If you like competitive fight scenes like The Hunger Games, kick-ass female protagonists who can rise to the occasion more than they ever thought they could, and a plot full of twists that will bring frustration as well as appreciation of the author’s cleverness, Liselle Sambury’s A Mastery of Monsters is your next adventurous read. Our main character, August, is mad at the world because her mother and brother have gone missing. She doesn’t seem as upset about her mother, but her brother is her rock. While on their college campus trying to find him, she gets attacked by a weird creature, foreshadowing her path for the next 575 pages. Slide that little attack to the side, because August soon meets Virgil. The vibe is real, but he has an alternative motive to befriend her — he needs a partner who will fight on his behalf to literally save his life.

There is a ton more world-building in this darker, monster-driven fantasy. August will connect with a secret society, and her mother and brother’s disappearances will be tied in with a mastery of monsters she never knew existed.

Even though August speaks her mind and doesn’t take crap from anyone, teen angst is less the focus than August learning to be confident in herself and realizing she can handle it all, physically and mentally. The challenge competitions make chapters fly by, but it takes a minute to get to those scenes. The second book in this trilogy was released on August 26th, and it sounds like the physical challenges will continue to entertain.