Destroy All Monsters

May 1, 2019
Four years ago, when best friends Solomon and Ash were 12, something happened that neither remembers. The two reacted in very different ways: Ash struggles with depression, and Solomon has succumbed to serious mental illness. He dwells in Darkside, where dinosaurs live alongside humans and othersiders, humans with magical powers. In Darkside, Ash is a Refugee Princess under a spell, and Solomon has a crush on her bodyguard, Niv, who for safety has moved her from one undisclosed location to another ever since the riot when othersiders and humans clashed. In Ash's reality, she attends Hudson High, where her Solomon sometimes attends class and his stepfather, hunky Mr. Barrett, is football coach and vice principal. She also hooks up with Connor, Solomon's stepbrother. In Solomon's world, a wave of anti-othersider violence coincides with vandalism and dangerous pranks in Ash's, and the time the friends spend together in both places jars memories of the traumatic event that shattered their lives. Is it possible that their struggling friendship could be instrumental in saving two worlds? Miller (Blackfish City, 2018, etc.) delivers a tale of friendship and dovetailing realities: Each teen narrates from their own reality in alternating chapters, and the two narratives bleed into one another in a way that at times borders on confusing. The worldbuilding in Darkside will feel familiar to fans of fantasy. Ash is white; Solomon is white and Jewish. A darkly complex read. (Fantasy. 15-18)

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June 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-Ash and Solomon are best friends fighting against evil and their past in very different ways. Ash takes refuge in her passion for photography, while Solomon retreats to a vivid fantasy world, complete with dinosaur transportation. Ash is the only person in Solomon's life who takes his stories about Darkside remotely seriously. Most of the time Solomon is labeled as crazy or psychotic, even by his own father, who also happens to be the local high school football coach. When a string of targeted attacks puts the town on edge, Ash suspects that the football team is behind the incidents. As she uses her photography to get to the truth, a dark secret from her and Solomon's past begins to creep to the surface. Alternating voices and worlds are used to explore each character's struggle with current conflict and past trauma. Art and storytelling are featured both as coping mechanisms and tools by which the survivors find a voice and stand up for the truth. Ash and Solomon are a source of strength for each other, giving readers total friend goals. Ash avoids using many of the harmful labels others place on Solomon. While she is conflicted about how much to step in when he is in serious danger, Ash's actions are smart, mature, and compassionate. Ash and Solomon show that friends sometimes have to do the hard things to do the right thing. A balanced mix of realistic and fantasy elements keeps the action going and appeals to fans of both elements. VERDICT A combination of Andrew Smith, Laini Taylor, and John Corey Whaley that crosses genre borders and will win over readers.-Carrie Finberg, South Park High School, PA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Two teens caught between reality and delusion deal with the fallout from a traumatic childhood event in this moving audiobook. Ash, voiced by Brittany Pressley, lost her memory of the event when she fell from Solomon's treehouse. Solomon, voiced by Zach Webber, has retreated into a fantasy world called Darkside, a city filled with magic, dinosaurs, and monsters. Pressley captures Ash's personality with crisp consonants and clear emotions, while Webber's voice is deep and minimally expressive--a stylistic choice that reflects Solomon's mental state. As Solomon struggles to distinguish his hallucinations from reality and Ash tries to help her friend regain control, the two will uncover facts that draw their past into question. H.C. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Well-known for his lyrical and powerful debut, The Art of Starving (2017), Miller has crafted a stunning and intimate new novel about the effects of trauma on individual lives, as well as the connections that allow people to face their own incredibly difficult pasts. Ash fell out of a tree house when she was young, losing all memory of what happened to cause the accident. Solomon has receded into his own imaginary world (the Darkside), populated by monsters, dragons, and enemies of all kinds, since the same incident that caused Ash's accident. Told in a similar way to Patrick Ness' Release (2017), the narrative in Miller's book switches between events based in reality and those based in the world that Solomon has created to escape his own trauma. Readers will be drawn into this not only because of the inventiveness of Solomon's imaginary refuge but also because of the desire to know what happened that led each of them to their present circumstances. Miller's ability to merge the darkly fantastic with reality is deeply affecting; readers will be unable to forget neither the pain nor the eventually freeing illumination Solomon and Ash find in the past.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)