Monster in the Family

Joan Chang-Hunt grows up believing she's ordinary, spending summers with her eccentric English grandmother, Dorothy Hunt, and her mother's side of the family in London. Her gran tells her, with a mix of affection and gravity, that they are monsters—real ones, not the storybook kind. Joan resists the idea, clinging to her sense of right and wrong, but the Hunt family's rules and powers—like making objects disappear—hint at a hidden world. Joan's mixed heritage (Chinese-Malaysian and English) and her mother's death leave her feeling like an outsider, but she finds comfort in her family's warmth and chaos. The summer she turns sixteen, everything changes when a chance encounter with a neighbor triggers her latent power: she accidentally steals time, catapulting herself forward a day and awakening to the monstrous truth of her bloodline.

Time Stolen, Truth Revealed

After her accidental time jump, Joan's gran reveals the horrifying truth: monsters travel through time by stealing it from humans, shortening their victims' lives. Each monster family has a unique power, but all share this predatory ability. Joan is sickened by the revelation, especially as she realizes her beloved family—including her cousins Ruth and Bertie—have been doing this all along. Her sense of self shatters; she's not the hero she wanted to be, but something that preys on others. Joan's horror is compounded by guilt over hurting an innocent man and the realization that her family's moral code is not what she believed. She flees, desperate for answers and comfort, but finds only more secrets and the growing weight of her monstrous inheritance.

The Hero's Betrayal

Seeking solace, Joan turns to Nick, her crush and fellow museum volunteer. Their connection is deep and immediate, and Joan longs to confide in him. But when the two are caught in the crossfire of a monster family feud at Holland House, everything unravels. The Oliver family—rivals to the Hunts—capture Joan and Nick, threatening to kill them for knowing too much. In a shocking twist, Nick reveals his true identity: he is the legendary human hero, trained from childhood to hunt and kill monsters. He slaughters the Olivers with terrifying skill, sparing Joan only because she tried to protect him. The boy she loves is her people's executioner, and he gives her a chilling ultimatum: if she ever steals time again, he will kill her too.

Blood in the Gilt Room

The massacre at Holland House is swift and brutal. Nick and his human allies—monster hunters—slaughter the gathered monster families, including Joan's own. Joan's family is decimated; her gran, cousins, aunts, and uncles are murdered. Ruth, her closest cousin, is gravely wounded. Joan barely escapes with her life, traumatized and hunted. The Gilt Room, once a symbol of history and beauty, becomes a blood-soaked tomb. Joan's sense of safety, family, and identity is obliterated. She is forced to confront the reality that monsters and humans are locked in a cycle of violence, and that love offers no protection from betrayal or fate.

The Night of Slaughter

Joan and a wounded Ruth flee through the chaos, pursued by Nick's hunters. The night is a blur of terror, loss, and guilt. They witness the bodies of friends and family, the destruction of their world, and the relentless efficiency of the human hero's crusade. Ruth is nearly killed, and Joan is forced to make impossible choices to keep them both alive. The trauma bonds them, but also leaves deep scars. As dawn breaks, they realize they are among the last survivors of their kind in London. The massacre is not just a personal tragedy, but a turning point in the secret war between monsters and humans.

Fugitives in Time

With nowhere safe in the present, Joan and Aaron Oliver—an unlikely ally and survivor—use their powers to escape into the past. They travel to 1993, hoping to find a way to undo the massacre and save their families. The journey is fraught with danger: time travel is physically and psychologically taxing, and the timeline resists change. Joan struggles with the morality of stealing time from humans to fuel their jumps, haunted by the knowledge that every escape comes at a cost. In the monster way stations of the past, they encounter new allies and enemies, and begin to unravel the deeper mysteries of monster society, the King's Court, and the true nature of the timeline.

