-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Ninth Housemeets Legendborn in this "bold and bloody" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who's willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
When August's 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 doesn't find a partner to help control his true nature, he'll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he's grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he'll 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 she's to have any hope of saving her brother.
"August's acerbic, quick-witted narration tackles the society's sinister ideals head-on, while confident prose by Sambury skillfully explores nuanced examinations of parental pressure and neglect, prejudice, systemic violence, and unjust power dynamics. Propulsive pacing, layered lore, and high emotional stakes further distinguish this dark academia series opener." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Through the metaphor of monsters, Sambury explores salient questions about belonging, justice, mass incarceration, the line between revolution and terrorism, and racism and systemic inequality...A bold and bloody series opener." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
This information about A Mastery of Monsters was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Stuart W
Liselle Sambury is a Trinidadian Canadian author and Governor General's Literary Awards Finalist. She has a love for stories with dark themes, complicated families, and edges of hope. In her free time, she shares helpful tips for upcoming writers and details of her publishing journey through a YouTube channel dedicated to demystifying the sometimes complicated business of being an author.
If you liked A Mastery of Monsters, try these:
by Rivers Solomon
Published 2025
Welcome to Rivers Solomon's dark and wondrous Model Home, a new kind of haunted-house novel.
by Mark Lawrence
Published 2024
Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets, in this powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns.
by Marlon James
Published 2020
In the stunning first novel in Marlon James's Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
