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I have been doing a ton of reading! I recently got my home office set up and during set up I blasted through a bunch of audiobooks! One of those audiobooks was Pet. I had a hold via libby on this book for quite a while and it had finally came in. The audiobook was roughly 6 hours so I thought it would be the first pick to read while setting up my home office. So without further ado, let’s talk about Pet.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In the city of Lucille, there used to be monsters but now all the monsters are gone. The children learn of the monsters in school and are taught that they are long gone, and that they were all saved by the angels. But one day PET comes to life from a painting and PET is here to hunt someone or something. Jam quickly learns that PET is hunting someone related to her best friend in some way. But how do you tell your best friend there is potentially a monster in their house? Should Jam even believe PET?

I absolutely loved this story. The narrator of the audiobook did absolutely amazing. Every time I heard the voice of PET, I was wowed. It gave off a spooky vibe. I saw that there is a prequel book (I think it’s a novella) but I am definitely going to be picking up the audio for that book as well. Without giving too many spoilers, I will say the end of the story is incredibly sad/heartbreaking for Jam and Redemption. I would love to see more in this world sometime soon from the author.

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

This book deserves all the praise it's rec'd. I was blown away by the beautiful writing. While it reads easy it's defn a very deep novel with underlying meanings. The plot was well developed and characters were brought to life on page. I will say though check your trigger warning tho before reading as it does mention abuse. But please don't let it deter you from reading as this book is utterly amazing.

This was a weird, interesting book. I liked the characters and the story. The author's style is definitely unique, and sometimes a little difficult to get into, but I like it. I am interested in seeing what they write next.

I love when YA novels tackle tough topics, because it's such a myth that younger readers can't handle difficult subjects. The way Emezi offers up a story to really sink your teeth into (young or old alike) is so incredible and I've found myself interested in all of her other titles now!

"Pet" is a blend of fantasy and magical realism and is told through the eyes of Jam, whose town has been liberated from the 'monsters' that previously ran amok. However, Jam comes to understand that this comfort that evil had been vanquished might have been mistaken when a monster comes alive and visits Jam. The monster delivers a message that Jam's best friend, Redemption, has something dark and sinister lurking in his house. They must work together to root it out. The way Emezi uses the theme of monsters and the angels who fight them is brilliant and makes the evil that exists in our world much more approachable to the reader.

There was so much rich imagination in this book (the descriptions of the monster alone were amazing!) and it was the perfect length. Emezi making it a little bit on the shorter side allowed me to get fully immersed in Jam's world without feeling like the story was getting dragged out at all. The LGBTQ aspect of the novel also felt like a great way to be inclusive for all readers.

I cannot wait to read more from Emezi - this book has my heart!

This was so short but took a long time for me to get into it! It was just so WEIRD. I feel like a lot of the allegory went over my head...but overall I did enjoy it and I do want to read Bitter soon to see where this gift of Bitter's came from!! I adored Jam. And Pet. I wish there were just one illustration of Pet! TW: child abuse.

This was very startling, very good. Sometimes parts of 'Pet' were very hard to read, and triggering. Most of it was scary!! But it was a redemptive, innovative book, and its themes have stayed with me months after first reading.

This was such a lovely and strange little book! I greatly enjoyed getting to know its characters and world, one so different from our own and yet similar in some highly impactful ways.

This was unexpected and fun but felt rather middle grade. I loved the representation and got drawn in by the story but it didn't feel YA.

Another knockout by Akwaeke Emezi. I will read anything they write at this point. Their ability to tie an imaginative setting and storyline to real world events is astounding. While Pet is clearly pure fantasy, the reason they have been summoned is far too real. I absolutely loved the Jam and Redemption and all of their parents. I felt I got the perfect amount of character development from all of them and also really enjoyed the setting and pacing of the story. I will absolutely recommend this to everyone, YA and adult readers.

So good! My student book club heard about this book after I read it and suggested all 30 of us read it. We devoured it and absolutely loved the representation. We decided it was best suited for an 8th grade audience.

Emezi is a gorgeous writer and they have done it all at this point so why not do YA! This book is a must read for everyone and especially young adults. There is language in here that matters.

Emezi's ability to switch genres and tell unique compelling stories makes her an author to watch. Pet is the kind of book I wish I had when I was a queer teen, unsure of how to exist in the world that was so unwelcoming. Emezi not only imagines a better society but creates a real, compelling story with real people, magic and imagination.

A weird and beautiful exploration of monstrous appearance vs. inner self, dealing with the false promise of utopias and a lot of weighty social issues.

I enjoyed the weirdness, the differentness of this book, but could understand where others might not. This is not an "easy" read and I made sure I was really focused each time I picked it up to read so I didn't miss any thing or get confused. I found this timely and a hard topic that was handled well.

