I loved the 1800s setting of this book and the promise of a new fantasy trilogy. I felt like the character depth was present with all main characters but at times the plot felt hard to follow. It is one that I will need to listen to again if I want to continue the trilogy.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I unfortunately didn't get around to reading this chunky book before it was published and a special edition had shown up at my door.

This book started out really promising, but it is SO long. This could have been easily hundreds of pages shorter because it just seems to drag on and on and I am so bored. Unfortunately I am DNF'ing because even with the audiobook, I don't think this is something I will rate any higher by forcing myself to continue.

The beginning is nice. The synopsis sounds wonderful. But the pacing just is making this not work for me.

The audiobook narrator was not a good fit for this story in that he could not differentiate character dialogue without making the children (of which there were many) sound like demons, which was distracting and also difficult to understand. Also, I was much more interested in the past timeline (of which there was little) than the present, where most of the characters were less interesting.

It was slow to build and there were a lot of things that we didn't understand and that there was no effort to explain in the first HALF (and when the book is 670 pages long, that's a big investment). It could have been trimmed significantly and we could have gotten much more answers much quicker with more flashbacks.

Also there was a lot of repetition. Like an entire conversation was repeated verbatim instead of... Not doing that.

A towering achievement. A Dickensian classic told through the lens of today with supernatural horror lurking behind every corner. A tale of suspenseful intrigue as two magical children on the run, end up at an Edinburgh estate where more magical children are being kept. Mysteries abound building to a thrilling conclusion.

Loved the narrator. Great premise , a bit long . Not sure I’ll continue the series but I did like it. Rated 4 for enjoyment , writing style and narration. The length felt just a bit much in this book.

This was such a unique gothic fantasy, to the point where I truly cant think of a book to compare it to as it is so uniquely its own. I think if you are a fantasy lover like myself. you will find yourself completely lost in the pages. I do think that this book did however run a bit long, and I do wish it was a tad shorter but overall it was something that I still think about to this day.

This was complex, dark, and utterly captivating. Miro's characters and their stories already interesting and compelling. I cannot wait to get more into this world.

In Victorian England, a pair of boys with strange abilities are being chased by a man made of smoke. Charlie Ovid doesn’t have a single scar on his body, despite the brutal life he has lived. Marlowe has the ability to melt or mend flesh. When a pair of detectives are assigned to escort the boys north to safety, a chase begins from the busy streets of London to an estate in Edinburgh, where other magical children, known as the Talents, are being gathered. There, the boys learn the nature of their abilities and of the man chasing them.

This dark fantasy story unfurls slowly, clocking in at over 25 hours for the audiobook. Ben Onwukwe did a nice job with the narration. <i>Ordinary Monsters</i> is the first book in a trilogy about the Talents, and you can feel the length of time spent setting up the world in this book. It was an interesting story that would be made better with some editing to trim it down.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This book didn't quite live up to my expectations, but was enjoyable nonetheless. I'll definitely check out this author again.

This is a case where I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I think if I had researched the book a little more I wouldn’t pick it up. The audiobook was great however this was just too long and slow paced for me.

For me the most difficult part of this story, was the narrator. For such a long story, it wasn’t easy to follow while listening. Reading it was definitely easier.

This one failed to live up to my (admittedly very high) hopes for it. The atmosphere is wonderful, you really get the whole sensory experience of each location you're in -- from the gas-lit gothic vibes of Victorian England to the damp Scottish countryside, and alllll the types of mud and stench encountered along the way.

The female characters were compellingly crafted and felt like they had unique and real personalities, rather than falling into stereotypical roles. It's true of all the characters actually -- our heroes aren't without flaw, our villains have motivations we can understand. Alice Quick is a delight, and makes me want to wear trousers and fist fight men in saloons.

But it was much too slow and much too long for the pay off. 350 pages (give or take) before we even make it to the Institute? I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a horror-fantasy overlap, doesn't mind difficult things happening to children, and is willing to dedicate two books worth of time to a single narrative. For me, it didn't click and I won't be reading the next in the series which may be the best litmus test.

I listened to an audio version of this book and the narrator, Ben Onwukwe, was absolutely superb!
His deep dramatic voice was perfect for this dark Victorian Penny Dreadful type drama.
I felt the author had channeled Charles Dickens when writing about the plight of Charlie and Marlow and the other "talented" children picked up for the institute.
However, I do not think I can read another book from this trilogy - it took me so very long to finish listening and the narrative is very dark and oppressive

Historical fantasy is not my normal genre, but the gothic appeal drew my interest. I loved everything about this book. Very well written, characters were believable, amazing plot, and such a page turner - and there are some pages to this one.

Ordinary Monsters is a unique, and enthralling adventure of two young boys whose lives are intertwined in stopping an evil from coming into their world from the land of the dead. The story was a little slow to start, but quickly built up to a quicker pacing full of intrigue, twists and turns, and found family. A unique monster story that had me wanting more. I seriously can’t wait until book two releases. This was the audiobook version, and I enjoyed the narration. The voice inflections and tone were really easy to listen to.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced audiobook review copy of “Ordinary Monsters” by J M Miro. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

I saw many encouraging early reviews of this book so I decided to give it a try. However, when I started this book I then had to put it down for a while as the beginning was so bleak and sad. I wasn’t sure I could push through such a long book if it was going to be that sad the whole time. That does speak to the talent of the author to create such emotion, but it didn’t make me want to put the book aside until I could be in the right headspace to pick it up again and I just don’t think I’m going to be in the right headspace to push through this book.

I went into Ordinary Monsters after hearing a lot of really good things about it and I was not disappointed! This historical fantasy follows Talents in England—specifically two orphans Charlie and Marlowe who are potentially the key to opening the secrets of a world beyond. But in the quest to learn more, they’re in danger from a man trying to stop them as well. This is gritty and dark and captivating. For an almost 700-page story, nothing feels superfluous or drawn out. It is action-packed from start to finish! And the characters are so good! Marlowe is just a gem and I loved learning about Charlie and then there were all the characters helping them and moving them along and the villain Jacob Marber were all so well developed and interesting! The magic with the talents too felt so unique! I got a sort of Umbrella Academy/Night Circus vibe from the story and the back drop of England in the 1800s felt so perfect! There is a lot of darkness in this book but it’s offset well with the innocence from the children who lead the story. Such a wonderful fantasy read!

There is just too much going on in the book for it to be an audiobook. I read a hard copy of this one and it was good as a print read.

I liked this, I really did. The story is fantastic, full of mystery and magic - it’s hard to beat really. The problem? It’s really freaking long. The audio is over a day - that just excessive.

To me this felt like several books jammed into one. It’s a trilogy, but easily could have been a series and spread the story out. I don’t mind long books, I love them actually. But if I’m going to read a long book, I’ve realized I prefer it to wrap up the story at the end rather than leaving us with more on the way.

I’ll definitely continue this trilogy when the other books release, but I’m going to have to reread this and take notes. There are just so many characters and I had to use google a few times to remind me who was who. I also believe this may be easier to keep up with as a physical book or an ebook over an audio.

That’s not to say the audio is bad, it isn’t. It’s great. The narrator really brings the needed vibe into the story. It’s just that without the words to keep track of what’s what, I think it’s harder to keep up with the characters.

Overall I gotta go with ⭐️⭐️⭐️ mostly because there’s just so much to process and it’s super duper long.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio!

I had a long journey with Ordinary Monsters. The audiobook narrator just wasn't for me so I paused at the 25% mark and waited until the book was published so I could get a paper copy. It still took me a very long time to read. Overall I liked the characters, the setting was very atmospheric, and the magic system very cool and unique. The end was fantastic. But my overall grievance with this book is its length. I feel like it really could have been edited down quite a bit and still kept the core plot. There were a lot of flashbacks and scenes that I didn't feel added any real value or plot progression. This is the factor that will keep me from picking up Volume 2.