When I first started reading Monsters Born and Made there were so many similarities with The Scorpio Races that I was constantly comparing the two. As I made me way further into the book it then shifted and reminded me a lot of the Hunger Games. Nothing wrong with being compared to them, but I felt myself constantly comparing…until I wasn’t. Monsters Born and Made may have made me skeptical at first, but as the soon as the race started and the story got going, it really stands on its own two legs.
What I loved about this book is the story is familiar enough to draw me in close and then once I’m there it awes me with its originality. I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait for the second book to come out. I'm invested in these characters and this story now and I am now a loyal fan.

worldbuilding was a bit messy and pacing was uneven but i liked the originality of the story
it's still kind of cookie cutter ya but it's whatever i've come to expect little from ya fantasy these days

A YA adventure perfect for young and old!

This was a very fast book. It follows two siblings, a deadly tournament, and creatures that can rip you to shreds. I really enjoyed the writing. I did think it would be more of a high fantasy, but I did enjoy the light romance and the action although II think anyone can really enjoy this dangerous tale of hope.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

I’m always here for anything having to do with the ocean, so right off the bat, I loved the setting for this book, and how Koral and her family have to battle the sea for survival. Not to mention the upper class tormentors she has to face on land. This felt like a very classic YA fantasy book, so if that’s your genre, try this one out! The pace felt uneven at times, but I liked the world enough to keep reading, and I was glad I did.

Monsters Born and Made was incredible! I loved the pacing, character development and how Berwah has laid out the plot. It is a stunning work of art.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Tanvi Berwah for the opportunity to read Monsters Born and Made in exchange for an honest review.

This is a stunning debut full of mystical ocean creatures, a battle of class systems, and a glorious race of deadly composition.

While being described as similar to The Hunger Games, I would like to debunk that inaccuracy from the get-go. The only similarity is a class-based tournament, though this tournament is meant for the upper class to be involved and features racing chariots with an aquatic animal that is fast on land: maristags. It is the poor, the renters, specifically Koral's family, the Hunters, who risk their lives to capture maristags from the sea so that the rich may hold their Glory Race.

Koral only truly cares about one thing and one thing only: her family. Her little sister is ill and her brother is recently wounded by a maristag. The driving force behind Koral's every move is her family, mostly her ill little sister who their family cannot afford the long term care they need for her.

With the help of a friend, Koral enters the Glory Race. She has one maristag left, and despite the race being meant for Landers, the societal elite, she swindles her way into the top ten and gets to participate in the three various aspects of the race. While she finds many enemies among the Landers in the race, a long-ago friend and new acquaintances might just have her side...or stab her in the back. With the Glory Race, the title, gold, and glory are a much sought after title and the race is anyone's game. It's all a matter of who makes it out alive and crosses the finish line first.

With her maristag, Stormgold, Koral will stop at nothing to win the race and save her sister.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be a great debut. It is well-written with an ending that feels fleeting, yet sets up for more. I read a statement from the author that a bridge book may come next, featuring events after this book, though not featuring the main character. This series will be interesting to see the development of and what does finally come to fruition from this author.

If you seek romance, there are hints and glints, though nothing too serious or developed. If you seek a book about the ties of family and the measures one will go for their family, then this book is for you. The action of the Glory Race is enjoyable, though the tasks don't seem all that original. Each task only takes about a single chapter of its own, leaving the rest of the book dealing more with the class systems and the family relationships. Depending on what you seek, this may or may not be the book for you, but I do recommend giving it a try. If anything, the maristags add a certain gem of intrigue.

Today I talked to Tanvi Berwah about Monsters Born and Made (Sourcebooks Fire, 2022).

In our narrator Koral’s world—an oceanic world full of sea monsters, brutal heat, and only a few islands—choices are limited. Koral belongs a to class of people called Renters, who don’t own land, or in many cases, even have proper dwellings. The Landers live protected inside a cool place called the Terrafort, safe from the dangers that the Renters experience every day.

