Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book. As per usual, I am YEARS late it seems on getting to some of these titles.

This book started out rather promising. but the middle was a bit slow and the ending was completely unsatisfying. I think that if I would have read this a few years ago, I would have been able to enjoy this a lot more. As it stands now however, the characters read a bit young and as a result, didn't hold my interest or keep me as engaged. I just find it more and more difficult these days to relate to main characters that read on the younger side which is why I've strayed from young adult more recently. I think this suffered a lot from predictability and tropes such as the dreaded love triangle. I can see why people have enjoyed this, unfortunately I am just not one of them.

At times this book has me at the edge of my seat, the characters, setting, and dangers all felt so immersive. It was well paced and highly detailed with characters and creatures! I adored this book.

Wow! This book was incredible! I am completely obsessed with Anora’s (MC) spirit and resiliency! This book truly immersive and was top notch escapism that I know all fantasy readers will enjoy! I cannot wait until the sequel is out!

Anora is being hunted by monsters. She learns she is to be trained as a guardian to fight the very monsters that plague her. She refuses and tries to leave but they won't let her. The characters are fierce and the world building makes you feel like you are part of the story. I thought this book was quite exciting. It is a perfect beginning for a brand new author. Give it a try.

The concept of this sounded amazing and like a very unique premise. However, I couldn't connect with the writing at all and couldn't get invested in the story. I had to DNF it at 30% unfortunately as it just wasn't working out for me and I couldn't keep going with it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book.

The Review

The world-building in this novel was fantastic! The author did an incredible job of not only captivating readers with a strong protagonist who evolved greatly over the course of the narrative but crafted a merciless and haunting dystopian world full of monsters, both the ravenous and humankind. The mythos that the author crafted around these fictional nations and the creatures that inhabit them, as well as the Guardians and their purpose, was incredible to watch unfold and did a great job of putting a new spin on the dystopian SCI-FI genre.

The character arcs were what really brought me into this narrative fully. Anora was a fantastic hero to watch grow, as her arc from a scared and family-driven young girl into a strong and rebellious young woman was such a great and well-rounded story arc. The antagonists of this book were so vile and twisted, and the author did a great job of shocking readers with twists and turns that would change character perspectives constantly.

The Verdict

A heart-pounding, jaw-dropping, and entertaining read, author Chelsea Lauren’s “Creatures Most Vile” is a must-read dystopian sci-fi of 2021! The perfect read for sci-fi fans during the spooky season, the chilling monster attacks to set up the novel’s setting, and the twisted mind-games that the protagonist must endure making this a tense-filled world that cries out for a sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book. Creatures Most Vile is a fast-paced fantasy dystopia filled with monsters and dangers. It's a young-adult story with plenty of trigger warnings like anxiety, gore, and violence, that snatches you by the throat on page one and doesn't let go till the end.

While the romance/love triangle didn't sit well with me, they weren't enough to ruin my pleasure of reading the book. Judging by my own experience, I can say the MC's anxiety and panic attacks felt quite relatable. It's one of the main reasons I was so easily hooked, it just felt real. The massive cliffhanger at the end is something I could've lived without. But the reality is that this first book reads like something that sets up the stage and gives a few glimpses into the whole world. I'll definitely be reading the sequel, really can't for it.

It was a fascinating and gripping read that kept me turning pages.
It's a good dystopia, full of twists and featuring an interesting and fleshed out MC.
The author is a good storyteller and my only note is that the world building should be more developed as I wanted to learn more.
I assume this is the first in a series and I want to read other books set in this world.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

An excellent debut novel by Chelsea Lauren. The book started out a little weird for me, and I almost didn't continue but I'm glad I did. I do want to say that I personally did not like the main character throughout the story, so hopefully, that changes in the possible sequel? Otherwise, the monster building was immaculate and I wished there was more background on them. Additionally, I want more details on other parts of the world-building, too. Is it clear that I'm hoping for a second?

Creatures most vile: 4.5/5 stars (rounded to 5)

What I like most about this book is the main character. She is written so well. Anora is complex, broken/rebuilt, an antihero but also a heroine. She makes me think.
*Spoilers*
She does not take the path I think most characters would. I think in a lot of books with young girls tasked with saving the world throw themselves into it and don't ever question or waver from the path. Anora is the opposite, and doesn't want the responsibility of saving the world, especially when plagued by severe PTSD from her father's death. I can't blame her, her world is scary. I think it makes her more real, even if it's not the story I always *want* to read, it's a story that deserves to be told and was told well in this book.
That said, Anora is not someone I instantly clicked with, right from page one. But she grew on me, making that bond between me (as the reader) and her (as her story) deeper. More like a true friendship cause her faults were laid out bare for me to see at the get-go and I learned to love her and feel for her plight.

