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House of Grey #2
The House of Grey - Volume 2
Volume 2 in The House of Grey Series
Fantasy, friendship, and fate await you in Collin Earl’s The House of Grey, based on the popular audio fiction by the same name.
14-year-old Monson Grey faces the same challenges that any freshman high school kid would: difficult classes, weird teachers, food fights…girls. Except, Monson Grey is not Monson Grey. At least, when he looks at himself in the mirror, the scarred face staring back is not someone he recognizes.
Now he finds himself attending an extraordinary school, the recipient of an incredible scholarship, among ridiculously rich classmates, all with no memory of how he got there or what to expect.
All he has from his former life are the flashes of haunting images that plague his dreams and the echoing voices that he hears, but cannot see.
Luckily, Monson finds fast friendship in two of his classmates, Casey and Artorius. Little does Monson know, they too carry their own skeletons. Yet, as bizarre events start to unfold around them, Monson wonders what secrets lay buried in his mind or if he will ever be able to share his true fears with his newfound friends.
Join our three heroes as they roam the halls of the most prestigious high school in the country, finding love, mystery, and answers to their algebra homework- all while peeling away the layers of Monson’s shadowy past.
Author’s Note: The House of Grey was originally a serialized audio fiction. Volume 2 continues the written adaptation of that story told in a six part series. Individual volumes do not contain the complete story.
Fantasy, friendship, and fate await you in Collin Earl’s The House of Grey, based on the popular audio fiction by the same name.
14-year-old Monson Grey faces the same challenges that any freshman high school kid would: difficult classes, weird teachers, food fights…girls. Except, Monson Grey is not Monson Grey. At least, when he looks at himself in the mirror, the scarred face staring back is not someone he recognizes.
Now he finds himself attending an extraordinary school, the recipient of an incredible scholarship, among ridiculously rich classmates, all with no memory of how he got there or what to expect.
All he has from his former life are the flashes of haunting images that plague his dreams and the echoing voices that he hears, but cannot see.
Luckily, Monson finds fast friendship in two of his classmates, Casey and Artorius. Little does Monson know, they too carry their own skeletons. Yet, as bizarre events start to unfold around them, Monson wonders what secrets lay buried in his mind or if he will ever be able to share his true fears with his newfound friends.
Join our three heroes as they roam the halls of the most prestigious high school in the country, finding love, mystery, and answers to their algebra homework- all while peeling away the layers of Monson’s shadowy past.
Author’s Note: The House of Grey was originally a serialized audio fiction. Volume 2 continues the written adaptation of that story told in a six part series. Individual volumes do not contain the complete story.
144 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 13, 2014
Oh come on. I get that this book is an enjoyable read, that the characters are a lot of fun and all, but SERIOUSLY. Things are getting old, the story's pacing remains to be outrageously slow, and basically, not even a quarter of the truth about everything is revealed at the end of the second volume.
Collin Earl, would you just cut to the chase already? Why prolong the misery of your readers when it's obviously unnecessary? All the suspense your clouding the plot with seems to be working against you.
Collin Earl, would you just cut to the chase already? Why prolong the misery of your readers when it's obviously unnecessary? All the suspense your clouding the plot with seems to be working against you.
March 23, 2020
Nothing happened in this book except high school drama and more mystery surrounding Monson with amnesia and his mysterious natural martial arts abilities. Will not waste my time continuing this series.
February 29, 2024
I really enjoyed reading The House of Grey- Volume 2, and I'd highly recommend checking it out!
February 1, 2017
The House of Grey Volumes 1-6 by Collin Earl – Let me start by saying this series volumes 1-4 would have gotten all 4 stars from me and the last two books volumes 5-6 would have gotten 5 stars if it hadn’t been for the dreadful editing job, one of the worst I have seen. It was because of that poor editing that I had to give it 3 stars for volumes 1-4 and 4 stars for volumes 5-6. Normally that would have been enough to keep me from going forward with the other books, but there is a reason I consumed Volumes 1-6 in a week’s time. This was adapted from the podcast, if I am not mistaken, and I am sad that I have to go to the podcast for the series wrap-up because…yeah no volume 7, which in looking back was supposed to be out over a year ago, according to author blogs I found.
I will say that the characters made this series, you could have written them into any story and they would have been fun to read about. The comedic, witty, and delicious sarcasm was fun, but aside from that the true, simple, and heartwarming take on true friendship was shown in all its glory.
