3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Different Kinds of Monsters follows two stories. The first story follows a strong Allosaurus named First through her life in the Late Jurassic Period. The latter is the story of a man named Dylan Armitage. His chapters follow his life from the age of six in the 1970’s to his present time. Dylan grows up on the road with his mother and father. He has a deep-seated love for dinosaurs and learning. When at the museum in Chicago with his family, he is fascinated by an Allosaurus skeleton named Emily. Mysteriously, Emily follows the family and is featured in museums in the towns they live, which convinces Dylan that he has a special connection to her. Little does he know, the connection he felt towards her wasn’t that she was a protector but as something far more sinister.
Seth Chambers explores many difficult topics in The Different Kinds of Monsters that leaves you questioning who are the real monsters? Is it the dinosaurs who are considered savage, primal beasts who know nothing but kill, eat, and survive? Or is it the people inhabiting the earth now? The book was so aptly named it allows you to explore that topic while reading this beautiful yet horrifyingly written book.
This book dives deep into a few issues people may experience, which warrants an explicit warning before reading. Many, if not all, of the characters, have psychological issues, some more tolerable than others. I struggled to read through the book at times, needing to break away from the world Chambers created and breath or do something more uplifting. While this book is a science fiction with sections written that would not happen, issues that Dylan and other characters experience are real-life issues which made the book all too real. I give a lot of credit to Chambers for writing some of these even if they were far too detailed for my taste. There were a few instances where I felt fewer details would have been a little easier to read and still contribute to the plot and purpose of the book. For example, there is nearly an entire chapter written about Dylan’s experiences with a pedophile. The details of the actions taken could have been less explicit and still have the same effect on the reader.
The amount of research and detail put into First’s side of the story was beautiful. I took the time to look up each dinosaur named in these sections of the novel that I did not know. Knowing what a Torvosaurus or an Ornitholestes looked like helped me to better picture the scenes in First’s chapters. I loved First’s chapters and felt the simplistic, survivalist emotions she experienced throughout her life.
Despite the characters having these psychological issues, and the fact that one of them was a dinosaur, I felt they were strongly developed. There were points in the novel where I felt sympathy for Dylan, his family, and First. There were other times where their actions, although made sense within their persona, made me angry with them. I got to know Dylan, liking his character and rallying behind him, but as the novel progressed, following Dylan’s actions, the question about who the real monsters are was brought up again and again.
The Different Kinds of Monsters was an intense read for me that left me feeling relieved that it was finally over. Chambers did a fantastic job penning this novel, and despite the uncomfortable details, it is a great book. I give The Different Kinds of Monsters 3 out of 4 stars. I liked that the book provoked a lot of thoughts and loved the parts that took place in the Late Jurassic Period. I, again, do wish some details were left out of the book because of the intensity of emotions I felt and how uncomfortable it was to read at times. The characters were developed well. I found no errors in the book, grammatical or otherwise. I would recommend this book to people who are okay with reading such heavy topics as they make up a lot of the book. It is not an easy book to read for the reasons listed above and many more.
******
The Different Kinds Of Monsters
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Eryn Bradshaw's review? Post a comment saying so!
