I typically do not enjoy generational family stories. I lose track of who is who easily (even with a family tree) and usually get frustrated by how little time each section allows for each family member. While the first problem was certainly still an issue for me (I made heavy use of the family tree), the second was not. Every story in Man Made Monsters was a fulfilling narrative. I was never left feeling that I’d read something with underdeveloped characters or a boring premise. Every single story is well written with tight pacing, excellent prose, and interesting characters. While some characters and narratives were certainly more memorable than others—I would kill for a full novel following Ama—none were stories that were bad or unenjoyable.

Some were certainly stronger or weaker than others. Much of that boils down to personal taste; for example, I’m not a huge fan of zombies, meaning that the final part of the collection, "The Zombies Attack the Drive-In!" wasn’t my favorite despite it being a perfect thematic and structural end. Other stories simply weren’t as hard-hitting, unique, or memorable as the story proceeding. I’ll remember “American Predators” for years; its follow-up, “Manifesting Joy,” not so much. Overall, though, each and every single chapter is fantastic both as a single story as well as a piece of the larger whole.

My personal favorite is “I Come from the Water”. Walela, a teenage girl, finds an alien in her saltwater pool. It’s a coming-of-age narrative about loss, parental relationships, and coming out. The story swaps between the POV of Walela and the alien, named Sakonige, which I adored. What can I say? I’m a sucker for nonhuman POVs. Even among all the supernatural things which happen in Man Made Monsters, “I Come from the Water” is unique; while there are other sci-fi stories, such as “Man Made Monsters,” “I Come from the Water” isn’t horror in the least. Normally that would be jarring, but the story is well-written, refreshing, and a perfect thematic fit.
Waxing Lyrical About Ama

I originally wasn’t going to write much more than my review above, but then I started thinking about Ama Wilson and I have a lot to say because I love what Rogers did with Ama. Some minor spoilers included in this section; skip ahead if you don’t want them.

Ama features in four stories of the collection. In two, “An Old-Fashioned Girl” and “Ama’s Boys,” she is the protagonist. In the others, “I Come from the Water” and “The Zombies Attack the Drive-In!”, she is a side character.

In Ama’s first story, a German doctor kills her mother and little brother. He turns Ama into a vampire and leaves her in the wreckage of her campsite with Ama’s baby sister in his arms. This is the perfect beginning to the collection, setting up not only the themes of the collection (colonialism, identity, monstrosity of others, monstrosity of the self, etc.) but also providing us with a character who, due to the whole immortality thing, we can expect and are excited to see again. When I saw “Ama’s Boys” a hundred pages later I was so excited.

“Ama’s Boys” is the story which made me want to write this section because it is such a clever, interesting inversion of YA vampire tropes. Typically, in a YA vampire novel, the vampire is the white male love interest; he’s almost always ancient (cough “seventeen” cough), yet we are expected to understand that his relationship with a teenage human girl is pure and good. That he’s not preying on her, despite the fact she’s almost always a naive, shy, typically inexperienced girl. He’s a moral paragon (something white rich men are totally known for) who avoids feeding on human blood and/or directly from people.

“Ama’s Boys” turns all of these tropes on their heads. Ama is a Cherokee woman and the story’s protagonist. She’s ancient, having been a vampire for 151 years, and knows it. She only “plays at” being a teenager, “pull[ing] off sixteen,” “passing as younger” (Rogers 129). She’s fully aware she’s not actually a teenager. She’s also aware that the boys she targets are her prey. She intentionally singles out socially inept, nerdy guys because they’re easy to manipulate and feed from. Her relationships with them are not love stories. She’s fully aware of what she’s doing. She’s no moral paragon, either, though she has morals and ethics (something which other vampires, the male, privileged white ones, certainly do not). She takes the blood she needs and only kills if she has to. She never turns anyone into a vampire. She does what she has to do so she can survive.

I didn’t notice it on my initial read, but when thinking about Ama I started connecting the dots. It’s fascinating that “Ama’s Boys” so effectively reverses every trope in such a natural, interesting way. If I’m remembering correctly, it doesn’t even reference the texts those tropes come from. It’s entirely possible that this inversion was unintentional, but considering the care and level of detail put into the rest of the novel, I doubt it was an accident.

Ama’s presence as a side character shows she got back into contact with her family’s descendents at some point. I am devastated that that wasn’t a story included in Man Made Monsters. I want to know how and why she got back into contact, and how she explained who she was (and what she was).

The collection leaves me with very few questions about its characters and world. Ama is one of the few I find myself still thinking about, wanting to know more about. She is fascinating. Her life (unlife, technically) has so much to explore. Whatever happened to the German doctor and his son, and why did he choose to turn her? We know they met again—what happened during that meeting? Did she ever look for Suzanna? What did she do for most of those years? What other relationships and people did she meet? How does the system of vampire territory work? How, why, and when did she get into contact with her sister’s descendents? Was it via Janie, who was turned in “American Predators”? How did Ama survive during the zombie apocalypse, considering there is probably less blood to be had? (On that note, what happens if a zombie bites a vampire?)

Okay, Ama rant over. On to final thoughts.
Final Thoughts
This collection is a fascinating conversation which draws in many different inspirations, themes, and ideas into a cohesive, beautiful whole. For any horror lover, even those not typically interested in YA, this is a must-read. I look forward to reading more from Rogers and am crossing my fingers for more of Ama in the future. If you're looking to purchase this, the digital copy is nice, but I'd definitely suggest getting the physical for ease of referencing the family trees.

Absolutely loved this book! Such a fascinating concept and wonderfully executed piece of work.

Top stories for me were An Old-Fashioned Girl, American Predators, Lens, Maria Most Likely, I Came from the Water, the Zombies Attack the Drive In!, but especially the titular story, Man Made Monsters, which was a perfectly crafted horror tale.

I think the themes of grief, family connection, community connection (and in turn connection to home/land), change, and adaptation were beautifully explored across these works. Although not necessary, I thought it was cool how these stories mapped out through the family lineage and through time, ending up in the future. The chapter art was also exceptional and makes me want to own a hard copy to flip through!

Some stories I didn’t really get or just felt like a miss for me (I really don’t think I understood the point of Happily Ever After) or I was just left wanting a bit more from some of the shorter pieces. On the whole though, I would highly recommend this book! Perfect for the Halloween season.

The stories take place in different times, and various types of monsters menace the border between realms, but it all coheres into one world. The opening vampire story pulled me in. The Cherokee folklore is a core part of it: for example, there's a mention that a vision of Uktena, a serpent with deer antlers, means “the world is about to change.” You might encounter something that can wrap around a coyote, leaving “an empty skin and gaping eyes.” Maria, feeling things deeply, asks “what magic could clean her soul.” A lot of energy and a lot of depth.

"Man Made Monsters" is an incredible horror anthology. The sense of creeping dread that Andrea Rogers manages to imbue story after story in sometimes as few as ten pages are truly astounding. I could not read through the stories quickly enough as I was consumed by the stories spun within, determined to see what new monster, what new tragedy, what horrible scenario would be lurking behind the next short story.

I loved the way Rogers stretched the stories through generations of the same family. It gave the story so much weight as the reader was able to see how things changed (or how they didn't) for the indigenous people of the United States through each progressive story. I relished the chance to learn about Cherokee folklore, to begin discovering their traditions and history, and to see how that history is being reclaimed by successive generations, refusing to die quietly in the night. A must-have for any library collection that has readers who enjoy horror or readers who are eager for narrators whose culture and lived experiences can match their own. I know our own Cherokee kids will be thrilled to have a copy on our shelves soon.

Special thanks to NetGalley and to Levine Querido for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Man Made Monsters" in return for an unbiased review!

I went into this book not really reading the synopsis but more towards the cover and I’m glad I read it for Spooky Season.

This is a collection of short horror stories. We have ghosts, zombies, vampires, werewolves, etc.. you get the drift. It’s a YA short story that starts with the 1830s and continues into the future. It leans into Cherokee folktales and reimagines them and the cruelty that man are the real monsters.

If you enjoy short horror stories, I recommend this one!

I love short story collections, I love them even more when they are linked in an explicit way.

The infusion of Cherokee culture and folklore made for such rich and fascinating reading that will appeal to a wide swath of horror fans. All of the stories felt fresh in a way that I haven’t read in a lot of horror recently—10/10 would recommend!

A unique approach to an anthology, all stories are written by one very talented author and their common point is that all of the stories center on one Cherokee family. Spanning from the 1830's to the near future, each story advances the family history another step. The "monsters" include traditional horror characters, werewolves, zombies, vampires along with those monsters that are grown inside the human heart and brain, greed, predjudice. We also see the traditional Native monsters that have been haunting members since long before the 1800's.

Not only is Andrea Rogers a very talented writer, she features some interesting, educational illustrations by Jeff Edwards. Not only are his drawings much scarier than what I could imagine, he incorporates many of the traditional Cherokee syllabary into his art.

5 stars for the story line. 5 stars for the execution. 5 stars for the illustrations. I think my math is off, just give them 100 stars and call it a day.

Loved the span of history and perfect for fall reading. I usually don’t love story collections but this was solid. Love that they were connected.

I gotta be honest.
I LOVED "Man Made Monsters"!
☠️
Each story was unique with its own flavor and theme, but they all intertwined delicately as they followed a family through several generations.
☠️
Not all were scary, some were fun or spooky or heartfelt or vicious and I- did I say I loved it already?
☠️
This focus on a Native family through various lenses was perfectly done, and with so much love, care, and joy.
☠️
4.5 stars, highly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing an early edition for review, but the hardcover version is so beautiful I may have to buy myself a physical copy, too.

I really enjoyed the interconnectivity of the stories in MAN MADE MONSTERS, particularly that it came full circle in the end with Ama as a recurring character. If I were to change anything, it would be to have more stories set in the earlier time periods, since I felt it skewed more modern. But overall I thought it was well written, interesting, and brought a fresh perspective to the horror genre.

Read if You Like: Folklore, Things That Go Bump In The Night

I knew I would love this interrelated short story collection from the very first page. Expertly written and beautifully illustrated, this collection follows generations of a Cherokee family from the 1830s into the future.

𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆-𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆, 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈-𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏, 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.

These monster stories center around Cherokee cultures and traditions and the imagery at the start of each chapter is just breathtaking. The folklore is reminiscent of Cherie Demaline's Empire of Wild but told with intensifying horror and gore.

This book is mesmerizing and has such a pull- I didn't want to put it down to go to sleep. When I woke up I immediately wanted to start reading again and see what Rogers had in store for me next... I will say I resonated with the earlier stories more as they just had a creepier element and were almost more feral.

Though labeled as YA, this is the PERFECT read for all ages. 4.5 stars from me.

Thank you NetGalley and Levine Querido for an advanced eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was so good! I'm a big fan of a short story collection esp horror short stories and all of these really worked for me! There were maybe one or two that weren't as strong as the rest but none of them stand out as bad or shouldn't have been included. I love that they all have this eerie feeling to them and maybe they're a bit open-ended but I LOVED that about them! Can't wait to read more from Rogers :)

I loved this book so much. I am ashamed to say that I haven’t read anything from someone that is Native American and this book Felt like a Brest of fresh air. It was the perfect start for me to get into October's book mood reading while learning about Cherokee folktales. This book was easily on my favorites book list this year and I will deținutele but a copy so I can go back to it soon enough.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anything feminist is pretty much an automatic request for me and this lived up to my expectations. What really stood out to me though were the illustrations by Jeff Edwards. I can't wait to see the illustrations in person and on paper. A great read.

Man Made Monsters is a refreshing collection of short horror stories told in a voice that absolutely deserves the time on this stage. Each story follows generations of a Cherokee family, for whom the family tree is given at the start of the book, and the horror creeps quietly into your gut while you read, creating a heart-wrenching experience when taken as a whole. I would say folks expecting gore and grime may be disappointed, but what you find here is so much more meaningful - I would recommend this as a solid read for budding horror fans.

I really enjoyed the first half of this, but around the 46% mark the stories started to lag and were really hard to get through. I really didn’t enjoy the use of second person POV in the werewolf story- I found it completely yanked me out of the story. There were a few stories after that that stood out, but overall it didn’t quite deliver for me.

This is one of the coolest short story projects I have read in a long time. Each of these stories adds a new flavor, a new missing piece, a new SOMETHING to the general whole that strengthens the collection and solidifies Andrea Rogers as a YA horror colossus. I especially loved the stories set in the past and was impressed by how Rogers was able to carry the thread of the collection not only from story to story, but from era to era. I don't usually fall for YA, but I fell for this. I loved the concept of the collection itself, and appreciated the family tree of the Wilson and Stone families that we receive in the beginning.

As is true for most story collections, there are stories that stand out and shine above the rest. For me, those were Homecoming, Deer Women, Manifesting Joy, and Hell Hound in No Man's Land. Though I felt each story was strong!

An interesting collection of horror short stories that were compelling. I was expecting this to be more horror, so it seemed much less intensely horror than I was expecting. It was very good and showed a wide range of characters and creatures. For a genre that is not my typical cup of tea, this was really well done.

This was incredible, I’m not sure I can do it justice. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

The creeping horror, the feeling of something is not right was done to perfection in these stories. Supernatural or human, the horror was something that was right in the corner of your eye, causing unease without being overt - I think that’s a balance that’s hard to achieve, and it really elevated the experience, to be right in the same space as the characters.

The entire setup for this book was incredibly neat. It’s more one long story in snapshots, than a more traditional anthology/collection of short stories in my opinion. It follows one family through time, past, present, future, and I loved seeing all the different pieces connect through the book. It became all of one piece, by the end.

The art! Incredible - this added to the atmosphere of the book so much. Perfectly fit the stories, as well as being just gorgeous in their own right.

It’s easy to note the obvious supernatural horrors - vampires, werewolves, etc - but the human side was impeccable as well. Concerns of the time periods - from health to being taken away to school shootings even…it covered it all. Lots of focus on family, both as positives and as negatives. The juxtaposition of the supernatural parts alongside the modern moments like school shootings is just…jarring. In a positive way. It’s hard to describe.

These stories really stay with you, I’ll be thinking about them for a long while. Definitely highly recommend this book! Beautifully crafted on all levels.

I feel like everyone needs to read this book. A collection of 18 horror short stories following generations of a Cherokee family from being forced off their homeland in the 1830s to the future beyond our current year. We see snippets of their lives and being to piece together what has happened in the time between stories. Much of the horror is not splashy or gory, but still leaves the reader with a sucker punch to the gut. Many of the stories left my close to or full on crying, because even through the horror there is a hopefulness that comes from a deep connection to community and the universe. I believe I read in an interview that the author reached out to the illustrator to create illustrations for each story, and this was truly inspired. The illustrations bring that much more to the story as each coincides with the story and features Cherokee syllabary. The illustrations are stunning and I have to get my hands on a finished copy to truly appreciate them AND the family tree!
.
Do be warned though that there are themes of grief, dead animals, necromancy, murder, sexual assault (there may be more I am forgetting in my sick haze).