[[quoteright:317:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DBH_4554.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:317:[[CursedWithAwesome Behind]] [[BornWinner every]] [[HereditaryCurse beauty]], [[{{Medusa}} evil]] [[YourDaysAreNumbered stirs]].]]

''Gods and Monsters'', by Kelly Keaton, is a young adult fantasy series that began in 2011. It has three books, ''Darkness Becomes Her'', ''A Beautiful Evil'', and ''The Wicked Within''.

The first book introduces Aristanae Selkirk, a white-haired teenager who seeks to know the truth about her parents. Upon finding a message from her mother, she goes to the New 2 (New Orleans reconstructed after some hurricanes) and realizes nothing is as it seems.

No relation to 1998 film ''Film/GodsAndMonsters'', which was about movie director Creator/JamesWhale.
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!!Be wary of unmarked spoilers. This work contains examples of:
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Athena]] dies just as her son begins to live again.
** Although an AntiVillain, [[spoiler:Josephine]] definitely gets this, especially from [[spoiler:her grandson]], who admits that although he hated her, she was still the bane of his existence.
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Josephine]] is beheaded and [[DecapitationPresentation laid in the town square with her head lying just a few inches away from her neck]], and even those who hated her can't help but be stunned at her brutal death. Exactly who killed her is never revealed.
* BadassBoast: Ari actually has one.
-->'''Aristanae:''' You created us both, the gorgons and the Sons of Perseus. And now you will die by our power.
* BigBad: Athena.
* BigGood: If the Novem can ''truly'' be viewed as good, but they do have the position.
* TheChessmaster: According to Ari, all of the Novem ''play the game'' to an extent.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Appears to be one of Athena’s hobbies.
* CreepyChild: Violet acts... creepily. She is not afraid of anyone, not even of a ''goddess'', and more than once she suggest killing, in a completely stoic tone.
* CrypticConversation: Josephine tells Ari about [[spoiler:PandorasBox]] in a conversation like this. Her invitation to Sebastian to go to Church with her also relayed to him the location of [[spoiler:the Hands of Zeus]].
* DecapitationPresentation: Athena is implied to keep the heads of the gorgons in her temple, and she outright tells Ari that she beheaded her mother's corpse.
** A brutal example would be [[spoiler:Josephine]]. Her death is never explained, but her head is placed just a few inches away from her body, in what Ari theorizes was someone's attempt to send the Novem a message.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Ari punches Athena in the Arnaud ball, forcing the goddess to retreat. Both she and Athena are stunned.
* EpicFail: Athena cursing Medusa and forgetting to exempt the gods from her power. As Ari puts it, the goddess of ''wisdom'' created a ''god-killer''.
* EvilMatriarch: Josephine acts like this, openly admitting she only wants to control the members of the Arnaud family. She does, however, care for her grandson, in her own twisted way.
* FeudingFamilies: The Novem are somewhat implied to have once been this, as they mention they "put aside their differences" in order to become allies and fight Athena.
* ForcedToWatch: Athena does this to Ari as she tortures her father.
* GenocideBackfire: Ari isn’t very happy about all the gorgons that have been killed…
* GoodIsNotNice: Oh so very much. Bran spends most of his time fighting, sparing and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking almost using inappropriate words in front of young children.]] Josephine is an outright [[{{Jerkass}} jerkass]] who admits to tricking Eleni and turning Theron over to Athena. Pretty much ''everyone'' on the side of good qualifies. Not even Ari is not nice; she openly taunt Gabriel and admits she is fine with Theron making Josephine pay for what she did one day.
* GorgeousGorgon: Ari is described as eerily beautiful, but is she does turn into a full-blown gorgon…
* HereditaryCurse: The cause of nearly every problem in Ari’s life, as everyone wants to kill her because, as a future gorgon, she is a god-killer.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: τέρας hunters are this, as while they are meant to protect the gods from monsters, but they ended up being even crueler to the "monsters", who are in fact people who have succumbed to curses of the gods.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Athena might be a victim of this. Everything she has done, she has done to [[spoiler:get her son back.]]
