First of all THAT COVER THO. it's absolutely gorgeous 😍

Monsters Born and Made was a fun, easy read that was a perfect escape to get lost in! I really enjoyed reading this one. Having loved The Hunger Games when I was younger, I did have some of those vibes while reading this one! I thought the characters in this book were great, and you can't help but love and root for Koral.

I really loved the audiobook version of this one, and thought the narrator did a great job!

I definitely recommend this one if you like fantasy romance with dystopian vibes and magical creatures.

DNF at 24%
I thought I would love this. Folklore, trials to the death, but this one just wasn’t for me. The beginning of the book was a jump into the story and try to catch up beginning. MC has an abusive father and a neglectful mother who stays because she’s scared and leaves her young children to try to get them out of their situation. Just instant ick for me. That trope is so detrimental to young people’s health. For mothers to just be complacent and stay in abusive relationship because it’s easier for the kids to see her being beat then to try to get them out. I already could tell where that was going in the story. I understand some children grow up wishing that they could have gotten their mothers out but it’s not their responsibility and this just did not vibe well with me.

3.5⭐️

This book would be better I think if I were reading it instead of listening to the audiobook. The narrator over annunciates everything and strains her voice in moments that are supposed to be stressful but just make Koral sound really, really annoying and disingenuous. It has major horse-girl energy, where only Koral seems capable to taming her maristag for the Glory Race, which is also very reminiscent of The Hunger Games except Koral sneaks into the race to earn money for her family. Overall, just okay for me but I am definitely biased based on the narrator’s performance and often found it distracting to the point that I could not focus on what was happening in the story.

2/5 stars.

I struggled through this book. Hard.

As an audiobook, I felt my shoulders constantly creeping up to my ears because the pacing/inflections didn't work for me. The voice was near hysterics and rather than add suspense, it was draining to try to tamp down unnecessary emotion to be able to listen to the story.

For Koral to be the protagonist, a first-person narrative just didn't work. The vivid imagery coming in the midst of intense moments seemed disingenuine and misplaced. While fighting for her life in the Glory Race, I doubt that a normal person would take stock of each sense + the crowd + the fellow competitors in such agonizing detail.

Also, the premise just wasn't all that unique. Protecting younger siblings, parents hiding their stories, government holding classes down... it's been done before.

Ob a positive side--Emrik & Krane were interesting characters. I'd be interested in more of their stories.

**Thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for the free ARC prior to publication. All opinions are my own.**

Themes & vibes:

• dystopian setting
• sea monsters
• violent racing competition
• YA friends to rivals to potential lovers

Though this story wasn't exactly bad, there was nothing about it to keep my attention or make me want to read more. Everything was fine but pretty forgettable.

The bones of a good story were there, but for some reason I couldn't relate or care about any of it. And I didn't like the ending, though I’m sure many readers would disagree.

I've listened to this book as audiobook. The narrator was good, I’m sure I’d enjoy it if the story was better.

All in all, I’m giving Monsters Born and Made 2.5 ⭐, and I’ve rounded it up instead of down because it was a debut and I did think it had potential.

If you want to see my much more in depth review, you can check it out on my book blog NovelOnMyMind.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah in exchange for an honest review.

From the moment I saw that gorgeous cover and read the blurb of Monsters Born and Made I knew I needed to read it.
And I truly wanted to love it. The premise was amazing.
I mean, a dystopian water world? A badass MC entering a deadly competition as an underdog? A race with marine monsters?
Well, what could have possibly gone wrong? Sadly, the answer is a lot.

This book fell flat for me and I found it difficult to get attached to the main character, Koral. The love interest was pretty bland and didn't build to something more.
The most intriguing aspects of the story (the Maristag race and the uprising rebellion against the caste system) were presented in such a rushed and superficial way that half the time left me confused, and wanting for more the other half.
Considering how much it was advertised, it was hard to get many South Asian vibes from this novel.

Overall, it was a quite average read that a younger YA audience may appreciate nonetheless.

I have read the first few chapters of the e-book, and then listened to the entire audiobook. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Monsters Born and Made is an interesting take on the YA-competing-for-your-life trope.

