Saturday, August 27, 2016

Fear University by Meg Collett

Fear University by [Collett, Meg]

Synopsis via Amazon:
I’ve always known I was a monster, and I don’t mean some teenage vampire shit either. 

My mother abandoned me when I was ten years old because I have a freakish mutant disease that makes me incapable of feeling pain. I bounced from one foster family to another because too many people like to test my medical condition in a game of “Try To Make Ollie Scream.” At sixteen, I killed a man for taking that game too far. 

Two years later, I’m still on the run in Kodiak, Alaska. Here, I’m the most dangerous person around, until I come face to face with a creature that should only exist in folklore. The monster is an aswang, and I, with my medical anomaly, am uniquely qualified to hunt the beast that haunts the night. At least, that’s what the two scarred, mostly crazy ’swang hunters tell me when they kidnap me and take me to Fear University, a school where young students learn to hunt and kill aswangs. 

I arrive at the university a prisoner, but I stay because I finally find my freedom. 

For once in my life, I belong. I’m needed. I make a home for myself inside the university masquerading as an old Alaskan prison. Something close to happiness warms my icy heart when I’m with my scarred, still mostly crazy tutor, Luke Aultstriver. For a murdering runaway like me, Fear University is a haven where I can put my skills to good use hunting monsters in the night. 

But when certain truths come to light and even more lies are exposed, I fear that I, Ollie Andrews, am the worst kind of monster of all. And, maybe, they should be hunting me.

So, I tried a new author and she is "fudging" AWESOME!!!
Meg Collett is a fellow Tennessean who is the author of four separate series. The Fear University is a contemporary fantasy series. And after just reading the first book, I happily inform you that it is one impressively mind blowing read!
Miss Collett has taken an old Phillipino myth and given it new life. She has taken a story of things that "go bump in the night" and made them "go bump in the present". But one of the things I like about Fear University is that she has introduced part of the Phillipino culture to the world.  Why is that important? Well, a lot of the older superstitions  from all cultures, are handed down the generations verbally. Because Miss Collett has taken an oral superstition and given it life in the written world. It will now survive for as long as her books are around.
Let's get to the detailed review. As most who visit my blog know, I do not like to "spoil" the book for other readers.
First, what I liked about the book:
The story is contemporary fantasy. It brings the supernatural into the present. It combines your imagination with the world around you making you ask "Is this something that could be real?".
With every character, there is more than meets the eye. Each character has a depth to them that will surprise you when they are  peeled like an onion. Will they make you cry? No, but they do make you reassess how you are expecting the storyline to progress.
I especially like the main characters and how they seem to evolve when you think you have them figured out. Their "evolution" (my term) helps the story maintain it's intensifying plot without feeling tired or monotonous. All of these together helped me read this 333 pages (e-book) in two days. I HAD to know what came next. I was totally engrossed.
What I didn't like about the book:
It only took me two days to read. I was up until 1:30 in the morning finishing the book because it was so engrossing. Thank goodness the next day was not a work day!! When I finally reached the last page, I was so engrossed with the story, I didn't realize I was on the last page and when I turned the page to find the book was over, I literally groaned and exclaimed "NO!!".
Okay, so the things I didn't like aren't bad things. They are reasons why you SHOULD read this story.

I will definitely be reading the next two books. And I found another author to place on my MUST READ list.
So this is on my list of "you have GOT to read this book!".
May you be blessed with the love of reading.

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