Akwaeke Emezi is one of those author’s that I’ll pick up no matter what. Each book of theirs I’ve read stands out to me for so many reasons. Their writing is this amazing lyricalness that keeps you glued to the page, needing to see what’s going to happen next. Pet did all of this, blending humor with a very tough and upsetting topic that we all should be made more aware of. The basic idea is set in an Utopian town in somewhere US who has gotten rid of all the monsters. Everyone is welcomed and safe because their town was saved by angels. But what happens if the monsters are still there, hiding behind masks?
Jam becomes interested in angels, actual angels that carry the same name that the people who fought for their town against monsters have taken their name. But when her mother’s painting comes alive and tells her there’s a monster in town suddenly everything changes for Jam and her friend Redemption. Together with Pet, a monstrous looking creature that is determined to hunt for the monster, they work together to figure out who and where this monster is. I don’t want to go too far into detail simply because this book is short. But I will warn of some trigger warnings. This book does involve child abuse and sexual assault of a minor. I recommend staying away from this book if these might trigger anyone, but I do suggest it if you can read it. This book is honestly amazing. Jam is a trans girl who was accepted right away when she was three when she came out. Jam doesn’t talk often and will sign to get words out. So when Jam started screaming that she was a girl, her family right away accepted it. As some who’s trans this honestly meant the world to me. Not only that but the characters all gender neutral names. Redemption has three parents, a mom, a dad, and Whisper, who goes by they/them pronouns. Again, I loved this. I loved the characters. I could see what this book was leading to, but I didn’t care. This book is diverse in the best ways. Redemption is a sweet kid who steals your heart and Jam is so smart and has a big heart. And then there’s Pet. I loved Pet. It (using it simply because that’s how Pet was referred to in this book) was so interesting as a character and the fact it cared so much about Jam honestly was everything. There was amazing world building and then you add this creature to the mix. The amount of building myth and world is so good.
All in all I HIGHLY recommend this book.

A beautiful and inventive work of fiction. It's dark, yet whimsical and explores how difficult it can be to see the evil that is happening in front of us because we believe we are safe.

Pet is a great book for students who enjoy dystopian stories. Pet is especially great because it has LGBTQ characters and covers a serious topic that more people need to talk about, but in a very creative way. I really enjoyed the relationship between Pet and Jam. The one problem I had was the ending. It seems like it wrapped up a bit too quick. Hand to students who enjoyed King and the Dragonflies and Cemetary Boys.

This book is one of the most interesting books I have read thus far. Jam is a deaf trans girl who does not suffer from her gender. Jam’s friends and family accept her without question. Although there was a lot of over-explaining I still felt this story was worth my time. The beginning was good things were lacking in some places. We find out the price of creating an institutionalized utopia. The world-building and character development could’ve been more fleshed out. All and all I believe this was an interesting and very unique story about the good and evil among us.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Jam and Redemption are helping Pet hunt a monster, but monsters are not supposed to exist. When they find the monster, the adults in their lives do not believe them. Pet is there to provide justice because it says that humans will never do the right thing. This book is beautifully written and heart-wrenching and the children have to decide what to do to protect the loved ones in their lives when their parents won't listen. It's very emotionally charged and amazing.

Monsters don't exist in the city of Lucille. Not anymore. That's what teenaged Jam and the other children of her generation have grown up learning. There once was a time when people hurt each other-- when abuse and corruption and brutality ran rampant. But police no longer exist, the prisons have been abolished, the monsters are locked away in rehabilitation centers, and programs have been put in place to keep new monsters from forming. But then one day, a strange creature steps out of a painting and claims to be hunting a monster in Jam's best friend's house. And Jam needs to join the hunt.

"The truth does not change whether it is seen or unseen[...] A thing that is happening happens whether you look at it or not. And yes, maybe it is easier not to look. Maybe it is easier to say because you do not see it, it is not happening." (95)

I liked the central message of this book: that monsters thrive in silence. That it's crucial to acknowledge and educate in order to break that silence and expose abusers. That we have to be willing to disrupt seeming peace and order and see past our own biases if we're going to succeed in rooting out abuse and exploitation and injustice. I also loved the casual representation of an all-Black cast, AAVE and Caribbean creole dialects, a transgender selectively-mute MC who uses sign language and occasionally disassociates, and a side polyamorous relationship that includes a nonbinary character with they/them pronouns. I do have some issues with the ending of the book-- I don't think it is clear enough on the ethical manner of dealing with abusers. There is no real explanation as to what the "rehabilitation" facility for monsters actually entails. 3.5 stars

TW: child abuse, pedophilia, religious themes (Christianity)