I really enjoyed the first half of this, but around the 46% mark the stories started to lag and were really hard to get through. I really didn’t enjoy the use of second person POV in the werewolf story- I found it completely yanked me out of the story. There were a few stories after that that stood out, but overall it didn’t quite deliver for me.

This is one of the coolest short story projects I have read in a long time. Each of these stories adds a new flavor, a new missing piece, a new SOMETHING to the general whole that strengthens the collection and solidifies Andrea Rogers as a YA horror colossus. I especially loved the stories set in the past and was impressed by how Rogers was able to carry the thread of the collection not only from story to story, but from era to era. I don't usually fall for YA, but I fell for this. I loved the concept of the collection itself, and appreciated the family tree of the Wilson and Stone families that we receive in the beginning.

As is true for most story collections, there are stories that stand out and shine above the rest. For me, those were Homecoming, Deer Women, Manifesting Joy, and Hell Hound in No Man's Land. Though I felt each story was strong!

An interesting collection of horror short stories that were compelling. I was expecting this to be more horror, so it seemed much less intensely horror than I was expecting. It was very good and showed a wide range of characters and creatures. For a genre that is not my typical cup of tea, this was really well done.

This was incredible, I’m not sure I can do it justice. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

The creeping horror, the feeling of something is not right was done to perfection in these stories. Supernatural or human, the horror was something that was right in the corner of your eye, causing unease without being overt - I think that’s a balance that’s hard to achieve, and it really elevated the experience, to be right in the same space as the characters.

The entire setup for this book was incredibly neat. It’s more one long story in snapshots, than a more traditional anthology/collection of short stories in my opinion. It follows one family through time, past, present, future, and I loved seeing all the different pieces connect through the book. It became all of one piece, by the end.

The art! Incredible - this added to the atmosphere of the book so much. Perfectly fit the stories, as well as being just gorgeous in their own right.

It’s easy to note the obvious supernatural horrors - vampires, werewolves, etc - but the human side was impeccable as well. Concerns of the time periods - from health to being taken away to school shootings even…it covered it all. Lots of focus on family, both as positives and as negatives. The juxtaposition of the supernatural parts alongside the modern moments like school shootings is just…jarring. In a positive way. It’s hard to describe.

These stories really stay with you, I’ll be thinking about them for a long while. Definitely highly recommend this book! Beautifully crafted on all levels.

I feel like everyone needs to read this book. A collection of 18 horror short stories following generations of a Cherokee family from being forced off their homeland in the 1830s to the future beyond our current year. We see snippets of their lives and being to piece together what has happened in the time between stories. Much of the horror is not splashy or gory, but still leaves the reader with a sucker punch to the gut. Many of the stories left my close to or full on crying, because even through the horror there is a hopefulness that comes from a deep connection to community and the universe. I believe I read in an interview that the author reached out to the illustrator to create illustrations for each story, and this was truly inspired. The illustrations bring that much more to the story as each coincides with the story and features Cherokee syllabary. The illustrations are stunning and I have to get my hands on a finished copy to truly appreciate them AND the family tree!
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Do be warned though that there are themes of grief, dead animals, necromancy, murder, sexual assault (there may be more I am forgetting in my sick haze).

I personally love short story collections that have an overarching theme or connection, and Man Made Monsters perfected that in my opinion. Following a family lineage, Andrea Rogers interweaves classic horror tropes with subtler, sinister daily horrors in a balanced way. I loved how each story was different but still connected to the whole, and I felt engaged throughout. The final four stories were my favorite, and I felt a whole range of emotions. The artwork by Jeff Edwards prior to every story was phenomenal, and I can't wait to order this book so I can appreciate the art printed on pages. A huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

This is such a cool, well-crafted project! Man Made Monsters is a YA collection of short stories in the horror genre, organized chronologically from the 1830's to the future. They follow a Cherokee family through time, with stories including horror tropes from vampires to ghosts to zombies and more. But often the true horror of the story will be rooted in human violence, racism, misogyny, homophobia and systemic oppression. As is often true with collections like this, some stories are stronger than others, but it works so well as a cohesive whole and is ambitious. I will definitely reading more from Rogers in the future and think this is collection well worth your time! I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

okay WOW
i came into this book with no expectations AT ALL and was blown away by these amazing interlocking stories that spanned literal centuries.
it had very effective horror and thriller elements paired with an emotional vulnerability that made me fall in love with all our main characters.
i also love the inclusion of Cherokee words in every story & the dictionary in the back!
I can't wait to pick this up physically asap!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC

A fantastic collection of short stories told from the different perspectives of generations of Cherokee families, from the distant past to the near future. Not quite magical realism, not quite horror or fantasy, Rogers' toes the lines between playing into familiar genre tropes and inventing something completely new. My favorite story was the title one- Man Made Monsters. I also really enjoyed the story about the ghost cat. I didn't know anything about this book besides its beautiful cover. It's one of those gems that I'll never forget.

Probably should have looked into this a bit more before picking it up. I saw the title, cover Horror, short story collection, and I was like YES PLEASE!! But no this was just not for me
The first story was okay. Whenever the character's were talking to each other it was all in another language or sometimes multiple other languages and I just didn't understand it, and it wasn't explained really or anything. At times what the characters were doing also just didn't make sense. Like the main character saw something and instead of running away or trying to stop it she just crawled over and kinda kneeled there. Let me just say it was NOT the kind of situation where you would have done that. What happened after that was disturbing and gross and interesting but also kinda boring?? I think it was the writing style, I just found it boring.
I DNF'd it at about 30% maybe? I don't know but I read a bunch of the stories and none of them were for me. I tried skim reading so I would maybe be able to finish it but I just couldn't
I don't necessarily think it's a bad book, just not for me.

I loved that this was dark and gritty, gripping with each story. It is also unique to me as I don't normally go for collections of short stories, but each one told its own tale masterfully. Very interesting and eye opening!

I want to thank #Netgalley for letting me read an eArc of #ManMadeMonsters by #AndreaRogers

I am not one that usually reads anthologies because I like a fluid story, saying that however I really enjoyed #ManMadeMonsters, in its own rights it was also very fluid. It follows the same Cherokee Family through the generations starting with them fleeing from The Texas Rangers. The first story in the book was pretty hard to read. It did not sugar coat anything and was pretty gruesome in my opinion. The stories consist of Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts and many other creatures that we see in the horror genre but told from Cherokee voices. You'll find that the monsters aren't really truly the terrifying ones in the book but the actual humans within.

I really enjoyed Man Made Monsters. Andrea Rogers and Jeff Edwards did a great job actually making these stories interesting. I couldn’t put this book down.

When you read a collection of stories it is inevitable that some stories will be more interesting to you than others. I found myself wishing some of them would never end and wishing I could skip some others. But overall, I found it to be an entertaining book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked the concept of this book and learning about Cherokee folktales but sadly, for me, it missed the mark.
It took me about 100+ pages to get into it and I found the connection between the first few stories confusing.
I did however like some of the stories after that once I stopped trying to figure out how they were connected.
I think a lot of people will like this book because of the way it is structured but like I said, maybe not really for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

5 full stars for this unique and beautifully illustrated horror collection from a Cherokee author who is sure to be one to watch in years to come.

This book is full of heart, and pain, sadness and powerful women and everything about it is mesmerising.
Every next story was becoming my favourite and I couldn't get enough of them(some were too short for my taste) but the way they intertwined throughout generations with different sets of people, somehow still related and yet all of them entirely different. It's a unique collection of lives that even if the author says are made up, still feel like they are so real, I could meet them randomly and I believe they truly are real, with some supernatural undertones, but still very much lifelike.
In the end some of the last stories were my most favourite, especially Sakonige story, I come from the water, I won't get into details as to why, you'll have to read them all and fell all that I've felt.

Unfortunately this was too slow moving for me which resulted in me not enjoying the stories. The ideas of the stories, however, were really interesting. I wish I'd been able to immerse myself in this.

This is a stunning, albeit brutal, collection of horror stories centered around many generations of one Cherokee family. The span and type of stories is very wide, and I appreciated how deft Rogers was at weaving the different timelines into a cohesive collection. I also appreciated the illustrations.

My apologies but I cannot review this book in its current format. It is near impossible to read. If you still would like me to review it please send me an updated format. Thank you for the opportunity nonetheless.