Hardcover, 273 pages
Released: February 22, 2011
Published by: Simon Pulse
Gods & Monsters #1
Source: Own
For fans of: Mythology, New Adult, Fantasy
Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.
She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very…different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.
Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.
*MY THOUGHTS*
First off, I want to say I have never read a book like this before. Every mythology book I have ever read had made the gods and goddesses the exact opposite of what this book did. And for that, I thank you Kelly Keaton. It was a refreshing twist on the normal YA mythology genre. And I’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers 😉
Anyways, Ari is different from other teens her age. Her mother gave her up when she was a baby, she bounced around from foster home to foster home, and to top it off, her hair is white and her eyes are teal. So one day, she goes off to find out why all of this happened to her and her adventure leads her to New 2, a near future New Orleans where things are way different than what they seem. When she arrives at New 2, her life takes all sorts of ups and downs. She eventually finds out about the curse and it ends up being wayyyy more than she bargained for.
This book was filled with suspense to the very end. I kind of felt like there wasn’t too much going on, but when there WAS something happening, it was a BIG something. Also, it was a little frustrating because I knew what the big curse was from the get go, but that’s because I’m a nerd and I knew about that person’s curse already lol
What I enjoyed the most, was the fact that this book was definitely thoroughly researched. Everything from the gumbo, to the over ground cemeteries, to the Mardi Gras parades to just everything. Being that I’m from Louisiana, I was really blown away on how much she knew. Everything that she knew about “The Rim” and everything was just perfect.
The characters in this book was also amazing. They all had their own unique personalities and they all brought their own “something” to the story. The fact that they were all “very” different made the story even more interesting.
This is one story that will leave you hanging on to the very last word. It opened my eyes to a whole new way to do mythology in YA lit.
