This was such a good first installment in the Monsters of Verity series! 
 The synopsis of the novel intrigued me and the hype around this novel had me anticipating great things so I was a little hesitant to start this in case I got let down. Thankfully this lived up to all the praise it has received! 
 The novel centres around the two protagonists, Kate and August, and their remarkably different lives inside the city of Verity, where monsters are born from the sins of men. A series of events see the pair collide into each other's lives as they attempt to find the mysterious monster, be it man or other, attempting to assassinate one of them and frame the other. 
 There was an almost Montague and Capulet feel to this story, as the pair descended from warring families, and yet I was pleasantly surprised to find hardly a scrap of romance! I had wrongfully preconceived notions that the split perspectives were only going to end in a relationship forming and I was so glad that I was proven wrong. There is such an overabundance of romance stories sold off as fantastical adventures, in the YA genre, and I am glad that this is not one them! 
 I found the first portion of the book a little confusing as the plot is very action-orientated. The reader is thrown into the heart of the story, with little backstory to ground themselves on, and expected to learn as the adventures continue. I soon settled into the pace of the novel and started to love the escapades that ensued! 
 This was such a unique reading experience and I loved the character development, the world that was structured around them and the monsters that roamed there.