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Well, that was a lot of nothing. I expected that the story would pick up after the first volume, but instead we get ~170 pages of nothing really happening until the last 20 pages. Even worse than the boring story, we get a cliffhanger ending with sequel bait on what was supposed to be a two volume limited series. sigh...

There's a lot that's wrong with the story other than the atrocious pacing. It mostly boils down to all the characters ranging from very boring to infuriatingly boring. There isn't a single character that I can remember or root for. They're all boring college bros that spend most of their dialogue talking about their relationships and their college days instead of the real story happening now. Each chapter starts with some form of "I really liked Walter... But he's evil now... And I'm very sad...", which is kind of hilarious considering I have no idea who's talking and it doesn't really matter because every character is a cardboard box that all act the same.

The other problem with volume 2 is that it employs the worst trope in all of story-telling: characters getting amnesia and forgetting important things that happened so you can watch them spend the rest of the story going in a circle and try to remember everything again. Nothing. Is. Happening.

The only reason it's not a 1 star is because I still really like the concept of the series. The execution though, sucks. The ending is lame and I felt nothing when things happened to certain characters. It's clear James Tynion just had no idea how to continue the series after the concept stage.

Man... This was so disappointing. I was so hooked by the amazing first ~100 pages of the book I thought every reviewer was insane. How could you not like this?! For the first section of the book, I thought it would've been an easy 4 or even 5 stars. Great characters, great dialogue, fantastic art, and an interesting story even. Then, as I delved into the rest of the book, I thought oh no...

Monsters does something I hope no book should do. It leaves us at a cliffhanger and spends half the book giving backstories to characters that aren't very important. The next ~200 pages of the book is the backstory of the main character's mother. Barely anything interesting happens. It's 200 pages that could've easily been condensed to just 20! When the book spends more time giving context for the plot than the actual plot itself, you know something is wrong.

I get it, it ties into the plot. Everything's connected and all, but the payoff is seriously not worth the insanely repetitive story in this middle half of the book. There's even long-winded cursive monologues in the form of Ms. Bailey's diary, and all of them are some variation of "My husband is back but he's treating me poorly and things aren't how they used to be. :(". 200 pages of this.

By the time we're back to the present, I was already feeling like I wanted the book to end. Sure enough, it does. The last 60 or so pages wrap up the story in a weirdly anticlimactic way. Nothing really happens. I can't say more without spoiling.

In the end it wasn't a bad book, just misleading. I didn't want 150 pages of Ms. Bailey being sad. I didn't want 50 pages of a sappy romance backstory. There's a 5/5 story hidden here somewhere, if the author had decided not to make Monsters tediously long and actually focus on the characters we wanted to see. It's a shame.

Squire was a really fun read that sadly gets pulled down by its rushed, simple ending. The characters are really fun but a lot of them were really shallow and just kind of there, you can really tell the story centers around 3 characters and everyone else is here so they don't get lonely.

It's a good read that's perfect for younger people. If you're older though, don't expect something deep or very realistic.

You're telling me they easily convinced a racist training regiment to risk their lives and commit treason for one person they don't know, with evidence stacked against them? I can understand Aiza's friends joining in, but it's pretty ridiculous that it worked, AND the army is nowhere to be seen, AND they won the battle, AND they portrayed this as a happy ending where they will continue to try and change the world as if every single person involved won't get executed for treason as soon as the army arrives. I know this is a YA book, but I expected something better.

Also I really need to make a counter for the cliche of "main villain dying from environmental causes while fighting protagonist, hence absolving the protagonist of any responsibility". Has to be one of my favorite cliches.