Man-Made Boy by Jon Skovron

Man-Made Boy by Jon Skovron
"Sixteen-year-old Boy’s never left home. When you’re the son of Frankenstein’s monster and the Bride, it’s tough to go out in public, unless you want to draw the attention of a torch-wielding mob. And since Boy and his family live in a secret enclave of monsters hidden under Times Square, it’s important they maintain a low profile.

Boy’s only interactions with the world are through the Internet, where he’s a hacker extraordinaire who can hide his hulking body and stitched-together face behind a layer of code. When conflict erupts at home, Boy runs away and embarks on a cross-country road trip with the granddaughters of Jekyll and Hyde, who introduce him to malls and diners, love and heartbreak. But no matter how far Boy runs, he can’t escape his demons—both literal and figurative—until he faces his family once more."- summary from Amazon

I am a huge fan of Skovron; I love how he changes things up with each book release. His first book was strictly contemporary, his second was all about demons, and now this one is about the son of Frankenstein going on a road trip. I love it! This book was simply amazing.

I love the way he combined modern day technology with old-school myths and classic literature. Boy is completely into computers and coding and is basically a total nerd. His world though is populated by mythical creatures (centaurs, Medusa, trolls, etc.) and literature characters we thought were fictional (Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde whose granddaughter makes an appearance). It's a fantastic premise and Skovron weaves the two aspects together with ease.

The whole book kind of reminded me of Going Bovine by Libba Bray, in terms of tone (very funny, very surreal, very real moments/emotional journeys), the road trip plot, and the general crazy nature of events. So I feel like if you liked that book, you'd be into this one too.

There's a ton of characters in this book and Skovron works hard to give depth to each one. I always felt like I knew who these characters were and where they were coming from. There's some great emotional arcs too for Boy and also a lot of the supporting characters. It's just wonderful writing and characterization.

Overall, I highly recommend this book (and his previous two books and any future books he writes); it's a delightfully unique novel.

FTC: Received ARC from author (signed!). Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.