A brilliantly rich and strange fantasy adventure that will make us all believe in monsters - be they good, bad or somewhere in between.
It is a well-known fact that fairies are born from a baby's first laugh. What is not as well documented is how monsters come into being ...
This is the story of a creature who is both strange and unique. When he hatches down in the vast underground lair where monsters dwell, he looks just like a human boy - much to the disgust of everyone watching. Even the grumpy gargoyles who adopt him and nickname him 'Imp' only want him to steal chocolate for them from the nearby shops. He's a child with feet in both worlds, and he doesn't know where he fits.
But little does Imp realise that Thunderguts, king of the ogres, has a great and dangerous destiny in mind for him, and he'll stop at nothing to see it come to pass ...
I loved the concept and it begun so beautifully. Fairies are created from the first laugh of a baby, while monsters are born from a human's last sigh. Entertaining up until a baby was kidnapped by the monsters and taken underground where humans cannot survive. Throughout the ordeal, the monsters keep reminding our hero that the baby is probably dead and I found that distressing for a middle grade novel. If you have a child with a fear of monsters, this won't help to alleviate their fears. Quite the opposite.