Koral’s family were once well-respected, but all it takes is one failed season to change their luck.
When a second failed season looms, Koral decides to compete in the Glory Race - a deadly competition inaccessible to people of her class.

I liked Koral and was intrigued by the relationships in the novel.
The narrator was fantastic, I thoroughly enjoyed her reading of the book.
I will certainly read the sequel when it comes out.

Scorpio Races meets the Hunger Games in this intense battle for survival. I will definitely be recommending this to my students and enjoyed the very real dynamic of a dysfunctional family since many books do not dive into the unhealthy abuse that happens. This will hopefully be a good talking point for students.

I really enjoyed the premise to this one just wish it had a bit more world building and character development

I have read the first few chapters of the e-book, and then listened to the entire audiobook.

When you read the first six chapters of a novel in one sitting, and you keep tapping your Kindle furiously just to realize that it is already the end of the excerpt, you know it's a great book. It drew me into the story immediately. The description of the world, especially that of the magical animals is amazing, and there was not a single page where I felt my attention wandering. Based on the first few chapters, Hunger Games and Eragon comes to mind.

I really enjoyed this taster and felt over the moon when I learnt that I can listen to the audio book version. Most of the time, the narrator adds so much to the book... not in this case, I'm afraid. I found her so very annoying that I almost left the book unfinished. Through her voice, the main character has become a whiny girl as opposed to the strong female character I met in the e-book. Maybe it's just me, so do listen to the Sample before going for the whole audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an Advance Review Copy.

I truly wanted to love this book from the moment I read its description. Post-apocalyptic water world? Badass FMC entering a competition to help her family? Strange and unusual creatures? All of this combined made it seem right up my alley. Sadly, I DNF’ed it at 19% after struggling hard.

In fairness, I will say that part of my decision to shelve this book was the narrator. I don’t listen to many audiobooks, and might have muddled through were I reading it myself, but this particular narrator grated on me and just made the main character seem even less appealing.

Koral, the main character, seemed very flat and unsympathetic. I couldn’t bring myself to care much about her or her plight, and some of that is probably because she presents as a weak copy of Katniss from The Hunger Games. In fact, much of the portion of the book that I got through seemed to too closely parallel a poor version of the series: Koral has a frail sister with a dynamic similar to Katniss/Prim; Koral’s family is poor but prior to the events at the start of this book, generally seem to live (very slightly) above others in the poorer class because of their tenuous Hunter status, much the way Katniss’ family does due to her hunting skills and her goat; Koral visits an area similar to the black market dealings of the Hob in HG; and so on.

MBaM describes a caste system in this dystopian setting, the Renters (poor) and the Landers (wealthy). Koral’s family are the only Hunters on her island — their job is to capture, breed, and train sea monsters called maristags for a voluntary competition that occurs every four years. This caste system is apparently the bulk of what is supposed to make this novel South Asian-inspired, but I just don’t get any other South Asian feels from it.

It was incredibly difficult for me to visualize the maristags. In fact, I had trouble visualizing most of the world within this book. I wanted to know more about what made this fascinating place become an endless ocean with a few rocky outcroppings these characters have come to cling to in order to survive. Maybe that comes later on, but it would’ve caught my attention better if I’d had even a few more crumbs of world-building early on.

I tried to push through to the action of the competition, thinking maybe the book would improve once I did, but the apparent ease with which Koral was able to sneak into the competition turned me off completely. The setup was rushed and sloppy to me, and I couldn’t continue.

Perhaps one day I’ll try this again in print, but for now I need to leave it be. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to this advanced audio in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this I domt really listen to many audio books but this was a really good listen I enjoyed the story so much I've already got the copy ordered and can't wait to get it in the mail

I truly enjoyed this book. It had a good mix of everything I love in a good read. A main character that is easy to connect to and pull for, a love interest, drama to battle, people to dislike and monsters.

The main character, Koral, is a determined young woman who is trying to prove herself in a society that wants everyone to follow very specific "rules." If you aren't in a specific group, you are automatically cut out from certain opportunities. Koral realizes that to help her family rise above their overwhelming poverty, she's going to have to buck the system and not back down. When she does so, it risks everything she values. People go after her and her family.

