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Monster Gear #1
Monster Gear
After his parents' separation uproots him from everyone and everything he's ever known, Spencer tries to bury himself in video games. That's easier said than done when his game systems are miles away, and the only game shop in town doubles as a smoke den.
Ready to give up, Spencer is introduced to Monster Gear—an augmented reality, geocaching, monster-taming RPG for his phone. Thinking it's just another mobile game, Spencer is ready to try it and toss it aside.
There's only one problem: the monsters are real.
With Zero, his new monster friend, and a guild of like-minded players, Spencer is ready to tackle any challenge the game has to offer!
Ready to give up, Spencer is introduced to Monster Gear—an augmented reality, geocaching, monster-taming RPG for his phone. Thinking it's just another mobile game, Spencer is ready to try it and toss it aside.
There's only one problem: the monsters are real.
With Zero, his new monster friend, and a guild of like-minded players, Spencer is ready to tackle any challenge the game has to offer!
Audible Audio
Published January 1, 2023
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Did Not Finish
February 13, 2024I DNF'd this one around 60% I think, at chapter 23.
Monster Gear had a bit of a Digimon/ Pokemon vibe as there is a game that allows played to train and collect monsters and battle other monsters with them. I liked the gaming aspect of it and reading about the various monsters and game elements. When I started this one I knew it wasn't going to a 4 star probably, but I still enjoyed myself enough to keep going despite some things not working for me. Then there was an event that just ruined the book for me and I decided to DNF. I just didn't care for the direction the plot took and didn't get how this even was even possible as it didn't fit with what was explained about the game so far. I didn't want to read about them trying to undo this while this never should've happened in the first place and just wanted the plot moving forward instead.
I didn't like the antagonist, he was just so annoying and mean. I think that's the point probably, but it just annoyed me to no end. He wasn't interesting and I didn't like his contribution to the story. The narrator of the audiobook was okay, I liked his voices for the monsters and how the voices fit the monsters, but his normal voice was just okay. And I didn't like how his voice sometimes sounded a bit like a sport reporter when narrating the battle scenes, it got me out of the story.
Another thing that bothered me is the fact that literally everyone tells the main character Spencer how weak his monster is and encourages him (in various degrees of forcefulness) to please get another monster. This didn't feel realistic to me as I know many games were players like to play less optimal or weaker units simply because they like them. It also just got annoying to constantly hear about how weak his monster was, even if this was true he could still level Zero up and become stronger.
Then there was the fact that these monsters were real and had emotions and personalities and no one seemed to care about that except Spencer. This whole real, but also a game thing was something that tripped me up a bit and confused me and the book doesn't really explain much about the game. So many people treated it like just a game, but it was clear this was real with real feelings and real consequences.
Monster Gear had a bit of a Digimon/ Pokemon vibe as there is a game that allows played to train and collect monsters and battle other monsters with them. I liked the gaming aspect of it and reading about the various monsters and game elements. When I started this one I knew it wasn't going to a 4 star probably, but I still enjoyed myself enough to keep going despite some things not working for me. Then there was an event that just ruined the book for me and I decided to DNF. I just didn't care for the direction the plot took and didn't get how this even was even possible as it didn't fit with what was explained about the game so far. I didn't want to read about them trying to undo this while this never should've happened in the first place and just wanted the plot moving forward instead.
I didn't like the antagonist, he was just so annoying and mean. I think that's the point probably, but it just annoyed me to no end. He wasn't interesting and I didn't like his contribution to the story. The narrator of the audiobook was okay, I liked his voices for the monsters and how the voices fit the monsters, but his normal voice was just okay. And I didn't like how his voice sometimes sounded a bit like a sport reporter when narrating the battle scenes, it got me out of the story.
Another thing that bothered me is the fact that literally everyone tells the main character Spencer how weak his monster is and encourages him (in various degrees of forcefulness) to please get another monster. This didn't feel realistic to me as I know many games were players like to play less optimal or weaker units simply because they like them. It also just got annoying to constantly hear about how weak his monster was, even if this was true he could still level Zero up and become stronger.
Then there was the fact that these monsters were real and had emotions and personalities and no one seemed to care about that except Spencer. This whole real, but also a game thing was something that tripped me up a bit and confused me and the book doesn't really explain much about the game. So many people treated it like just a game, but it was clear this was real with real feelings and real consequences.
May 4, 2026
3.5
Digimon with insufferable MC. Supposed to be a good gamer who can go against the meta, but can't make any good decisions.
Digimon with insufferable MC. Supposed to be a good gamer who can go against the meta, but can't make any good decisions.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews