Review: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

What a fun ride I had with Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. The book uses unconventional storytelling and a sense of humor to both satisfy as a sci-fi romp and serve as a love letter to pulp monsters. While the book is science fiction, and the protagonists are computers, most of the supporting characters are classic monsters. Werewolves, vampires, fish men, and even mummies are all at home in these pages. It comes off as tongue-in-cheek at first to have werewolves and Dracula himself appear through the eyes of a spaceship’s AI, but the book has enough heart that I quickly came to welcome the genre-hopping. 

An interesting feature of the book is the chapter structure. Every chapter has a descriptive title that sets the mood and potentially tells you if there’s been a POV shift. Some chapters are a standard length for a novel. Others are interludes, and some only a page long. There’s even a few that are entirely in binary code. This structure contributes to the fast pace of the book, where every chapter starts with a hook in the title and quickly moves on to the main event. This book prioritizes style and pacing over description, and to great effect.

I was charmed by the characters in this book, especially Steward, the medical AI, and Demeter, the ship’s central computer. Their relationship starts off contentious and grows beautifully as the book progresses. Truelove conveys a profound intimacy between them. I also loved Agnus, a child survivor of a werewolf attack on the Demeter who returns to the ship by chance as an adult, and has her own secrets.

Of Monsters and Mainframes was billed as a queer book, but that isn’t immediately apparent. The queerness starts off subtly, but by the end I realized that the queer narrative weaves through the entire book. In a lot of ways, this is a stealth romance novel.

If you’re looking for a book that is fast paced, entertaining, has great characters, and is full of heart, definitely give Of Monsters and Mainframes a try. 

Purchase Of Monsters and Mainframes at Bookshop.org (affiliate link).