All These Monsters by Amy Tintera
Clara Pratt dreams of a way to escape her abusive life. While most teens might make the decision to run away, Clara decides to run toward something—the Grayson St. John Elite Fighting Squad—and the opportunity to take out the scrabs that have invaded the Earth. Maybe she can find the strength to defeat these horrible monsters that are terrorizing the world and escape her own situation. Becoming part of the youngest and weakest fighting squad may have its benefits for survival and a bit of romance but is Clara destined to be caught in a repeat cycle of abuse? Will she get her teammates killed as a result of her inability to overcome her past?

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As one of those people who used to wait for a new episode of Buffy every week, because binge watching a whole season at once was not a thing back then, All These Monsters has kind of thrown me back in time to those last couple of seasons when there was a team fighting evil. Mix it up with The Maze Runner and you get a picture what awaits you in Amy Tintera’s latest book.

Diverse and action-packed, All These Monsters follows 17-year-old Clara, whose only wish is to escape her abusive father and mother, who never did anything to stop him. She finally has her chance when Grayson St. John, CEO of St. John Technologies, announces that he is forming a private fighting squad against scrabs, the monsters who have invaded earth.

Literally running for her life, she hops on a bus which takes her to the tryouts. After making it into the squad, her team is sent to Europe. Clara is finally free from her past, but must face other monsters, which are not as obvious as she first thought.

With not knowing Tintera’s previous work, I did not know what to expect from the plot and I have to say, I was even sceptical how this idea of a story will turn out. Except for one thing, I was not disappointed.

The book is full of diverse characters who all get their fair share in the spotlight, with badass females who save the day. You start to root for them all, while also fearing for their lives. Focusing on Clara, you can see her character develop and become independent with every situation she is facing. At first, she is the girl who runs away from her past, with no money and not knowing anyone. She quickly gets recognised for her fighting skills by her team leader, Julian, who feeds her when he finds out that she is coming to training hungry. Despite that, Clara can take care of herself on her own. She forms friendships and alliances, which is something she never knew she would have.

It is forbidden to start a romantic relationship with your team leader, but it was soon obvious that Julian feels more towards Clara. I am not sure if Clara ever felt the same way about Julian, even just a tiny bit. I guess she was overwhelmed by the fact that people see her and are interested in her. However, from that moment on, things got complicated and the focus shifted from fighting scrabs to an unhealthy relationship.

For such a strong character Clara has become, to get tangled up with someone who quickly showed his aggressive side, made me want to scream. She just escaped one abuser, to fall into the hands of another and become like her mother. God help her! Afterwards, reflecting on the book, it may be necessary for the story to evolve and to set the path for the second book in this duology.

In such a complex world, Tintera has created there is much to explore. I am excited to get to know how the story will continue and what will happen with the team.

I will admit, I had a few issues with the start of this book... Having the main character be super self-depreciating was a bit of a miss for me. I understand what background she comes from, but... I don't know. That's just me, and it really was just right there at the beginning of the book. Once I pushed past that and continued on, I REALLY got into what was happening in the story! There was quite a bit of suspense and a few twists, and the monsters were rather scary! I can't wait to sink my teeth into a sequel! Highly recommend to anyone looking for a good monster fighting book.

Thank you to the publisher, and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this early with an e-ARC!

All These Monsters begins with the main character, Clara, discussing how angry she was about her mother letting her abusive father back into their home, again. To escape her destructive home life, she signs up to fight monsters in Europe. These monsters, called scrabs, create tunnels underground that they use to sneak in and attack humans in highly populated areas. As Clara learns how to become a professional monster killer, she comes to realize that scrabs aren't the only monsters she needs to worry about.

This is the first of Amy Tintera's books that I've read, but it won't be the last. I really enjoyed the plot, which is set in a world we are familiar with, but has an added danger of the scrabs. While the story is about fighting monsters, there really is so much more to the story. Ms. Tintera included many real-life, tough issues that the reader can relate to, even if they aren't monster-fighters. I particularly appreciated that she broached several issues that teen girls and women face, such as unwanted male attention, sexism, and the tendency of people to believe men over women. There is plenty of action, but for me the real heart of the story comes from Clara's struggles and growth, and I think a lot of girls will see a part of themselves within Clara.

I received and advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley in return for my honest critique and review.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Wow! The only reason it took me two sessions to finish this book is because I had to work, which meant I needed enough sleep to function the next day.

Monsters come in many forms, as the title so cleverly suggests. While Clara is the main character, as the story develops readers are introduced to a whole team of characters, ‘Team Loser’.. With humour and action abounding, I raced through this story. While the scrabs are horrible, death dealing monsters, it the behaviour of their human counterparts which is truly monstrous.

Read it, don’t just put it on your TBR list! I hope that you enjoy escaping into the story, too. 😉


Trigger warning: some characters have either been abused or are abusive.

Amazing!! Thank you so much for this advanced copy!!
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Amy Tinteras All These Monsters is exciting, and thrilling, and touching on subject matter that's tough. Loved her a]approach, and the character development was spot on. The timeline and plot flowed very nicely throughout the storyline.
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It is going to be a 4/5 for me!! Cant wait to see the final copy!!

I was really excited for this one but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I found the characters to act younger then their portrayed ages and the world building to be lacking

Great adventure. Liked the strong character of Clara and appreciated the handling of the domestic violence issue. My students will love this.

I will be nominating this for consideration for the 2023 Evergreens.

#AllTheseMonsters
#NetGalley
Thank you to the HMH Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the E-arc copy of All These Monsters.
Once again Amy Tintera creates a story that is both entertaining and exciting. There are monsters lurking in the world. Clara wants to be a monster hunter, but what she finds may or may not cost her everything. An edge of your seat thrill ride!

Best book I've read in awhile. I LOVE Amy Tintera but I was worried. I hate fantasy and listened to the Ruined series on Audible. This wasn't fantasy, more of a sci-fi/magical realism.

The main character is physically abused by her dad and is looking for a way out. There is a training group that hunts monsters and is looking for new recruits. Clara sees this as her chance to get away from Dallas and her family.

She is the weakest on her team, but makes it through and bonds with her team. Not everyone on their team has the same goal in mind, one is a traitor and puts everyone's lives in danger!

There's something compulsively addictive about Amy Tintera's writing. While ALL THESE MONSTERS is far from my favorite of hers, it follows the same unputdownable standard. It's fast-paced and the characters are easy to root for. This story, as the title suggests, is about monsters in all their forms. They come in all shapes and sizes - from the literal ones our main character fights to the human=shaped ones hiding about in plain sight. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoyed THE DARKEST MINDS or NOT EVEN BONES.

I really thought this book would be silly and I did not put much worth in it. I was pleasantly surprised about this book! I really enjoyed it and I feel it almost has a ghost busters feel but with monsters. I will be purchasing this book for my libraries YA collection.