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Feb 06, 2012

Stephanie rated it:

Do you need an “escape” book? Want a break from all those “serious” books you’ve been reading? Then boy, do I have a treat for you! MONSTER, written by A. Lee Martinez, is an action-packed, over-the-top, modern-day fantasy packed with humor about a man who catches and transmogrifies pests. Not your ordinary pests. We’re talking ice-cream eating yetis, giant multi-headed snakes, Japanese ogres, walrus dogs, snarling goat-headed creatures, and the like. MONSTER had me smiling all the way through. More...

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May 19, 2010

Sarah rated it:

First time reading this author and I practically devoured the book in one sitting. I'll admit, the cover caught my eye and that's probably why I bought it. Happily, the book did not disappoint at all. I thought it was fun and creative - definitely brain candy, like one reviewer's blurb on the back cover called it. Monster and his enchanted color-changing skin was really cool. I also liked the author's explanation of how magic exists yet most humans in the world just aren't capable of realizing i More...

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Oct 18, 2009

Dominic rated it:

Before I delve into the review, I just want to state that even though I only gave this book 3 stars, it deserves a 3.9, I just can't fully apply the "I really liked it" tag that comes with four stars. And so we begin,

A. Lee Martinez has written an incredibly fun, unique, funny, introspective, wishful, and decent novel with "Monster". He introduces a lot of ideas that even the sci-fi/fantasy scene never really thought of before, and he spins, as a whole, an ent More...

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Mar 31, 2010

Kemper rated it:

I now want a paper gnome sidekick after reading this story where mythological beasts are real, and there are cryptobiological agents to deal with them. (Think animal control for yetis.) A young slacker woman gets involved and disaster ensues.

At the 3/4 mark on this, I was getting bored and this was headed for 2 stars. This story of official agents who deal with the strange has been done to death in recent years, the humor wasn't that funny and the entire story seemed to consist of More...

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Sep 05, 2011

e.a.s. rated it:

I will freely admit that I don't dabble in the world of SciFi on a regular basis. It's nothing personal against the genre, just not overly fond of the alien world-building that so many times can weigh down an otherwise pleasant story.

There is a certain finesse, which is necessary to introduce a new set of 'rules' outside our comfortable reality. Some authors have that finesse, others don't.

A. Lee Martinez has that finesse.

The title-character, Monster Dionysus, a More...

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Mar 20, 2010

Fiendishly rated it:

Watch out for deadly garden gnomes, yeti’s that loathe vanilla, trolls, and possessed cats while the fate of the universe rests on the shoulders of three unlikely people: a disgruntled Cryptobiological Containment & Rescue Services (CCRC) worker, a paper gnome named Chester, and Judy, an incognizant mundane Food Plus Mart worker. (by the way, she’s great at stacking cans of vegetables). Not exactly the A Team when saving our collective butts. But hey… it’s all we’ve got.

Monster is no More...

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Jan 14, 2010

Beth rated it:

This funny tale of a cryptobiologist (think Dog Catcher, but for kobolds and yetis) reminded me a bit of Christopher Moore's work, with angels and humor figuring into the plot.

Out of the blue, magical creatures seem to popping up around a grocery store clerk. The aptly named Monster (whole daily skin color change results in new magical abilities thing) and his smart and well read sidekick Chester, a paper gnome who can fold himself into a variety of origami shapes, are unique and en More...

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Aug 05, 2009

Jessica rated it:

Review published here: http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/reviews/c...

In his new novel, Monster, A. Lee Martinez serves up an urban fantasy escapade bursting with biting humor and sarcasm. Through genuine and realistically flawed characters, madcap scenarios, and glimpses of philosophical perception, Martinez balances a fun and funny story with just the right amount of contemplation to keep it from being too serious.

The story follows titular character Monster, a cryptobiologi More...

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May 26, 2009

Mike rated it:

I really like A. Lee Martinez. I've read each of his books and I have to say I still really like him. I think I mentioned it in my review of "Automatic Detective", but I thought that was a bit of a let down, it wasn't as... I don't know, something as I was hoping for it to be. It was still fun and it was still exciting and well written, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. But again, it was good, so I can't really complain.
Monster is about a guy(Monster) who hunts monsters. Well, More...

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Mar 30, 2011

Sam rated it:

I had a bit of an existential crisis while reading Monster. So, this review is going to be about me. And the book. Because both of us had a crisis.
Monster is written in a style so similar to my own I had to check my hard drives to make sure that I hadn't written it and published it under a pseudonym while I was black-out drunk that one weekend at my friend's bar mitzvah in Tahoe. But I hadn't. And then I wondered.
What does this say about me? Why aren't my books getting picked up by p More...

