Monster

An all-girls’ boarding school is a classic. It’s been done about a billion times, so the most important bit is taking a new spin on it, with magic, death plots or, in this case, a mystery. At first I wasn’t sure about it, because of the amount of times even this spin off has been done, and it was pretty slow, but Monster really surprised me. By half way though I was gripped, and by three quarters of the way through I was completely addicted.
Nash is the teacher’s pet, the sensible one, the favourite to win head girl. Everything at Bathory is how it should be – she’s even got a thing with the village shopkeeper’s son. It’s only when she gets the news that her adored brother is missing that it all starts to fall apart, and staying at Bathory School over Christmas with only Matron and five mismatched girls for company is only the beginning. Every moment that she spends there, a plot is unfolding, and all the threads are gathering up. I loved the story, and the different way of showing the boarding school scenario. It was focused in only a week or two, and so was vividly detailed and full of action and life, unlike other books which are similar.
The characters though, were my favourite bit. Each person was realistic and three dimensional, but also larger than life and fantastical. Maggie was my favourite, but there was one for every personality type; the cheat, the shallow one, the badass, and so on. Every character was perfectly portrayed and realised, which gave the story life and a sense of reality. The plot was amazing, and so, so clever. Every page held a new revelation, as Nash’s world is changed beyond anything she could imagined. I'd recommend this to anyone.