Review of "The House of Grey" - Volume 1- 6 by Collin Earl

The House of Grey Volumes 1-6 by Collin Earl – Let me start by saying this series volumes 1-4 would have gotten all 4 stars from me and the last two books volumes 5-6 would have gotten 5 stars if it hadn’t been for the dreadful editing job, one of the worst I have seen. It was because of that poor editing that I had to give it 3 stars for volumes 1-4 and 4 stars for volumes 5-6. Normally that would have been enough to keep me from going forward with the other books, but there is a reason I consumed Volumes 1-6 in a week’s time. This was adapted from the podcast, if I am not mistaken, and I am sad that I have to go to the podcast for the series wrap-up because…yeah no volume 7, which in looking back was supposed to be out over a year ago, according to author blogs I found. I will say that the characters made this series, you could have written them into any story and they would have been fun to read about. The comedic, witty, and delicious sarcasm was fun, but aside from that the true, simple, and heartwarming take on true friendship was shown in all its glory. The story: We join the Monson Grey story, as the 14- year old scarred to a point of scary is on the last leg of his journey to his new school. The catch? Monson does not remember his life, how he won the scholarship that gain him entry into this extraordinary school for the rich, or the accident that took his memory and his looks. Monson makes quick friends with Casey and Artorius his accomplices in the amazingly sarcastic and funny banter that cements the three together. Sadly, just as quickly as he made friends, he also made enemies. Monson despite his visually unappealing looks soon has some of the most popular girls in school spending time with him, which adds fire to those who already hate him. Monson, sadly, has other more pressing problems than the simple teenage day-to-day, as he is haunted by horrible images and voices from what he can only believe to be the life and accident he can’t remember. As the sole survivor of the accident, that not even the FBI can explain, he wonders if he was to blame for all those who died. He believes, to some degree, that he is to blame and to make the situation worse he believes he is slowly losing his mind. Monson will have to learn how to trust his friends and himself in order to get to the bottom of the mystery of “Who is Monson Grey?” and when he finally does find out will he like who he is and more importantly will it be enough to stop any one else from getting hurt. Again, great characters and great plot, but very poor editing that took a little away from the story, especially when you had to reread something because it did not make sense. All that aside, I truly enjoyed this series and got invested in the characters maybe a little too much. I have read so much girl power type YA fiction lately this was a nice change of pace with strong male and female characters all working together. I am not much for podcasts, but after reading this I have started the podcast to see how it ends and I am enjoying that as much as I did the books. I do and have recommended this to all the teens I know as well as their parents…because every parent should share reading with their kids!