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Book Tour - Lesser Known Monsters

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Lesser Known Monsters by Rory Michaelson

About the 2022 BBNYA

BBNYA stands for the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award. As the name implies, the Awards are selected by a panel of book bloggers. Anyone who blogs about books can become a panelist. 

The annual competition began in 2020. In the first three years the winning novels have been in the sci-fi, fantasy, horror and thriller genres.

The goal of the Awards program is to give under appreciated, lesser known Indie authors a chance to make themselves known without being overshadowed by the big names, but also show the world the power of book bloggers! For more info on BBNYA, visit their website. You can find the full list of 2022 BBNYA Finalists here.

Lesser Known Monsters is the 2022 BBNYA10th Place Finalist.


Lesser Known Monsters has been on my radar, and somewhere in my To Be Read list almost since it first came out. Between the title, the cover art, and the reviews of others that I've read, it seemed like a fantasy book I would like. When TheWriteReads announced they were going to tour the book I immediately got on board. 

Broadly speaking, Rory Michaelson's Lesser Known Monsters is a horror / fantasy story. But it's also a love story. The trio of young adult friends engaged in solving the story's puzzles sometimes read like the chums from a Hardy Boys mystery. But they are also gay adults - characters who banter realistically with each other, and are not afraid to drop a few swear words or engage in a bit of hanky-panky. The main character is a anxiety riven shy guy who stumbles from one danger to the next. But he's also the chosen one - the link between this word and the monsters who lurk beyond the pale. It's scary and dark but also funny and heartwarming.

In short, it's hard to put this book into a box. Except maybe the box labelled "Great Debut Novels".

In this urban fantasy three friends who work in an unnamed hospital in London try to solve the mystery surrounding a young girl who has been viciously attacked. Oscar Tundale, the main character in the book, is a Health Care Assistant who is called in to care for the girl and manages to make a connection where others haven't. The girl quietly identifies Dimitri, a handsome doctor who Oscar has feelings for, as "the bad guy".

Oscar and his friends Zara and Marcus investigate Dimitri to determine how he might have ties to this young girl. Dimitri, it turns out, is not what he seems, and the viciously attacked young girl may not be either.

What follows is an epic battle between good and evil, a romance, and a thriller of a story. The plot is very well paced. The characters, who start out as stick figures develop into full-fledged people with multiple layers. They have back stories that are revealed as needed to build the plot.

The monsters of the title are not vampires or demons, but creatures that Michaelson seems to have come up with on his own - thus the "lesser known" description. In between every few chapters are entries title "Taxonomy of Monsters" that include descriptions of some of the types of creatures you'll encounter in the story. Most of these "taxonomies" take the form of excerpts from fictional titles that describe things like the "mimick-dog", the "brag" and the "preta". 

This is the first book of a series that also includes The Bone Gate and The Torn Earth. If you are a fan of horror or paranormal adventures you'll definitely want to check this series out.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: I received a review copy of this book as a participant in TheWriteReads book tour. 


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Title: Lesser Known Monsters

Author: Rory Michaelson

Publisher: Rory Michaelson

Publish Date: Oct 12, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781838166014

Publisher’s List Price: N/A