The story: We join the Monson Grey story, as the 14- year old scarred to a point of scary is on the last leg of his journey to his new school. The catch? Monson does not remember his life, how he won the scholarship that gain him entry into this extraordinary school for the rich, or the accident that took his memory and his looks. Monson makes quick friends with Casey and Artorius his accomplices in the amazingly sarcastic and funny banter that cements the three together. Sadly, just as quickly as he made friends, he also made enemies. Monson despite his visually unappealing looks soon has some of the most popular girls in school spending time with him, which adds fire to those who already hate him. Monson, sadly, has other more pressing problems than the simple teenage day-to-day, as he is haunted by horrible images and voices from what he can only believe to be the life and accident he can’t remember. As the sole survivor of the accident, that not even the FBI can explain, he wonders if he was to blame for all those who died. He believes, to some degree, that he is to blame and to make the situation worse he believes he is slowly losing his mind. Monson will have to learn how to trust his friends and himself in order to get to the bottom of the mystery of “Who is Monson Grey?” and when he finally does find out will he like who he is and more importantly will it be enough to stop any one else from getting hurt.
Again, great characters and great plot, but very poor editing that took a little away from the story, especially when you had to reread something because it did not make sense. All that aside, I truly enjoyed this series and got invested in the characters maybe a little too much. I have read so much girl power type YA fiction lately this was a nice change of pace with strong male and female characters all working together. I am not much for podcasts, but after reading this I have started the podcast to see how it ends and I am enjoying that as much as I did the books. I do and have recommended this to all the teens I know as well as their parents…because every parent should share reading with their kids!
I will say that the characters made this series, you could have written them into any story and they would have been fun to read about. The comedic, witty, and delicious sarcasm was fun, but aside from that the true, simple, and heartwarming take on true friendship was shown in all its glory.
The story: We join the Monson Grey story, as the 14- year old scarred to a point of scary is on the last leg of his journey to his new school. The catch? Monson does not remember his life, how he won the scholarship that gain him entry into this extraordinary school for the rich, or the accident that took his memory and his looks. Monson makes quick friends with Casey and Artorius his accomplices in the amazingly sarcastic and funny banter that cements the three together. Sadly, just as quickly as he made friends, he also made enemies. Monson despite his visually unappealing looks soon has some of the most popular girls in school spending time with him, which adds fire to those who already hate him. Monson, sadly, has other more pressing problems than the simple teenage day-to-day, as he is haunted by horrible images and voices from what he can only believe to be the life and accident he can’t remember. As the sole survivor of the accident, that not even the FBI can explain, he wonders if he was to blame for all those who died. He believes, to some degree, that he is to blame and to make the situation worse he believes he is slowly losing his mind. Monson will have to learn how to trust his friends and himself in order to get to the bottom of the mystery of “Who is Monson Grey?” and when he finally does find out will he like who he is and more importantly will it be enough to stop any one else from getting hurt.
Again, great characters and great plot, but very poor editing that took a little away from the story, especially when you had to reread something because it did not make sense. All that aside, I truly enjoyed this series and got invested in the characters maybe a little too much. I have read so much girl power type YA fiction lately this was a nice change of pace with strong male and female characters all working together. I am not much for podcasts, but after reading this I have started the podcast to see how it ends and I am enjoying that as much as I did the books. I do and have recommended this to all the teens I know as well as their parents…because every parent should share reading with their kids!
January 19, 2013
Now I'm completely taken with the possablities of magic with these characters and world. On to book 3!
**FULL REVIEW**
Classes are underway. There are good times and bad with the kids. There's a crew who plan on wanting the Horum Vir title. Girls seem to flock to Monson. Coren gets more interesting with the people we meet and what they do...kind of magical in their ways. The duties of being Horum Vir start to surface here with the public relations Monson has to do for the football team and face of the school.
This volume picks up at the very moment we stopped in volume 1. Thank you Collin! I really needed to know what was happening. This volume doesn't end at such a cliffhanger point, but as Collin has mentioned there really is no good point in which to break with this story and that is very true. When the break comes, I'm always glad he didn't stop somewhere else. This story line has kept me interested and flipping pages to see what else will happen and what mysterious yet curious thing will any character do next. It feels like magic here!