** Ari, as well. She knows most monsters were once human, but she kills many just to get to Athena whenever a fight breaks out, and admits she'd do anything to kill her.
* InTheBlood: Ari has her father’s instincts as a hunter, as proved by her reaction to being threatened. She snatches the hunter's blade when it falls and kills him with it, without even being able to see.
* KillTheGod: Ari swears to commit deicide at the end of the first book, after learning
* ManipulativeBastard: Athena is the greatest, followed closely by Josephine, who’s ''supposed to be a good guy''.
** The full extent of [[spoiler:Josephine's]] schemes is alluded to when she manages to hide the Hands from virtually ''everyone'', even from the ''gods''. Sure, [[OffWithHisHead it didn't end particularly well for her]], but the Hands were only found because she left a cryptic message to [[spoiler:Sebastian]] when she invited him to Church.
* {{Medusa}}: The entire series scream this.
* MentorArchetype: Michel becomes Ari's legal guardian, Bran trains her in the art of fighting and her father Theron teaches her on how to use her hunter powers.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Ari, after stabbing and killing the hunter sent against her. She did not know what he was, and she genuinely feared she had killed a man with his whole life ahead of him.
** Also when she beheads a monster in the battle at the cemetery, momentarily freaking out at how effortless it was once she got her hands on a sword.
** And when she [[spoiler:turns Sebastian to stone]].
** Athena of all people reacted like this when she realized [[spoiler:she had just had a gorgon kill her baby]] in her attempt to kill Zeus, and she spent a thousand years trying to get him back.
* NecessarilyEvil: The Novem have done some… ''questionable'' things, capturing anyone who might be useful to their fight. Josephine betrayed Eleni and Theron, handing him over to Athena and leaving Eleni and Ari pretty much defenseless.
* NoNameGiven: Eleni’s mother and the gorgon who killed [[spoiler:Athena’s child]], though neither appear physically.
* OhCrap: Athena, when she realizes Ari is turning her to stone. It does not work, but still.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires such as the Arnauds and the Baptistes are different from the soulless revenants, as they are Born instead of Made.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Ari is aiming to ''kill a goddess''.
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]: [[spoiler:Josephine]], of all people, is implied to have fallen victim to this, and though the details of her death, even who killed her or exactly why, are never revealed, she was killed just as everyone planned to ask her about the Hands.
* SuicideIsPainless: Most descendants of Medusa chose to die before becoming gorgons.
* TakenForGranite: Every person who has fallen victim to a gorgon.
** Briefly, [[spoiler:Sebastian]].
** They ''can'' be brought back, as Ari did.
* TheHunterBecomesTheHunted: Theron, by Athena.
** And the old τέρας captured by the Novem heirs.
* ThisMeansWar: Athena and the Novem declare war over Ari.
* TitleDrop: The second book gets this.
-->'''Josephine:''' Pandora was the same way, you know? A deceptive package. The Greek writers called her ''Kalon Kakon'', a beautiful evil.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Eight-year-old Violet spends most of her time acting creepily and encouraging her friends to kill their enemies.
-->'''Violet:''' We’re going to make sure Athena wishes she had never been born, Ari.
* VampireMonarch: [[spoiler:Josephine]] is the Bloodborn Queen by ascendance, making her the heiress to the vampire kings of France. The River Witch claims that her title means nothing, though.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: All [[spoiler:Athena]] wanted was to have her baby resurrected.
** [[spoiler:Josephine]] might qualify, as she betrayed many of her allies to achieve her goals, and though the exact reasons for her actions are never fully revealed, she did save the Hands from [[IncrediblyLamePun falling into the wrong hands.]]
* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Subverted, when Athena tells Ari about what she did with her mother’s head and how her father is suffering.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Ari first thought her curse was this… [[{{Medusa}} That isn’t her curse…]]
** Though most of her ancestors viewed it as so.
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