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Jul 03, 2010

Joshua rated it:

I've been meaning to read a novel by A. Lee Martinez for sometime now, always perusing the bookstore, looking at the backs of the authors books and chuckling thinking that they were my kind of books. Since I enjoy a good Urban-fantasy novel (although recently most of the one's I've read have been mediocre at best), I decided to pick up Monster and quickly read it. It's an interesting concept, a basic animal control for mythical monsters, and it aspires very high with some wild and inventive idea More...

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Aug 13, 2009

Liza rated it:

Monster Dionysus is a cryptobiological rescue agent. When the noncognizant (people who can't understand that magic and monsters exist) call 911 to report a monster sighting, he goes to the scene to contain the crypto. But Monster isn't very good at his job. The runes he is supposed to use to contain cryptos keep slipping from his memory. Except, of course, for the practical joke runes he learned in community college. When Monster meets the woman who called in a yeti infestation, he realizes More...

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Jul 13, 2009

Secoh2000 rated it:

I'd have to give it a 3.5 out of 5.

A quick run down of the book.

It's about a person who traps monsters for a living; with his origami gnome side kick. His life sucks and he hates it all, until he's called to the scene of a yeti attack at a uni-mart. He meets up with a young lady stocking the shelves in this uni-mart, saves her life and says adue!

Or at least he tries to...

He ends up finding himself unwittingly enthralled with this young lady in a g More...

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Aug 20, 2010

Jessica(Spinecracker) rated it:

4.5 stars
Honestly, I bought Monster because I thought the cover was pretty bad-ass, and I'm really into yellow lately. For whatever reason, I was not aware of A. Lee Martinez nor any of his stories. I sat down to start this book and 15 pages in I'm laughing my ass off, and saying "This is gonna be gooood" So I'm wondering, am I the last person to find this amazing author? But, I was reassured that "No... There's a guy in Quebec who is still holding out."

More...

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Aug 08, 2010

Reed rated it:

A fun romp in the tradition of Christopher Moore, Monster details the adventures of, well, Monster--a cryptobiological containment specialist. You know, like a dogcatcher, but for mythological creatures.

When Judy (our co-protagonist) encounters a yeti sucking down all the Rocky Road ice cream where she works her dead-end job, she calls what she thinks is animal control and meets the aforementioned Monster.

Together they contain the yeti, and proceed on a series of encount More...

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Aug 13, 2009

Dan rated it:

Monster is a light and frothy confection. It doesn't feel quite like a full meal on its own; perhaps one could use it as a palate cleanser between Ian McEwan's Atonement and Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Author A. Lee Martinez appears to be having a lot of fun here. The book is an urban fantasy, and as such the magical elements are portrayed in an irreverent manner, rather than in the solemn style of Tolkienesque high fantasy. Our hero performs magic using runes (written symbols), insc More...

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Jul 31, 2010

Erica rated it:

When a Yeti is eating the ice cream in the freezers you're suppose to stock, who do you call? Naturally you call animal control. Good thing animal control works with the cryptobiological containment unit who are well equipped to handle Yeti's, Trolls, and all those others creepies who go bump in the night.

The concept of various layers of consciousness and creatures co-existing in one plane is always a fun one to work with and Martinez does it well. Think of this as a very gritty, g More...

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Feb 14, 2010

Nick rated it:

Lee's 6th novel (and the second I've read since his debut, GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER) deals with a color-changing human who runs a pest-control company; but he doesn't exactly go after rats and roaches. Along with his self-folding paper partner Chester, he collects ("Ghostbusters-style") all kinds of pesky "cryptobiological" creatures with his unique brand of magic, such as Yetis and all manner of mythical beasts who manage to find their way into our universe.

Despit More...

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Apr 22, 2010

Tom rated it:

Okay, a quick one (I don't get to much reading for now - not to talk about time for reviews or writing myself):

Starts off like one of those fine Christopher Moore "Graveyard shift at the supermarket"-novels, complete with nice, quirky characters, propper lashes to Harry Potter ("Only Muggel use the word Muggel"), swift kicks at various urban fantasy tropes and a nice angle at magic.

And then takes a deep sip of an cocktail probably made of speed, LSD, e More...

