Reviews with content warning for Murder - Don't Want To Be Your Monster

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Don't Want To Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton

10 reviews

madelinelikethebook's review

challenging dark hopeful informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm not usually a vampire book person, but this one pulled me in with its inclusion and diversity in the first chapter. The first line even made me laugh out loud. The last 100 pages require undivided attention due to the action and twists. My favorite part? The words from the author at the end discussing antisemitism in literature. It was enlightening and horrifying. I wanted to read more of their thoughts

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spinesinaline's review against another edition

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funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This felt a little lackluster to me. I liked the premise and the characters but I didn't find them believable as realistic children. There were some really funny and very heartfelt moments and I think it has the makings of a great story with a wonderful message about family.

Overall, though, the dialogue in particular felt uneven and disjointed. I think it could've done with another round of edits to capture some issues with the dialogue and action as the order of events was confused later in the book.

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libscote's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

There were things I really liked about the book--I liked the author's note at the end explaining the history of anti-Semitic tropes in vampire lore, and how he consciously went about using those in his book, and how he included the Jewish faith in his story. I liked the bond between the two brothers and how their different ages can cause friction even mortals feel.

This is perhaps due to being an adult, or reading more vampire lore, but I spent a lot of time wondering how vampires lived in the same house in the same town with jobs for years and no one seemed to question it. I know that isn't what I was supposed to be focusing on, but that drew me out of the book and made it hard for me to fully tap in. Someone who is able to let that go will find this book much more enjoyable.

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barnesbookshelf's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I really enjoyed this story. The worldbuilding is such a unique and refreshing take on the vampire mythology. The only thing that thew me was I felt Adam acted more like a 12 year old than a 10 year old, but that's a minor thing. I loved how diverse the characters are and would love to spend more time with all of them in a sequel.

Thank you to Tundra Books and LibraryThing for the gifted copy!

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oldandnewbooksmell's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Adam and Victor have fights just like all brothers - over the remote, over chores, over rather or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people… well, more like when it’s okay to drink someone’s blood. They’re young vampires hiding in the woods with the sibling Sung and their Moms in Lacey, Washington. Pacific Northwest. United States of America.

For the most part, everything has been great - until bodies start to appear all over town and it becomes pretty clear there’s a vampire hunter involved. But as both boys try to find their own way of solving the murders, it creates a wedge between them. Can they reconcile their differences and work together before it’s too late?

Okay, this was cute. I was a little bit worried about it when I first started it because young literature with vampires can go so many different ways. This one however, went in the right direction! There’s of course a small change up from what you usually think of vampires with how the author pictures them in their world, but through the characters, they explain kind of their reasoning as to why their vampires are a little different than your classic ones. Which, in all honesty, all made complete sense to me!

I also loved the idea of a Jewish Vampire. Cause yea, nearly everything around vampires has been centered around Catholicism (I mean, so is most history if we’re being real honest), so that was another nice change to see in a vampire world.

Overall, a wonderfully cute, middle grade vampire novel. I didn’t think it was really scary or gory or anything like that so it fits well with younger readers. I don’t know if “soft fantasy” is what I’m looking for because there is a vampire hunter and murder, and it’s high stakes, but it’s not terrifying! This is a book I can see those who like the vampire world would enjoy - no matter the age!

*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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lisafrancine's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What makes a family? Deke Moulton has created a modern day vampire tale of two foster brothers, Adam & Victor, at odds with each other and the world they live in. They become involved in trying to solve a series of serial murders in their home town of Lacey, Washington. Coming to their aid are mortal friends, their foster moms, and their older sibling Sung. Will they succeed in their quest, or will they become victims of a vampire hunter? Read Moulton's phenomenal tale to find out!

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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Rating and review removed. I will not promote books by Zionists and/or people defending and even cheering on genocide.

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ezwolf's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This wasn’t quite what I was expecting it to be, but I still enjoyed it and I think the message is important.

I love the found family trope and vampires frequently offer such good opportunity for it to be used. Adam and Victor’s observations of their family and how they cycle through so many other immortals coming and going was something I hadn’t considered before.

And I loved that the inherent queerness and Jewishness of this book. When Shoshanah said the blessing for seeing an unusual create it made me laugh, of course we would have a blessing for something like that! Maybe not originally meant for seeing vampires, but still!

The only thing that really bothered me was that I was on edge the whole time waiting for Adam or Victor to be caught and revealed as vampires.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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starrysteph's review

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Don’t Want to be Your Monster spins vampire lore on its head through a playful murder mystery for young readers.

We follow Adam, a 10-year-old vampire who is desperate to learn more about the world … and figure out why his big brother Victor has been acting so weird. Adam and his siblings have been raised in isolation by their two loving, eclectic, immortal moms. When a murderer strikes in town, Adam is terrified of vampire hunters and decides to solve the case (alongside two new mortal friends).

It’s a sweet story that investigates some of the antisemitic origins of vampire legends & challenges how we frame ‘others’ as monsters. The educational elements are very direct.

I enjoyed the growing friendship between a very different trio of 10-year-olds, and the themes of compassion & standing up for your fellow humans (or … non-humans).

The writing was structurally clumsy at times, and the dialogue felt a bit stilted – the biggest stumble for me overall was Victor’s POV. He did not read like a 14-year-old & in my opinion was not given enough complexity of thought or emotional depth. His chapters were a smaller portion of the book, and I think it would have been more effective storytelling to only use Adam’s perspective – and unravel Victor’s behavior through his little brother’s eyes. In general, I would recommend this book for readers around fourth or fifth grade (I’m not sure older kids would be as engaged).

I do love a queer found family & also really appreciated the scope of casual representation & the various cultures and languages depicted on the page.

CW: murder, death & mass death, hate crime, antisemitism, blood, cancer, genocide, xenophobia, poisoning, abandonment, child abuse, kidnapping

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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leahsbooks's review

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I originally connected with the author over Twitter, and when she was talking about writing a Jewish-oriented vampire book, I was immediately intrigued. You may not know this, but vampires have historically been written as Jewish-coded villains, beginning with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and continuing from there. So a book that subverts the antisemitism that’s basically baked into the vampire story was one that I couldn’t pass up. I did a happy dance when I got approved, and couldn’t wait to start this book. It doesn’t hurt that it start with a killer (no pun intended) first line:

“I know my brother is evil, but that has nothing to do with him being a vampire.”

The story is told from the perspectives of both Adam and Victor, who belong to a strange and unusual found family … of vampires. They have two moms, one from Italy and one from Sudan, an older sibling Sung from Korea who is studying hard for online college, and then there’s Adam and Victor. We learn pretty quickly that Adam is ethnically Jewish, but wasn’t raised with any knowledge of his religion. The two younger members of the family want to learn the cool vampire stuff that they’ll be able to do at some point, but their moms are focusing on stuff that they consider boring.

We get to see the whole vampire myth being rebuilt from the ground up. Instead of biting humans and draining their blood just to kill them, they are able to use their powers to heal instead, making them able to develop symbiotic relationships with humans, rather than parasitic relationships. It was cool to see the whole dynamic changed, and done so beautifully. The reason for the shift in dynamics between vampires and humans is also explained.

I loved the two different main characters, and getting into their heads. Do they make stupid mistakes? Of course, but what 10- or 14-year-old doesn’t? It felt more realistic than anything, and while yes, they’re both vampires, it was easy to get into their mindset and empathize with their struggles. The side characters were also written so well. They have full personalities complete with realistic quirks, and I loved getting to know all of them.

Everything flowed so smoothly, and I almost felt as if I was in the Pacific Northwest while reading. It was a nice change from the smoke blowing down from Canada. This story was a fun, fast-paced, adorable, and a little spooky read that I loved so much. There’s so much diversity in the story, with a cast of characters from various countries and backgrounds, and we get to learn a bit about each throughout the story without it feeling like a lesson at any time. Moulton is a gifted writer, and I’ll be looking forward to any other books that they put out. In their author’s note, this really stood out to me:

“Hate doesn’t die in silence—it thrives. The only way to stop it from growing is to call it out when you see it, in whatever form it takes.”

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