
Ordinary Monsters
The Talents, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Ben Onwukwe
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By:
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J. M. Miro
About this listen
2022 NPR Best Book of the Year, Long-listed
2022 NYPL Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022 Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year, Long-listed
MOST ANTICIPATED SFF BOOK of 2022 by Tor, The Nerd Daily, CrimeReads, BookBub and more!
"Ordinary Monsters is a towering achievement: a dazzling mountain of wild invention, Dickensian eccentrics, supernatural horrors, and gripping suspense. Be warned... once you step into this penny dreadful to end all penny dreadfuls, you'll never want to leave." —Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Heart-Shaped Box
A STUNNING NEW WORK OF HISTORICAL FANTASY, J. M. MIRO'S ORDINARY MONSTERS INTRODUCES LISTENERS TO THE DARK, LABYRINTHINE WORLD OF THE TALENTS
England, 1882. In Victorian London, two children with mysterious powers are hunted by a figure of darkness—a man made of smoke.
Sixteen-year-old Charlie Ovid, despite a brutal childhood in Mississippi, doesn't have a scar on him. His body heals itself, whether he wants it to or not. Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight car, shines with a strange bluish light. He can melt or mend flesh. When a jaded female detective is recruited to escort them to safety, all three begin a journey into the nature of difference, and belonging, and the shadowy edges of the monstrous.
What follows is a story of wonder and betrayal, from the gaslit streets of London, and the wooden theatres of Meiji-era Tokyo, to an eerie estate outside Edinburgh where other children with gifts—the Talents—have been gathered. There, the world of the dead and the world of the living threaten to collide. And as secrets within the Institute unfurl, Marlowe, Charlie and the rest of the Talents will discover the truth about their abilities, and the nature of what is stalking them: that the worst monsters sometimes come bearing the sweetest gifts.
Riveting in its scope, exquisitely written, Ordinary Monsters presents a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world—and of the gifted, broken children who must save it.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
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Performance
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Story
Thrown into a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts, Kai wakes in the woods with no idea who she is or how she got there. All she knows is that if she cannot reach the Sea of Devour, even this hellscape will get worse. But when she sees the village blacksmith fight invaders with unspeakable skill, she decides to accept his offer of help. Too bad he’s as skilled at annoying her as he is at fighting. As she searches for answers, Kai only finds more questions, especially regarding the blacksmith who can ignite her body like a flame, then douse it with ice in the next breath.
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A Epic Fantasy that fights modern wars
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Great teen book!
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Pretty good story
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Give me more!
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Is the narrator bad? No. But, he does seem to either not be able to capture the feel of the characters and situations, or he was profoundly bored during the recording. He speaks clearly and at a steady tempo. The natural depth of his voice does not seem to lend to large dynamic variation, which is hardly his fault. Think of how much more easily expressive a tenor or a soprano is versus a bass or a baritone. It requires a different kind of skills to provide variety at lower registers versus higher. The narrator invokes an atmosphere of calm at all times, even when the story is trying to be anything but calm.
The story itself has some very interesting elements, and a lot of predictable ones. You shouldn’t choose this title if you want to be taken on a roller coaster of thrills and unexpected turns. This is a very thematic tour through another world and doesn’t pretend to be otherwise.
This is a book that I wish I’d read instead of listened to. I think that I would have enjoyed the story more if the characters were allowed to have their own voices instead of everyone having the same voice with slight variances. I’m speaking of course of the personality and feel of each character instead of the literal voice. In this audio book you’re really only going to get the adoption of an American southern drawl to differentiate the characters in the scenes.
Hard to get through
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Was slow going at first
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Excellent
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exciting and interesting Victoria scifi/fantasy
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A winner all around
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Beautiful!
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Love the British accent from the narrator.
Great story - well narrated
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