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Monster M.D.
Even monsters need doctors.
What do you get when you take fanciful creatures and monsters, add harem and cyberpunk elements, and toss in the adrenaline-fueled action and mystery of a movie in the vein of Bright? You get this book.
In a near future where monsters and humans coexist, Hieronymus ‘Jer’ Bennington isn’t your run-of-the-mill psychiatrist. Despite losing his parents to a monster attack, Jer doesn’t judge people by the clothes they wear or the horns on their head. Instead, he runs a controversial clinic where he offers therapy to beastniks, but when his best friend’s suspicious death implicates him for murder, he hunts for the truth in a sexy-dangerous underworld filled with mythical creatures. As part of his journey into a place where fantasies and the stuff of dreams coexist, Jer teams with his harem of powerful monster women as he fights with his mind, a keen eye, and some really gigantic guns to unravel a conspiracy that cuts deeper than any claws or fangs and threatens already tense relations between monsters and humans.
What you need to know about the book:
Does it follow the adventures of a heroic but flawed character? Absolutely.
Does it have scenes of thrilling action set in a unique world you’ve never seen before? You know it.
Does it contain spicy scenes and monster girls? You bet it does!
Warning: This novel contains over-the-top action, undefined relationships/harem, monsters, succubae, mythic creatures, and a hero who is as tactful as a bull in a China shop. Read at your own risk. Contains Adult Content. Seriously.
What do you get when you take fanciful creatures and monsters, add harem and cyberpunk elements, and toss in the adrenaline-fueled action and mystery of a movie in the vein of Bright? You get this book.
In a near future where monsters and humans coexist, Hieronymus ‘Jer’ Bennington isn’t your run-of-the-mill psychiatrist. Despite losing his parents to a monster attack, Jer doesn’t judge people by the clothes they wear or the horns on their head. Instead, he runs a controversial clinic where he offers therapy to beastniks, but when his best friend’s suspicious death implicates him for murder, he hunts for the truth in a sexy-dangerous underworld filled with mythical creatures. As part of his journey into a place where fantasies and the stuff of dreams coexist, Jer teams with his harem of powerful monster women as he fights with his mind, a keen eye, and some really gigantic guns to unravel a conspiracy that cuts deeper than any claws or fangs and threatens already tense relations between monsters and humans.
What you need to know about the book:
Does it follow the adventures of a heroic but flawed character? Absolutely.
Does it have scenes of thrilling action set in a unique world you’ve never seen before? You know it.
Does it contain spicy scenes and monster girls? You bet it does!
Warning: This novel contains over-the-top action, undefined relationships/harem, monsters, succubae, mythic creatures, and a hero who is as tactful as a bull in a China shop. Read at your own risk. Contains Adult Content. Seriously.
301 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2018
157 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 21, 2019
I did not think I was gonna enjoy this as much as I did! The characters the plot the narration everything! And the setting ! I loved how it all went together! I’ll definitely be listening to it again! I was given the review copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 26, 2018
This book ends up on my shelf of shame. I really tried, but just couldn’t bring myself to slog through it. I gave up at 25%.
The author hit the thesaurus a little to often, grabbing words that felt out of place... as if he was using one of those ‘word of the day’ calendars. If it’s not in your vocabulary, don’t use the word.
The jumble of backstory that the book opens with bounces around and try’s to give some pseudo-scientific reason for the casual racism (speciesism?) that shapes what is to come. Sadly the confusing intermix of foreshadowing, flashback and exposition left me unsure as to when the story actually started.
I cant even say the world was good. It felt forced and unfinished at the same time.
The author hit the thesaurus a little to often, grabbing words that felt out of place... as if he was using one of those ‘word of the day’ calendars. If it’s not in your vocabulary, don’t use the word.
The jumble of backstory that the book opens with bounces around and try’s to give some pseudo-scientific reason for the casual racism (speciesism?) that shapes what is to come. Sadly the confusing intermix of foreshadowing, flashback and exposition left me unsure as to when the story actually started.
I cant even say the world was good. It felt forced and unfinished at the same time.