The 1/2 star deduction happens with world building. This world is a parallel world of our own, with a lot of the same societal, cultural norms (like marriage, high school, college, etc), but also is....not? The moon is blue or red sometimes and during her training, Anora is introduced to a projector/camera and doesn't know what to call it. So she struggles to describe it. Same with "treadmill /safe runner." And it just feels weird. It removed me from the story just in those few incidences. Nothing major just a personal preference.

Plot moved along quickly, there isn't long drawn out training or battle scenes. There are a lot of battles and training, but the scenes feel quick and emotionally impactful. Which I enjoy.

I really think this is a great book, I can't believe it's a debut! Can't wait to read more from this promising author!

I received an ARC of this book from netgalley/Zenith Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

"You have the power. Blessed by the Mother above. Congratulations." These are the words every person in Alberune hopes to hear. In Creatures Most Vile, Chelsea Lauren's debut novel, a small number of people are gifted with abilities to fight the monsters plaguing their land. As far as Anora's concerned, becoming a Guardian is nothing more than a death sentence. But when her powers are discovered, she's taken from her home, her family, and everything she knows. After countless attempts at forcing her to utilize her talents, her trainers' methods become more extreme. The horrors she witnesses leave her asking herself who the real monsters are.

There are so many great things to love about this novel. For me, the highlight was the monsters. Not only are they all unique, but the fact that their origins are mysterious and open-ended keeps readers guessing. And they are introduced organically when the characters face them, rather than all at once.

Another great detail is Anora's character. She is a firecracker from beginning to end. She's the type of person readers will root for because her morals remain strong, even when it's hard. She refuses to be pushed around, and that will make readers fall in love with her.

Something that readers may take issue with is Anora's love triangle/square? She seems as though she develops feelings for any boy who shows her the smallest amount of kindness. It comes across as a bit immature, but she is only 17/18, so it makes perfect sense. It doesn't take away from the storyline much, even though one possible love interest has a borderline uncomfortable power/age imbalance.

The end of the novel may also disappoint readers. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll just say that the last 10% is pretty predictable. With all the tension building and unanswered questions, the ending didn't quite measure up.

Because of all this, I'm rating Creatures Most Vile four out of five stars. The creativity of the novel breathes new life into the dystopian genre. But some of the fine details take away from the incredible plotline. If you loved The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, or The Red Queen, this one is a must-read. Just be ready to impatiently dangle off the edge of a cliff until we get the next installment.

I am on the fence with this book.

There were some aspects that I really enjoyed. I feel that it started off really strong and gave me huge 'A Quiet Place' vibes, which is what immediately caught my attention. I really enjoyed the tension and the atmosphere during the first half of the book and I liked the main character well enough at first.

Once the tone of the book changed and the main character was brought to the academy to train, my interest started to lessen. I felt that things were very rushed and not explained thoroughly enough. There were a lot of characters that seemed important in the first half of the book that we never see or talk about again for the rest of it. The main character also started to get really annoying as it seemed she was being so defiant just to be defiant and I can understand the dislike that most of the characters in the book felt towards her because I didn't like her very much either.

I like where the author was trying to go but I felt that we didn't quite reach there. The relationships between the characters were not felt very much. We were more so told about them and not shown, so I felt that any reasoning behind decisions was not justified very well because I just didn't feel that relationship between them. There was also insta-love and a slight love triangle which I felt was not needed.

I wish that the author had explored the world a bit more slowly and built the relationships on page to provide a more believable story. If this had been drawn out and made into a couple books instead of just the one, I feel that it would have been more fleshed out and interesting. The ending was intriguing so I will probably give it a go and hope that the author will have more experience as I believe this is a debut.

Wow! I am shocked to learn this is Chelsea Lauren's debut because it was phenomenal - well thought out and developed! The world-building is lush and beautiful and it read like a world I would believe really truly existed. It is an absolutely wonderful and well-done story arc.

I moved through Creatures Most Vile quickly. It moves at a steady pace and doesn’t have a lot of lag time in the story. This is written for people who like narratives that focus a bit more on action than heavy introspection as someone unpacks all the facets of their psyche. I like action-centric stories.

There are some very clever ideas here, and I did find myself thinking this was a good potential start to a series. And then, once I hit a certain point, I feared the book would end on a cliffhanger because there was no way it could wrap up everything by the end. The key thing to take away from those observations is that I spent the better part of the book hoping it would launch a series. Yes, the book is flawed, but there’s a lot of potential here, too, and that should also be recognized.

Where Creatures Most Vile trips up a little is that the writer uses a lot of tell writing. Now, you have to use tell sometimes. You can’t show everything or books would be 1200 pages long. Writers must balance what to show and what to tell, and that’s not always as easy as it sounds.

This is a book with some unorthodox dialogue tags (for example, instead of said in some places we have ‘begged’, ‘commanded’, ‘chirped’ – how does one ‘chirp’ words?) and it’s a book where things are “said smugly” or “said with a pout”.

The protagonist has resting scowl face. A scowl is a strong emotional expression; there was nothing subtle about Anora, and people smirked almost as much as they scowled.

I settled into it thinking that, on a reading level, it might be a little more younger YA than older YA, but that didn’t bother me. Every book sets its tone and has its audience and the question is whether it works as a whole for that audience.

Now, I liked Anora, and I was interested in her journey. However, when you scrutinize her character, there are some inconsistencies. From the beginning, Anora is a person who goes along with what’s expected of her. She goes to the market with her family when she doesn’t want to. She won’t sneak off to the island with her friends because she doesn’t have approval to travel (which you need in this world). There’s no thinly contained rebel here. She’s a responsible person who respects the order of her world.

That all changes when she demonstrates powers and guardians come to evaluate her and take her for training. Anora becomes a rebel/freedom fighter overnight. And it never waivers.

That’s what made me start to worry. Because of the tendency to use some strong tell writing throughout, there’s no room for doubt about Anora’s position about the guardians or being forced to train to become one. The story struggles with nuance. What’s best shown is Anora’s growing feelings for Bron. And even that reinforces her tendency to comply with what’s expected. I’m going to put the next paragraph behind a spoiler tag so people who don’t want to know anything about the romantic subplots don’t have to.

Anora’s animosity towards the guardians is another thing that doesn’t track. She is terrified of the creats. Full-blown panic attack terrified. She’s been having these panic attacks for at least 6 years. It isn’t a phase, it isn’t minor. When there’s a creat alert, she’s right back to the moment when a creat killed her dad. The town’s survival depends on the work the guardians do, but Anora has a negative attitude towards them from the start. There’s no reason given for her animosity. Maybe she blames them for not being there to save her dad, but when she was running away at the market, it was Guardian Yllaria who rushed in to fight the creat and kill it, saving countless lives. And she throws attitude in the guardian’s face.

The ending of the book was problematic for me. This comes back to tone. Throughout, there was this rock-solid confidence from Anora, that she was going to resist and get home and not give in. And although there are a couple (seriously, two) omens that she knows indicate trouble on the horizon, there’s never a sense of creeping dread throughout the book. There’s a lot of laughter. It’s easy for her to make friends and talk openly with other trainees and even trainers. She assimilates easily enough in the day to day, and has time for relationships. This isn’t someone who’s scared to the point of looking over her shoulder every second. Despite her thoughts indicating how much she dislikes Commander Devlend, she defaults to assumptions about right and wrong and fair and unfair; she can believe he’s willing to let a trainee die to prove himself right but at the same time, underestimates his ability to monitor the trainees and act against them. And that’s despite knowing about the disappeared.

The disappeared are another part of the story that was tough to swallow. It was fine when it was one girl, but when Anora and Blaze find evidence that it’s dozens and dozens of former trainees, they still carry on like they can overcome Devlend and win the day. In the black-and-white world portrayed, it just wasn’t logical.

I have a few thoughts on the ending, which again I’ll put behind spoiler tags so those who don’t want spoilers can avoid them.

Comments on the ending:

All in all, this is a story with a lot of potential. A solid developmental edit could have smoothed out the kinks and taken this story into best of the year contention for me, because I loved the pacing and the ideas and I was invested in the core characters, but the ending left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. A strong finish can cover a multitude of sins, and when I thought about the conclusion, I thought about my assessment of the character, which exposed inconsistencies, some of which I’ve addressed here. 3.5/5

I read and review alot of YA horror and dark fantasy, but struggled to get into "Creatures Most Vile". It had quite a neat idea, but the execution could have been better and in a YA marketplace saturated by sassy (but ultimately identical) teenage girls this novel had nothing to make it rise above the pack, so the likes of Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth will have little to be frightened of.