The boys now deal with girl problems, of all sorts - good, bad and strange, like normal teens. There is humiliation, threats and taunts of a bully, along with juggling homework and sports. Along the way Monson makes a few new friends and an enemy or two.
Oh, our trio - Monson, Casey, and Artorius - make me so curious! There is more to them than we know, there has to be! Casey gets to shine and show off his abilities in the starts of this volume. You will be amazed! We also get to meet an amazing fencer; Cyann. She is an interesting and curious one for me as well. Then we learn more about Daimon Peterman (aka The Diamond) and become rather curious of his sudden rise to the top and the mysterious question of, where did he come from?
This volume is more modern version of things with school, relationships, football, and classes. There is the overlaying feeling of magic to bring the fantasy sense to the surface. The mythology sense is mentioned and is there, but still I'm curious to learn about myths mentioned and a past sad tragedy that happened here not so long ago. One of our boys is related to this some how, and there is more about Monson that is hinted at here. What a way to peck my curiosity and interest, constantly with hints of pieces.
I have to say I'm glad five of the six volumes are out and the sixth coming soon as this is a story line I want to finish soon, real soon. There is so much magical possibility here that I want to see what I'm thinking is magic really is. And what the secret is about Monson. On to the third volume for me!
**FULL REVIEW**
Classes are underway. There are good times and bad with the kids. There's a crew who plan on wanting the Horum Vir title. Girls seem to flock to Monson. Coren gets more interesting with the people we meet and what they do...kind of magical in their ways. The duties of being Horum Vir start to surface here with the public relations Monson has to do for the football team and face of the school.
This volume picks up at the very moment we stopped in volume 1. Thank you Collin! I really needed to know what was happening. This volume doesn't end at such a cliffhanger point, but as Collin has mentioned there really is no good point in which to break with this story and that is very true. When the break comes, I'm always glad he didn't stop somewhere else. This story line has kept me interested and flipping pages to see what else will happen and what mysterious yet curious thing will any character do next. It feels like magic here!
The boys now deal with girl problems, of all sorts - good, bad and strange, like normal teens. There is humiliation, threats and taunts of a bully, along with juggling homework and sports. Along the way Monson makes a few new friends and an enemy or two.
Oh, our trio - Monson, Casey, and Artorius - make me so curious! There is more to them than we know, there has to be! Casey gets to shine and show off his abilities in the starts of this volume. You will be amazed! We also get to meet an amazing fencer; Cyann. She is an interesting and curious one for me as well. Then we learn more about Daimon Peterman (aka The Diamond) and become rather curious of his sudden rise to the top and the mysterious question of, where did he come from?
This volume is more modern version of things with school, relationships, football, and classes. There is the overlaying feeling of magic to bring the fantasy sense to the surface. The mythology sense is mentioned and is there, but still I'm curious to learn about myths mentioned and a past sad tragedy that happened here not so long ago. One of our boys is related to this some how, and there is more about Monson that is hinted at here. What a way to peck my curiosity and interest, constantly with hints of pieces.
I have to say I'm glad five of the six volumes are out and the sixth coming soon as this is a story line I want to finish soon, real soon. There is so much magical possibility here that I want to see what I'm thinking is magic really is. And what the secret is about Monson. On to the third volume for me!
May 29, 2017
Volume 2 definitely held up better than Volume 1 did. It managed to feel more like a book than a podcast, and it was a lot smoother than the first one. There were still plenty of mistakes - typos, sentences starting with the wrong word, that sort of thing. But, aside from the incredibly jarring ones (one sentence started, "The would be the...") I actually felt myself getting drawn into the story.
I still say Volume 1 was too short, though. This one felt a bit longer as far as plot-coverage goes, but it felt like the first cut-off point between books should have been Volume 2's ending. There's a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's not the abrupt ending that the first book had.
There's a lot more characterization in this book. While, for the most part, everybody still remains a mystery, we at least are given a glimpse into their lives. Not much gets explained, and many more questions are raised as to what exactly is going on at Coten. I'm also starting to wonder if the series was broken up the way it was so that each book only contained one of Mr. Gatt's classes? *grumbles*
The Arthur/Artorius thing is getting a bit obnoxious, but I was pleased to see that Volume 2 greatly reduced the number of pop-culture references. I only remember there being two, really - Casey's adoration of anime, and the Michael Jordan reference. Thank you. Thank you for not repeating the horror of the Hannah Montana comment.