I have to say that the title of this book couldn't have been more appropriate. This book had numerous monsters and the author did a great job of describing them. and helping the reader envision them. She also helped to create people who behaved like monsters....to me, those were the monsters that were "made." Hence, the very word perfect title.

I read the ebook version and listened to the audio. Both were equally enjoyable. The narration of the audiobook was well done and kept me engaged. I would recommend it to those who enjoy listening to audios. (4 stars for the audio)

Thank you to NetGalley for both the ARC and audio ARC. I voluntarily chose to review these and the opinions contained within are my own.

Monsters Born and Made was such a fun book. It is the story of Koral, a 16 year old hunter of fantastical water creatures. Her family is stuck in the lower class (think hunger games-ish levels of poverty). When her family faces and major set back, and her sister’s life is on the line, she makes a choice to challenge the status quo and enter into a race where she can win lots of gold.

Koral is brave and stands up for herself and her family. She makes decisions based on her love for others. This is definitely a younger YA book and there is a love interest, but it is very tame.

I as gifted the audio version of this book by @netgalley. I loved the audio for this book. The narrator did a great job putting herself into the mind of a 16 year old girl.

I believe this is a first of a series and I’m excited to see what comes next for Koral.

Really enjoyed this.
The descriptive world building and mysterious mythical animals really made this book stand out for me.
I enjoyed Korals character, and found I was gripped with the glory races and maristags.
This wasnt what i was expecting and was outside of my comfort zone, but I'm thrilled I read it.

I initially DNFd this one not because of quality, but because my head space wasn’t conducive to read just the eARC. But I was able to receive an audiobook ARC and that went much better! ⁣
⁣
I loved the super unique, Hunger Games sort of dystopian feel for this world Berwah created. I loved the incorporation of new magical creatures with the Maristags. The relationship between Koral and Stormgold was really great. Koral is a well rounded protagonist for this book, and I thought the author did a great job developing her. Her desire to prove herself to her abusive father, to provide for her family, and her defiance and fury towards the inequalities in her society, counter balanced with her feelings for her ex and competitor Dorian made this a fascinating read. Full of action and high stakes competition, MONSTERS BORN AND MADE went from a DNF to a 5⭐️ read for me, and I really enjoyed it the second time around.

🌟 Happy Publication Day to Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah 🌟

Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 3.75/5

This is Tanvis debut novel and the cover and interior is stunning. The book starts out strong and grips you immediately. It was a quick and easy YA read. I am so sure that many young readers will love this story of strength, family and redemption.

For me, at times it felt like it could have almost fit in a middle grade genre. Or I'm just spoiled by my adult fantasy books and need to stick to my lane. 😂

I also really need character ARCs to help pull everything together and make the story mean something to me. And I felt this was missing in MBAM. The whole story felt a little one noted and it fell flat. I was also disappointed because I needed more South Asian inspiration for the book to be advertised as such!

I read both the ebook and listened to the audiobook. The narrator did a wonderful job!

I will definitely give future works by this author a shot!♥️

#monstersbornandmade
#tanviberwah #yafantasybooks #yafantasy #youngadultbooks #bookishcommunity #bookstagram #audiobook #fairyloot #illumicrate #bookishbox #bookreview #momswhoread #readersofinstagram

Battle Royale, but for druids. As in, animal handling proficiency!

On Koral's island, the Landers are the elite, arriving on the island first and claiming homes below ground. The Renters came after, and live under the dangerous sun, scraping by and dying young. Koral's family is worse off than most, with a terminally ill sister whose medicine leaves them further impoverished, and years of bad returns selling the dangerous maristags. Koral sees only one way out: win the Glory Race, in which no Renter has ever competed, and in which many, many competitors die.

And, as with any other YA Battle Royale, add in a romance plot. Though, to be fair, NOT a triangle! IT's pretty mutual and healthy, which I appreciate.

Overall, it's pretty enjoyable. It's got a definite "horse girl grew up" vibe, with Koral KNOWING there's something SPECIAL about her maristag, and having a RARE CONNECTION with the creature, but it's not overdone. And Koral does have the background raising maristags to justify her skill in handling the creature, even if it isn't a special kind.

