Book Review of Monster by Christopher Pike
Author: Christopher Pike
ISBN: 0-671-74507-7
Publisher: Archway Paperback
Type of book: vampires from outer space, horror, science fiction, asteroid belt, "Fifth world", 1990s
Year it was published: November 1992
Summary:
Mary Blanc walked into the party with a loaded shotgun. In the blink of an eye she blew two people away. She wanted to kill more, but was stopped by her best friend, Angela Warner, and the police. The next day, when Angel visits Mary at the jail she asks why she did it. Mary responds, "Because they were no longer human." Angela thinks she's crazy.
At first.
Until she probes deeper into Mary's claims and discovers a horror so unimaginable that she thinks she is going crazy. She even gets to the point where she wonders if she should have let Mary keep on killing. While there was still time to stop the thing from spreading. The very old thing. The hungry thing.
Characters:
The characters do have distinctive personalities; Angela is sarcastic with an interesting sense of humor as well as incredibly resourceful and brave. I don't understand how and why it became possible for Angela to start liking someone whom she didn't have slightest affection. Other characters, unfortunately, aren't memorable and I really didn't understand the purpose of them. For example, why was Lt. Nguyen included in the book? How did he help Angela in her quest?
Theme:
Things that are crazy are possible.
Plot:
This is third person narrative from Lt. Ngyuen's point of view and Angela's as well. There are some minor inconsistencies in the book such as the fact that at first Mary and Kevin moved in different circles, yet the end hints that they spent a lot of time together. Also, how did Angela become infected if she didn't have water? It's a stand alone novel and it is creepy first few times one reads it.
Author Information:
Christopher Pike wrote 30+ novels mainly for young adults, the most famous or well known one is The Last Vampire Saga, Final Friends and Remember Me, and his real name is Kevin McFadden. One of his books, Fall Into Darkness was created into a movie. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a website, but there is a fan club that is devoted to him. (http://www.christopherpikefanclub.com/ )
Opinion:
In first few reads, it definitely has a creepy feel, and I often wondered how true it is. Perhaps I have aged, or perhaps this book doesn't have that special magic over me as it used to. It's not a horrible novel, but what seemed consistent and without flaws, turned into inconsistency and flawed. I do admit that the Kaatu voice that Angela exhibits is creepy, but I suppose I couldn't see any purpose for Lt. Nguyen to be in the book. Despite the supernatural elements, I didn't like that this is another book where police sucked. But yeah, I understand that no one would believe the monster theory in real life.
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
To answer some of your questions, LT. Nguyen is in the book because he was the head of the police department. Him and the police had to be included in this book because of Mary's actions. He is a strong and powerful lead role for the police and while you are reading you think, or the author wants you to think that he will save the day again and so at first you ultimately like him then he gets all scared and in my opinion acts like no cop would after what Angela said. So yes the cops suck in this book but the author wants you to like him in the beginning... Also about how Angela got infected. It happened the first night she hung out with Joe or whatever his name is and he got cut and blood was all over him and the katuu's blood is like attracted to fresh blood so that started and he bit his and her tongue while they made out that night which pretty much finished the job. And after that she goes swimming and other nonsense with him so ya hope that helped. I would rate it a 2 out of 5 because the plot was pretty stupid i thought and the ending sucked how Angela ate Kevin so i was disappointed in this book to say the least.
ReplyDelete@NickIngersoll. Thanks for the comment and for answering the questions. I have read Monster a lot of times, and the first few times I found it a freaky book hehe. The concept is interesting, vampires from outer space, but I guess now I grew out of the novel. The best one in my opinion is Whisper of Death :) I don't think I'll ever outgrow that novel. (Thinking of reading it soon)
ReplyDeleteYa dont worry about it and I'll check that book out
ReplyDelete