Monster Republic

When I was the right age to read youth fiction there really wasn't a lot of choice when it came to books with good hero-type characters. Thankfully this trend is changing with books like "Hunger" by Michael Grant and the book which I am currently reading "Meteorite Strike" by AG Taylor both out in January alone. Monster Republic is another of these sci-fi and superhero inspired novels, only where Hunger is a very readable 600 pages long, Monster Republic is a more manageable 288 pages.

In fact Hunger is a good comparison for Monster Republic and they actually probably aim at a slightly different readership. Hunger focusses on the political problems in a world where all the adults have disappeared where Monster Republic is mcuh more a personal thriller for the main character.

The main character is Cameron, a teenager in school who dislikes bullying and will help out people who are being picked on, even if he comes out worst in the fight! He has started going out with Maria and his school are on a trip to a nuclear power plant when an explosion rips through the building. He awakes briefly to see very little and a Doctor talking about him, then he is given an injection and goes back to sleep. The next thing he knows he is awakened by a furry girl calling herself Rora and he finds himself with a face that doesn't appear to be his and multiple cybernetic enhancements. What exactly is going on? What has the town's benefactor got to do with it? What is the Monster Republic?

This is a thrilling page-turner that never lets up from beginning to end as the main character tries to make sense of what has happened to him. Of course there are some clever devices used. This is clearly intended to be a series of books and the "Divinity Project" performs a similar role to something like Weapon X project in Marvel. From it come all sorts of monsters who have been changed genetically and cybernetically, this allows plenty of scope for other stories in the future and even other characters with abilities to be focussed on.

Another clever plot idea is taking Cameron's weaknesses and using them against them. In this case it's his feelings for his girlfriend who has also been resurrected by the Divinity Project. However her body contains the school bullies brain and many cybernetic enhancements making her incredibly dangerous! This book would make an excellent Graphic Novel and indeed they have sort of tried that with some quite interesting pictures in the back. I think it's a shame they haven't used a similar format to GP Taylor's recent DoppelGanger Chronicles to capture some of the action.

Regardless of that this is a fast-paced book that will keep you reading until the last page. It might not be as long as Hunger but it gets a move on with it's storytelling and the pace creates it's own excitement. I read the book in only a couple of sittings because I couldn't put it down! It's rare a book for teens is like that for me these days that I am (just very slightly) out of my teenage years!