'Only A Monster' Book Club Readalong Day 3!

Welcome back to the third day of our book club readalong for OwlCrate's February book, Only A Monster!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 8-10 of Only A Monster, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCOnlyAMonster for another chance to win!

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The story continues...

Chapter 8:
They successfully travel back to the past, and it is a shock to Joan’s system to see her familiar London, not familiar at all. She starts thinking about all the other times she could explore and start to feel oddly hazy. Aaron grabs her arm and tells her to focus on things in the now. The sounds of cars, birds, anything. Eventually things become clear again and Aaron explains that she just tried to jump again, but she has no time and if she had been successful she would have died. Aaron insists that she needs to learn about the monster world, and fast, if she’s going to survive. Looking around and using deduction, Aaron is able to figure out that it is about 1993 - they went back in time further than anticipated.

Chapter 9:
Aaron seems to know where to go, and leading her through the unfamiliar London streets he takes her to what he is one of the monster inns. Inside the innkeeper bids them eat while someone finds a key, and Aaron tells Joan to take the food as it is an easy way to ground yourself in a certain time. Unfortunately, Joan is distracted by people appearing from different eras and as a sort of punishment for not listening to him Aaron starts to describe a time in the past, again making Joan start feeling muzzy and like she’s about to jump in time. In anger, Joan leaves, finding herself walking through what is the monster part of city. In a market a man selling what looks like contraband tech from other times buys her modern phone from her, just as Aaron catches up. Joan’s plan is to mail herself in modern day a letter to warn her of what’s to come.

There a post office that can deliver letters through time and while Joan writes the Aaron is oddly quiet. Standing in the rain Joan asks Aaron if the letter will save her family and he tells her no, that nothing will. She runs back into the inn and demands the innkeeper find her grandma for her, but he seems reluctant to find any Hunt. She then sees a man she recognizes as an Oliver from Holland House and in desperation she tries to convince him to try to stop what will happen. When Aaron appears he is unhelpful and guides her away.

Upstairs Aaron explains that the timeline protects itself. No matter what they do in this time their families will still be killed. He explains that they came back in time to protect them from being killed, not to change what happened. He locks himself in the bedroom. Joan falls asleep on the window seat to be awakened later by Aaron - someone is picking the lock to their room. Joan picks up a vase and as the door swings open she hurls it at….Ruth.

Chapter 10:
Ruth tells Joan that she has been looking for her for two years. She takes Joan (and reluctantly Aaron) to a small studio above the market where they can’t be overheard. She tells them that they aren’t the only survivors from that night, but she hasn’t been able to find anyone else alive, because someone is hunting down those who escaped.

Ruth conjures up some food using her powers and tells them that it’s not only the Oliver’s records that don’t document the attack, it’s every monster family’s. Somehow the records have been altered. She also reveals that she wasn’t able to find anything out about Nick, there are no employment records of him, he never appears on CCTV, and it seems Joan was the only person who knew him. They start talking of him like he might be the monster hunter from children’s stories. Ruth says she doesn’t know much else, but she may have seen a blonde woman with Court Guards at the hospital she ended up at after the attack, and she suspects the girl who had been in the hospital room with her who heard her ramblings about the massacre was…dealt with. And over the past two years, every time she heard about a survivor, there are then rumours of Court Guards appearing as well. It is imperative they not speak of the massacre in public any longer.

They try to sleep, Ruth and Joan in the bed, Aaron on the couch. Joan tells Ruth they’ll fix it, but instead of telling her it can’t be done like Aaron, Ruth evades the question.

 

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 Questions:

1. Who do you think the blonde woman is, and why do you think she and the Court Guards seem to be tracking down survivors?
2. Why do you think no one else seems to have known Nick?
3. Do you think there is a way Ruth knows to potentially alter the timeline?
4. How do you think all the records got altered, and what do you think the purpose was?

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