Review #8- A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Illustrated by Jim Kay

*WARNING* 
Kinda-sorta spoiler-alert! Proceed with caution!

*Goodreads Page*

Goodreads synopsis- The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

I went into this book expecting something super creepy and scary. What I got was so much more.

This is the first book I've ever read by Patrick Ness. I've heard nothing but amazing things about his books, so when I found A Monster Calls for really cheap, I had to pick it up. I was not disappointed. When I started it, I didn't really know what the book was about, apart from the fact that a boy is visited during the night by this monster. So when I got further in and realized what this book was really about, I fell even more in love with it. 

The book follows a fourteen year old boy named Conor whose mother has cancer. One night, the old yew tree on the hill outside his house comes to life, turning into a monster, and comes for him. Conor, however, isn't afraid of the monster, because nothing, especially this monster, is as scary as the nightmare he keeps having. The monster comes to Conor to tell him three stories, and after the third story, Conor must tell the monster the nightmare, the truth, that Conor doesn't want to admit.

The story follows Conor as he comes to grips with his mother's illness, his isolation and bullying at school, and the truth that the monster is trying to get him to admit.

Even though going into this book, I had heard that is was a scary story, I found that it wasn't so much scary as heart-wrenching. The end of the book is equally heartbreaking, and heartwarming. I won't lie, I balled as I read the final pages. This is one of the best books I've read in a very long time, and I can't wait to read it again.

If you're looking for an amazing book with a wonderful story and a little deeper meaning, this is the book for you. If you aren't looking for any of that, this is still the book for you. I honestly can't recommend this book enough. It is a masterpiece of literature.