What do you do when the otherworldly, life-changing, smoking-mouth truth stares you in the face and asks you to join a hunt? Do you flee or learn to not be afraid and take its familiar hands?

This was the perfect book to read to pull me back from the edge of a reading slump! Pet by Akwaeke Emezi, takes place in Lucille, a city scrubbed clean of evil and blanketed at night with the saying "There are no more monsters in Lucille". Under the bed of the city, though, what kind of boogeyman really lies in wait? The story wielded the power of knowledge, truth, justice, and compassion to shine a light in the darkness of denial, complacency, blinding fear, silence, abuse, and wilful ignorance. It makes readers sit with the uncomfortable reality that sometimes the truth looks like your deepest nightmare, the fight for safe spaces is a never-ending job, and the real monster can wear the face of your neighbor.

Jam, our main character, is the beating heart of the story. At such a young age, she's compassionate, relatable, and such a treat to follow. Her relationships with her family, friends, community, Pet, and even her home are heartwarming and show how connected she is to everything around her. Her struggle to see the truth and her journey to accept it were believable and so profound. I'm not fully sold on some of the decisions/roles that she had to take within the story, but I understand that the balancing act for the final decision (not going to spoil it!) was difficult and different for everyone. Still, I applaud the author for tackling such deep and nuanced topics for a younger audience.

The discussions surrounding justice, trauma, denial, truth, child abuse, monsters, etc., weren't new, but they didn't feel exhausted and were treated with gentle hands. The messages can be a bit preachy, but I think it's appropriate for the intended younger audience. It can be a hit or miss with some adults, but it still worked for me.

There's so much diversity and representation in the story. I loved having a Black, trans, selectively mute main character, and the love that everyone shows for her was so uplifting. I do wish had more time with the side characters, especially Redemption. Jam's interactions with Redemption and Pet had a great balance between them and helped each of them grow. The world-building is very limited to just Lucille, but I don't mind that as much. It does make a bit of sense to me that the world-building would be limited in the eyes of a kid who has lived only in Lucille her whole life.

The writing blends simplicity, musicality, and striking use of metaphors. It has a rhythm that propels you forward and a lyrical quality that was simply beautiful to read. The horror woven into the narrative adds to the mythical, larger-than-life feeling of the story, and it's used as a way to explore the true face of a monster and monstrous acts. The paranoia that it evokes in trying to find the "monster" kept me going and endeared me more to the main characters. While stunning with its use of imagery and symbols, a lot of hard-hitting truths were written plainly, and that added to their power and impact.

By the end, I was left with a real feeling of hope, not one shrouded in smoke and glass, but one that sees the reality of how we can protect each other: arm in arm, facing the truth head-on.

When I tell you I had so much fun being confused while reading this. It’s a book that really takes its time with letting you in on information about the characters and the meaning of what they say/do, but that just makes it that much more thrilling to read. You learn things when you’re supposed to know them, when it makes sense with the story and where the characters are in the present, and when the puzzle pieces start to fit in together? Oh yeah, that’s when you know it was all worth it.

It’s a story with a big focus on characters, and every single one is so layered and complex, with their own story that makes each of them stand out differently. I was invested in all of them, their relationships, their decisions and reasoning behind them, each character is so intriguing and plays a part in the game that brings it all together.

While it was my first OB book, I will be coming back for more.

The potential this book had honestly hurts me. I feel like I can see so clearly what it was trying to accomplish, but the components of the story never get the reader there. It's strongest parts were the very beginning and then again at the very end. This book started to sour somewhere in the middle where I just couldn't wrap my head around the actions of some of the characters. It felt like lots of the "horror" was just shoved in to meet the horror and weird girl lit quota.

Additionally, I have a lot of questions about things that never came back into the storyline but felt they were made to feel so significant at the time. I also wish the child narrator was utilized better, this was such an interesting perspective when they were reflecting on the differences in relationships they had with characters, but ultimately these moments were so short and clouded by the shoved in moments of horror.

If your heart is still set on reading it, I'm not discouraging at all, but I'd fs temper your expectations. If you're on the fence and trying to decide if it's worth your time, I'd say it's not 🤷‍♀️