"Creatures Most Vile" does its best to blend a slice of dystopia with a monster mashup with teenagers who have special powers 'chosen' (or recruited) to defend the wider population whether they like it or not. Main character Anora accidently reveals such powers at school and before long she is a Guardian and is sent for training. The training takes up the bulk of the book and is very familiar of a thousand other YA novels, the angle which makes this story rather different is that the girl really does not want to be a hero and as a result comes across as rather whiney, genuine teen readers may find her to be more refreshing. Along the way there are flashbacks showing the arrival of the creatures and how they tragically impacted her family and her current outlook. "Creatures Most Vile" was solid enough, but unspectacular, and I will be interested to see whether it goes anywhere, or is successful enough for a possible sequel.

Anora lives in a small village on the mainland that is terrorized by the creatures that live in the mountains. She's traumatized due to seeing her father brought down trying to save her from one such horrific creature and has crippling flashbacks. So when just before her graduation she's selected to train as a Guardian and fight what is her worst nightmare Anora is anything but happy ! No Anora is frightened, absolutely horrified and desperate to remain home and follow her dreams of a normal life. Too bad she's yanked away violently and Anoras trials are about to truly begin.
I feel that my use of the phrase"yanked away violently " says it all because the way these young people are treated by each other is very unpleasant indeed. The creatures are diverse and interesting but there's a huge gap in explaining why and how they came to be. I think right there the incomplete world building was at times frustrating and honestly I wanted to know more but the author really concentrated on Anora and the people who are suddenly running her life.
The Guardian's have all been chosen because they display remarkable abilities and Anora really struggled because unlike others she had no idea about her gifts and therefore never opportunity to practise or indeed come to terms with it. I did have immense sympathy for her although fear Anora is like Marmite and you either applaud her staying strong to what she wants or find her selfish and incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
The surrounding characters seemed confused at times deciding what they wanted and a sort of triangle began which didn't work for me unfortunately. There was something very obviously wrong and something happens that I could see coming all too easily which left this book on a cliff hanger and honestly I did feel it was a shame as I had wanted explanations. This is a debut and as such I am impressed and would read more but hope for the world building to be fleshed out . This is hard to rate as I did find myself eagerly turning the pages but left me somewhat dissatisfied so I feel three and a half raised to four because that's how it has to be recorded on Goodreads.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I received an ARC from NetGlley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 25%.

This had a cool sounding premise but I did not connect with the writing at all.

In Creatures Most Vile, we meet Anora, an older teen about to graduate high school in a restricted mainland area of a country plagued by monsters. What she wants above all is to fulfill her prospective position as a nurse and support her aging parents and little brother. She needs to move past the flashbacks and debilitating trauma of watching her father be killed by a creat (creature). What she did not expect was to have her Guardian powers manifest, snowballing her into a militarized training in a mountain facility where creats roam free. The story takes us through Anora's acceptance of her powers, to her developing friendships and love interests with her peers and fellow recruits. When she uncovers a scheme which may be robbing the country of many of its promising youth, Anora must fight for what she knows is right--no matter the outcome. CMV is YA (possibly dystopian) fantasy. Fans of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series will gobble this up. I do hope the next book comes out soon, because that ending left me dazed.

Trigger Warning: PTSD, Violentrs, torture, child soldiers, age gap love interest & death
This book is like an alternate Quiet place and X-men mass up.

While this book has a strong start, the ending was less desired.
Okay, let's start with the pros; this book has such an interesting heroine, world structure and power system with the guardians. I think how this book dealt with PTSD and the support and the lack of support from the guardians were really accurate; it was frustrating.

The cons that really let me down were the ending because nothing really happened, and while I needed the middle for growth of character and relationships, nothing really happened, and the ending just showed that. Also, that love triangle was strange and really uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY with Bron because he was a lot older (I don't say, but he gave me late 20 vibes), and the main character was 17, and that's a big NO-NO. This book really needed a sequel to have saved itself, but I know there wasn't enough.

So because I enjoyed a lot of the first half I give it 3 stars.

Wow! This was a hell of a debut, and I can't wait to read more! It started out so I tense and the drama only ratcheted up as we got further into the story. Admittedly I didn't love the main character, but I could understand her, which made it more interesting for me. Rather than being the best she could be and taking on her powers, she really fought them. "Not me, I'm not going along with this" was her motto. I kind of have to give her credit for that. She wanted to choose her future rather than dying for something she didn't want to do. How can I blame her for that?

The love triangle went pretty much as I thought it would, so I wasn't surprised by the ending, but it was definitely an awesome scene.

Can't wait to read book two and find out what the heck is going on!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.