February 1, 2019
all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About: Back in the day, when monsters got first discovered, a misinformation was spread of their condition being viral. Aka if you hang around tall people, you will become taller. This allowed humans to push monsters out into secondary class citizenship, underground. But they adjusted, adapted, and prevailed. Which would’ve been fine, since they got out of the way, if not for some scientists trying to debunk viral monsters theory.
A war is brewing. News coverage shows angles that paint monsters as aggressors. And only one man can save the day. The same man whose father got torn apart my monsters back in the day.
Mine: I normally like harem / polyamorous books, but this was just horrible. All of the characters were so shallow, so basic, so very hard-aimed to make the main hero shine in the best light. And he too was a very mediocre character, being the cliche of dorky geek growing up to be the most wanted hottie around. So while they sat around, thinking how to free this one particular monster, using a simulator to predict possible outcomes, this hottie went out to build strategies out of rat shit. Everyone waited for him to figure it out too, even if some already knew what to do and had ideas they didn’t feel like sharing. Why, you ask? Well, how else will the reader know this man is not only hot, but also smart?
This is a no. 2 out of 5, I’m out.
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About: Back in the day, when monsters got first discovered, a misinformation was spread of their condition being viral. Aka if you hang around tall people, you will become taller. This allowed humans to push monsters out into secondary class citizenship, underground. But they adjusted, adapted, and prevailed. Which would’ve been fine, since they got out of the way, if not for some scientists trying to debunk viral monsters theory.
A war is brewing. News coverage shows angles that paint monsters as aggressors. And only one man can save the day. The same man whose father got torn apart my monsters back in the day.
Mine: I normally like harem / polyamorous books, but this was just horrible. All of the characters were so shallow, so basic, so very hard-aimed to make the main hero shine in the best light. And he too was a very mediocre character, being the cliche of dorky geek growing up to be the most wanted hottie around. So while they sat around, thinking how to free this one particular monster, using a simulator to predict possible outcomes, this hottie went out to build strategies out of rat shit. Everyone waited for him to figure it out too, even if some already knew what to do and had ideas they didn’t feel like sharing. Why, you ask? Well, how else will the reader know this man is not only hot, but also smart?
This is a no. 2 out of 5, I’m out.
December 31, 2018
Not my cup of tea' didn't like the MC and the reason to sleep around is to superficial, I like when the sexs just happens.. in this book it's looks like is another chore to do every day like take a piss and drink water.
January 4, 2019
I think this is one of those books better off as an audio book than a physical/e-book. I can't really say if the author did use a thesaurus and popped a ton of jargon in the book. Why? Because when you listen to audio books, you're usually multitasking. If there are jargon, they just get blurred in with the rest of the sentence, for the most part.
On that note, Chris Graves is a new narrator and a pretty decent one, especially with the female voices. I first listened to the Enhancer series thinking it's Enchanter. I didn't spend much time looking at title or cover as my expectations were low. With the plague of harem books these days, expectations are low but at the same time, they're relatively fun and lightweight.
If you want to try out the narrator, I suggest this over the Enhancer series (did not bother with Book 2). Monster MD is not well-constructed, at least not at first. If you get pass the beginning, it's a bit better. But Enhancer series has that stubborn airhead protagonist.
On to the actual book, some other guy said it and I just mentioned it, it's not well-constructed. By that, I mean those background stories or flashbacks. You know how some prologue are just a snippet of a future event? Or flash/fast forward? And it usually ends in a suspense or something to grab your interest to continue reading? Monster MD starts off with something like that except it doesn't really catch your interest, or makes you excited to read the next page. It basically tells us that the protagonist will have a monster empire or something similar. I don't even remember.
Then it goes on to a backstory, telling us about the history and setting of where the story stands. Finally, the story starts off with a side story of the protagonist's best friend's death. And this is the driving force of the whole book. Only then does the main story finally starts. I would personally throw the backstory and the side story out the window. As bad as it sounds, people like action or something that causes impact, not a long backstory followed by another long side story the ends with action.
These should really be cut and split up into bits and be incorporated into the main story. For example, keep the chasing of the best friend and his death, but try to cram the essence of whole side story into a few dialogues before his death. Now you got something the audience might want to know, why is this guy killed?
