Title: Lesser Known Monsters
Author: Rory Michaelson
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 289 Pages
Category: Paranormal Fantasy
At a Glance: Lesser Known Monsters, while not flawless, is nonetheless a fun and entertaining read.
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Being the chosen one isn’t always a good thing.
Oscar Tundale is useless, or at least that’s what he’s always thought. He and his friends are about to discover that not only are monsters real, but some of them are very interested in Oscar. Now, they must find out what the monsters want, before something terrible happens to London; or worse yet, the world.
Review: The blurb for Lesser Known Monsters doesn’t reveal even a fraction of the fun things that pop up in its pages, if you think monsters are fun, that is. Rory Michaelson’s debut novel is full of supernatural beings of all sorts, though not the ordinary creatures and ghouls one might expect in a paranormal fantasy.
Set in modern London, the story centers around a trio of friends, one of whom is attracting some attention—albeit not the kind of attention he necessarily wants. Oscar is an unassuming guy, works in a hospital as a nurse technician (the closest I can come up with to his actual job description), and hasn’t been what anyone would deem lucky in the love department. When he encounters a patient in the hospital, a young girl who’s been severely injured, strange things are set in motion that lead him and his friends, Zara and Marcus, on the hunt for what they believe might be a serial killer. Where that hunt takes them opens doors to a whole slew of danger, some of which originates with a man who Oscar thought might have had romantic potential . . . until Dmitri ghosted Oscar and put a definitive end to that notion. Mitigating circumstances most definitely come into play along the way.
Michaelson’s writing is engaging and animated, and the action scenes are well-crafted. His imagination lacks for nothing when it comes to the creatures and beings he’s created, and the danger, action, and suspense are dealt out at the ideal pace to keep the story flowing. There’s a mix of dark fantasy and humor throughout that creates a nice balance to the story, but when things get tense, they’re tense to a delightful degree. My only critical observation was a chapter that introduced a subplot which I felt could have been finessed a bit better; it sprang up out of nowhere and took until near the end to resolve, which made it somewhat more distracting than compelling. I also would’ve loved a little deeper characterization among the book’s diverse cast, most certainly for Zara and Marcus, but especially for Oscar as it’s his background that drives the premise of the entire story.
Given how this book ended, it feels like it could be the first of a series, though I see no indication of it. For Oscar and Dmitri, and for Zara, and for a shadowy background character, there just feels like there’s more story to tell. On it’s own, however, Lesser Known Monsters is, overall, a fun and entertaining read.
You can buy Lesser Known Monsters here:
[zilla_button url=”https://smarturl.it/lesserknownmonsters” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]
