I loved this book! It has a great 14-15 year old hero with fantastic friends and monstrous enemies! It was so well written I found myself getting very nervous for him every time he went monster hunting, except for the last few episodes when he had more back-up. Strangely so, as at this stage it was more dangerous for him but maybe I was just reading the book too fast, to find out what happened next, to be worried for him! I actually read it in one day, being unable to put it down.
Kendra Highley paints a wonderful picture with lovely language choices; some of the words I didn’t know but then I’m not a teenage boy in Montana. I got the gist though. The idea that Matt Archer is ‘found’ by a monster hunting knife is nice (although not entirely new since we all know that the wand chooses the wizard etc.) but the extent of the knife’s powers are gradually revealed, both by our own reading of the interactions it has with Matt and others, and with the tales of the legend that are brought in near the end. The monsters are beautifully described and paint a terrifying picture in the reader’s imagination. But I did sleep well after reading it; no nightmares!
Matt’s own nightmares are intriguing additions to the plot, since the reader interprets some correctly as belonging to the story but others foresee a future which I look forward to reading about. I recommend this book to ten year olds and up who like a fast paced fantasy thriller!
Matt Archer: Monster Hunter by Kendra C Highley