And guess what happens after backstory and side story? Main story? Yes, the main story finally starts. But it starts with another backstory/flashback soon after the main story started. To be fair, this flashback is kind of justifiable. So yes, we can keep this one if the first backstory and side story were cut out. Why? This flashback basically tells us the first backstory but in the protagonist's perspective.
There are more instances like this where the author basically tossed things in because the author thought it's needed or would "help" the story (e.g. sex). For what it's worth, at least, there aren't any plot-induced stupidity or idiot ball. Forced plots? Yes, there are some.
Someone said racism? Yeah, sort of. But it's just re-skinning the whole mutant vs human idea from X-Men, which is just a re-skin of the whole racism idea too. The idea isn't that bad. It's like a simplified version.
I guess the best part I liked about this book was the not-so-subtle subtle hints towards a certain event. There are many little hints here and there that suggests a certain result. But at the same time, I was hoping there might be a twist too, to be not predictable. But you'll never know till it happens. Why? Because there are so many Bait and Switch books.
Thus, I will never read this book but listening to it isn't that bad.
On that note, Chris Graves is a new narrator and a pretty decent one, especially with the female voices. I first listened to the Enhancer series thinking it's Enchanter. I didn't spend much time looking at title or cover as my expectations were low. With the plague of harem books these days, expectations are low but at the same time, they're relatively fun and lightweight.
If you want to try out the narrator, I suggest this over the Enhancer series (did not bother with Book 2). Monster MD is not well-constructed, at least not at first. If you get pass the beginning, it's a bit better. But Enhancer series has that stubborn airhead protagonist.
On to the actual book, some other guy said it and I just mentioned it, it's not well-constructed. By that, I mean those background stories or flashbacks. You know how some prologue are just a snippet of a future event? Or flash/fast forward? And it usually ends in a suspense or something to grab your interest to continue reading? Monster MD starts off with something like that except it doesn't really catch your interest, or makes you excited to read the next page. It basically tells us that the protagonist will have a monster empire or something similar. I don't even remember.
Then it goes on to a backstory, telling us about the history and setting of where the story stands. Finally, the story starts off with a side story of the protagonist's best friend's death. And this is the driving force of the whole book. Only then does the main story finally starts. I would personally throw the backstory and the side story out the window. As bad as it sounds, people like action or something that causes impact, not a long backstory followed by another long side story the ends with action.
These should really be cut and split up into bits and be incorporated into the main story. For example, keep the chasing of the best friend and his death, but try to cram the essence of whole side story into a few dialogues before his death. Now you got something the audience might want to know, why is this guy killed?
And guess what happens after backstory and side story? Main story? Yes, the main story finally starts. But it starts with another backstory/flashback soon after the main story started. To be fair, this flashback is kind of justifiable. So yes, we can keep this one if the first backstory and side story were cut out. Why? This flashback basically tells us the first backstory but in the protagonist's perspective.
There are more instances like this where the author basically tossed things in because the author thought it's needed or would "help" the story (e.g. sex). For what it's worth, at least, there aren't any plot-induced stupidity or idiot ball. Forced plots? Yes, there are some.
Someone said racism? Yeah, sort of. But it's just re-skinning the whole mutant vs human idea from X-Men, which is just a re-skin of the whole racism idea too. The idea isn't that bad. It's like a simplified version.
I guess the best part I liked about this book was the not-so-subtle subtle hints towards a certain event. There are many little hints here and there that suggests a certain result. But at the same time, I was hoping there might be a twist too, to be not predictable. But you'll never know till it happens. Why? Because there are so many Bait and Switch books.
Thus, I will never read this book but listening to it isn't that bad.
January 30, 2019
Be forewarned, I had to give this book up about halfway through.
Holy heck.
A typical complaint about this style of book is that they feel like they're written by a teenager boy, but this one didn't even feel like that. It instead felt like the author read other similar books, grabbed a couple of sexy sounding words, and a few cool sounding scenes and just cobbled them together.
