Review: Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson

Undead Girl Gang is one of my favorite YA Contemporary books. So when I saw another YA Contemporary with Fantasy from Anderson, I knew I had to read it. And this one was amazing – the world building was unique and inventive. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Prudence Perry is a legacy Ladybird Scout, born to a family of hunters sworn to protect humans from mulligrubs―interdimensional parasites who feast on human emotions like sadness and anger. Masquerading as a prim and proper ladies’ social organization, the Ladybirds brew poisons masked as teas and use knitting needles as daggers, at least until they graduate to axes and swords.

Three years ago, Prue’s best friend was killed during a hunt, so she kissed the Scouts goodbye, preferring the company of her punkish friends lovingly dubbed the Criminal Element much to her mother and Tía Lo’s disappointment. However, unable to move on from her guilt and trauma, Prue devises a risky plan to infiltrate the Ladybirds in order to swipe the Tea of Forgetting, a restricted tincture laced with a powerful amnesia spell.

But old monster-slaying habits die hard and Prue finds herself falling back into the fold, growing close with the junior scouts that she trains to fight the creatures she can’t face. When her town is hit with a mysterious wave of demons, Prue knows it’s time to confront the most powerful monster of all: her past.

Review

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

The world can force us to harden ourselves. To lose our emotions and to focus on competition and getting ahead. But Scout’s Honor is a love letter to teamwork and friendship, empathy and love. I was immediately obsessed with the world building. It is unique. A blend of what one might think of when you think of scouts, Anderson introduces fantastical into every aspect. From the charm names to the handbook, Scout’s Honor is one of truly fantastic those contemporary fantasy blends.

As a heroine, Prue is fantastic. Not only is she dealing with the trauma and loss of her best friend, she’s also grappling with this conflict of her monster hunting and her friends. How can we protect someone we love from something they can’t see? Something they aren’t allowed to know? How true to ourselves, to the things we love, are we being in that moment? Scout’s Honor may have originally captured me with the world, but I ended up loving Prue.

Overall,

She must wrestle with her instinct to protect and to also wonder who she really protecting. Prue is weighed down with responsibility, but she doesn’t have to be alone. In this world beyond our eyes, like the chill on your neck, to be in another world is a heavy burden. But just because it’s always been done one way, to fight alone, doesn’t mean that is how it should be. In Scout’s Honor, Anderson tells a story about girls who want to be seen for who they are, not only what they can do.

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The way Prue opens up to these unlikely friends warmed my heart. If you love the idea of a fantastical contemporary, Scout’s Honor is for you. At the same time if you love stories about friendship and with compassionate heroines, this is for you! Find Scout’s Honor on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.

Discussion

Who is your favorite monster hunter?

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