dnf at 19%

i listened to the audiobook and i’m sorry to say this, but the narrator was absolutely awful. every sentence ended with an emphasis on the last word and everything was said in such a nervous voice, it’s enough to give anyone anxiety. the story itself wasn’t anywhere near interesting enough for me to suffer through this narrator’s voice. nothing happens, the main character is whiny, no one in this book is likeable and i don’t understand much about this world. so i’m sorry, but this wasn’t for me.

i received the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Monsters Born and Made
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 9/6/22
Author: Tanvi Berwah
Publisher: RB Media
Narrator: Deepa Samuel
Goodreads Rating: 3.87

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and RB Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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.

When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family's financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can't afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral's only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.

But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When riots break out and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister's―before the whole island burns.

My Thoughts: I am not usually a fantasy person but I kept seeing this book and wanted to take a go at a fantasy novel. The cover is so amazing and this drew me to the book. The premise is to be guided by South Asian mythology however, the actuality is more on classical mythology. The world building was what hooked me in, I would liked to have learned more about maristags, but that may be more revealed in a later novel. The characters had depth, strength, chemistry, and I loved how they were portrayed. The author’s writing style was complex, intriguing, magical, and worked well. This book has been compared to Hunger Games, I believe two books can have a similar plot, but be vastly different; I believe this fit that different category. I would recommend preordering this book that releases early next month.

TW: Classism, blood, gore, domestic abuse, parental abuse

This book started really rough for me, there was a ton of information that thrown at me right off the bat that was really hard to digest. A lot of the monstrous animals were hard to picture with the descriptions given and the world building was kind of just thrown in your face and assumed you knew what was going on. (I didn't until much later.) There's Landers...the rich elite people of the island and there are Renters, the poor working class. And in between is the Hunter family. The Hunters, literally hunt these beasts called Meristags (I think they are some type of horned horse/fish type creature), train them and then sell them to the Landers

Koral Hunter is very much the typical hero, doing anything and everything to save her family, including risking her own life. She ends up sneaking her way into being a charioteer in the 150th Glory Race, a trial of several dangerous chariot races (with Meristags) that will declare one person the Champion and they will receive gold and glory. Koral's family is indebted up to their eyeballs and her sister is in need of medical care so she figures the only way to save her sister and her entire family is to enter the Glory Race.

The similarities to the Hunger Games were abound. There's the challenge that's supposed to fix everything in the hero's life, the untrustworthy Landmaster (authority figure), and the rebellion faction interfering in everything. So you might like this if you were a Hunger Games fan. I thought the characters were okay, the little romance gave a bit of Cruel Prince vibes but we are left in limbo on that front with the huge cliffhanger at the end.

Overall this book did not flow well for me, that combined with the hard to imagine creatures and world I slugged through it so I could at least write this review. It never seemed Koral would pull through all of the depressing events that just kept happening to her. My hope was non existent and the way it ended was just as disappointing.

I did receive an audiobook ARC as well and while I appreciated the narrator's emotion while reading this, her tone matched the stagnant and clunky feel of the book and I ended up reading only at about halfway through.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire and RB Media for providing me with an eARC and audiobook ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Koral is a Hunter, her family is given this title as it is their responsibility to capture and breed Maristags for the Landers to purchase and race in the annual Glory race. After an incident which resulted in her brother being injured and their family requiring the money to assist in medical fees for these injuries and their sisters chronic illness, Koral decides to enter this annual race. This book follows Koral's struggles with being involved in a Lander competition, as well as the consequences of these actions against her family from the Renter community. Koral must also navigate hostilities from a Lander boy from her past.

