Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Far from staying in England, or rather, indeed, this Victorian-era fantasy travels around the world spending a lot of time doubling as a delightful period travelogue. If you like slow, immersive, and very character-oriented novels, this will be perfect for you. If you like people with mild or mysterious supernatural powers in this same setting, then it will be even better.

Our heroes are plagued by a slow-burn supernatural chase while we're treated to a slow unveiling of personal histories and eerie magic. There are a few nice plot twists but the pacing is deliberately slow and attempts to be very atmospheric.

Honestly, the atmosphere was mostly pretty good and the characters were better, but I do need to warn potential readers that they shouldn't expect enormous changes. This book is laying down the groundwork for a long haul and either you fall in love or you don't.

I've read a number of books similar in flavor to this and almost all of them blew me out of the water in their own particular ways. This one feels more like a creepy, slow, dark middle-grade YA with adult elements, almost with a Something Wicked This Way Comes feel.

It's definitely worth checking out if this is your thing.



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