The sort of paranormal abilities monsters (flesh eating, organ eating, pain eating, self-healing, glowing, vampires, chupacabras, unicorns, and everything under the sun) have were cool to read about, but not overwhelming. was really cool and not at all like the much more awkward narration in Heart of Thorns where the narrator’s science talk was…less believable. And her narration and how it incorporated healing the body and the specifics of clotting blood or sharpening vision or building muscles etc. Even though she’s not a great person (*cough*SHE DISSECTS MONSTERS FOR THE BLACK MARKET*cough*), I loved reading a protagonist who has a passion for science and is willing to question how far she’ll go. But some murderers (or murderer adjacent people) are better than others, and that’s who we end up rooting for throughout the novel. They’ve all led to one person or another’s death, and it’s really horrifying, when you actually think about it. It’s got a lot of dark characters, and basically nobody in this story is a completely good person. (Except that this book is the furthest thing from a train wreck.) It was darkly fascinating and was kind of like a train wreck you can’t help but watch. I loved reading it just for how different it is compared to traditional YA. This book is FANTASTIC! It’s fresh, it’s exciting, it’s got all the nitty gritty plus a morally questionable protagonist. On the other side of the bars, Nita must ask herself if she’s willing to become the worst kind of monster to escape. Yet saving her mother’s victim leads Nita to being sold in his place-because Nita herself isn’t exactly “human.” She has the ability to alter her biology, a talent that is priceless on the black market. She just dissects the bodies of supernatural beings after they’ve been “acquired” by her mother.īut when her mom brings home a live specimen of a scared teenage boy, Nita decides she wants out.

Rebecca schaeffer novel