I think monk is just fine. I think it's a mistake to play a shadow monk (which is the one I played) and expect to be a main damage dealer as well. That's not their thing. One of the best at exploration though. My movement allowed me to go all over the battlefield. And when I got shadow step, it was even more insane. I certainly didn't feel like I was low on damage output either.
Currently, I'm playing a shadow sorcerer and fail to see how they suck either. At level 1 your damage is a cantrip anyway, so same as wizard. And 120ft dark vision is great. I've also successfully stayed alive with their I'm not gonna die feature. In fact, last week I prevented a tpk with that feature as after making my save and staying at 1hp, I was able to disable the remaining two bandits and then stabilize the rest of the party