I. Am. Obsessed. With. This. Series. And. Author. I mean, come on, just LOOK at those covers below. Which begs the question: why the heck isn’t everyone talking about it? Well, Lily Mayne, allow me to be your hype girl.

The Monstrous Series by Lily Mayne is a “loosely” M/M (I’ll address this later) fantasy series set in a post-apocalyptic human world. Twenty years ago, creatures from another dimension flooded the human world through several tears between the worlds. Wars between human and monster broke out and turned Earth into a desolate environment. The stories focus on the US, where humans have been forced to live in overcrowded cities on the coasts, enlist in a very corrupt military, or take their chances in the “Wastes”. The “Wastes” is the new name for the middle of the country, that contains either military bases or rebel camps, full of a different, sometime vicious type of people. So, basically, things…aren’t great.

We begin our journey with Danny, a very young pacifist from New Orleans, who’s recently lost his mother (his only companion) and been enlisted in military for a short time. He’s on the precipice of his first battle, where he’s one of hundreds sentenced to serve as the distraction for Wyn the Soul Eater, while the Elite team takes him out. Wyn is due to arrive within hours and Danny is absolutely terrified, angry, and just wants to run away. Wyn the Soul Eater is a 6′ 5″ Telyth, with long horns that poke through a dark hood, which covers his face. This creature has existed since before time yawned and stretched. As far as the humans know, this creature has been slaughtering thousands of humans without any rhyme or reason. When Wyn appears high on the ledge above them, he goes full berserker, leaving only one solder alive: Danny. While Wyn is staring at Danny, trying to assess who he is, Wyn is captured by the military and thrown into the holding cells, branded with 015 on his arm for “Specimen 015”. While in the cell, Wyn refuses to speak to anyone apart from Danny. Through a terse verbal exchange, we begin to see the connection between the two form and adventure ensues from there. I won’t give too much more away, only to say that it doesn’t go the way you think.

This series is type where each book represents a different set of main characters, set, for the most part, in the same world. Lily does a beautiful job integrating tremendous diversity amongst both the human and non-human beings we encounter. For the purpose of book categorization, the romantic pairings have been listed as M/M, but there’s intersex, androgynous, and non-binary beings represented. All manner of genders and sexes are included. Racial diversity amongst humans and non-humans are also considered within the storylines. It’s all a glorious soup of bodies and personalities loving each other.

Speaking of love, you will become attached to these characters. Word of warning, dark topics are included. Some situations might be too intense for readers, so please check the trigger warnings. Rest assured, however, every book ends happily, so no matter how bleak it might get, the characters will come out on top by the end.

These books are a master class in world building. The stories cross over quite a bit because travel is a component of each one. Characters are always on the move, as they seek safety, resources, information, or other characters. They pass by places and beings that you may have already or will read in future books. Every tidbit of storyline is up for grabs, if not now, but you will see it come back around later in the series. Lily includes a growing resource library at the end of her books, documenting each human, creature, location, and plant. These indexes do include spoilers, though, so don’t look at them until you’ve finished the story – unless you don’t mind coming across a fact that could uncover a secret. I’m JONESING for a map, however. I hope that some day in the future, she considers creating one.

Right now there are seven full-length books and one novella in the series. It is unfinished, but since the books focus on the full story of one character pairing, they have a true end to them (i.e. no cliffhangers). Also, the audio version of Soul Eater just released and it is ABSOLUTE MAGIC. I have such a hard time with audiobooks because most voice actors take me out of the story. Michael Lesley, however, is a master at his craft. Lily describes Wyn’s voice as a mix of screams of terror, or something like that, and I have ALWAYS wanted to know what that means. To actually hear what she envisioned via Lesley’s narration has been a delight. I smiled through the first three chapters. And, OMG, the spicy scenes? You will clutch your pearls HARD and feel this man’s voice in your soul…and other places. Ahem.

Lily Mayne is a busy bee. She has penned another unfinished series, set in the human/Fae world, The Folk Trilogy. Two out of three books are available and the third is estimated to release in Spring 2023. I’m not going to get into the details of this one here, but, trust me, it’s absolutely fantastic. She’s written a standalone book, Death’s Bloom: An MM Bluebeard Retelling, which was part of a collection of stories called, Monsters & Mayhem: An MM Horror Collection; adaptions of classic horror stories with some romance element. I don’t usually read horror or suspense, so this story actually, truly made me hide under the covers at times (lol). Again, won’t get into this one here either, but I did enjoy it, especially since it was so different than her others. Lily has a LOT of plans for 2023, so I encourage you, if you’re interested, check out her website: https://lily-mayne.com/. Enjoy! And let’s hype her up!