Review by Ginnamassa19 -- The Different Kinds Of Monsters

Ginnamassa19 · Post by **Ginnamassa19** » 21 Apr 2018, 22:13

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Different Kinds Of Monsters" by Seth Chambers.]

3 out of 4 stars

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The Different Kinds of Monsters by Seth Chambers is essentially a novel about, well, monstrosity. Having read the summary, perhaps you’d be led to believe the monster here is the terrifying Allosaurus reigning supreme on the book cover—but there are, of course, different kinds of monsters, and the main villain here is not the dinosaur.

Here is the Sparknotes version: Dylan Armitage has always been obsessed with dinosaurs, but one dinosaur in particular seems to have stayed with him—sometimes quite literally—all his life. His fascination with her soon turns to terror when the following becomes haunting, and his heritage seems entwined with her history, so much so that their fates seem to be almost intertwined. Yet Dylan’s problem doesn’t seem to be this particular kind of monster—not when his own demons seem to have turned him into some kind of monster himself.

The novel combines three different narratives: it alternates between the Allosaurus’ point of view and Dylan’s own, and further splits the latter into Dylan’s present-day life and his recounting of his past.

Mostly, Monsters is concerned with the monstrosity not just of beasts like the Allosaurus and other dinosaurs it features, but more, and more importantly, the bestiality of humans themselves. Who is the monster—the 150-million-year-old dinosaur Dylan claims is after his blood? Or Dylan, who emerges from a childhood so warped and perverse he comes out of it twisted and half-insane himself, hiding all his demons behind a mask of good-natured geniality? The lines blur as readers get further into the book. That’s about all I can safely give away without spoiling the book for any potential readers.

I will say at this point that I definitely did enjoy the novel, if enjoy is the right term. The book deals with quite a few dark themes, including sexual abuse, violence, and (suggested) incest, so while I didn’t exactly relish reading the story, I did appreciate the exploration of how traumatic past experiences could potentially shape the character of a person. Monsters is not a book for anyone looking for a light read, and not for anyone who would potentially be traumatised (or re-traumatised) by these darker themes. However, if you’re looking for something gritty that explores the depths humans can sink to, then this could be a good book for you!

Some things I enjoyed about the book in general:

The premise was a big draw for me, for a start. Entwining the lives of an Allosaurus and a man living in the modern day is a fascinating concept, and I really liked that Chambers provided readers with First’s perspective (the name of the Allosaurus). It’s not every day that you get to see from a dinosaur’s point of view, so dinosaur fans, rejoice! Plot and perspective aside, the dialogue was well written and showed character, and the characters themselves were well fleshed-out (apart from a small plot error, where a minor character appears to tell two different stories of how he met his wife). There are no stock or flat characters: each one is given due consideration and shows individuality, and none of them are completely black and white. Ambiguity is one thing this novel does extremely well.

However, there are also things I didn’t enjoy about this novel:

While the dinosaur point-of-view chapters are unique and interesting, I personally felt that they could have been further developed. First’s life is condensed into a few short chapters, and her purpose for following Dylan Armitage around seems to be at odds with Dylan’s own assumptions, which made the story rather confusing. Since we’re on the topic of underdevelopment, I will say that the second half of the book felt rushed compared to the decent pacing in the first half—Dylan ages years in the span of just a few chapters. This speed-up is especially jarring to the reading flow if you consider that the book is not written chronologically and skips around the timeline. (Also potentially disruptive: for those of you who don’t know the different dinosaur species very well, I suggest you keep a Google tab open!)
There were quite a few typos as well. All of the abovementioned made total immersion in the story a little harder.

Plotwise, I read the book expecting the dinosaur-human link to be the main part of the story, but it wasn’t. The reason for said link was also rather anticlimactic in my opinion (there were intriguing plot points that could have been expanded on but weren’t, so this part of the book fell slightly flat for me)! However, I will say that the metaphor of the different kinds of monsters was very apt, as well as well-demonstrated in the plot.

I give this book 3 out of 4 stars because of the above reasons (it would be more of a 2.5, but I’ll round up). Although a little disappointing at the end, Monsters did hold up pretty well overall for me personally—despite the interrupted reading flow and the flaws in the plot, the good characterisation and the dinosaur POV win points.

TLDR: if you’re into dinosaurs but not so much into exploring the darker recesses of human nature, you should probably skip this book. But if you do want to see how trauma can change someone’s life, then this is the book for you!

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The Different Kinds Of Monsters
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