A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Thirteen-year-old Conor awakens one night to find a monster outside his bedroom window, but not the one from the recurring nightmare that began when his mother became ill--an ancient, wild creature that wants him to face truth and loss.

This book did not went the way I thought it would.

The reason the monster came to Coner, the stories it told, the struggles within Coner... they really opened my eyes to the suffering of those whose left behind, and the strength that the ones that would leave have to muster in front of their loved ones. Heartbreaking.

It took me a bit to get into this one because I thought it was going to be a lot darker and Conor initially got on my nerves as another whiny child protagonist. However, there's a lot of emotion behind his story and the “monster” was a great way to portray that; it's also a very visual book in both the writing and the enclosed illustrations which is always great with this type of story. While I have no personal experience with cancer or another terminal illness, I really started to feel for the characters and got a bit emotional myself when reaching the climax of the story. My favourite part is probably the illustrations, though. The cover art and the style is what made me pick up this book initially.However, I would say that it's not really for readers like myself that are used to a bit more adult level literary horror. Reading this after finishing the likes of [b:Horns 6587879 Horns Joe Hill https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400731844s/6587879.jpg 6781405] and [b:The Child Thief 6308379 The Child Thief Brom https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336347513s/6308379.jpg 6493440], [b:A Monster Calls 8621462 A Monster Calls Patrick Ness https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387584864s/8621462.jpg 13492114] comes off as a bit juvenile and vapid, but that's probably just me being priggish.

What a good book. Went to many places and many feelings i enjoy kids books they such an escape

I'm surprised at how much I liked this. It's a touching, beautiful story, and the narrator was one of the best I've heard yet. Also, I absolutely did not tear up at the end, and anyone claiming otherwise is lying through their teeth.