Koral and Emrik have the dangerous job of combing the sea for vicious creatures, maristags, to train and sell for The Glory Race participants. The survival of their family depends on it. The Glory Race is a tournament geared for the elite to become even more elite. Koral and Emrik are faced with a dire situation when their last maristag bolts. With an ailing sister and a family in distress, Koral does the unthinkable and finds a way to enter the race. She finds herself and the ones she loves in extreme jeopardy, but winning is the only thing that can save her now. An exciting and captivating read!

This book gripped me from the first page and had me rooting for Coral and her family, maybe not so much her father for how he treated them but man, so much heartache! I truly enjoyed the worldbuilding in this novel although some terms that were used and not really explained confused me initially. I enjoyed the monster descriptions at the end of the book but wish I would've found them sooner!
This book really really reminded me of the hunger games and the fight for resources and the extreme inequality only reinforced that. I would love to see a sequel to this book, but at the same time can't imagine any scenario where this world could change within Coral's lifetime with how it was described which makes me sad. I loved everything about this book minus the conditions the renters had to live in - of course they also made the story one that I was more invested in on the flipside. Excellent debut novel!

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy of Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah.

"Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve.
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral's family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they're lucky―survive."

If you're looking for a book with world building, slow burn romance, friendships that make you want yours to step up their game and a yearning for a sequel? Check out Monsters Born and Made!

Fantasy is really hit or miss for me. And, sadly, Monsters Born and Made was a miss. I can see the appeal for those who truly enjoy fantasy, however it’s just a no for me unfortunately

4 stars. I am sadly writing this review a while after having read the book. With that being said, I don't remember a lot of the in depth details but I remember enough to know that I enjoyed the book while I was reading it. It's a classic underdog rising up and going against society story but there are these demonic overgrown seahorse type creatures used for races and out main characters family catches and breeds them. The ending was the part that set this book apart from all the others like this that I have read.

DNF'd. Overall this book just failed to keep my attention. I have started and stopped multiple times, but I cannot get invested in Koral's story. Might try again in the future, but for now I am officially giving up.

With an intricate, original setting and a protagonist just trying to survive in a world where just about everyone is against her, MONSTERS BORN ANAD MADE is an incredible debut! This book is such a rollercoaster of emotion, and I couldn't put it down.

Koral of Sollonia is a maristag hunter, capturing dangerous maristags from the ocean and raising them for the rich Landers who race them in the Glory Race. But when there are no more maristags to sell and there is no more money to buy the medicine her sister needs to survive, Koral enters the Glory Race herself. No Renter has ever entered the Glory Race, so she faces stiff opposition from the start, and people will go to any lengths to keep her from winning. To make matters worse, as a Hunter, Koral and her family are hated by other Renters, who resent them for working with Landers and not joining the rebellion. Koral faces deadly consequences from being caught between both sides, and that's not even considering the dangers in the Glory Race itself.

Koral's POV is so compelling, and the fury I felt at the way she was being treated felt so real and believable to me that in the moments when she does triumph, the payoff feels that much more satisfying. Without any spoilers, I'm really hoping for a sequel, because with that ending I simply *need* to know more about if and how Koral gets herself out of this one. The story is full of twists and turns, and I couldn't predict how it would end.

Koral and her brother, Emrik have the responsibility of taking care of the maristags they capture each year. The actual act of capture is life-threatening and a harrowing experience. When they fail to capture any one year, it could mean the end of their family- no money for food or for the life-saving medicine needed for their little sister. Emrik is seriously injured in the attempt to capture and Koral decides there's only one thing to do- gain a spot in the upcoming Glory Race and win the tournament with their last maristag.

What is the Glory Race? Good question. I only mostly know what it is after reading this book. It's a multiple-day challenge with each day being different. Sometimes held in the colosseum, sometimes through the city streets. Sometimes the colosseum magically changes to make it harder for those racing.

So much to learn in this book. I felt the learning curve was steep to figure out what was happening and who the good guys were, who was bad, and what the actual desired outcome was. A whole lot of suspended belief about how quickly Koral could learn to pull a chariot behind a maristag, let alone sort of tame it? It does remind me a little bit of Hunger Games, so I can see how it was suggested for those that liked that story. I will admit though, by the end I was actually curious to see where the series would go. Not sure if I'll continue the series, but it was left on a pretty good cliffhanger.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Koral has no choice but to join the Glory Race, if she doesn't her family will die. So the Glory Race it is. But will she even stand a chance? At the beginning there is a sense of structure and direction but as the book progress multiple plot lines are introduced and it starts to get messy. This over layering takes away from Koral and the central plot line.

I really feel like this book had so much potential, as other reviewers have said it’s almost like The Scorpio Races meets The Triwizard Tournament but with more mythology. However, the story is not fully fleshed out, the plot and the main character are very chaotic, there was so much going on but only some things got explained. For example, you are left wondering for the whole book why Koral’s family is so ostracized by both the landers and the renters and you only find out after having read almost 90% of the book. I thought it would play a bigger part once revealed but nope it’s mentioned once and never again.

The world building was good but I really wanted to know more about how the class system got so divided when it sounded like the island was settled by people fleeing for their lives.