This novel has an interesting world and some strong characters, however most of the elements aren't sufficiently explained and so everything feels shallow or hard to grasp. I think there are a lot of good ideas, however because so many events occur there isn't enough time spent on anything specifically to fully round-out the concepts. With so many encounters and potential life-threatening situations the stakes never feel real enough that the reader can feel concern for the character. I never engaged fully with Koral as a character as she felt too shallow, where her decisions and actions were never well developed, e.g. when she chose to enter the Maristag race it felt completely out-of-the-blue. I think if there had been fewer elements within the novel and more time was spent on fleshing out these remaining elements, it would greatly improve the experience for the reader. I also didn't enjoy the narration of the audiobook, so this may have also contributed towards my not-connecting with the novel.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for an ARC of the audio in exchange for an honest review.
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah follows Koral. Alongside her brother, Koral hunts maristag in order to sell to the ruling class who use the creatures in the Glory Race. After failing to secure any maristags for the year to breed, Koral enters into the Glory Race with their last remaining maristag.
Overall, this was an enjoyable story. The world was so interesting, with dystopian elements and a type of caste system set in place. The connection between Koral and her maristag was something I really loved. It was also nice to watch Koral come to understand the maristag more. At first, I didn't care much for Koral, but she did grow on me. The characterization of her desperation to help her sister and survive was really well done.
I think the actual Glory Race competition scenes were my favorite. They were written pretty well and I could imagine how things were playing out.
The synopsis on the book sounded much more intriguing than it actually was for me personally. With the ending we got, I do hope there is plans to make a sequel because I do not enjoy open endings. Some parts felt like the same sentiments and arguments were needlessly repeating, which made it drag a bit sometimes. It especially felt repetitive in the inner monologue parts, and it hurt my enjoyment.
My biggest criticism is that while the worldbuilding is interesting, I think we could've spent more time with it (in two ways). For one, we could've lost the repetition to get it even more fleshed out- especially more on the history side of things. Secondly, it would've been beneficial to get information about the world a little slower. In the start, it's very info dumpy, with little to nothing to break it up. Info dumps, in my opinion, can be effective without hurting enjoyment or being confusing if it's a little more spaced out. Give us some world building information while the characters are doing other things/while the plot is still progressing. Stopping the actually story to spend half an hour of an audiobook on mostly worldbuilding can pull a reader out of the story.
I would definitely still recommend this to lovers of YA dystopians or fantasy, so long as the trigger warnings don't turn you away. This story does contain violence and in depth descriptions of animal attacks/injuries/death.

I was excited to read this book—South Asian-inspired, aquatic Hunger Games fantasy with an lover-to-enemies twist. Plus, the preorder campaign featured a gorgeous limited first-print illustrated hardcase beneath the cover.

Suffice to say, when DNFed the ARC at 32% and went to cancel my Waterstones preorder, I sat for a full minute, staring at the screen, and thinking ‘how did it go so terribly wrong?’

Monsters Born and Made is not a completely terrible book. It is, however, mediocre, lacklustre, and uninspiring. The story was all over the place—trying to be many things at once and not exploring any single thing in enough depth or detail to give itself substance. The pacing was simultaneously slow and jilting; the characters were dull and shallow, with the barest veneer of flimsy motivation spread over them—more plot devices than subjects a reader could grow to care about.

For a story advertised to be South Asian-inspired, it is painfully lacking in South Asian mythology and instead features a heavy Greco-Roman influence in the plot. Monsters Born and Made is, sadly, a complete and utter let down. I can’t even think of one positive thing to say about the book, which is a rare case for me. The kindest thing I can say is that it is inoffensive and forgettable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

Rep: South Asian inspired characters, terminally ill sc

This book has a lot of action. It starts off in right in the action. The world and characters are South Asian inspired and has some mythological creatures. The main character’s family catches and sell these water horse-like creatures to rich people who enter into a sort of Hunger Games type battlefield tournament. Koral decides to enter to win the prize money to help her terminally ill sister.

I didn’t really get super invested in the story or the characters. The main character whined a lot, which sometimes was understandable, but I didn't really care about her that much. A lot of it felt predictable. It would have been nice to learn more about Koral and Dorian’s past relationship. It could have also done with more world building.

What I enjoyed most about this book are the mythological creatures. For some reason I thought the maristags were more sea-based though, but they were still cool. It was interesting seeing Koral’s bond with her maristag.

The cover is really pretty.

Overall, it’s an alright read. Not my fave but it wasn’t bad, just average.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, this was honestly really great. As a horse girl I initially wasn’t keen on the meristags, but they really grew on me! I am getting a little tired of 2022 being the year of hunger games inspired books however I think this one was incredible with similar social commentary. But the premise itself isn’t that similar but I get where they were coming from.

Koral is a lovely, realistic main character. She doesn’t have special powers, she’s not secretly royalty or anything like that. She’s a girl who is from a family of hunters. She is strong but not extraordinary. She is smart but does lots of dumb stuff. And she is so short sighted that it’s a breath of fresh air from characters with wildly thought out plans that while awesome make them very cool but also, who does that?