Descriptions will occasionally make no sense, like the 8 foot tall monster with fangs the size of baseball bats. Does anyone realize how ludicrous that sounds? That means his fangs would reach his belt for god sakes. This guy wouldn't be able to move his head without stabbing himself or swinging those baseball bat sized fangs around the room.
Even the story felt like it was already in motion long before it started, referencing things that feel like they should have been clearly explained previously. It got to the point that I felt like I had started the series in book 2 and was missing all the world building, and character introductions from book 1. I feel like this story went through a few too many drafts where some of the more tame sections were dropped so the book could get to the action sooner, much to the actual story's detriment.
And that intro, yeesh. Hamfisted doesn't even come close to describing it. Rushed description of two characters that had no reason to realistically be together. Some video game nonsense and pop culture reference to make them seem like geeky losers. Then suddenly poof, they're both heads in their fields. The main character, who realistically should hate the people he's trying to help, is some sort of messiah to them. The best friend flip flops from douche, to player, to brilliant scientist before being written out in the opening. No character in this novel feels real or fully fleshed out in any way. Instead they all feel like the author picked a bunch of adjectives out of a bag and slapped them haphazardly onto each of their foreheads.
And don't get me started on the "sexy bits" either. I was cringing every other moment with the scene with the intern in the underground city being particularly rough. The author began with casual insinuations of physical exchanges describing people meeting up and getting close before jumping to the post romance scenes as people discuss other things before getting dressed and going their separate ways. Then partway through, he flips the style and begins going into detail on every little exchange as people get down and dirty. The change in style was jarring to say the least.
In the end, I was unable to finish this series, giving up around halfway through. I hate to do this but with new writing problems popping up every chapter and none of the previous issues able to be corrected, nothing short of a miracle could save this from the garbage bin for me.
Holy heck.
A typical complaint about this style of book is that they feel like they're written by a teenager boy, but this one didn't even feel like that. It instead felt like the author read other similar books, grabbed a couple of sexy sounding words, and a few cool sounding scenes and just cobbled them together.
Descriptions will occasionally make no sense, like the 8 foot tall monster with fangs the size of baseball bats. Does anyone realize how ludicrous that sounds? That means his fangs would reach his belt for god sakes. This guy wouldn't be able to move his head without stabbing himself or swinging those baseball bat sized fangs around the room.
Even the story felt like it was already in motion long before it started, referencing things that feel like they should have been clearly explained previously. It got to the point that I felt like I had started the series in book 2 and was missing all the world building, and character introductions from book 1. I feel like this story went through a few too many drafts where some of the more tame sections were dropped so the book could get to the action sooner, much to the actual story's detriment.
And that intro, yeesh. Hamfisted doesn't even come close to describing it. Rushed description of two characters that had no reason to realistically be together. Some video game nonsense and pop culture reference to make them seem like geeky losers. Then suddenly poof, they're both heads in their fields. The main character, who realistically should hate the people he's trying to help, is some sort of messiah to them. The best friend flip flops from douche, to player, to brilliant scientist before being written out in the opening. No character in this novel feels real or fully fleshed out in any way. Instead they all feel like the author picked a bunch of adjectives out of a bag and slapped them haphazardly onto each of their foreheads.
And don't get me started on the "sexy bits" either. I was cringing every other moment with the scene with the intern in the underground city being particularly rough. The author began with casual insinuations of physical exchanges describing people meeting up and getting close before jumping to the post romance scenes as people discuss other things before getting dressed and going their separate ways. Then partway through, he flips the style and begins going into detail on every little exchange as people get down and dirty. The change in style was jarring to say the least.
In the end, I was unable to finish this series, giving up around halfway through. I hate to do this but with new writing problems popping up every chapter and none of the previous issues able to be corrected, nothing short of a miracle could save this from the garbage bin for me.
January 24, 2019
The old saying of not judging a book by it's cover should be expanded to also include the books description with this one, from the cover design and the summary it seems like it is going to be quite a shallow and cheesy book, but on the whole it mostly manages to exceed those expectations to deliver a pretty decent near-future scifi story set in a world where more traditional fantasy creatures have long coexisted with humans, albeit as 2nd class (at best) citizens.