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Nov 15, 2011

izikavazo rated it:

I slogged through this book because my room-mate, who never reads, asked me to read it. I figured if I read one of his books he'd read ten of mine. So far that didn't work. He now tells me that he didn't even make it halfway through this book, I understand why.
The author of this book forgets to give his characters goals or purposes. These are just two characters living their weird little lives for half a book. Then around halfway through you start figuring out that there's actually a villa More...

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Jun 28, 2009

Monk rated it:

This book has a great cast, it has some rather interesting ideas on magic and its role in the world. It was a lot of humor and laugh out loud moments.

It unfortunately suffers from a case of meandering story and deus ex machina.

This isn't to say it's bad. The story of Monster, a middling practitioner of magic and cryptobiological containment specialist, is amusing at least. In every other aspect though, he's your everyman - save for the fact that in his work he was bitten More...

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Sep 23, 2009

Mike rated it:

Martinez’ The Automatic Detective was on of my favorite reads of 2008 for its clever combination of humor and tropes from both the hard-boiled and science fiction genres. While I wouldn’t rank Monster as quite as entertaining I still found it a wholly enjoyable read full of Martinez’s clever and frequently humorous ideas. Our main character, Monster, works for the Cyptobiological Containment and Rescue Services division of Animal Control. A routine call from Supermarket employee Judy turns into More...

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Sep 30, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

This funny story about a supernatural animal control agent named Monster who transmorgifies mythological beasts into rocks to rescue the "muggles" who accidentally come in contact with them started out as rollicking as Christopher Moore novel. However, it got bogged down in overly long conversations (especially near the end) about Monster's failed relationships and the empty life of his fellow heroine Judy just when the narrative began to get more action-packed. Also the plot got caugh More...

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Sep 22, 2010

Thomas rated it:

Anyone who keeps up with my reading knows I’m a fan of A. Lee Martinez. He manages to mix the funny with the dramatic very well, enough so that he creates his own little sub-genre, one that I really enjoy. Part of me was initially concerned over whether or not he could recreate the charm of Gil’s All Fright Diner, but he managed to pull off repeated successes with his next three novels. I’m a little out of order with Monster (I still haven’t read Too Many Curses, an unfortunate title that alw More...

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Sep 10, 2009

Amanda rated it:

Pretty amusing. Monster and Judy handle the outbreak of strange creatures and a plot to take over the world with humor, but not really any courage or good nature or anything redeeming. You find yourself kind of liking Monster for his blue collar working stiff attitude, but with both him AND Judy on the grumpy gus wagon all the time, it gets a little old. Chester, the paper gnome, is an unexpected little sage full of advice and the catalyst to the whole "turnaround" attitude that infect More...

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Dec 20, 2009

Mo rated it:

Reads very much like a Christopher Moore novel with the quirky characters & sharp humor. Quite enjoyable right from the start all the way to the last page. Intrigued by the plethora of mythical creatures mentioned, some of which I'd never heard of before.

Noteworthy, thought-provoking quote from page 268:

"Do you know what separates humanity from the other beasts of this world?" asked Lotus. "It's not the ability to make tools or complex language or any of that o More...

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Mar 09, 2010

Shannon rated it:

Judy has a dead-end job at the local supermarket, packing shelves at night. Trouble seems to follow Judy wherever she goes, whatever she does, so she's not terribly surprised to find a yeti in the freezer section, eating all the ice cream. Animal Control puts her through to Cryptobiological Containment and Rescue Services, and soon enough a blue guy who calls himself Monster is striding through the doors, accompanied by a paper man called Chester.

Monster changes colour every day, and More...

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Jan 19, 2010

Sarah rated it:

I enjoyed Gil's All Fright Diner, so I figured I would enjoy this supernatural romp, too. Martinez is one of those authors that you either like or don't like. He's inventive and different without being gross.

Monster first meets Judy when a yeti is eating all the ice cream in the grocery store where she works. He takes care of the problem (with her help) but informs her that she'll soon forget the magic--most humans do. But Monster's job is to capture magical creatures, and there seem More...

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Aug 03, 2009

Beau rated it:

Not since BAD MONKEYS by Matt Ruff have I enjoyed a wonderful piece of off the wall fiction like this. MONSTER by A. Lee Martinez is some really fun, well written sci-fi/action/witty fiction.

If there is anything in the world of Cryptozoology that needs hunted, contained or captured, like a huge ice cream eating Yeti in a 7-11 type store, then Monster and Judy will fight it and each other to get the job done. Need I mention that Monster's girlfriend is the girlfriend from Hell.... More...

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Jul 23, 2009

Carmaletta rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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