This is definitely YA. But it reads very well and it’s marketed as YA, so of course it could be. I think the plot and themes of the book are deeper and so fun but the characters definitely fall on the immature, act before thinking scale. Which at ≈17 is a duh type thing.

It took me a bit to get into this, but once the story got moving along I couldn’t put it down. And definitely stayed up way too late to finish it.

It does end on a cliffhanger and that hurts my soul because how many more stories can I take where my insides get ripped out and I have to wait an unknown amount of time before I find out more.

Apparently a lot.


Anyway, this was good. Reread worthy good and I’m so pleased I got to experience it.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It's certainly not a bad book and can be fun and engaging. It's just not unique. There are so many coming of age ya novels with this same fantasy twist that reading it kept eliciting deja vu.

Also I wasn't a fan of the audiobook narrator. Her whiny breathlessness when the main character was panicked (frequently in this story) was irritating.

A revival of the YA dystopian fantasy novels we all loved in the 2000’s. Perfect for readers who are looking for a new YA story with the vibes of The Hunger Games and Red Queen. Monsters Born and Made is a splashing debut about a word threatened by monstrous water-dwelling creatures and ravaged by over exposure to the sun. Berwah discusses class disparity, marginalization and scarcity against the backdrop of a terrifying and deadly competition.

I really enjoyed the world building of this story although there are a few points that I wasn’t quite clear on. This didn’t necessarily detract from my reading experience, as I think the gaps in explanation fit the overall design of the story, but did leave me pondering a bit. I loved the way the creatures were introduced and described throughout the book. The exposition felt very natural and authentic to the first-person narration style, there were just some moments where I was wishing for an omniscient narrator to give me a bit more context as to the origins of this world as well as the format of the Glory Race itself.

Berwah throws readers right into the action with an intense opening chapter that grabbed my attention immediately. I love when YA novels are fast paced and plot driven and this one definitely delivered on those points. I also enjoyed how there were multiple layers to this story. I went in expecting a pretty straight forward, basic competition plot and got so much more! The elements were woven together fairly well although I do feel that there were some holes where I would have liked to have more detail or clarification about what was going on. The books also takes place over a surprisingly short amount of time which lent to some situations occurring that felt a bit too convenient for our main characters. I would have liked to see the timeline drawn out a bit more and our characters have to struggle and strategize more to reach the next phase of the story. I will admit here that listening on audio I do miss details every once in a while, so this may have been a me problem of simply not catching everything that happened.

As for the audiobook, I did enjoy it, though I feel that with all the world building and action, this book maybe be better suited to print format for the type of reader that I am. If you are a seasoned audiobook reader and can catch a lot of detail while listening to fantasy, you’ll likely have no issues and enjoy the narration!

The characters fell a little flat for me, with the exception of a few very lovable side characters. I really wanted to see more development of the relationships between the characters to get me more invested. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing if that improves in book two as Berwah matures as a writer and we get to spend more time with these characters.

Overall this was an enjoyable read and a fun step back into a very beloved genre. I will certainly be continuing with the series and recommending this book to anyone who is feeling nostalgic for the dystopian era of YA books.

A world of stark contrast coexisting with hatred. The Landers rule the island whereas the renters work as labours - and amongst them stuck are the hunters!

The whole arena is set up like hunger games, where the elite cherishes the Maristag Chariot race. The participants are usually elite with the dreadful creatures: Maristags that are hunted and bought to them from the sea by the hunters.

Stuck amongst the dire needs of her family's survival for simple things like food and medicine, Koral decides to participate in the race to win the gold for her family, but nobody makes it any easier for her to stand on the grounds. Summoned by a common hatred for being out of place, she must now survive or die at the hands of society.

I am pretty sure there can be another part to this, but the good part was it had a complete ending and not a cliffhanger 🤐

A definite 4/5 for the wonderful creatures, descriptions and even maps 🥰. A little deduction for the slip-outs that happened in the story regarding the side characters.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: trauma and violence

Think THE SCORPIO RACES meets THE HUNGER GAMES... (kinda) and you'll get MONSTERS BORN AND MADE. Based on the details Berwah gives readers, I personally had a really hard time trying to visualize aspects of this world - especially the maristags. Which was disappointing and kept taking me out of the narrative.

From page one until the last page, MONSTERS BORN AND MADE is an unending string of trauma and stress and it's somewhat exhausting as a reader to get through. I think Berwah added too many elements and tried to do too many things with this novel so no one thread of the plot is able to be explored beyond a surface level. For example - the rebels would have been really interesting to focus on how they started, what they were doing, and why, but readers aren't given that level of detail. There are parts of the plot that felt like they were just dumped on readers without explanation or reason - there were a few parts where I had to go back to and listen to again because I could have sworn I missed something, but I hadn't. Unfortunately I feel like using similar themes to other YA novels only works if you're adding something new and for me this did not. The deadly race was confusing and not fully explained and it lacked the tense excitement that I got from the race in THE SCORPIO RACES or when the tributes are fighting for their survival during the annual games - and this was the part of the synopsis that had me really excited to read this book.

I also think I'm missing the South Asian inspiration here, the first name Koral thinks of to name her meristag is Helios (I wasn't expecting Greek mythology) and overall the world felt nondescript. There is a good story here, but I think this could have done with more editing, it's a decent debut, but didn't meet my expectations.

Deepa Samuel's performance on the audiobook added to my frustrations with this novel, everything was said in a dramatic exhale.

I was given an Arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was so excited when I read the synopsis of this book. However when I started I had the hardest time actually getting into it. I felt like there was so much going on it was hard to keep up. I ended up giving up and not finishing because it was just all over the place. I hope this is fixed in editing before publishing because this book does have a lot of potential!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I was a little worried at first because I had a hard time connecting at the start- it felt a little slow and not fully hashed out, and somewhat predictable at times- but it picked up and I ended up really enjoying it! I would have liked a little more depth to the main character but it has some interesting world building and a pretty decent story line. The narrator was really good as well. I would read more in this world!

***4.5 Stars***

Overall,
Wow, this book is a wild ride. Fast paced, incredible world building and interesting characters. I think I would equate it to one of those fast-paced action movies, the foot is on the gas the entire time. This is YA Dystopian Fantasy about a girl named Koral who would do anything to keep her family safe. As a hunters of maristags (think really ferocious water horses) she and her family find themselves on the outskirts of society. The Renters (lower class) and the Landers (upper class) both dislike them for different reasons. When times get rough Koral decides the only way to save her family is to enter a 3-day maristag race that is usually only for Landers. The setting of the book is also very interesting, it takes place in a dystopic fantasyish world. Now there is no magic, just people trying to survive on a couple islands that they have dug deep caverns in, to stay out of the sun which is super-hot and will easily burn you. My first thought on this is that it is a take on our own worlds impending climate change. There is nothing preaching about that in the book, but I would say that was the likely inspiration for the setting.

Now I won’t lie some of this book was a bit confusing, there is a lot of world building and understanding the nuances of the culture and history. There were parts of the book where I was a bit confused, but I also only had the audiobook arc so I couldn’t go back and reread something easily. Because of this I will likely reread it when it officially comes out to see if I missed anything important.

Narration
Deepa Samuel narrates this book and does a very good job, I would definitely listen to something voiced by her again.

Cover,
If you would have asked me what was on this cover before I read this book I would have said like teal with some goldish squiggles. Once I started reading it and actually really looked at the cover I realized that it was what I am assuming is a maristag on the cover, which is super cool.

Recommendation,
This is an action-packed dystopian fantasy YA novel. I would recommend this to lovers of books like the hunger games etc. There isn’t really any romance in the book, and I would not call this book a light fare or necessarily easy to read. If you love diving into a new world filled with politics and rebels and new creatures I would definitely recommend this to you.

***I received an ARC of this audiobook from Netgalley and Recorded Books Media, in exchange for my free and honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early #MonstersBornandMade #NetGalley ***

I wouldn´t be able to pick a more fitting title for this book. This book was everything I hoped for and more. I can definitely see The Hunger Games inspiration too. This book delivered emotion, the good and the bad, truly showing us the meaning of monsters born and made. The characters were amazing, the world-building was there, the plot was fast paced and action packed, and the betrayals and twists were just the cherry on top. One of my top reads of the year. The narrator also gave us the best narration ever, making us completely focused on all of the things happening. My thanks to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Having been my first attempt at an audiobook, it's safe to say that I was sceptical going in. And maybe, that held me back at the beginning of this book. It took a while for me to get used to the fact that someone was reading the story to me, instead of me reading it myself. That being said, once I got into the storyline, I was invested. The story is captivating, the writing was thrilling and the narration was perfect. I loved every second of this book. It was fast-paced, it was addictive and it was surprising, kept you on your toes and definitely did not end the way I though it would. I give this book a 5/5. It's is a definite must read if you like Young Adult and Fantasy genres. Well done, Tanvi Berwah! I'd love to read more of your thrilling work🙌

Thanks to NetGalley, RB media and Recorded Books for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah is a debut Young Adult South Asian-inspired fantasy novel. Our protagonist Koral, decides to enter a dangerous race in order to save her terminally ill sister. I received an audiobook version of this book. It is narrated by Deepa Samuel. I think they did a fantastic job at submerging me into the story and chose realistic voices for the characters.

This book is marketed as similar to Hunger Games and These Violent Delights. While I haven't read These Violent Delights, I can definitely see the similarities to the Hunger Games. This world is brutal if you don’t have any money, and even cruel to those who deal with the rich in order to get by.

Koral and her older brother Emrik are tasked with the role of capturing Maristags (think horse/moose/seahorse/seal??) from the ocean in order for their family to sell them to the ‘Landers’ (the rich) for their epic chariot races. Maristags are dangerous creatures. They can and will kill humans if given the chance. This big race happens every 4 years, takes place over 3 races, is extremely dangerous and offers a lot of gold for the winner.

The story begins with Koral and Emrik attempting to capture the last wild Maristag for the season; they need a male in order to keep their breeding stock going until the Maristags migrate back. Koral and Emrik fail, resulting in Koral making the drastic decision to enter the Chariot Race. Koral and her family are ‘renters’, which is basically the poor people who live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford to survive. ‘Renters’ DON'T participate in this race, so Koral ruffles a lot of feathers along the way.

This book has A LOT of stuff going on. We have the races, the drama surrounding Koral entering and competing, rivals, the ‘Lander’ EX BOYFRIEND also competing, (it’s not explicit that they we’re an item but throughout the book it's obvious they had a thing a few years back) AND the rebels planning rebel themed disruptions. This book is only 350 pages long. There is too much going on for how short this book is. I wanted more on the rebels, I wanted more about her badass bestie who seems to have an awesome side story we don’t hear much about. A friend she makes within the competition could have definitely had some more attention and Koral’s mother needed some more page time to flesh out her back story.

Sometimes we get YA girls who seem to have a lot at stake but actually don’t, so their drive is a bit unbelievable. Koral’s drive makes sense. If she fails, her sister can’t get medication and will die, her family will most likely lose their home and starve. Koral’s father is quite abusive, which is always a shame to see in YA. I get why they’re written that way sometimes but it’s always nicer to see well rounded supportive parents especially in YA.

It looks like this book is going to get a sequel due to THAT ENDING, so I’m hoping to see more about the rebels and other characters. My only criticism was this book not being long enough. I really hope more people read the debut, as it is well worth the time.

If you check out the authors website she has a spotify playlist and a pinterest mood board for this book.

4/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to listen to this advanced audio book for an honest review.

Our main character is Koral Hunter- who is a maristag hunter. She is also what is referred to as a renter. She and her family come from a long line of decedents of hunters. They capture, breed and sell maristag to landers to use in various ways such as for the Glory race.

Koral finds herself in a last ditch effort entering into the glory race. Her and her brother failed to capture a male maristag to breed and thus were now out of options for money. Korals sister is also very sick and she is looking for a way to make her better via medicine. However, she cannot obtain medicine from the pharmacist (renter) because she has no money and also a running tab. not to mention the other renters do not see them as renters since they work so closely for the landers. Leaving the hunter family in strange middle like ground.

This book would be great for anyone who is a fan of the hunger games as it has a lot of those elements throughout.

I don't normally notice sentence structure nearly as strongly in audiobooks, but I really struggled with the choppiness of the short sentences in this book even in audio form. I do think this is a great concept, I only wish the writing flowed a little better.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.