Review: Moth (Monstrous #5) by Lily Mayne
Moth by Lily Mayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"But when I looked at Moth, I could never decide if I wanted to strangle him or start tearing off his clothes. He was infuriatingly attractive. His face was like a work of art—almost too perfect to be real. Definitely too perfect to be human. Didn’t stop me wanting to punch it, though."
I'm glad I got peer-pressured into reading this, even though I didn't love Soul Eater and haven't read books 2-3-4. I would say Book 1 is necessary reading to get the whole dystopian context, but jumping straight into book 5 from there is very possible!
Most of the issues I had with book 1 were related to pacing issues and how the romantic tension fizzled out too quickly after what I thought was a strong start. My expectations of something darker and more... monstrous probably played into my disappointment too, but this time I knew what I was going into when I started Moth. Moth is also very different character than Wyn, as a half-monster that is not accepted by either the monster or the human community. In my opinion, this kind of monster worked better for the overall light-hearted but emotionally charged tone of the series. I definitely feel like the strength of this series hides in its characters and their relationship rather then on plot details, though the world-building can be fun when it's used in service to the romance.
The whole setting has this fun, action-filled "Reluctant Allies that go on a Quest Together" vibes. I got to say though, that the actual mystery at the origin of the quest is not that intriguing and the resolution is underwhelming: the whole Cat thing felt a little useless as a plot point in the end. And that's ignoring the realistic aspect of all this walking (those MCs are really going over their 10k steps a day).
Anyways, it's easy to put those little things aside, as the real point of this story is Moth and Charlie's connection. And what a great, romantic, sweet, and emotional story it is. We got through it all alongside Charlie as we get to know Moth and learn to see through his prickly, cold, arrogant exterior. Charlie was so sweet and patient in gaining Moth's trust. Though they are both attracted to each other from the start, the tension build-up is delicious and the pacing of the relationship doesn't have the issues that bored me in Soul Eater. They have a lot to work on before they can be together, and all this inner angst makes the resolution feel so well-earned for the readers. It helps that we get so many fun little tropes: Only One Bed, Emotional Bathing, Hair Braiding, a little jealousy and a lot of hurt/comfort... There's just generally a lot of caretaking, mutual pinning and Charlie helping Moth see how worthy of love he is. I really loved them both!
There's just so many swoony and tender moments, I had to refrain myself from highlighting whole passages and I still ended up with 90 highlights. I would honestly recommend this book even if you haven't read the previous ones in the series (or even if you didn't like some of them!). That's how much I liked it.
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