Review: All These Monsters by Amy Tintera

Author: Amy Tintera
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 2020

Seventeen-year-old Clara is ready to fight back. Fight back against her abusive father, fight back against the only life she’s ever known, and most of all, fight back against scrabs, the earth-dwelling monsters that are currently ravaging the world. So when an opportunity arises for Clara to join an international monster-fighting squad, she jumps at the chance.

When Clara starts training with her teammates, however, she realizes what fighting monsters really means: sore muscles, exhaustion, and worst of all, death. Scrabs are unpredictable, violent, and terrifying. But as Clara gains confidence in her battle skills, she starts to realize scrabs might not be the biggest evil. The true monsters are the ones you least expect.

All These Monsters is the first in new duology.  In this reality, monsters that live in the earth are terrorizing the world.  Clara, in an effort to escape her abusive father, signs up to become a part of an international group that fights these monsters. I liked the premise of the book, but I'm not sure I loved the execution.  What I was hoping would be a good monster fighting story instead ended up being mostly a romance love triangle with some fighting in it.

What I was hoping for was a great monster book.  The monsters here reminded me of a cross between the worms in Tremors and the bugs from Starship Troopers.  I wonder if the author was inspired by those movies.  They seemed cool, in a scary and dangerous way, but I wanted to know more about where they came from.  There was very little world building in regards to the monsters.  I did like the characters, especially Clara.  However, I wasn't a fan of the insta-love romance.  I felt like it over-shadowed the science fiction part of the book.  I did like that Clara was able to see that she was going to end up in a situation like her mother and was strong enough to walk away. I did also like that no one was safe.

I will probably read the next book.  I'm hoping it will answer some questions that I was left with at the end of this one.  I also hope we get more background on the monsters.  Less romance would also be good as well.  I think this is a fine YA Sci-fi.  It's a bit predictable, but entertaining.