Book Review: Once A Monster by Robert Dinsdale

‘Once A Monster’ by Robert Dinsdale was released in 2023. It was his seventh release. It retells the story of the mythic monster, the minotaur, supposedly slain by Theseus, with the help of Ariadne, as he walks the line between man and monster.

I felt that this book took a while for me to sink my teeth into. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t read any explorations of mythology through the lens of a different era? Whatever it was, I found myself slowly ploughing through instead of devouring it for the first hundred or so pages. It was the promise of philosophical questions being pondered, and the sheer brilliance of Minos being punished for his own existence with an inability to die that really struck me as worth carrying on.

I absolutely adored how each thread and tendril of the story comes into being and solidifies itself. I loved how Dinsdale questioned what makes a man a man and the different takes of monstrosity. Watching Nell recognise that Minos appears to be a monster, while Merdstone is a monster was incredibly powerful.

I also loved when Sophia was able to throw her own insight into the monster that is man into the fray, after all, being a wife exposes you to the deeper and more concealed aspects of a man. Her choices were so empowering. I loved her character and wished we could have had more scenes demonstrating her pride, power and strength, but this story wasn’t Sophia’s. It was Nell’s. It was Minos’.

I loved how the story was like a labyrinth itself, themes overlapped, went back on each other and doubled back. There was much to know, unearth and understand. The exhilaration I felt when Minos finally uttered the name ‘Theseus’ had me reeling.

I absolutely adored the way that immortality of the minotaur was truly its own curse. To punish a mythical creature for the transgression of his own existence was to be immortal, suffering at the hands of man, an eternal pariah. It was incredibly powerful. It was so rewarding to see Minos come to be the version of himself we know at the end, having embraced his past, overcome it, remembered what he overcame, and understood that a child’s kindness and sense of right and wrong was what he needed. His character development was so satisfying!

This book felt so meticulous by the end, each sentence was delicately written and placed in a way that explored the layers and nuances behind the book’s themes and metaphors. The sewers, Dedalus’ labyrinth and the crevices of a man’s mind all acting as a labyrinth to be lost in was such a clever comparison!

This book was incredibly interesting. I really enjoyed it, and although it was a meaty book that took me a good while to plough through, I would definitely say in the end it was a favourite of mine.