The House of Grey is definitely an interesting series. When it's not trying too hard with the references, the dialogue can be witty, and amusing. I'm starting to wonder if listening to the podcast would be a better way to get the story, though. The written series could definitely use some editing. I know that the transition from podcast to book format can be done. Abigail Hilton did a wonderful job of it with her Panamindorah series. It just needs a bit more time put into it.
I still say Volume 1 was too short, though. This one felt a bit longer as far as plot-coverage goes, but it felt like the first cut-off point between books should have been Volume 2's ending. There's a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's not the abrupt ending that the first book had.
There's a lot more characterization in this book. While, for the most part, everybody still remains a mystery, we at least are given a glimpse into their lives. Not much gets explained, and many more questions are raised as to what exactly is going on at Coten. I'm also starting to wonder if the series was broken up the way it was so that each book only contained one of Mr. Gatt's classes? *grumbles*
The Arthur/Artorius thing is getting a bit obnoxious, but I was pleased to see that Volume 2 greatly reduced the number of pop-culture references. I only remember there being two, really - Casey's adoration of anime, and the Michael Jordan reference. Thank you. Thank you for not repeating the horror of the Hannah Montana comment.
The House of Grey is definitely an interesting series. When it's not trying too hard with the references, the dialogue can be witty, and amusing. I'm starting to wonder if listening to the podcast would be a better way to get the story, though. The written series could definitely use some editing. I know that the transition from podcast to book format can be done. Abigail Hilton did a wonderful job of it with her Panamindorah series. It just needs a bit more time put into it.
November 28, 2012
Better than the first volume, this one. Monson Grey and his friends are given more backstories here enough to draw empathy from readers. Though the story is as short like the first, it's taking up a more solid shape, with small revelations here and there concerning the kind of school Coren is, and the abilities that Monson's friends and schoolmates might have.
In this volume, Monson discovers knowledge and skills he vaguely remembers acquiring. Discovering that his friends might have extraordinary abilities themselves, Monson resolves to dig deeper to get to the truth, even if it means revealing his own secrets. Monson also finds himself rising in popularity, surrounded with friends, beautiful ladies, and unknown enemies as well. I am eager to see this story take a more serious turn on its next volume, and hopefully substantial answers to at least some of the problems it has been building up.
In this volume, Monson discovers knowledge and skills he vaguely remembers acquiring. Discovering that his friends might have extraordinary abilities themselves, Monson resolves to dig deeper to get to the truth, even if it means revealing his own secrets. Monson also finds himself rising in popularity, surrounded with friends, beautiful ladies, and unknown enemies as well. I am eager to see this story take a more serious turn on its next volume, and hopefully substantial answers to at least some of the problems it has been building up.
June 9, 2012
I enjoyed it as much as the first volume! The story is still a mystery but a few clues are coming to light. Again, it stops short of a full book. I'm hoping he'll actually work on finishing the next volume properly.
May 1, 2013
It is bugging me that Grey never manages to get the full story when he has the chance. I am dying to know more about Kylie and her whole back story. I wonder if the author is avoiding that because he isn't sure yet where to go with it...
February 17, 2013
Amazing book 2 of a fabulous series. No matter the price, you are MISSING out if you're not reading this series.
Fans of Happy Potter unite! M. Grey will have you laughing and rooting for this amazing teen!
Fans of Happy Potter unite! M. Grey will have you laughing and rooting for this amazing teen!
August 12, 2020
The writer keeps the reader wanting to know what's next, asking who and now what Monson, and what it is that these young girls see in him, while hoping that their intentions are genuine. Can't wait for the next one.
November 25, 2013
Book 2 of 6... Was $0.99 so I figured I'd see where this one leads. It lead more to nowhere. I just don't have the patience for this. Won't be reading the next four. Maybe if it revealed something in each one buy it doesn't. Don't know why I'd want to read 6 books to figure it out.
March 22, 2013
I like these stories. However the plot structure is a bit frustrating. It feels incomplete and not just because of the cliffhanger.
April 27, 2013
The second volume is as good as the first! Glad I downloaded it.
September 11, 2013
This installment/extension of the book is great! I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to find out how the game goes!! The mystery in this book is getting better and better!
July 8, 2014
This book took off right from the first page and held your attention through out the whole book.
May 8, 2013
Is a great book to read
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews