pn_hinton's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Just wow. I had been hearing about this book for the last couple of years, purchased it last year, and then finally got around to reading it this year.
And part of me wants to already re-read it.
This was just a beautifully crafted book with beautifully flawed people. There were no enemies or bad guys in it and it was written so well. The description of the anxiety that Eliza felt even before she knew what it was. Her passion for her work and her fans, even though she wanted to stay hidden. The sweet cute development of a friendship between Wallace and her that bloomed into romance. Everything was on point.
This was a rare YA where I saw things from both Eliza and her parent's point of view. The parents were as present and understanding as they could be not understanding their child's creation or even realizing how big it was. And every step they made was from a place of love. Eliza had the typical moody teenager moments but we find out later that there may have been more to that.
The one sour note was a moment where after the reveal happens that Wallace, for lack of a better phrase, acts like a jerk. Even though it's a little understandable, it was almost unforgiveable for me until he made amends.
I also like how the relationship between Eliza and her brothers changed. There were moments after the reveal where I teared up with how protective they were of her. It was so darn sweet.
I won't go into too much more details for spoilers but for me this was one book that was well worth the hype it created. This will for sure be a re-read for me.
And part of me wants to already re-read it.
This was just a beautifully crafted book with beautifully flawed people. There were no enemies or bad guys in it and it was written so well. The description of the anxiety that Eliza felt even before she knew what it was. Her passion for her work and her fans, even though she wanted to stay hidden. The sweet cute development of a friendship between Wallace and her that bloomed into romance. Everything was on point.
This was a rare YA where I saw things from both Eliza and her parent's point of view. The parents were as present and understanding as they could be not understanding their child's creation or even realizing how big it was. And every step they made was from a place of love. Eliza had the typical moody teenager moments but we find out later that there may have been more to that.
The one sour note was a moment where after the reveal happens that Wallace, for lack of a better phrase, acts like a jerk. Even though it's a little understandable, it was almost unforgiveable for me until he made amends.
I also like how the relationship between Eliza and her brothers changed. There were moments after the reveal where I teared up with how protective they were of her. It was so darn sweet.
I won't go into too much more details for spoilers but for me this was one book that was well worth the hype it created. This will for sure be a re-read for me.
brittany_tellefsen's review against another edition
4.0
My official rating for this is 4.5 stars.
I was over 300 pages into reading this book, fully intent on rating this five stars, and then....
**Spoiler Alert**
....Eliza was outed as LadyConstellation. Now, we all knew this was coming. It was practically the biggest anticipatory event of the whole story; however, Eliza and Wallace's individual reactions to situation made me want to punch both of them in the face.
Wallace reacted in a way I never would have expected. He was understandably angry at Eliza for the secrets she kept, but he took that anger to an unreasonable level, not only for the secret keeping, but essentially blaming her for his lack of financial security since she didn't want to finish the comic and his future as a writer seemed dependent upon it. He went from a kind, shy, quiet, nerd to a mean and spiteful person in the course of a few pages. Not only did it seem completely out of character, it seemed fairly unreasonably and ultimately it was corrected in the end as he realized his foolishness but that was a real turn off for me.
And Eliza..well, I just wanted to slap her out of her issues. She had invested so much time and energy into a story that was inspired and loved by millions and she can't finish because now they know who she is? She now has to face the fame of her story? Seriously? And then just after a few weeks she contemplates suicide? That definitely did not seem in character for her or the situation.
In the end I loved this story and was grateful for the way it ended, but those 40 or so pages of nonsense could have been left out or changed and the story would have been five star worthy.
I was over 300 pages into reading this book, fully intent on rating this five stars, and then....
**Spoiler Alert**
....Eliza was outed as LadyConstellation. Now, we all knew this was coming. It was practically the biggest anticipatory event of the whole story; however, Eliza and Wallace's individual reactions to situation made me want to punch both of them in the face.
Wallace reacted in a way I never would have expected. He was understandably angry at Eliza for the secrets she kept, but he took that anger to an unreasonable level, not only for the secret keeping, but essentially blaming her for his lack of financial security since she didn't want to finish the comic and his future as a writer seemed dependent upon it. He went from a kind, shy, quiet, nerd to a mean and spiteful person in the course of a few pages. Not only did it seem completely out of character, it seemed fairly unreasonably and ultimately it was corrected in the end as he realized his foolishness but that was a real turn off for me.
And Eliza..well, I just wanted to slap her out of her issues. She had invested so much time and energy into a story that was inspired and loved by millions and she can't finish because now they know who she is? She now has to face the fame of her story? Seriously? And then just after a few weeks she contemplates suicide? That definitely did not seem in character for her or the situation.
In the end I loved this story and was grateful for the way it ended, but those 40 or so pages of nonsense could have been left out or changed and the story would have been five star worthy.
nika_nix's review against another edition
5.0
There has been so much buzz surrounding this book ever since it came out. I knew I needed this in my life as soon as I heard what it was about but I had no idea I would relate to it as much as I did. I even read it in ebook format (I hate reading ebooks!) because I couldn’t get it otherwise.