The book itself claims a comparison to the Hunger Games, so I don't feel so bad saying there are a LOT of parallels. Certainly, there's plenty of fiction (based on fact...) out there about the rich exploiting the poor for entertainment, but the whole spectacle of the Glory Race has a lot of Hunger Games vibes. Fancy outfits, big parties, an "elected" leader who has been around, despot-ing for AGES.

I'd say this a good pick for someone who liked the Hunger Games and wants more of the like. And that's fair! There's a lot of people out there looking for that. And, again, horse lovers are gonna like this, as well. As a general YA fantasy, it's pretty good, but does remain at 4 stars, for me.

There's no announcement on Goodreads of a sequel, but there is plenty of room there.

Advanced review copy provided by the publisher.

DNF at 25%
(Please note that while I did not include a star rating for my review on Goodreads or Storygraph, NetGalley won't allow me to submit feedback here without assigning a star rating which is something I typically don't do for books that I DNF, especially for debut authors! So I wouldn't say that this is objectively a 1 star book, just a book that really did not work for me!)

Monsters Born and Made is the story of Koral, a teenage girl from a poor family in the lower caste of society who is tasked with partially supporting her family which for her means hunting, capturing, breeding and caring for maristags - powerful, volatile amphibious creatures that are central to a large event in her society known as the Glory Race. When her circumstances take a turn for the worse, Koral decides that she must take her family's one remaining maristag and find a way to enter the race in hopes that she can win since the prize would make a massive difference for her family. The catch? Usually participants in Glory Race are the elite, powerful and rich of society who have dedicated oodles of time preparing for the race while Koral hasn't attempted to train her maristag.

I love a dystopian, high stakes competitions featuring underdogs, forbidden romance and Asian inspired fantasy especially when the audiobook has a fantastic narrator so this really seemed like it was really going to be a winning combination for me. It was one of my most anticipated releases for 2022 so it absolutely breaks my heart that I just couldn't get into it! In this particular case it's very much just my tastes and preferences in a few areas that didn't mesh well with this book.

First and foremost, the world building presented in the setup of this book felt very piecemeal. What Berwah chooses to present in the opening chapters of this book seemed incredibly focused on our main character and some of her experiences within her society instead of giving us a good idea of how her society functioned or introducing tension for the core of the plot of the book by letting us know anything about the Glory Race or the seemingly impending revolution. I also found that though we're told a lot about Koral's circumstances, we don't seem to get very strong reactions or much inner monologue from her about it so there was just a big disconnect for me. As a plot focused reader who was more interested in this book for the dystopian and competition elements, and who prefers very emotional and reactive characters that I typically tend to find in other popular Asian fantasy books this just wasn't at all what I was expecting or hoping for.

I also just didn't enjoy the writing style as it included a fair amount of what I can only describe as very melodramatic feeling metaphors and similes as well as emotions written into the narrative rather than shown. For example:

"She smiled, and it was like the glimmer of a new star."
"The Abyss starts to terrify me and a thousand oceans whisper in my ear."
"The drums echo in my soul."
"...but will I ever drop my guard enough to look at her the way she's looking at me - with trust in her eyes?"

I will say that the writing at the part that I got up to felt like it was building up to some fantastic social commentary which felt encouraging!

I think that this story will work so much better for more character driven readers who prefer to empathize and connect with characters based on their circumstances rather than their emotions and for readers who tend to enjoy some purple prose! Overall, I'm sad that this one didn't do it for me since it has so many great tropes and has such a great audiobook but I'm just not the right audience for it.

Thank you so much to RB Media and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Overall, I thought this was just a really average book. I originally requested so I can learn more about South Asian mythology and was thoroughly disappointed with the lack of it. Most of the tales and mythology references I recognized from Greco-Roman mythology.

Otherwise, I loved the amount of romance in the book & the pacing of it - the overall story was fine, just something that I felt has been done before many times and didn't really improve on any concept or add any additional social commentary? Just a fun little palette cleanser, but nothing revolutionary.