The Book that Could

This might be more of a personal taste but I felt Oscar as the protagonist was pretty blah. The story was just kinda happening around him and I was far more interested in Zara or other characters. I also found the pacing a bit off? Like I wasn’t sure exactly what this book wanted to be especially as some parts just felt slow and the random add ins away from the plot didn’t add to the story much despite how well written they are.

Overall though it was very well written, intriguing, and I was very happy to finish especially with the Narrator giving his all. Just wish the story was a little more

If m/m Urban Fantasy is you thing, go for it! Prove me wrong!

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A fantastic story with excellent narration!

I've had the Lesser Known Monsters trilogy sitting on my bookshelf for ages, as it had been recommended to me by several people. However my health makes reading paperbacks challenging, and so I was delighted when this came out on Audible.

Rhys does an incredible job of bringing the world and characters of the story to life. As someone who listens to a lot of audiobooks, I appreciate a good match of narrator to story, and this was a perfect match!

The story itself is fascinating - like the main character Oscar and his friends, we have no idea what the world contains for a fair while. Some of these "Lesser Known Monsters" are hidden within plain sight, and nothing is quite as it seems.

I don't normally like stories with too much peril or gruesome details, but Rory created characters whose stories I was desperate to hear, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I cannot wait for the next book in the series to be released.

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Brilliant

The author talks about wanting a slower build up of adventure and character building - I thought this was perfection

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Overall, would reccomend

I really liked the way the drama scenes were written and I was drawn in by the main line of the story. I thought it was funny and I enjoyed Oscar as a main character. YES he's a bit of a wet blanket but some people are, okay? And I like that was carried through and he didn't suddenly become someone else. He was just himself throughout and that was enough? It's a nice message.I loved the LGBTQ+ rep and the characters, I feel were well fleshed out.

This was a great audiobook that was read really well. The accents were great and each character was vastly different in tone so you always knew who was speaking.

My negatives: The pacing of this book frustrated me. I felt like it took a while to warm up and the interludes drove me potty! At the start I feel like they teased about what we would be seeing in the future too much making the pace seem slow. At the end, loads of things were happening and the interludes disrupted the flow of the book. Instead of keeping the tension in the narrative it was completely lost at each interlude chapter. The reveal at the end about them was good but not worth the amount their existence throughout annoyed me. I would read the next one though due to the strength of the story and it set up well for the next books. Overall a 3.5* for me.

I recieved this as a free copy for a review of the audiobook.

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terrific book and great adaptation

funny and horrific llike a modern American werewolf in London highly recommended to everyone

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1 person found this helpful

Horror well executed

I’ll start by saying I’m not a fan or horror, but I’m always willing to try a new author. And I’m glad I picked up this audio by Rory Michaelson. I’ll start with the narration – I thought Rhys Jennings did a great job. He was perfect and delivered a stellar performance.

Now, this book isn’t just horror – it’s also about the paranormal. It makes sense the two go together. When things go bump in the night, it’s rarely human. These books pray on our deepest fears about creatures we don’t understand.

It took me a bit of time to understand the format and timelines. How things are never as they appear. How things can reset. But I quite fell into the story with this group of lovely queer characters and, of course, Oscar endeared himself to me. I could relate to his neuroses.

This is the first book in a trilogy and I hope the others will come to audio soon.

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