I have never related to a character as much as I related to Eliza Mirk. I am not a famous webcomic creator (or famous in any way) but I saw myself reflected in her so many time throughout this book. There was a plethora of times I wished this book existed a couple of years ago when I was trying to get out of my shell and have a life other that the one online. It would help me so much back then but I’m grateful it exist now as well.
I went into it expecting a cute and fun contemporary with a lot of fandom stuff but this novel is so much more than that. It’s a love letter to fandom and it celebrates geekiness and online communities but it also takles some more serious topics like anxiety, trauma, dealing with being famous and responsibilites that go with it, family… there are so many things that make this book great and important. I believe every fan of something will find himself in this story at least for a couple pages if not more. On the other hand, if this book was read by a person who has no knowledge of fandom and anything to do with it, that person would probably be very confused with the terminology used in the book (you know, fanfiction, canon, ships and even the word fandom itself). I kind of want to see how would that play out and what would that kind of person think of this book.
Eliza Mirk is a fantasticly flawed main character. I connected with her on so many levels and I really rooted for her the entire time. Not the romance, not the plot… just for her to figure out her life. I think she is actually the first main character who I really liked and prefered her over any other character in the book. Yes, even over Wallace, the love interest. It’s weird and scary, I know. And as I mentioned Wallace, I completely adored him throughout the entire book, especially at the begining. He isn’t perfect but that made him believable. He’s a fanboy who love Monstrous Sea and writes some awesome fanfiction but he’s also super nice and don’t forget HOT. So yeah, he had to have something that made him believable. I will not tell you what it is because it’s better if you discover it youself. However, at one point in the book my love for him suddenly went away. He said something to Eliza and I couldn’t get over it. I was not expecting it and I definitely didn’t expect for me to react the way I did. I’m always on boys side and I always believe they will redeem themselves but with Wallace in this scene, I was rooting for Eliza. Not him or the two of them. No. Just for her. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, it wasn’t even that big of a deal plotwise (there were worse shit happening) but I just couldn’t get pass that. It was super selfish and insensitive and I was so disappointed with him. He did redeem himself in my eyes later on, but just for a bit.
As I was reading I was happy, I was sad, I was feeling like this book understands me, I was frustrated… However, the strongest feeling I got was anger. I was so pissed with Eliza’s parents throughout the entire book. I was wishing Eliza would just scream at them and tell them how wrong they are about pretty much everything regarding her. They were such a pain in the ass and I didn’t like them even the slightest. How hard is it to figure out when someone wants you to leave them alone? And if someone tells me they were just worried about Eliza, cut the bullshit right now. I don’t buy that because it’s not true. I got off the topic but again, I didn’t spoil anything.
My least favorite part of this book were the excerpts from Monstrous Sea. For the most part we don’t know what exactly that series is about and we don’t know the characters, the setting or anything regarding the webcomics. However, everyone in the book keeps talking about it and we also got a couple paragraphs of the story hare and there throughout the book. I felt like I was interrupting in the middle of a conversation about something and I was trying to figure out what the people were talking about so I can join in but I can’t. I’m not saying Monstrous Sea parts were bad, they were actually very unique and I would love to read that webcomics (no, actually I would prefer transcription of it, but you get it) but I just felt lost most of the time when it came to it and wished we were introduced to that story in a different way. I did like the idea of having pictures, forum updates, text messages and transcription excerpts as a part of the book, though.
To sum it all up, I thoroughly enjoy Eliza and Her Monsters and I’m so glad I picked it up. I would like to get back to it in the future and hopefully understand all of the Monstrous Sea aspects a bit better. I highly recommend this to every fandom member of anything out there. You will love it, I promise!
I have never related to a character as much as I related to Eliza Mirk. I am not a famous webcomic creator (or famous in any way) but I saw myself reflected in her so many time throughout this book. There was a plethora of times I wished this book existed a couple of years ago when I was trying to get out of my shell and have a life other that the one online. It would help me so much back then but I’m grateful it exist now as well.
I went into it expecting a cute and fun contemporary with a lot of fandom stuff but this novel is so much more than that. It’s a love letter to fandom and it celebrates geekiness and online communities but it also takles some more serious topics like anxiety, trauma, dealing with being famous and responsibilites that go with it, family… there are so many things that make this book great and important. I believe every fan of something will find himself in this story at least for a couple pages if not more. On the other hand, if this book was read by a person who has no knowledge of fandom and anything to do with it, that person would probably be very confused with the terminology used in the book (you know, fanfiction, canon, ships and even the word fandom itself). I kind of want to see how would that play out and what would that kind of person think of this book.
Eliza Mirk is a fantasticly flawed main character. I connected with her on so many levels and I really rooted for her the entire time. Not the romance, not the plot… just for her to figure out her life. I think she is actually the first main character who I really liked and prefered her over any other character in the book. Yes, even over Wallace, the love interest. It’s weird and scary, I know. And as I mentioned Wallace, I completely adored him throughout the entire book, especially at the begining. He isn’t perfect but that made him believable. He’s a fanboy who love Monstrous Sea and writes some awesome fanfiction but he’s also super nice and don’t forget HOT. So yeah, he had to have something that made him believable. I will not tell you what it is because it’s better if you discover it youself. However, at one point in the book my love for him suddenly went away. He said something to Eliza and I couldn’t get over it. I was not expecting it and I definitely didn’t expect for me to react the way I did. I’m always on boys side and I always believe they will redeem themselves but with Wallace in this scene, I was rooting for Eliza. Not him or the two of them. No. Just for her. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything, it wasn’t even that big of a deal plotwise (there were worse shit happening) but I just couldn’t get pass that. It was super selfish and insensitive and I was so disappointed with him. He did redeem himself in my eyes later on, but just for a bit.
As I was reading I was happy, I was sad, I was feeling like this book understands me, I was frustrated… However, the strongest feeling I got was anger. I was so pissed with Eliza’s parents throughout the entire book. I was wishing Eliza would just scream at them and tell them how wrong they are about pretty much everything regarding her. They were such a pain in the ass and I didn’t like them even the slightest. How hard is it to figure out when someone wants you to leave them alone? And if someone tells me they were just worried about Eliza, cut the bullshit right now. I don’t buy that because it’s not true. I got off the topic but again, I didn’t spoil anything.
My least favorite part of this book were the excerpts from Monstrous Sea. For the most part we don’t know what exactly that series is about and we don’t know the characters, the setting or anything regarding the webcomics. However, everyone in the book keeps talking about it and we also got a couple paragraphs of the story hare and there throughout the book. I felt like I was interrupting in the middle of a conversation about something and I was trying to figure out what the people were talking about so I can join in but I can’t. I’m not saying Monstrous Sea parts were bad, they were actually very unique and I would love to read that webcomics (no, actually I would prefer transcription of it, but you get it) but I just felt lost most of the time when it came to it and wished we were introduced to that story in a different way. I did like the idea of having pictures, forum updates, text messages and transcription excerpts as a part of the book, though.
To sum it all up, I thoroughly enjoy Eliza and Her Monsters and I’m so glad I picked it up. I would like to get back to it in the future and hopefully understand all of the Monstrous Sea aspects a bit better. I highly recommend this to every fandom member of anything out there. You will love it, I promise!
jacintasousa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lisxjayne's review against another edition
5.0
I went into this book with high hopes and I was not disappointed. Eliza is an incredible character, who I related to so much I think the author may have actually based her on me 😂 Eliza clearly suffers from some anxiety issues though they aren't in your face and I felt that the mental illness was portrayed really well and was very realistic.
The development in all of the characters is great and I loved getting to know all of them and watch them grow.. Eliza has a habit of pushing people away and locking herself in her bedroom, but slowly throughout the novel begins to come out of her shell.
One thing I would of liked is if you got to know more about Eliza's comic, Monstrous Sea. To be honest, I didn't really understand the plot of the comic and wasn't able to follow it very well. Though this didn't take away from the story itself for me, I definitely would of enjoyed it even more if you got to see more comic pages and I was able to understand it better.
My favourite thing about the book is the moral of the story, which is basically to follow your dreams. Stick at what you love, and you will go far in life. Do whatever it takes to make yourself happy. This is a great message especially for younger readers who may be questioning what do with their lives, and feel pressured to go into an industry they may not be passionate about.
The development in all of the characters is great and I loved getting to know all of them and watch them grow.. Eliza has a habit of pushing people away and locking herself in her bedroom, but slowly throughout the novel begins to come out of her shell.
One thing I would of liked is if you got to know more about Eliza's comic, Monstrous Sea. To be honest, I didn't really understand the plot of the comic and wasn't able to follow it very well. Though this didn't take away from the story itself for me, I definitely would of enjoyed it even more if you got to see more comic pages and I was able to understand it better.
My favourite thing about the book is the moral of the story, which is basically to follow your dreams. Stick at what you love, and you will go far in life. Do whatever it takes to make yourself happy. This is a great message especially for younger readers who may be questioning what do with their lives, and feel pressured to go into an industry they may not be passionate about.
laceydbell's review against another edition
4.0
I'm somewhere between a 3.75 and a 4 on this. It's a great and quick read, but I didn't like the way any of the characters dealt with the mental illness issues (I guess I would've liked at least one character to bridge that gap.) I just found it hard to relate to any of the characters but definitely a great read and just what I needed in between fantasies!
elisagoodman's review against another edition
4.0
Would’ve been a 5 if it weren’t for how Wallace handled himself towards the end of the book. I get that he was angry, but his intentions behind contacting her again were selfish. REALLY loved the overall plot though. I wish there were more fandom-related books like this