Ordinary Monsters

I received Ordinary Monsters ARC from Flatiron in exchange for an honest review. This dark Victorian fantasy traces the lives of Talents - children with special gifts - and those that find and care for them with the hope to keep them safe in an old crumbling castle in Scotland. But the darkness is also hunting them.

In Ordinary Monsters, Miro explores humanity in all its shades, from the brutal to the sympathetic, and from locations around the world. There was a lot of familiarity in this story. It was difficult not to see shades of Harry Potter with Marlowe's story line, and I couldn't help but read Emmett Till into the Charlie Ovid character. A bit of Pippi in Ribs.

Though other Talents were introduced into the story, it centers on Marlowe and Charlie who have been hunted and brought to the Cairndale Institute for Talents. The trip alone to the Institute was as dangerous as their lives where before they were found. They are who the darkness seeks and who the Institute is trying to protect. But all is not what is seems to be. There they meet other Talents and begin to unravel the lies, find the truth. Their purpose.

Well over 600 pages the story jumps between past and present allowing the reader to become familiar with the diverse cast of characters, and there are several to meet, some popping up late in the story. As the Talents come together outside Edinburgh, secrets, fears and the dead threaten to rip the world apart.

The story was compelling enough to keep me turning the pages. It is a planned trilogy. I look forward to reading the next installment. If you're looking diverse and strong female characters and monsters in a Victorian fantasy, this one's for you.