Review:

Eliza and Her Monsters was not what I expected, in the very best of ways.

The story centers around outcast Eliza who in the real world is somewhat of a loner, not really fitting in to her family or her school. Her two best fiends are real and online, living thousands of miles away. But online, she’s Lady Constellation, the creator of an entire world and story built around her art.

I loved Eliza and her character arc. She was so real and vulnerable, fierce and unsure all at the same time. I loved her talent and how that talent alienated her from her peers.  I also loved the description of how she was really a different, even in her own family. It made her loneliness very real, especially because her parents coulnd’t understand really how her art saves her.

Wallace is so sweet and obviously a perfect friend to Eliza. They’re both cut from the same cloth so it’s easy to see how they fall into each other very quickly. They understand each other in a way others don’t, and they both love Monsterous Sea. Of course Eliza can’t tell Wallace she’s the creator because that would alter their relationship, possibly not for the good.

There is so much beautiful writing and the artwork scattered through the book is fun and imaginative. I love how it’s almost a story within a story. As the art comes to a close, so does ELiza’s journey and both are rich and warm and complicated. The writing is spot on, conveying what it’s like to be an introvert. I have a lot of introvert friends and can sometimes skew that way so it was really nice to see someone write about it who was very spot on.

It’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.