The Last Monster: 10/07/16

The Last Monster by Ginger Garrett is like a cross between The Morose Mononokean and The Gilmore Girls. Sofia has been put in the care of the world's monsters while she is trying to get her life back. She's spent nearly a year in the hospital recovering from bone cancer.

Though a metaphor for the way illness or injury changes a person, the monsters are in the context of Sofia's world, real. Sofia is a hero because she choses to care, even for the things that scare her. These creatures, even ones that eat children, need her help and she gives it.

Every monster hunter needs a bestiary, whether that hunter is there to exorcise, heal, kill, or befriend said monsters. Sam and Dean (Supernatural) have their father's journal and later the library of the Men of Letters; Natsume has the book of friends, and Sofia has Xeno's bestiary, inhabited by the lost student of Aristotle himself. In that regard, I couldn't help but picture him as a Grecian Sir Glossaryck of Terms (from Star vs the Forces of Evil).

The Last Monster is a compelling read. It's one of those rare gems that insisted on being read in a single sitting. But there's enough tucked between the pages to warrant a second and third read.

Five stars

Comments (0)