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Three Reasons You Should Read This Young Adult Sci-Fi Monster Mashup:
- Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove brings sci-fi and traditional horror monsters together in a fun mashup of genres.
- The found family and connections built throughout the adventure prove that friends can be found in the most unlikely circumstances.
- I absolutely loved Demeter and the way she developed into such a wonderful character throughout the story.
About Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Title: Of Monsters and Mainframes
Author: Barbara Truelove
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Spaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.
Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.
To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team of monsters: A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.
The queer love child of pulp horror and classic sci-fi, Of Monsters and Mainframes is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.
My review of Of Monsters and Mainframes:
Demeter is a spaceship – one with a personality (sort of). After waking up from a long journey to find all her passengers and crew dead, she is terrified that people will blame her for the disaster. And so it begins…a round of terrible luck for Demeter as monster after monster seems determined to kill everyone on board, trip after trip.
Every monster incident plays an important part in the ending, but you don’t see it along the way. I felt like there were too many encounters without tying things together along the way. It was just one invasion of Demeter after another, with many people dying. I wanted more of a thread to pull as I went along instead of waiting until the end for it all to come together.
The monsters were all amazing characters. But the spider drones stole the show somehow. They were cute little pets that you really hoped nothing bad would happen to. Always willing to help and with no concept of danger, they were like little puppy dogs running off trying their best.
While I hit some slow spots along the way, the ending was about as perfect as it could get. All the disasters along the way were brought together and wrapped up (mostly). The people, monsters, and machines find a new family together, and the doors are open for more adventures. I felt like the book ended with me standing on the docks and waving as they all went off together on another adventure.