Bargains and Betrayals

In the hidden monster enclaves of 1990s London, Joan, Aaron, and Ruth (who survived by traveling back earlier) seek help from other monster families. They bargain for information with the Lius, who possess perfect memory and hints of a "true timeline" that once existed. Each favor comes with a price, and trust is scarce. Joan learns that the King, the unseen ruler of monsters, may have once changed the timeline itself using a mythical device—the transformatio—now hidden in the Monster Court. As they plan a heist to steal it, old rivalries and new betrayals threaten to tear the group apart. Joan's own monstrous power begins to change, hinting at a destiny she does not understand.

The Timeline's Resistance

Desperate to prevent the massacre, Joan tries to warn her family in the past—through letters, direct contact, and even by seeking out her younger gran. Each attempt is thwarted by the timeline itself, which resists change with a force that feels almost sentient. Letters are lost, warnings ignored, and every effort to alter fate is undone. The monster world's records have been tampered with, erasing evidence of the massacre and the hero's true nature. Joan is forced to accept that some events are fixed points, and that the timeline will do anything to preserve itself. The only hope lies in finding the transformatio and using it to make a change powerful enough to stick.

The Monster Court Heist

With the help of Tom Hathaway, a disgraced former Court Guard, Joan, Aaron, Ruth, and Tom infiltrate the Monster Court during a rare gala. Their plan is to steal the transformatio from the Royal Archive, using the key Gran gave Joan. The heist is a tense, dangerous affair, involving clever use of monster powers and a harrowing journey through a Paleolithic time barrier. But when they reach the archive, they find not a device, but a prison cell—recently vacated, with only a cryptic message left behind. The realization dawns that the true power to change the timeline is not an object, but a person: Jamie Liu, the living archive, who has been taken and used by the Court.

The Archive's Prisoner

Tom, who loves Jamie, deciphers the message left in the cell. It is a recording that reveals the horrifying truth: the human hero, Nick, was not born but made. Monsters, led by a mysterious woman, tortured and killed Nick's family thousands of times, resetting the timeline each time, until he broke and became the perfect monster slayer. The Liu family's perfect memory preserved the record of this atrocity. Jamie's message is a plea to stop the hero, and a warning that he was made wrong—there is a flaw, a vulnerability. The group is shaken to the core, forced to confront the monstrousness not just in themselves, but in their entire society.

The Hero's Origin

The recording of Nick's repeated trauma is devastating. Joan and her allies realize that the cycle of violence between monsters and humans is not natural, but manufactured. The hero is a weapon created by monsters, his hatred and righteousness twisted by endless suffering. Joan's love for Nick is complicated by this knowledge; she sees both the victim and the executioner in him. The group debates what to do: some want to run, others to fight, but Joan is determined to confront Nick and try to break the cycle. She alone possesses a strange, forbidden power—one that can unmake what has been made.

Unmaking the Hero

Joan returns to the present, where Nick has turned Holland House into a trap for monsters. She allows herself to be captured, hoping to reach the boy she once loved. Under the influence of a truth serum, she confesses everything: her love, her guilt, and the truth of Nick's creation. Nick is torn, but cannot let go of his mission. In a final, desperate act, Joan uses her power—not to kill Nick, but to unmake him, erasing the hero and all he has done. The process is agonizing for both, a violent act of love and sacrifice. The timeline shudders and changes, and Joan collapses, knowing she has paid an unimaginable price.

A New Timeline's Cost

Joan awakens in a new timeline. Her family is alive, the massacre never happened, and the monster world is at peace. But Holland House is a ruin, and Nick is gone—unmade, his existence erased. Only Joan and Jamie Liu remember what was lost and what was sacrificed. Joan is haunted by dreams of Nick, by the knowledge that she loved and destroyed him to save her family and countless others. The cost of peace is memory, loneliness, and the burden of knowing what monsters—and humans—are capable of. Joan walks through the world she saved, forever changed, carrying the weight of love, loss, and the hope that cycles of violence can be broken.