I know there are so overarching messages in this book but it’s crushed by chaos of that ending. Why even create a rebel organization if they are not going to somewhat succeed and spur on change. In the end nothing changes and we are left wondering what happens are she rides off into the wind.

Tanvi Berwah is a skilled author whose story sticks with you after the last page.

There's so much about this book I have to compliment, from the characters to the lore to the world. The novel's pace is perfect. It doesn't drag on with exposition, and the action doesn't cause the story to skip corners. It's just the right plot speed to keep Monsters Born and Made a gripping page-turner. Even the slow burn isn't too slow *wink-wink*

Something that stuck with me was Koral's drive to make things better for her family, especially her little sister. She's willing to make waves and risk everything for her sister. It's both impressive and frightening to see the lengths Koral will go to to save her sister's life.

If this is just her debut, I can't wait to see what journey Tanvi takes us, readers, next.

Ended up DNFing this at 25% because I just couldn't bring myself to get invested in the story! I had such high hopes from this one especially due to it being a South Asian fantasy and we have so less of those, so I needed it be absolutely stunning, which is maybe why I felt very underwhelmed while actually reading it.

Fans of the hunger games will enjoy this south Asian inspired fantasy story.
Koral will do anything for her family. Even venture into the Raging restless sea to capture dangerous maristags for the Glory race.

But when all their maristags run off and her family are left with nothing to survive on, her brother needing medicine and her father rejecting her.

Koral offers to enter into the Glory race. And she decides to compete with an untamed maristag.

I loved the lore and fantastical elements of this story. The world building was beautiful and the depiction of the maristags and sea creatures was incredible.
Although the plot felt interesting, I didn't quite enjoy it. The characters didn't excite me to root for.

"Monsters Born and Made" is a dystopian YA science-fiction fantasy novel that follows protagonist Koral as she navigates the treacherous dangers of entering the Glory Race in order to save her sister. As a Hunter, Koral has spent her life catching, training, and selling dangerous maristags, the beasts used to pull chariots in the Glory Race. As the story unfolds, it's clear that the maristags are the least of Koral's worries.

Other reviewers have noted the similarities between this novel and The Hunger Games. Berwah's website mentions that in her youth she blogged about Suzanne Collins's work, so it's unsurprising that those similarities would exist. While there are large archetypal parallels between the two books, there was plenty to set "Monsters Born and Made" apart. Koral is (for better or worse) a more likeable protagonist than Katniss. The sea-monster swarmed world is uniquely it's own or, if anything, more comparable to tales of kaiju. The political intrigue got rolling a bit sooner in this book as well, though I assume it would continue to escalate in any future sequels. The divisions amongst the citizens was very reminiscent of a modern-day caste system, which I found to be more interesting than more geographically based distinctions.

My biggest critique is that I had a more difficult time getting into this story. Once I was past the first few chapters, the story flowed quickly, but there was a lot of world building to establish that threw me for a loop. I think the detail and effort put into the world building was great and the information was worth it, but it did come at the cost of flow in the earlier chapters.

Tanvi Berwah's MONSTERS BORN AND MADE is about a girl from a family of sea-monster trainers who sacrifices everything to be the first of her caste to compete in a monstrous chariot race in an effort to save her sister's life. Monsters Born and Made was impossible to put down. I was blown away by the author’s ability to write such phenomenal scenes. This debut forced me to feel the characters' emotions. The plot was cleverly woven, with each scene leading toward a larger goal. The conclusion answered all the questions the story asked, and resolved the plot. It started and ended strong. The characters each played a vital role in the story. I connected to these characters so deeply that I didn't want their story to end. I was totally invested in them throughout the entire book.

This was a fantastic dystopian/fantasy that was both hard to put down and also very deep and hard to continue at the same time. The world-building was very well done as well.

Man, this was such a fantastic read! The synopsis sounded so intriguing, and it was, once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down! There was just so much going on that I wanted to know more about, and it was so entertaining!

This island that has maristags surrounding it, I had to know more! We got a bit of background, how they came to this land, and how the race came to be, and this system of Landers and Renters. So that was pretty interesting, and a bit infuriating, to read.

Koral's position is pretty awful. She's a Hunter, the only family to hunt for maristags, so they're elevated above other Renters, but Landers look down upon them, and neither group likes them. That her sister is sick and needs a steady stream of medicine when they don't have their method of income...joining the race was risky, but if she won, the payoff would've been worth it. It was such a compelling and entertianing story!

I really hope that this becomes a series, or we at least more time in this world. Because it's so interesting, and the way things ended, well, they haven't changed yet, but it's coming. And I want to see that, because it needs to be changed!

Loved reading this book, and I'm excited to see what Tanvi Berwah writes next!

The story reminds me of The Hunger Games. Struggling and raw, powerful and uncertain. I loved the writing, the characters, and the way I was sucked into another society so thoroughly.

This book was hard to understand all the elements at first but once I started understanding the world I was hooked. But literally, Koral has the worst luck EVER. Every turn she took something unfortunate was happening to her or her family. She literally could not win…even if she did she would have never won at anything. She was betrayed so much and so many unfortunate events I was frustrated FOR her. I was hoping she would catch a break and finally at the end she did. Man what a roller coaster of a book.

This was a DNF for me - I might come back and try again when I'm more in the mood for this kind of read.