'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness (Review)

Most of you avid readers (especially the YA lovers) will have definitely heard of 'A Monster Calls'. There has been so much hype over this book online and after reading quite a few Christmas Romance novels, I needed something a little different.


Think 'The Neverending Story' mixed with some 'Labyrinth' and a dash of 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' (one of my personal favourites) and this is what this book reminds me of

*My Own Understanding Of The Story - little spoilers*

'A Monster Calls' is about a young boy (I'm not sure how old exactly, my guess would be around 13/14 years old), Conor who lives with his terminally ill mum. Conor suffers with nightmares but one particular nightmare on a regular basis. The one where he can't hold on any longer. His mum begins to deteriorate very quickly, which is when his dad travels from America to see him, for the first time in years. Conor is surprised he even managed to get away from his hypochondriac wife. Conor's grandma also starts to interfere in Conor's life when his mum is at her worst and even suggests he lives with her for a while...not ideal. There is another character in this book of course... the Yew tree. It's just a Yew tree... At the bottom of Conor's garden that just happens to come to life like a giant monster and begins telling Conor stories, only the 4th story - Conor has to tell.

*My Review*

Let me start off by saying this book wasn't what I was expecting. It was definitely a little more YA than what I'm used to. I think this would have been more suitable for a 13 year old. Saying that, I will probably go and see the movie because I'm curious how they're going to mange it visually. I took this recommendation from Zoella's WHSmith Book Club and as I am a similar age to Zoe (and she enjoyed it so much) I was expecting some thing else.


I did enjoy the stories told by the Yew Tree and the relationship between Conor and Lilly.


I also think the way Patrick Ness has written this book, helps you to envisage the scenes really well. I can't say a bad word about how it was written and I did read this in 3 days... there was just something missing for me and I can't put my finger on it! but I can say I wish it would have been a little longer.


If you're wanting to read something a little different, eery with a little sadness chucked in for good measure, then give this book a try.


If you have read this book, what were your views?


3/5 Stars.

S x