I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was the other week. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about.
First up, I’d like to talk about Enter The Endgame by Triona Campbell. Thank you to Scholastic for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
At the end of book two, Asha Kennedy (Lisbeth Salander for a new generation) uncovered the dark secret at the heart of Virtual Reality game ‘Shackle’ – You don’t play the game; it plays you – and was drawn deep into a dangerous world of corruption and greed: discovering the puppet master Lydia Rock and being betrayed by her mentor Jones in the most brutal way.
Now on the run with her love, Dark, Asha knows she’s entering the endgame: the stakes have never been higher and she’s playing to win. Because to lose would mean the end of everything…
Publication Date: 14th August
CW: death, murder, grief, indoctrination, manipulation, brainwashing, violence, injury, infection, imprisonment
My Thoughts:
Enter The Endgame brings this YA dystopian-mystery trilogy to an end in spectacular fashion.
Across A Game of Life or Death and The Traitor in the Game, Campbell set up this brilliant thriller with dystopian elements that are scarily close to current events. Every book has been an evolution from the one before in terms of stakes, tension and the richness of the world we’re inhabiting. The world-building has been fantastic, building from gaming culture to wider conversations around technology and the darker side of the industry. It is vividly imagined with these vibrant gaming sequences that have always been a highlight of the books. Campbell’s background in film and TV production shines through with her incisive way of creating an image that comes to life and sticks with you. The writing has always felt cinematic and I love the way she makes these concepts accessible and understandable.
However, at its heart, these books have always burnt brightest with the characterisation. This is a trilogy about grief and human connections – starting from Asha’s initial quest to this final battle for humanity. Asha’s trajectory over this trilogy is wonderfully textured, especially the way she has reluctantly let people break down her walls and reconnected with Dark. Their relationship is a great dynamic and feels like it has built believably, with bumps in the road along the way. I loved how they spark off one another with ideas and also clash dramatically. Dark loves Asha entirely and she loves him the same. However, she’ll do anything if it means avenging those she’s lost and protecting those she loves. Her passion and intelligence have defined her gameplay throughout and it is no different here.
Enter The Endgame is a wonderful conclusion to a trilogy you need to pick up. Everything had a great payoff from the buildup over the three books and I particularly enjoyed the timely relevance of certain elements that come into play.
Next up, I’d like to talk about When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven. Thank you to Penguin Random House UK Children’s for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Effy is piecing together a story about the tragic betrayal that led to her mother’s death. Arlo hopes to publish a novel – but he’s also trying to start a new chapter with Effy after he broke her heart and ghosted her three years earlier.
Their mentor is Meredith Graffam, enigmatic writer, director and actress, whose compelling accounts of her own near-death experience on the same retreat decades before continue to spark controversy.
But this celebrated teacher is not all she seems, and her students gradually realize they are fighting for something much more primal than academic advantage. As Graffam’s unorthodox teaching methods push them past breaking point, they reveal their darkest secrets, take unthinkable risks and slowly start to turn on one another. But Graffam never expected they would turn on her . . .
Publication Date: 4th September
CW: death, grief, manipulation, murder, blood, injury
My Thoughts:
When We Were Monsters was a classic Dark Academia narrative delivered superbly by Niven.
This is such an atmospheric read with that keen sense of isolation heightening the competition these characters are facing. The remote setting and the overhanging shadow of the infamous violence Meredith Graffam survived all those years ago sends a shiver down your spine. Ghosts are palpably surrounding each of our characters. Niven pushes this narrative to the forefront in a story that grapples with the processing of trauma and how it can inform our creative processes. We can mine our own stories and tell them in a form that works for us, but there is a thin line between showcasing and exploitation when others start to mine these themselves. This book examines this in forensic detail – essentially asking what can be used as inspiration and where do we draw the line? How much of our story are we willing to sell to immortalise ourselves?
It is interested with the process of creation and the all-consuming nature of art on an artist. The creative process is demanding and exhausting and cathartic and beautiful all at the same time, which is mirrored in the initial joy that moves into something darker and foreboding. Graffam is at the centre of it all with unorthodox methods that spiral further and further. The spectre of her past looms large as well, enticing and entrancing our characters too. I loved Niven’s characterisation and how each narrator felt fleshed-out and three-dimensional in a short space of time. You get to unpick their layers and understand their motivations for being there. Despite yourself, you start rooting for them, even knowing that there can only be one winner and it will end in bloodshed. In classic Dark Academia fashion, they are drawn to Graffam like moths to a flame and then chaos gradually unfolds. They applied for the chance to work with the savant but also because of her fame, her platform and the chance she could bestow upon them. When greatness is within reach, what might you do to achieve it?
When We Were Monsters is the perfect book to whet a Dark Academia appetite with a wonderful character focus as introspection turns to mayhem.
Finally, I’d like to delve into The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez. Thank you to Tor UK for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the forest’s curse has plagued her village. But when the Ozmini Church comes to collect its tithe, they don’t listen to the warnings about a monster lurking in the trees. After a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest: if she brings him the monster, he will spare her mother from execution.
Venturing into the blood-soaked woods, Malka finds a monster, albeit not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself if Malka will help to free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.
But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unveil a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save – and to face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.
Publication Date: 11th September
CW: death, murder, ethnic cleansing, religious bigotry, xenophobia, grief, anti-Semitism, injury, violence, torture, gore, body horror, sexism, misogyny, child death, domestic abuse, sexual harassment
My Thoughts:
The Maiden and Her Monster was a gorgeously written story with a beautifully tender heart, rooted in Jewish folklore and history.
Martinez’s writing is sumptuously dark and enticing. There is a lyrical quality that makes you savour each page, even as it is full of horror. This world is fantastically crafted and springs to life around you. Martinez has such an eye for detail that makes this world feel inhabited and vividly recreated on the page. It is those smaller touches that really pull me in.Throughout, there was a palpable sense of love and honour being conveyed in this telling of the story, which spoke to Martinez’s admiration for the craft but also the folklore and historu interwoven into the book and the importance of storytelling in Jewish culture. That respect and love comes across clearly and impactfully with the fantastical elements contrasted against the systemic violence and ostracisation of Malka’s community, pulling on real historical eventy. The darkness of this story stems from the monstrosity of humanity and the lengths to which people will go to hold and keep power. It is sickening and Martinez is unflinching in depicting the brutality of these regimes. To combat this, the magic system is an integral aspect of Malka’s character trajectory, but it is not without its own darkness. This is very much a story about her claiming her own power but also being aware of its consequences and limitations.
Speaking of Malka, she was a fantastic protagonist. Her love for her family drives her and she is forced into this deadly quest in order to protect them. She has grit and passion, but also is flawed and vulnerable. This comes to a head when her path must diverge and she is embroiled in the bigger picture of the world around her. The way the world has been for her suddenly shifts, including beliefs that have always grounded her. I adored the dynamic she had with the monstrous Golem she encounters and the way this shifts and evolves over the course of the book. There is a beautiful and hopeful story that endures despite the hatred and violence that characterises many other events around it.
The Maiden and Her Monster is an impactful story that blends folklore, history and political machinations with an achingly tender story of love in all its forms at its heart.
A Short Book Lover 
4 thoughts on “Mini Review Monday #200”