Author: A. Lee Martinez
Publisher: Orbit
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: May 2009
It’s rare that I pick up a book while waiting for an appointment and decide that I don’t mind if I have to wait a while—and I was only on page two. A. Lee Martinez starts out Monster with just that, a monster, specifically a Yeti. It only gets crazier.
It’s probably hard to tell a story from the viewpoint of a grocery store stocker and make it interesting, but Martinez is more that up for the task. I was quickly disabused of the notion that Martinez was going to take an ordinary gal and make her a heroine. Judy, the main character, can’t remember magic or magical creatures when they happen. She’s not even sure that she wants to, but she’s not so certain that bothering to get up every night and stock shelves is all that great a life either. She’s not the only ordinary person in the story either. The guy that “contains” monsters, (named Monster) isn’t much more than a human that happens to be able to do a few runes. He’s your local animal control in case you happen to run into a sphinx, a smelly troll or anything that resembles a dragon. Despite it sounding exciting, his job and purpose are pretty dead-end, and unlike Judy, he isn’t even interested in wondering what else might be more interesting.
This is one of those books that has two universes very close together, reality and magic that is just out of sight. I generally don’t like the back of bookcover teasers, but this one summarizes it nicely:
Meet Monster. Meed Judy. Two humans who don’t like each other much but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs and a crazy cat lady—for the future of the universe.
Martinez has a light touch when it comes to the theme of how very boring our lives really are, yet it’s enough to make the motivation realistic. In our own way, we’re all just stacking cans, bringing home a paycheck—and what is it all for? I’m fairly certain we don’t find the answer to the question in this book, but what a great ride.
There’s humor, there’s action, there’s life-threatening danger. There were a lot of favorite lines; here’s just one:
“It’s big and white and it’s eating all the ice cream,” she said.
“What flavor?”
“What?”
“What flavor does it seem to prefer? Yeti’s generally go for rocky road….”
And you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole—It’s a venture you won’t want to leave anytime soon. It’s got shades of Douglas Adams only it makes more sense. There are known monsters, there are unknown creations—there are fears, both real and imagined. There’s revenge, there’s the universe spinning on its axis. It’s a very fun read, and I highly recommend it.
