Bel Reviews: Lisi Harrison's - "Back and Deader Than Ever" - Monster High #4
I am having SO much fun with the Monster high series of books by Lisi Harrison.
Book 1 Monster High was about Frankie and her struggle to fit in at Merston High.
Book 2 The Ghoul Next Door was about Cleo learning that not everything in life will go her way.
Book 3 Where there’s a Wolf, there’s a Way, was about Clawdeen finding her own path separate from her brothers.
Then we have the fourth and final book in the Monster High series, Back and Deader than Ever.
Draculaura (Lala ) feels like she never measures up to her Dad’s expectations, and when he proposes that the RAD’s (Regular Attribute Dodgers) start their own school separate for the ‘normies’ (regular humans), it is up to Lala to stop the reversion back to the days when RAD’s and ‘normies’ lived apart. She has to find a way to keep the RAD’s at Merston High and make her Dad proud.
There is still a high level of brand and product placement as with the other three books, and if that’s not your thing you may find hope in the underlying message of the series, which, in case you missed it is, be yourself and live an authentic life.
We so often see our characters portrayed as outcasts and misfits, and it’s their journey into popularity and more often than not, their eventual shunning of the popular crowd that signifies their success. This is not the case here.
In this instalment we are watching a popular girl bust her guts to keep her friends together. There isn’t any useless kowtowing or annoying teen angst (at least from our lead character). Lala does her best and though it’s not easy, manages to stay polite. This is something I think needs to be written about more often. You don’t have to be a bitch, kiss butt or give up your morals to get the job done.
For all the heavy ‘meaning’ I’ve been touting about, Back and Deader than Ever is still the same fun romp through the world of the RAD’s. If you loved the other three, you’d be foolish to not pick up the final book in the series.
Paperback, 272 pages
Published May 8th 2012 by ATOM
ISBN 0316099171 (ISBN13: 9780316099172)
