Book Review - A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying

What do you do when your brother is wounded by a gryphon and you are the only one who can take the position of royal monster hunter, even though you were destined to be queen?

Do the best you can and hold on!

In A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying, Princess Rowan gets the adventure she craves but at a heavy price that she doubts she can shoulder the burden of. But for the sake of her kingdom, she has to call on all her skill from both her royal and monster hunter background in order to stave off a political coup by her malodorous uncle.

The author Kelley Armstrong has a strong knack for describing furious action as well as a keen sense of human nature. Her flow of words throughout read naturally for me and I enjoyed every page.

In fact, I was kept on the edge of my seat in about every monster encounter Rowan engaged in, feeling as if I were in a movie theater watching an action film like Mission: Impossible.

But, as I mentioned, it’s not only action highlighting this book. I found myself also engaged in Rowan’s emotions throughout her narrative. Her dreams and insecurities. Her growth as a monster hunter and servant of her people. Rowan herself knows her shortcomings, and her self-recriminations of her faults and her resolution of her issues in her ordeals (not all by battle) are things I can sympathize with and therefore also enjoy walking through with her.

The background threat of her uncle aiming for the throne and thus pushing her to become the best monster hunter she could be to prevent him from taking it was a great plot point showcasing how complex and even nasty kingdom politics can be.

The characters are quite fleshed out and never felt too two-dimensional except for one mentor figure and maybe a couple of villains but even they have backgrounds that were interesting, so I’m hoping for more as the series continues.

And this is definitely the first book of a series. There are many plot threads that have been introduced with the characters but only a few immediate plot threads were resolved by the end of the book with, however, the unresolved threads reviewed and kept in mind for the future, which I'm looking forward to.

I found this book in the Young Adults section of my local library and it reads well for kids, I would say, but has the depth that even adults can enjoy.

For parents, I recommend reading a chapter a night in an energetic manner to reflect the action.

If you can’t, there’s always the illustrated copy of Rowan’s monster journal in the back for visual aids. I’m sure kids would find the feisty baby jackalope to be adorable.

A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying is a wild and satisfying ride that I enjoyed very much and hope other people may find the same.