Review of THE SCHOOL FOR MONSTERS AND MISFITS by Rob Preece

THE SCHOOL FOR MONSTERS AND MISFITS by Rob Preece

Matt Carnecero had looked forward to his coming of age for years. For the first time, he'd learn his place in the fae community. His family were all shapeshifters, but would he become a lion, a bear (like his father), or perhaps a wolf to help the pack. There was one possibility that neither Matt nor anyone else in his family had considered--what if he became not a fellow predator, but a prey animal? What if his place in the community was not as a fellow hunter but as a good meal?

Convinced that they were a danger to Matt, his family sends him to the Center for Advanced Fae Studies where, they hope, he'll find a place in the greater fae community--one where he won't have to worry about dangerous predators all the time. What neither they, nor Matt realize, however, is that the Center for Advanced Fae Studies has another name--the School for Monsters and Misfits. It's where the worst of the fae community is sent. Those considered too dangerous for the outside world, those who threaten the secrecy of the magical community, those who cannot control their urge to destroy, are sent there... and will be Matt's fellow students. Worse, what Matt soon learns is that the school is a life sentence. For all the talk of rehabilitation, no one ever graduates. Between brutal fellow students, teachers who don't care, and guards who would as soon shoot as talk, life expectancy is short.

When one of Matt's new 'friends' is accused of murdering a fellow student, he's forced to step outside of his comfort zone, to stand up to his fellow students, the guards, and even the headmaster. Yet, even with the help of a half-trained mage, a young satyr and a mermaid throwback to the older more dangerous days, what can a helpless werebunny hope to achieve?

Author Rob Preece (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of speculative fiction by Preece) writes a compelling story of young fae forced to deal with bullying and a dystopic system.

Four Stars

Reviewed 12/18/14

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