The narrator did a good job overall with this book, delivering the story clearly and ensuring that all the characters were suitably distinctive as well.
Overall, this book was not without it's flaws, but it had entertaining characters and an interesting plot to make it an enjoyable listen.
[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]
The narrator did a good job overall with this book, delivering the story clearly and ensuring that all the characters were suitably distinctive as well.
Overall, this book was not without it's flaws, but it had entertaining characters and an interesting plot to make it an enjoyable listen.
[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]
February 3, 2019
I received this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.
I was hoping from the blurb that this would be a fun story -- I mean monsters getting therapy? Sounds like it could be humorous. Then add a murder mystery -- this could be interesting. But... it wasn't. I just could not connect with any of the characters, some of the descriptions of the monsters were just silly, the pop psychology, lack of character development and connections between the characters. I did like the idea of building a world in an attempt to tackle racism with some of the laws being very similar to US history but even that became a bit formulaic.
As I listened to this book, the real highlight of this book was the narrator, Chris Graves. He did voices for the different characters.
I was hoping from the blurb that this would be a fun story -- I mean monsters getting therapy? Sounds like it could be humorous. Then add a murder mystery -- this could be interesting. But... it wasn't. I just could not connect with any of the characters, some of the descriptions of the monsters were just silly, the pop psychology, lack of character development and connections between the characters. I did like the idea of building a world in an attempt to tackle racism with some of the laws being very similar to US history but even that became a bit formulaic.
As I listened to this book, the real highlight of this book was the narrator, Chris Graves. He did voices for the different characters.
November 26, 2018
Good story but not great
Being an alternate universe where monsters have always been around, mostly as second class citizens starts the story in an unfamiliar location with issues and prejudice that are not quickly defined and started me off disassociated with the story, and struggling to work out the motivations and relationships between the characters. The relationship between the MC and his harem were also preexisting and left me wondering about how each relationship was formed (my favourite part of a harem based tale). Some of the convenient plot devices reminded me of a B grade movie where the ‘only place this works’ is inside the enemy stronghold. At least the story was contained within the one book, with the option for a sequel.
Being an alternate universe where monsters have always been around, mostly as second class citizens starts the story in an unfamiliar location with issues and prejudice that are not quickly defined and started me off disassociated with the story, and struggling to work out the motivations and relationships between the characters. The relationship between the MC and his harem were also preexisting and left me wondering about how each relationship was formed (my favourite part of a harem based tale). Some of the convenient plot devices reminded me of a B grade movie where the ‘only place this works’ is inside the enemy stronghold. At least the story was contained within the one book, with the option for a sequel.
February 9, 2019
Overall: 4 Stars Performance: 5 Stars Story: 4 Stars
My review is based on the audiobook. This story held my attention and was an intersting take on the monster/human relationship.The author did a great job weaving a complex tale of the dynamics of humans suppressing monsters and then also the monster/human love interests. The narrator was great in bringing the story and character to life with on point pacing and easy to understand yet distinct voices. I look forward to more from this author and narrator
My review is based on the audiobook. This story held my attention and was an intersting take on the monster/human relationship.The author did a great job weaving a complex tale of the dynamics of humans suppressing monsters and then also the monster/human love interests. The narrator was great in bringing the story and character to life with on point pacing and easy to understand yet distinct voices. I look forward to more from this author and narrator
January 12, 2019
I've only read a few harem books but this one was by far the better executed one because the harem elements aren't the main focus of the story. The characters had depth and the story was fairly complex. Also the narration was really good I'd really enjoyed this book.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
January 14, 2020
Overall everything about this book just felt bland. A lot of the content just didn't have much sustenance, and a lot of content was spoon fed to you. I really can't say more about this book than other books of the same kind. It definitely is not a diamond mixed into a mound of coal.
September 8, 2018
It's ok
Nothing really bad about this story but it just did not grab my attention and hold it very well. It is good enough where I will read a 2nd book of it comes out.
Nothing really bad about this story but it just did not grab my attention and hold it very well. It is good enough where I will read a 2nd book of it comes out.
November 12, 2018
Really fast paced, but an interesting world.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews