I stayed up late one night last week to finish Monkey Around by Jadie Jang. For a SF Bay Area native like me (who also happened to go to Cal) Monkey Around is an insider story filled with delightful local secrets. Add that to the fact that I also love contemporary fantasy (ok, it’s Urban Fantasy), the story has lots of shifters and there is the theme of found family–this book flips all my switches.
We meet Maya McQueen who is learning to use all her Monkey King abilities. She’s a mix of compassionate and pragmatic–alternating between do gooding and beating up thugs.
Maya at times seems to have a split personality with Monkey at the steering wheel, which is hilarious because Monkey likes to brawl. The action scenes in this book are great, and I enjoyed all the moments the reader can see the Monkey mind come to the fore in Maya. It reminded me of the playful elements of Monkey King from the Journey to the West cartoons of my childhood.
“My rational brain was telling me to flee. But I also have a monkey brain, and Monkey loved to fight. And Monkey currently had the upper paw.”
While Maya is on the quest to solve a mystery and rescue a friend’s sister, she is really searching for who she is. Why does she have these amazing abilities? At its core, it’s a story about the search for belonging.
I enjoyed the eclectic cast of characters and look forward to the next Maya adventure!