A Mastery of Monsters
(2025)(The first book in the Mastery of Monsters series)
A novel by Liselle Sambury
Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen whos willing to do anything to find her brothereven infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
When Augusts brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesnt find a partner to help control his true nature, hell lose his humanity and become a mindless beastexactly what the secret society hes grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, hell help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if shes to have any hope of saving her brother.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
When Augusts brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesnt find a partner to help control his true nature, hell lose his humanity and become a mindless beastexactly what the secret society hes grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, hell help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if shes to have any hope of saving her brother.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy