{"id":36840,"date":"2024-04-04T21:28:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36840"},"modified":"2024-04-04T21:29:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:29:43","slug":"review-of-a-royal-guide-to-monster-slaying-by-kelley-armstrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36840","title":{"rendered":"Review of A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, by Kelley Armstrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying<\/em><\/p>\n

by Kelley Armstrong<\/p>\n

Puffin Canada (Penguin Random House), 2019. 280 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written October 31, 2019, from a library book<\/p>\n

At the beginning of this fantasy adventure, thirteen-year-old Rowan is complaining because she wishes she were destined to be the Royal Monster Hunter instead of the Queen. But because she was born two minutes before her twin brother Rhydd, she gets the throne and he gets the job of monster hunter \u2013 even though their aptitude is the opposite.<\/p>\n

But when a battle with a gryphon \u2013 the same type of monster that killed their father \u2013 badly injures Rhydd so he\u2019ll always walk with a limp, they can get the council to agree to a switch. However, if Rowan is to step into the Royal Monster Hunter position, she\u2019s going to need to train quickly, because an uncle has his own children in mind for both positions.<\/p>\n

This begins a quest to get training to fight monsters \u2013 and ends up being a story of being set upon by one monster after another.<\/p>\n

I love the imaginative monsters the author has besetting this kingdom. There are things you\u2019ve heard of like gryphons and firebirds and pegasi, but also warakins, manticores, and a jba-fofi (giant spider). Rowan even stumbles on a baby jackalope who decides to adopt her and thinks he is more ferocious than he is.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also plenty of tension in this story. The gryphon battle at the beginning makes us understand how truly fearsome it is, and further creatures that come after Rowan or her companions have us wondering how she\u2019ll manage to escape in one piece. More than once, the minute she escapes one disaster, a new peril attacks.<\/p>\n

I do like the way the Royal Monster Hunters consider it a failure when they have to kill a monster. Their goal is to drive them back into the mountains. If they get a taste for livestock or endanger people, the monsters do need to be killed. But I like the way Rowan and her family consider every other option first.<\/p>\n

This is a suspenseful tale about a girl fighting \u2013 literally \u2013 to prove herself and help her kingdom. And you\u2019ll enjoy the characters and critters you\u2019ll meet along the way.<\/p>\n

kelleyarmstrong.com<\/a>
\npenguinrandomhouse.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I\u2019m posting the oldest reviews I\u2019ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They\u2019re still good books!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong Puffin Canada (Penguin Random House), 2019. 280 pages. Starred Review Review written October 31, 2019, from a library book At the beginning of this fantasy adventure, thirteen-year-old Rowan is complaining because she wishes she were destined to be the Royal Monster Hunter instead of the Queen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-fiction-review","category-fantasy","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36840"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43555,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36840\/revisions\/43555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}