place to affect the morphs. Totally brilliant. He definitely knows how to write a Superpowers book! So glad i got to read this, it was really entertaining and it makes me want to reread the gone series all over again.

Thank you to Electric Monkey for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This in no way affects my opinions or review on the book.

Woah. This is like the Gone series on steroids. I was hesitant about picking up Monster, thinking that it would be an unnecessary attempt to extend a series that had already been wrapped up well-- but it isn't at all. This is the seventh book I never knew I needed. I can't wait for more!

I think fans of the Gone series will eat this up and be longing for more. I know I did. Grant pulls out many of his trademark dramatic (and kinda gory) action scenes - perhaps even more tense and well-written at this point in the series - and I love how the overall sci-fi mystery just got so much bigger and deeper. After reading this book, I cannot see how the world isn't totally screwed, but I look forward to finding out.


If you don't know, Gone and its sequels introduced us to a world where a huge dome suddenly appears over the town of Perdido Beach and everyone over the age of fifteen disappears. What's more, some of the kids left behind develop strange supernatural powers. And, of course, not everyone uses them for good. It's a modern-day Lord of the Flies and still one of my favourite YA series.

Things got bigger and bigger until Light, where Grant sort of wrapped everything up. Turns out we were all wrong to think it was over. The cause of the Perdido Beach dome and the superpowers is back in Monster. Space rocks carrying a genetically-engineered virus come crashing down around the globe and it's a mad dash for governments to be the first to seize these rocks and prevent them getting into the wrong hands. Spoiler: they get into the wrong hands.

Those looking to get reacquainted with old characters will see Dekka taking the wheel now. Grant's books have always been fairly diverse, but it was especially great to see the group of five protagonists include the black and gay Dekka, Malik who is also black, trans latinx Cruz, and Armo who has ODD. I have always really liked how Grant captures the complex humanity of each of his characters, and that is no less true here with the new additions.

I was hooked from the prologue through to the end. Grant, for me, is just an excellent storyteller; expertly combining characterization, action and intrigue to create a story that keeps me invested. It would be possible to start Monster without reading the other books, as most major things are explained, but I don't recommend it. I think the story that develops over the course of the first six books helps us understand just how HUGE the events of this book are, and also the delight in seeing Dekka again would be lost on new readers.

It's not often these days that I find a YA series that is just plain, action-packed, end-of-the-world fun AND still well-written, but it seems I can always rely on Michael Grant.

Really enjoyed this book as I have the whole Gone series but I felt that it was slightly to long and not quite as gripping as the others .

Monster takes off after the Gone series, although I havent read the Gone series (it has been on my TBR list forever) it didnt impact my understanding of the story, there were plenty of recaps so it was super easy to pick up the story, although it does feature spoilers for the previous books. However I do wish I had more of a back story and connection to the characters.

I loved the superpower aspects & the addition of a gender fluid character. I love seeing different race/gender/sexual representations and this book did it brilliantly.
Monster was so action packed and fast paced from beginning to end. I loved the cast if characters and really enjoyed the different POVs.

After reading this I want to read the original series even more. I loved Monster and the character. It is a brilliant YA read for any action fans.

The 'evil genius of YA fiction' has done it again! Monster is characteristic Michael Grant. Full of breathtaking action scenes, larger than life characters and a story-line which leaves you desperate for more. Set four years after the events of the Gone series, Grant introduces a new threat, but one which cannot be contained under a dome. Soon the whole world is about to experience the terrifying reality of what really happened in the FAYZ. Monster is on one hand a fun old-fashioned monster tale (think Godzilla v King Kong) whilst on the other hand a more modern take on power and responsibility. Highly recommended for readers familiar with the Gone universe or for newcomers looking for a new action-packed  series.

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!