Ordinary Monsters
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''Ordinary Monsters'' is a 2022 fantasy novel by J.M. Miro, a pseudonym for Steven Price.


Background

Ordinary Monsters is the first of a planned trilogy.


Plot

The plot is set in the
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
and is about children with special abilities. The employees of a special academy called the Cairndale Institute are determined to find them, and a monster is hunting the children as well. In this alternate timeline, some people are known as Talents, those who have specific abilities that enable them to do seemingly supernatural feats like control dust, become invisible, heal themselves, or be able to harden their skin, among others.


Characters


Main characters

*Marlowe, an 8-year-old Talent who can glow with a supernatural blue light. This light can burn others or heal their injuries. *Charlie Ovid, a 16-year-old Talent from rural Mississippi who can heal himself of any injury, even death. *Alice Quicke, a private detective working for the Cairndale Institute to find Talents. *Margaret Harrowgate, a widow and employee of Cairndale Institute who evaluates new Talents. *Frank Coulton, an employee of the Cairndale Institute who searches for Talents, and Alice's partner. *Eleanor "Ribs" Ribbon, a young Talent with the power of invisibility. *Jacob Marber, a Talent who has the power of dustworking, or manipulating dust to his will. He has been seduced and corrupted by a mysterious darkness. *Walter Laster, a strange creature in service of Jacob Marber. *Dr. Henry Berghast, the head of the Cairndale Institute and the man responsible for finding the Talents. Cold, intelligent, and secretive, he works to find both Marlowe and the drughr. *Komako Onoe, a young Talent from Tokyo with the power of dustworking, like Jacob Marber. *Oskar Czekowisz, a young Talent from Poland who creates and is accompanied by his flesh-giant companion, Lymenion. *Abigail Davenshaw, the Talents' tutor at Cairndale Institute. While congenitally blind, she sees more of what happens at Cairndale than most.


Other characters

*Mr. Bailey, Dr. Berghast's manservant. *Brynt, a sideshow performer in the circus, and Marlowe's guardian *Ratcliffe Fang, the dangerous kingpin of London's criminal underworld, and sometime ally to Mrs. Harrogate. *Susan Crowley, a former employee of Cairndale. *Eliza Grey, a girl fleeing a troubled past who becomes Marlowe's adoptive mother. *Adra Norn, the leader of a Chicago commune who sheltered a young Alice Quicke. *Mr. Thorpe, Cairndale's ancient glyphic, called "the Spider" by the young Talents. *Mrs. Ficke, a chandler in Edinburgh with connections to Cairndale.


Creatures

*Talents, humans who have the ability to manipulate dead cells in strange and fantastic ways. *Litches, corpses reanimated and controlled by dustworkers. They have supernatural strength and speed, and retain little of who they were in life. *The Drughr, an otherworldly monster bent on finding and consuming Talents. *Glyphics, onetime Talents who become tied to an orsine. They hold closed the gates to the world of the dead, and can find new Talents in their dreams. *The Spirit Dead, ribbons of memory drifting through the world behind the orsine. *The Keywrasse, a mysterious, cat-like creature bound to serve the holder of its weir-bents. *Bonebirds, undead, skeletal messenger birds used for communication by those at Cairndale.


Reception

Vanessa Armstrong of ''
Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...
'' said the "worldbuilding is ... immaculate and impressive in its detail and expansiveness."
Lisa Tuttle Lisa Gracia Tuttle (born September 16, 1952) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book on fem ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' said the novel is "a complex, often horrific tale ... it is an enthralling read."{{Cite web, url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/10/the-best-recent-science-fiction-and-fantasy-review-roundup, title=The best recent science fiction and fantasy – review roundup, date=June 10, 2022, website=the Guardian Margaret Kingsbury of ''Buzzfeed News'' said that "character development and backstory drive the novel's sometimes meandering but always intriguing plot forward."
Robert Wiersema Robert J. Wiersema (born 1970) is a Canadian writer. Since 2006, he's published two novels, a novella and a non-fiction book about Bruce Springsteen. Life and career Wiersema was born in Agassiz, British Columbia, in 1970. After high school, he at ...
of ''
The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...
'' said the book is "an easy match for the quality readers have come to expect from Price's work."


References

2022 fantasy novels 2022 Canadian novels Canadian fantasy novels Historical novels Flatiron Books books