Koral’s angry father, quiet mother and sick little sister depend on her and her brother Emrik to earn enough to keep the simple dwelling they live in, and to buy her sister’s medicine. Koral’s family are, by tradition, Hunters, a special class of Renters which have a few more privileges, than most others. Hunters catch and train the wild sea monsters called maristags, which are used in the Glory Race held every four years.

This year, however, it looks like Emrik and Koral’s luck has run out. They have one maristag, a female, left, but fail to catch a male to breed her with. In desperation, Koral finds a way to participate in the Glory Race, although she will be the first Renter to do so. Not only must she race with a barely tamed maristag and a decrepit chariot, she must also bear the hostility of both the Landers and the other Renters for not knowing her place. The three days of the race are nonstop action, with unexpected attacks by swarms of aqua bats, rebel Renters, and other charioteers looking to scare Koral off, as well as tense encounters with Dorian, a former Lander friend of Koral’s who is competing against her. It seems like almost no one believes that Koral can win this race.

Except her sick little sister.

Koral Hunter does not have a lot going for her. Her family/home life is devastatingly hard, her family is totally broke, her little sister, the person she loves most in the world, is likely terminally ill. Koral and her family are Hunters, people who make a living capturing and housing maristags, creatures used by the rich Landers in the Glory Races. When the last of the maristags escapes, and Koral and her family have no money to pay for her sister's medicine, as well as mounting debts, Koral decides to enter the Glory Races to get the money to help her family. This is difficult enough, as Renters have historically never raced before. However, there is an underground rebellion brewing that could just about ruin everything.

This book was a non-stop action adventure thrill ride. The worldbuilding was immense and incredible. I could feel the water of the ocean on my skin as I read this. The cover is gorgeous. I can tell that a lot of love went into this book. I loved the character development and how much Koral was willing to sacrifice for her family. The stakes were high and we understood that at every point.

While the writing, worldbuilding, and character development was really beautifully done, keep in mind that this book is HEAVY. The abusive family situation is no joke. And there are some gruesome deaths that occur throughout.

I do think this is a natural next book for any fan of The Hunger Games. It's different, but did give me a lot of the same vibes. And I liked that there wasn't much of a romance in it.

This was a fascinating story: part Hunger Games, part Mistborn, part Fantastic Beasts, all combined to make for a wonderful read.

The story starts off with one heck of a bang and doesn’t stop. You know from the blurb that Koral will contend in the Glory Race, but the build up to that time and the aftermath of her decisions are just as tension-filled and page-turning as the actually racing.

And the creatures on and around the island are both absolutely marvelous and terrifyingly hideous in their design.

If you’re looking for a story that will take you on a journey you’ve never even begun to imagine, pick up Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah. You won’t be disappointed. Four stars! 🙂

Many thanks to Sourcebook Fire and NetGalley for the digital ARC of this novel for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my very own! 🙂

n this dystopian young adult fantasy, what makes Tanvi Berwah’s novel stand out is the intriguing world and stellar characters. The first thing you learn with this story’s worldbuilding is that this is not a world like our own. It is full of monsters who the humans must struggle against in their day to day life and if they aren’t rich, every step of the way is a race for survival. For Koral it becomes a literal race, one she must try to win in order to save her family. It is an intriguing world and stellar characters




But it is not the monsters of the world that are truly the enemy. No, it’s the monsters created by the society that Koral must truly struggle against. We are quickly shown that the novel is all about freedom, choices, and how hard it is to escape the subjugation of the wealthy, especially when they have all the power. But what makes me love this novel is how Koral stands strong and survives despite the odds and losses along the way. 

Koral is a fantastic character in a world full of gray. All of the characters are, really but as the protagonist Koral stands out, with her rage and will to survive. She doesn’t race for glory but to help her family and more importantly, to show herself and others that she can win. Even though she sees some truths too late, she still fights and that is what makes the character so powerful. 

If you love novels with strong and fiery female characters, stories full of ambiguity and dystopian concepts that include ideas that resonate with our current state of the world, you will love this book. I loved it and the maristags. The novel has an intriguing world and stellar characters.

Super livre, j'ai adoré le fait qu'on se plonge un peu dans un univers d'Hunger Games. J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé les maristags et tout ce qui tournait autour d'eux, le fait qu'elle arrive à developper une relation avec. La pression que met la maladie de sa soeur rajoute vraiment un plus.

I struggled to read this book, and did not finish. It was pitched as a YA fantasy with South Asian-inspired folklore, but I did not pick up on anything inspired by South Asia or its lore. It felt like a seaside Hunger Games--a poor girl who already provides for her family must enter a deadly competition to save her little sister.

THIS BOOK WAS SOOOO GOODDDDDDDDDD!!!! I was hooked from page 1, the only thing is that I think the pacing got a little slow towards the middle but it picked up again. Highly recommend!!

Monsters Born and Made was perfect for my mood at the time I read it. I can never say no to what is basically the classic horse girl story: when a character enters a high stakes race as the underdog, but bonds with their creature and... well, you can read it and see what happens.

This book had felt like a cross between The Scorpio Races, The Vanishing Deep, and The Hunger Games. While the pacing was sometimes off and I think the writing could be better, I really enjoyed the setting of the story. The creatures were fascinating and kind of creepy.

The ending was fitting but I hope there's a sequel. I want to see how the consequences of the events in the final few chapters unfold.

3.5 stars

Ahhh!!! What a great book! I absolutely love this book and have been recommending it to friends and family. I can’t say enough about Koral. I love her fierceness and determination. She is by far one of my favorite characters ever written. The world building is, well, out of this world. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

This was a really cool premise and super well executed! Can't wait to check out more from Tanvi Berwah in the future!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. I was really interested in it but when it came down to the writing and characters, I just couldn’t get into it. They weren’t super fleshed out, didn’t reach off the page for me.

When it comes to the tone of the book, it’s depressing. It’s a ya dystopian so of course. There’s a sort of cast system but it’s the rich and the poor, like always and the poor continue to get the short end of a crap stick.

Some people say it’s derivative of the hunger games. Of all the issues I have with the book, that isn’t one of them. After all, white authors will write the same story as each other and each one will hit the NYT best sellers list but when an author of color does it, now it’s a problem? No, I didn’t find it to be that much of a problem when compared to the actual meat of the book.

The worldbuilding is off. We’re never really show what these creatures look like for long and the descriptions don’t match up. Plus they’re absolutely huge in a way that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Especially when you learn that people ride these things for sport.

As the story progressed, I can’t lie, I stopped caring. The pacing was off with things happening so fast that it was hard to keep track of it all and yet it felt like things weren’t happening at all.

There’s domestic and child abuse as well. Plus the use of an ablest slur early in the book. If you say slurs of any kind just because you’re angry, it’s kinda hard to root for you.

There’s also the fact that everything is all over the place. Like I said, the pacing is off, it’s hard to tell what’s past and what’s present because there aren’t noticeable breaks and then it’s difficult to get a bead on the motivations of dome characters.

I don’t want to keep dogging on it. I didn’t really enjoy this one. So I’m giving it two (2) stars.

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them and the publisher.

This was a "not for me" kind of fantasy story because I recognize the intricacies and often don't have the patience to dive into a world with so many rules to follow. The good part is that it will be so easy to recommend to my teens because while there are deep complexities to the Koral's family's story and their role in getting the maristags for the races and what it means for their family, there's also a kickass cover and phenomenal title that will sell themselves.

I had picked up it up and put it down too many times, so I recognize that I didn't get into the rhythm from the start and therefore made it hard to keep connected as I read.

A fun and excited debut fantasy!

While Monsters Born and Made wasn't my favorite read this month, I enjoyed the world building and plot! I loved the idea of a deadly competition filled with sea monsters but also think that the plot could have been executed better. It's fast paced, filed with action, and characters you can't help but root for.

This book was amazing!! Great world building with interesting characters!! I was so amazed with this book!! I would highly recommend this book to everyone!!