Review and Giveaway: Jack Templar: Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus

Tour Schedule

Title: Jack Templar: Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus
Published: October 17th, 2013 by Seven Guns Press
Source: Provided for review
Format: eBook
Grade rate: B

Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendent of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him.
As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

My Review

I wasn't sure what to expect of Jack Templar, but really enjoy the book. 

Jack is so funny!  He is the typical 14 year old, that is, until the day of his birthday.  I don't know why his aunt (or some of the hunters) didn't tell him anything about anything, until it was almost too late. What follows is an action packed night of chasing monsters and being chased by them.  I have to say that I learned a lot about the different types :)

The book is very fast paces as much of the story takes place in a span of less than 24 hours.  I don't know how Jack could cope with a chance and a loss that big. Jack's friends are so different and I truly adored Will (not so much T-Rex) and Eva is still a mystery to me. 

To me Jack Templar: Monster Hunter is kind of a mix of Harry Potter with Percy Jackson; I adore both series, thus I liked the book.  The writing is straightforward and it flows very nicely.  There are instances in which the narrator (Jack) stops to give the reader a dire warning about reading the book and other times to give the reader a lesson on a certain type of monster; I found these endearing (if a bit repetitive).  Did I mentioned this book is really funny?  Because it is!  I really enjoyed to listen to Jack's voice.  The book can be read by middle grade readers as well. 

I will definitely read the next book in the series.

About the cover:  If I hadn't read the excerpt that came with the invitation to the blog tour I don't think that I would have picked it up.  The cover is totally unrelated to the story and not very nice.  

Purchase

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Author Jeff Gunhus

Jeff Gunhus grew up in Cyprus, Greece, and Saudi Arabia where there was a distinct lack of television. He quickly found books were the gateway to incredible adventures, fascinating characters and unbelievable discoveries. Now, with five children of his own (all who watch too much television, in his opinion), he has enjoyed revisiting his old books and reliving those adventures all over again.

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Book Trailer

Blog Tour $50 Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash + Swag
Ends 2/18/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (The Monstrumologist #1)

Title: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Published: September 22nd 2009

Source: Library audio book

Challenge (s):  Support Local Library

Grade rate: A

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was feeding on her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagi--a headless monster that feeds through the mouthfuls of teeth in its chest--and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatening to overtake and consume our world before it is too late.

My Review

I finished listening to The Monstrumologist audio book a few days ago and since then I have been thinking on how to begin this review.  This book was a rich mix of horror, mystery and something else I quite can’t put my finger on, but that combined put together a masterpiece that I am afraid I lack the words to describe.

Our protagonist and narrator is Will J. Henry, a 12-year-old orphan that is the assistant to the monstrumologist, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop.  Will is such an endearing character, and by the end of the story I felt like we intimately knew him; his loyalty, his fears, his eagerness to please his master, his resourcefulness give us a glimpse of the great man he is sure to grow up to be.  Dr. Warthrop’s character is a mix of the good and the bad.  I would like to think that he really cares for Will, but he is such an unlovable character himself, so full of knowledge and self-evident genius, and at the same time lacking the common sense and basic empathy that most people have.  *SNAP TO Will Henry*.  What to say about Jack Kearns?  Only that monsters come in all shape and sizes.

What made this novel so fascinating to me was not only the original plot, the gothic experience, the feeling of jumping out of my skin every few minutes or making disgusted faces at everyone (remember I was listening to it while driving!), but the storytelling itself.  Mr. Yancey is a master, and I bow to you sir.  Words become the things that he uses to craft a magnificent story, in which the metaphor and simile become an art.  Read this expert from chapter one:

But nothing had prepared me for what the old man delivered that night. I daresay your average adult would have fled the room in horror, run screaming up the stairs and out of the house, for what lay within that burlap cocoon laid shame to all the platitudes and promises from a thousand pulpits upon the nature of a just and loving God, of a balanced and kind universe, and the dignity of man. A crime, the old grave-robber had called it. Indeed there seemed no better word for it, though a crime requires a criminal...and who or what was the criminal in this case?

I will most definitely snap to and read The Curse of the Wendigo (which I already own!) soon and The Monstrumologist has made Mr. Yancey one of my favorite authors.  

About the cover:  Creepy, uh?  Well, the book IS creepy, and not for the weak of stomach, that’s for sure!

Enter my 300 Follower Giveaway  here!