Review: Loved this Urban Fantasy take on the classic Monsters
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2013
Other than a few personal hang-ups I had with catching on to the third person POV, I loved this modern urban fantasy take on the famous monsters we all know (and love?).  The characters and story kept me reading all the way to the exciting end and looking forward to the next one in the series :)Characters / Setting / World BuildingThe whole premise of the story is that all those monster stories you heard growing up are actually, partially true. Those monsters exist. The authors who penned their stories just might not have gotten the monster's details quite correct. For instance, we all know Frankenstein was actually the doctor's name and he built "the monster". But in this world, he built several "monsters", one of which is Natalie Grey. She's several hundred years old and does her best to blend in with the good folks of New York City.But Natalie isn't the only monster around New York City. And to help each monster blend in and stay unnoticed, they get together in a support group who meet in the basement of a church. Just like any other support group in New York City.This is how we meet all the characters of our eclectic cast. Despite some of the problems I had reading this story, I think it was the characters that held my attention most and kept me reading. I think besides Natalie, my favorite characters were Kai, the mummy, and Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. Ms. Petersen's take on the split personalities of Jekyl and Hyde was fantastic. Especially as the story progressed.Story / TempoAlthough I had a bit of trouble getting attached to this group of misfits during their first support group meeting, I hung in there because the story quickly evolved into a mystery. From that point on, the story picked up speed and kept up the decent pace all the way to the end. I can't recall any frivolous scenes.My main hangup with the story, and this may be because it was an ARC I read, is that this story is written in the third person and I often have a problem with this POV. Often times, third person sounds way too close to first person to me. When Ms. Petersen would have the narrator switch the character's POV, I was lost for a few moments until I figured out whose mind the narrator was in.Despite that little POV issue, the uniqueness of the story had me reading all the way to the end. Once there, I was surprised to find out that there is actually another Monstrosity coming out on July 29th, 2013!! I'm actually pretty excited for the next one, both to get back to see where Ms. Petersen takes her characters and to get some closure on a few loose ends.