Title:

Ordinary Monsters

Author:

J. M. Miro

Category:

Fantasy / Science Fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

April 21, 2023
his is a big book, Ordinary Monsters checks in at a robust 658 pages in the hardcover edition, but it doesn't seem padded. Despite the length, the end of the book certainly implies that there will be more to the tale. I suspect the next volume will be called Extra-Ordinary Monsters. The story is so well crafted (it was selected as a best book of 2022 by NPR) that I suspect J. M. Miro is a pen name of an established author. A brief one sentence biography on the inside flap of the dustjacket states that J. M. Miro lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.

Ordinary Monsters is the story of young lad named Marlowe. Marlowe has mysterious powers - he can glow blue! Though just a boy, Marlowe seems wise beyond his years. Ordinary Monsters is also the story of Charlie Ovid, a teenage black boy who has the ability to heal from any injury. Stab him, shoot him, drop him on his head, and Charlie will immediately heal (just like the Wolverine character in the X-Men comics). There are some determined searchers scouring the world for children with abilities like Marlowe and Charlie's. Some of these searchers, such as the formidable Frank Coulton, genuinely want to help this special kids (who are known as "Talents"). Frank and his sidekick, the lethal Alice Quicke, want to transport this kids to the safety of Cairndale Institute in the northern wilderness of Scotland. Others who are searching for Talents are malevolent forces such as the sinister Jacob Marber - a man of such evil that he practically radiates malice. Marber was once himself a Talent at Cairndale, as a boy he could manipulate clouds of dust to do his bidding. But somewhere Marber was lured into darkness by the frightening drughr, and now Marber is searching for Talents to further his own nefarious purposes. Allied with Marber is Walter Laster, a lich - an animated undead creature with a murderous bloodlust. Frank and Alice race across 19th century America to find Charlie and Marlowe, knowing that Marber and his cohorts are on the same quest to find these young Talents.

There is an excellent, chilling sequence describing the desperate train ride from London north to Scotland. Frank and Alice a trying to shepherd their charges to the safety of Cairndale, but Jacob Marber also boards the train; he merely stands on the tracks in front of the onrushing locomotive, and dematerializes in a cloud of dust when struck. The engineer stops the train, thinking he hit someone, but there is no body. Walter the lich is also on board, but he is secured by Margaret Harrowgate, the second in command at Cairndale. The events on the train would make cinematic scenes in a movie adaptation some day.

There are other Talents in the world. Frank Coulter and Jacob Marber (this is before Marber was corrupted by darkness) once traveled all the way to Japan to find another dust magician, a young girl named Komako. They also recruit a young girl named Eleanor "Ribs" Ribbon who can turn herself invisible. Cairndale has approximately 30 young Talented children, plus several adults - it seems that as some Talents age, they lose their special powers and slump into misery, reflecting about what they once were. At Cairndale is a mysterious "glyphic" Talent that can seemingly sense other Talents anywhere in the world (which is how Cairndale knows where to send Frank and Alice to rescue Charlie and Marlowe). The glyphic talent is also responsible for controlling the orsine - a barrier between the land of the living and the dead. The fearsome drughr is from the far side of the orsine.

This is a well told story, atmospheric and eerie. Marlowe and Charlie are still children, and Miro puts them in terrible danger from Marber and the liches. Alice and Frank are tough and resolute, but the dangers they face are daunting for any mortal. Cairndale sounds like a sanctuary, where Marlowe and Charlie will finally be safe, if only they can survive long enough to arrive there. But Cairndale has secrets and a dark history of its own.

If there is a second book that follows Ordinary Monsters, I hope to read it.