In 2011, after many debut authors caught wind of the immense popularity of The Hunger Games, they published a slew of awful books that attempted to mimic the original without any of the thought or soul that went into it. After 2015, when fantasy became the new genre to copy in the realm of Young Adult fiction, the trend died down a bit but was restarted in 2020, when The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes came out. A prequel to The Hunger Games meant great things for aspiring authors, who could now ride the wave of popularity to get anything in the dystopian genre published, regardless of their quality. Sure enough, about two years later, a cluster of these dystopias was published. Amongst them was Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah.
On the surface, Monsters Born and Made seems like one of the most egregiously awful dystopian copies. It is about sixteen-year-old Koral, who enters the Glory Race, a quad annual Hunger Games-type event, to get the prize pool to treat her chronically ill sister Liria. During the event, she falls for both the returning champion, Dorian, and the only nice person on the entire island, Judas. This parallels the original Hunger Games book when Katniss volunteers to enter the arena in place of Prim, ultimately falling for Gale and Peeta. The parts where you can see clear-cut similarities to The Hunger Games are the worst ones, but for the last three-fourths of the book, there is a massive increase in quality.
One of the best aspects of the book is the dichotomy between Koral and Dorian. All of their interactions in the book are preceded by a flashback in which Dorian’s father, Solomon, punishes Dorian severely after he breaks his violin. Koral witnesses this and talks to Dorian about it, forming an instant connection between the two. She acquaints him with the creature that would go on to pull his chariot in the Glory Race: a Maristag called Rhyton. After two years of not interacting, Dorian and Koral have to pretend to hate each other for the cameras, a reversal of the dynamic between Katniss and Peeta. Their bond is reignited during the Glory Race, but they find themselves in an interesting situation. They each understand what will happen to the other if they lose- Dorian will have to face his father and Koral’s sister will perish from her illness. After Koral wins the final race and is accused of cheating, Dorian issues a formal declaration of conceit, being yelled at by his father. This is a great development for Dorian, fully rounding out his arc and bringing upon the climax.
Although I love everything about the Glory Race, I am much more mixed on the aforementioned climax. During the said climax, Landmaster Minos (who is essentially the president of the dystopian island Koral lives on) imprisons Koral in a dungeon, charging her with treason and accusing her of working with the island’s rebels. After this, they attempt to execute her by feeding her to a Capricorn, a large creature native to the island’s seas, but Koral can escape by riding into the unknown on her Maristag, Stormgold. In addition to all of this, everybody in Koral’s family is executed, ultimately making this book a tragedy. However, in a tragedy, the tragic element should be a direct result of the tragic character’s actions. However, nothing Koral does causes the tragedy of the ending. The only loose connection you could make is that she shows up to a Glory Race champion gathering which is attacked by rebels, but this does not hold enough dramatic weight to matter in the end. It feels more like Koral was made a victim of her society rather than anything else, which is a big cop-out, especially considering how Dorian is made the official, Landmaster-approved champion of the Glory Race, despite conceding defeat in the literal previous scene.
Ultimately, Monsters Born and Made is a very good book, despite its issues. It does not deserve to be lumped in with the other dystopian rip-offs of the era. I have talked about many of my problems with the book, but there is plenty more good stuff, such as the aquabat attack, Crane’s arc, or Arlene’s role in the climax. This is an incredibly good book that I just happen to have some problems with. Tanvi Berwah has another book slated to come out in January of 2024, Somewhere In the Deep, and I would recommend reading both that and Monsters Born and Made. This book is truly a hidden gem.
