Not Even Bones: 1 (Market of Monsters)

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The next morning, Nita is woken up to screaming. She grabs her scalpel on her nightstand and runs to the room where she finds her mother trying to cut off Fabricio's ear. Not wanting to help her mother, she goes to finish cutting off the ear and allows herself to get cut by the scalpel while Fabricio resists. Her mother tells her to heal herself, but Nita tells her that she cannot heal herself in time to help her finish the job. Her mother throws the scalpel into the cage and slices off the remainder of his ear. You Must Be Cold: Darker than usual version — when they get on the subway in Toronto, Kovit gives Nita his sweater... not because she's cold, but to hide the blood all over her shirt from the struggle she just had with the (now dead) man who tried to strangle and kidnap her. Meeting Mirella in the Death Market as a fellow prisoner, Mirella was the only other person Nita could talk to and conspire escape with. She was curious about Mirella's ability, not out of friendliness, but escape tactic. Well now, it would probably go without saying that Not Even Bones would not be a read for the faint of heart. Gone are the super special heroine who uses her super special powers fighting the evil of the world and in walks dark and twisted Nita and her diabolical mother. Yep, a bit of a gruesome tale right from the start but certainly a creative young adult paranormal fantasy read.

Their name means river children. They are small humanoids resembling turtles or amphibians with scales and which eat internal organs of humans. Organs of other mammals should also be possible, but they are publically despised. The condition is hereditary. I know my therapist probably wouldn't have 16 Lamborghini vehicles and 27 houses. Yes, I have indeed created a life for an imaginary being (her name's Edna, by the way). Sue me, we- I mean I get bored. The monsters were just so interesting and I love how Schaeffer incorporated monsters from multiple cultures and also thought about how the world would react to monsters' existence, and what she ended up doing made a lot of sense. There Is No Kill Like Overkill: How Nita gets rid of her final opponent: she pulverizes her mother with a way more powerful than expected hand-crafted bomb, one that nearly killed herself too. Given her combat experience and her regenerative abilities, Nita felt this was the only way to get rid of her. False Reassurance: Henry tells Kovit he now prefers working with people with morals and compassion because they're easier to control.And better yet, this book features some seriously cool worldbuilding. Nita lives in a world where supernatural beings are prized for their parts but despised for their being, but also look exactly like other humans.

However, in Only Ashes Remain, he feared he had crossed one of his lines, which was to not hurt those he considered friends, when he killed his former mentor Henry after Henry threatened to cruelly torture everyone he knew and loved if he didn't work for him. Believing himself to be a monster despite his hands being forced, he felt deeply pained and Nita describes his breakdown as a time when he was "almost losing himself". It is clear through that moment that Kovit truly wanted to be a decent person despite reveling in people's pain, and ultimately sees morals as something important despite his murderous tendencies. But Adair and his basement jokes weren’t the only source for humour. At one point, Kovit steps up to torture someone for information and when he threatens them with a cheese grater and they immediately respond so this became a running joke throughout the rest of the book. But now I’m curious, what the hell was he going to do with that cheese grater? Something disgusting for sure but I’m telling you, that mystery mixing with my curiosity makes this a compellingly, disturbing read. Thanks so much to HMH Teen for providing me with an digital review copy in exchange for an honest review! When trapped in her glass cage, Nita tries beefing up her muscles and hormones to give herself Super-Strength. It works. She punches the glass wall... and breaks her fingers. She can make herself strong, but she doesn't know how to hit things with the right force in the right way to make them break.When Nita tries to escape the Death Market the first time, Mirella is seemingly killed by Boulder who was interested in buying Nita and Mirella. In chapter 38, it is revealed that she is alive. Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: This is how Nita feels about disobeying her mother to save Fabricio. "She'd done something, something bad, because it was good." It is mentioned that they can increase or decrease specific chemicals and hormones in their own body, increase growth of harmed parts of the body, shut of the reception of pain, and heal faster. They are the only two known individuals with this ability. Powdered unicorn bone serves as a drug that can get you addicted faster and more effectively than cocaine as well as nullify all pain with a high enough dosage. The addiction if an issue in both Europe and the USA.

Diana is able to serve as this to some degree for Adair. He's about to throw Nita and Kovit out when the cops start looking for them and only changes his mind because Diana asks him to. On a closing note, the diversity was beautiful and yooooooo, the MC was POC. I need to take a moment to clear the snot from my eyes. However, here is my biggest praise for this book: There is a Thai main character. If you know me then you’ll know that I am Thai, and I have NEVER read a single YA book where there is a Thai character. So I was literally jumping for joy and tweeting about it when I was introduced to Kovit. Not only is he Thai but he also tells us the creepy story about the krasue, a Thai folk tale involving a female monster that’s nothing more than a floating disembodied head with its spine and intestines still attached. Yes, that’s right, MY OWN GRANDMOTHER used to tell me that a krasue would come take me away if I didn’t fall asleep right away. HOW are you supposed to sleep after knowing about THAT THING!? Artistic License – Biology: Biological processes like hormone, bone, and muscle production require raw materials — the vitamins and minerals in the food we eat. Nita never once mentions needing to, say, consume a lot of calcium before densifying her bones, or a lot of protein before bulking up her muscles or healing wounds. She never needs any raw materials to use her ability — indeed, there are many periods where the plot necessitates she go a long time in between meals, and there’s never any mention of this limiting what she can do to her body with her power. Okay, I’ve enthused a lot about the worldbuilding and all that, but I really think what made this book for me was the character work. All these lead characters are so awful and I love them. This is one of those books where the leads toe the line between villain and hero. Also, if you don’t like villain leads, you should probably not read this. Lol.It" Is Dehumanizing: Reyes refers to her prisoners, including Nita, as "it," not "he" or "she." She and her buyers talk about the "product" exactly like they're non-sapient animals, right in front of them. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and found it to be a fresh, gruesome tale that YA readers will love. I definitely recommend to fans of This Savage Song, although this novel remains very distinct in its own way. But also, monsterssss. In the third and last book, When Villains Rise, their relationship was discussed a bit but not a lot. Despite kissing and cuddling here and there in the book, both Anita and Kovit are unsure of where there relationship stands but know they need each other. Both don’t know what real romance is like and Anita feels no sexual attraction towards Kovit. Anita felt the only way to get her feelings out was through romance and one of the reasons she kissed Kovit in the previous book. It’s implied their relationship is queerplatonic. Nita has always had an interest in anatomy so jumping into the family business didn't seem like a bad thing when it let Nita study the corpses her mother brought home. You see, there's a market for the body parts of supernatural beings and Nita turns a blind eye to how her mother acquires these beings in the interest of her studies. Daywalking Vampire: Young vampires have no reaction to sunlight, and while their vulnerability to sunlight increases with age, it's never an instant death sentence.