Characters

Joan Chang-Hunt

Joan is a sixteen-year-old girl of mixed Chinese-Malaysian and English heritage, caught between worlds—human and monster, past and present, love and duty. Raised by her eccentric Hunt family, she longs to be a hero but discovers she is a monster who must steal time to survive. Joan is empathetic, stubborn, and deeply moral, struggling with guilt and self-loathing as she learns the cost of her power. Her love for Nick, the human hero, is both her greatest strength and her undoing. Over the course of the story, Joan evolves from a naive girl to a tragic heroine, willing to sacrifice her own happiness and love to save her family and break the cycle of violence. Her unique power—to unmake what has been made—marks her as both savior and destroyer.

Nick (the Hero)

Nick is introduced as Joan's charming, earnest crush, but is revealed to be the legendary human hero, trained from childhood to hunt and kill monsters. Beneath his calm exterior lies unimaginable trauma: he was tortured and forced to watch his family die thousands of times, his hatred and righteousness manufactured by monsters. Nick is both victim and executioner, his sense of justice twisted into a crusade. His love for Joan is genuine, but ultimately doomed by the roles they are forced to play. In the end, Nick's vulnerability—his capacity for love and doubt—becomes the key to breaking the cycle, but at the cost of his own existence.

Dorothy Hunt (Gran)

Gran is the formidable head of the Hunt family, a woman of sharp wit, iron will, and deep love for her family. She teaches Joan the rules of monster society—hide in plain sight, never reveal the truth—but withholds crucial information, believing it will protect Joan. Gran's morality is ambiguous: she is both nurturing and ruthless, capable of great kindness and great cruelty. Her death is a turning point for Joan, and her final gift—a key to the Monster Court—sets the plot in motion. In the past, Gran is revealed to be even more complex, willing to betray for survival, and a symbol of the generational trauma that shapes monster society.

Ruth Hunt

Ruth is Joan's older cousin and closest confidante, a rebellious, resourceful, and fiercely loyal member of the Hunt family. She is quick-witted, irreverent, and unafraid to break rules—whether stealing, fighting, or using her monster power to hide objects in time. Ruth's survival after the massacre is a testament to her resilience, but also leaves her scarred and wary. She is both a source of comfort and a reminder of what has been lost. Ruth's relationship with Joan is central to the story, embodying the tension between family loyalty and the monstrous acts required for survival.

Aaron Oliver

Aaron is the youngest son of the rival Oliver family, marked by his family's power to see the difference between monsters and humans. Disinherited and alienated, Aaron is both arrogant and vulnerable, a product of a society that values power above all. Forced into alliance with Joan, he becomes her unlikely friend and confidant, helping her navigate the monster world and the ethics of survival. Aaron's own trauma—witnessing the Court's brutality—shapes his cynicism and fear. His feelings for Joan are complicated by family enmity and his own sense of inadequacy. In the end, Aaron is both a survivor and a warning: even monsters can be victims of their own systems.

Tom Hathaway

Tom is a former Court Guard, outwardly a drunken fool but secretly driven by love and loss. His true motivation is to rescue Jamie Liu, his partner, from the Monster Court's prison. Tom's loyalty, strength, and cunning are revealed as the story progresses, and his grief over Jamie's fate is palpable. He is both a guide and a cautionary tale, showing the cost of love in a world where power and betrayal are currency. Tom's willingness to risk everything for Jamie mirrors Joan's own journey, and his presence grounds the group in moments of crisis.

Jamie Liu

Jamie is a member of the Liu family, whose power is perfect memory. As the Royal Archive, he is both a prisoner and a witness, forced to record the atrocities committed by the Monster Court. Jamie's message to Tom and the others reveals the truth of the hero's creation and the possibility of change. He is gentle, intelligent, and deeply compassionate, but his captivity and suffering haunt him. In the new timeline, Jamie is restored to freedom, but only he and Joan remember the cost. He represents the burden of memory and the hope that knowledge can break cycles of violence.

The King

The King is the mysterious, never-seen sovereign of the monster world, rumored to have once changed the timeline itself using the transformatio. His power is absolute, enforced by the Monster Court and its executioners. The King's laws shape every aspect of monster society, from the rules of time travel to the suppression of truth. He is both a symbol of order and a source of terror, embodying the dangers of unchecked authority. The King's manipulation of history and memory is central to the story's themes of fate, agency, and the cost of survival.

Conrad (The King's Reach)

Conrad is the King's chief executioner, a figure of fear and legend among monsters. He enforces the King's will with ruthless efficiency, capable of stealing life from monsters and forcing them to travel against their will. Conrad's presence is a constant threat, a reminder that the monster world is governed by violence and secrecy. His actions—hunting survivors, covering up the hero's massacres—underscore the moral rot at the heart of monster society. Conrad is both a villain and a product of the system he serves.

The Woman (Hero's Maker)

The unnamed woman who orchestrates Nick's transformation into the hero is the story's ultimate antagonist. Cold, calculating, and utterly without empathy, she tortures Nick and resets the timeline thousands of times to create the perfect weapon. Her belief in the righteousness of her cause justifies any atrocity. She is the embodiment of the monstrousness that can exist within monsters—and, by extension, within any system that values power over compassion. Her legacy is the cycle of violence that Joan must ultimately break.

Plot Devices

Time Travel as Moral Dilemma

The central plot device is time travel, but with a monstrous twist: monsters can only travel by stealing time from humans, shortening their victims' lives. This mechanism forces characters—and readers—to confront the ethical cost of survival, power, and even love. Every escape, every attempt to change fate, comes at a price. The device blurs the line between hero and monster, as both sides commit atrocities in the name of justice or survival. The resistance of the timeline itself becomes a character, pushing back against change and demanding sacrifice.

The Hero's Origin as Manufactured Trauma

The revelation that the human hero is not a natural force but a product of monstrous cruelty is a devastating inversion of the chosen one trope. The use of memory recordings, repeated trauma, and timeline resets exposes the ways in which violence begets violence, and how systems create their own enemies. This device reframes the conflict as one of complicity and responsibility, rather than destiny. The hero's vulnerability—his capacity for love and doubt—becomes the key to breaking the cycle.

The Timeline's Resistance

Attempts to alter the past are met with supernatural resistance: letters are lost, warnings ignored, and every effort to change fate is undone. The timeline is not just a backdrop, but an active force, preserving trauma and punishing those who try to break free. This device heightens the stakes, making every act of rebellion an act of self-destruction. Only a power as great as the one that created the timeline—the power to unmake—can effect real change.

The Monster Court and Hidden Powers

The Monster Court, with its unseen King, executioners, and labyrinthine rules, serves as both setting and antagonist. The use of family powers, secret bargains, and the myth of the transformatio creates a world where trust is scarce and every alliance is fraught. The Court's manipulation of memory and history, and its willingness to sacrifice its own, mirrors the broader themes of complicity and the cost of survival.

Love as Flaw and Salvation

The love between Joan and Nick is both their greatest weakness and their only hope. The Liu family's belief in soulmates, the timeline's yearning to repair itself, and the repeated convergence of their lives suggest that love can transcend even the most monstrous of circumstances. But love is not enough to save them; only sacrifice and the willingness to break the cycle can do that. The romance is both a source of tragedy and a glimmer of redemption.

Analysis

Vanessa Len's Only a Monster is a subversive, emotionally charged exploration of power, complicity, and the blurry boundaries between heroism and monstrosity. By making time travel a predatory act—monsters must steal life to survive—the novel forces readers to confront the ethical cost of agency and the seductive nature of power. The revelation that the human hero is a manufactured weapon, broken by endless trauma, reframes the central conflict as one of systems and cycles, rather than individuals. Joan's journey—from naive girl to tragic heroine—mirrors the reader's own grappling with guilt, love, and the desire for redemption. The timeline's resistance to change, the manipulation of memory, and the ultimate act of unmaking all serve as metaphors for the difficulty of breaking free from inherited violence and trauma. The novel's refusal to offer easy answers—love cannot save everyone, and peace comes at a cost—makes it a powerful meditation on the nature of choice, the burden of memory, and the hope that even monsters can choose to be more than what they were made to be.

Last updated: October 26, 2025