Ordinary Monsters

The Talents, Book 1

By: J. M. Miro

Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe

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.

©2022 J. M. Miro (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Great teen book!

Loved the narrator; he was pleasant listen to. The story was entertaining but it bounced a bit between characters in the beginning, stick with it though, they all come together and it’s story weaves through magic, space and time. Highly recommend!

Pretty good story

Starts slow but, stick with it. The ending seems a bit rushed although it’s still a good ending. It seems like it said it’s self up for a second novel.

Excellent

I really loved this book! Twist and turns around every corner and was very captivating. The narrator was the perfect choice for this book.

exciting and interesting Victoria scifi/fantasy

wonderful read with lots of interesting concepts and great characters. Has the interesting concepts of YA novels but is much more intense and fully realized for an adult audience. The narrative performance was superb with a delightfully deep mysterious rumbling narration and unique character voices. very good audiobook

A winner all around

I recommend this book! The presentation is excellent and the story is spellbinding! I hated to get to the end and hope for a sequel.

Give me more!

OMG what a story and there are so many branches to this tree. Spine tingling and heroic.

Hard to get through

I’m currently an hour from finishing this book, and it has been quite a chore. I haven’t felt compelled to return to it at any time outside of literally having nothing else if interest to listen to while performing mundane tasks.

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.

Was slow going at first

Overall the story line was fresh and inventive. I liked the Victorian Gothic tone. Some of the 'battle' scenes were a little long, but overall it was great.

A little boring but still good

A lot of world building that takes forever. Still listened to the end because the narration was fantastic & the overall story is good.

Great story

I really enjoyed this one. It might be a debut novel? I'm not sure. The story was dark, compelling, shocking, and intriguing. It was a little long at times, the characters were sometimes annoying, and unfortunately the epilogue was not included in the audiobook when I listened to it (I don't know if it has since been edited to include the epilogue - I hope so). I got the ebook from my library to read it, and I think it's necessary to the story. I hope this has been fixed in the audiobook that's available now. I highly recommend this! I look forward to the sequel.