Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Only a Monster | 2022 | Vanessa Len | Buy |
| 2 | Never a Hero | 2023 | Vanessa Len | Buy |
| 3 | Once a Villain | 2025 | Vanessa Len | Buy |
The Monsters trilogy by Vanessa Len follows Joan Chang-Hunt, a teenager who discovers her family has monstrous powers, including the ability to steal time from humans. When the legendary hero Nick arrives and begins hunting monsters, Joan’s family is scattered and she is thrown back to 1993 London. She must rely on her newly discovered abilities and form an uneasy alliance with a boy from an enemy monster family to survive.
The series plays with the conventions of hero-versus-villain stories, putting the reader firmly on the monster’s side. Only a Monster won the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel and has been translated into nine languages. The trilogy is complete and should be read in publication order, as the story builds directly from book to book.