A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Review)

 

Series: Standalone

Genre: Fantasy

Book Length: 206 pages

Publication Date: March 12th, 2013

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Format: ebook
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Synopsis:

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

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In all honesty, going into this story, I didn't expect to love too much, like my love for the Cassandra Clare books. I thought I was just going to love it and the messages in it and nothing more.

Boy, I was completely wrong.

I didn't like this book. I didn't just love this book

I found this to be one of the most beautiful stories I've read so far and love this book too much. This is one of those stories that anyone of any age can read and enjoy. Children, teens, adults and grandparents alike will love and enjoy this book on all levels.

I think my favorite part of the story was the writing. This writing was just as beautiful as the book itself. It feels so magical and...that is literally the only word I can use to describe this book. I am aware that this isn't actually his own story, but it was inspired from an idea by the late Siobhan Dowd, but in a way it feels like it's his own tale. I will be sure to check out both of Ness and Dowd's works sometime in the future.

Another thing I absolutely loved was the symbolism and metaphor of the monster himself. I won't say anything about it though because I might spoil parts of the book, so the only way I will tell you is reading it yourself. But I found that to be beautiful and just...beautiful. (I am writing this right after I finished reading it and my emotions are kind of drained).

I will not say anything more about the book because I want to not put down any spoilers or anything that I could be spoiler-y, so I will just wrap my review up. I obviously gave this beautiful, magical story a 5/5 stars. And I feel like the only way I can end this is by telling you guys one of my favorite quotes from the entire book:
“You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”