Rory Michaelson

Book source ~ BBNYA Tour

Oscar Tundale is just going about his business working in healthcare when his life takes a sudden left turn. Oscar is more than he could possibly think and he’s about to find out how and why. The question is: will he believe?

Ok, so there’s a lot that I like about this story. The diverse cast, the lesser known monsters (or in my case, the not known), the plot, and the world.

However, there’s much that falls flat. Oscar. Let’s talk about the MC for a minute. I get it. He doesn’t think he’s special. Don’t most of us think that of ourselves at some point? But Oscar takes it to the extreme. And I can’t forget to mention how wishy washy he is. With no spine. I mean, at all. It gets really frustrating how ineffective he is. There’s no real depth to him and he doesn’t grow during the book. Disappointing. Dmitri is a bit of a cliche and I cannot tell you how much I loathe when a character refuses to explain things. Even a little bit. “Oh, it’s so complicated. I’m trying to keep you safe.” But I’m not going to tell you a damn thing so you can go off and be in danger. FFS. Marcus is so annoying I wonder how anyone can be friends with him. At least his character grows. Zara is someone I could hang with. Although her character’s path is a bit too convenient for me, I'll accept it. The villain has a cartoonish feel making it hard to be afraid.

The writing feels clunky and a tad amateurish. It doesn’t flow as smoothly as I thought it would for a 10th place finalist. All-in-all this is a different take on a monster/end of the world story and it is intriguing even with the issues that bug me. While this is a mixed bag for me, plenty of others have really enjoyed it, so pick it up and dive in.… (altro)

I really enjoyed this collection of creepy short stories. They all have some sort of otherworldly creature or "monster" but feels more in the world of faerie than any kind of supernatural being. No ghosts or vampires here but instead creatures based on regional folklore.

While I did have issues with the first book [b:Lesser Known Monsters|55374322|Lesser Known Monsters|Rory Michaelson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600510978l/55374322._SY75_.jpg|86362822], this shows that Michaelson does have strong storytelling skills as well as a grasp on the world they've created for this series of books. A few of these stories are a little too short as we don't get any real development other then showing off the monsters but as a collection, it's strong. The main story that's dispersed among the rest of the one-shots is very heartwarming as well, rather than being a creepy horror story, and I thought that was a good call for the editor and author so it's not just a cute story and then a bunch of scary ones after or before.
It definitely made me look forward to the next book in the series than I was before reading this.… (altro)

This took me about 30% of the book to actually get into and, reading the other reviews, I couldn't see what I was missing. I almost DNF'd it because it seemed really boring and I didn't care about Oscar and his woe-is-me attitude, but once he and his friends broke into Dmitri's house and we were shown some actual action, I was a little more invested, if only to see where it was going.

The world Michaelson builds here does remind me a lot of Gaiman or Froud and has a distinct British feel to it. If you liked [b:Neverwhere|14497|Neverwhere (London Below, #1)|Neil Gaiman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348747943l/14497._SX50_.jpg|16534] but wish there was a little more ripping flesh, this should be in your wheelhouse.

Besides its really slow start, I did have a few other issues with the plot. Oscar is a wishy-washy character but he becomes a little more endearing when we see more of him than just being mildly incompetent at his nursing job.
I felt that Zara getting her vague powers was a little out of left field and, while I'm sure we'll learn more about it in future books, it should have been Oscar. If you wanted Zara to be more interesting than Oscar, write the book from her POV instead. It also didn't make sense that her whole family was aware of the supernatural world - even her cop cousin that dated Oscar - but she had no idea, and yet still seems to recover from that bombshell and is able to use her powers way too quickly.
Marcus is pretty much a nothing character. Being black and trans doesn't a character make. He does help save Oscar in the end but otherwise doesn't need to be here.
Dmitri is very much in the "gentle giant" trope in that he's this horrific supernatural assassin and yet, in human form, seems almost like a wet towel - all wet, sad eyes. The insta-attraction between him and Oscar is a little nonsensical, unless we find that Oscar has a little more to him than we saw in this book. Another reason him suddenly inheriting super powers would make more sense than a side-character. The (only) sex scene between Dmitri and Oscar happening while he knows his friends are being held captive in Dmitri's basement with some sandwiches and no bathroom is insane. It's also not shown - we go from some heavy petting and then to him waking up the next morning in a new chapter, and his friends are still in the spider-infested piss basement below and heard everything. It was just very strange.

I mostly enjoyed this book because of the dark supernatural world these characters are in rather than any of them. There needs to be some growth or an important twist for Oscar to keep the story worth reading because, as of now, he's in Bella Swan territory.… (altro)