Review: First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2013
Admittedly, I've circled around F.D.A.G.M. for a couple of months now-- torn between my love for D.L. Carter's other works (including the delicious sequel-preview chapters she drops on her webpage) and my complete and utter boredom with that much over-done YA genre that includes: vampires, zombies, werewolves, angels, necromancers, and yes, witches--Oh, and love triangles involving any combination of these with a perfectly ordinary human. But when tempted by the author with a chance to read and review, I could no longer resist and undertook to dive into this book trusting that Carter would be able to breath new life (perspective, originality, depth, intrigue) into an old tale with her signature style, wit and characterization. I have to say I was not in any way disappointed. In fact, I was captivated from page one.Other's have given a synopsis, so I won't be redundant here. Instead, I will just point out what appealed to me about the book. First off, I immediately related to Amber, having the same shared addictions- coffee and books- and family drama ("There was nothing in the world that could make her more jealous of orphans than having to deal with the reality of a `caring' family." -Amber)I actually loved all the characters (especially the snarky and understatedly philosophic Smoke- "...but magic, real magic, is like a refrigerator!"), though the villain here was not quite the "monster" I had expected from the title-though it wasn't what the main characters were expecting either.I like the way Carter brings in the various separate pieces of a plot in the beginning and then seamlessly intertwines them all together throughout. The plot itself was unique, the action moved fast, the characters were well-written and fully fleshed out, and the dialogue... oh, the dialogue was the best part of the book! I like characters that are real and don't always say the right thing and are a little eccentric and use humor in the most inappropriate situations-- this is Carter's calling card. Just when I thought the suspense was going to undo me, a discussion of "psychic condoms"(for example)would send me into fits of giggles!I have to say that "the house" was one of my favorite characters and I loved that the author was able to give an object such a subtle and dryly humorous personality.When the book ended, I was happy that most of my questions had been answered and the main crisis resolved...and yet, there were just enough loose ends left hanging to instill hope for a sequel.A caution: The "mom" in me feels obligated to state that this is an adult/young adult book-- not suitable for the younger teens-- since many seem to feel that its ok to put a YA classified book into their 13 year old's hands. There is violence, sex, and fantasy concepts that would just confuse most young teens.All in all, not your standard good witch/bad witch tale!