Reviews

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

kaine_'s review

dark mysterious fast-paced

3.5

orianna_rye's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

clummo's review against another edition

3.0

Quite a fun, fast read. It felt a lot more (dark) fantasy than horror to me which isn't my usual niche, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The worldbuilding was vivid and the stakes clear, but it always felt like the story lacked something.

I liked Johan as a character but never got entirely on-board with Florian, which took away from the revenge plot a bit.

Spoiler

The romance between the two appeared quite suddenly and their 'flirting' was a bit repetitive but also quite surface-level. I never got much of a sense as to why they fell for each other.

The ending was also a tad unsatisfying.

Spoiler

Towards the end of the novella there are talks of doomsday and apocalypse, but none of that comes to fruition. The epilogue depicts Johan arriving in a new city to spread Florian's plague, which would make for a very interesting story in its own right, however it's not quite as grandiose an ending as was being set up earlier.

krln's review

4.0

loved it, i will have to reread tho, because i tend to skim the beginnings of books (otherwise i would just dnf everything) but here im sure i missed stuff.
for anyone whose first language isnt english - this book was a little harder tbh - some big words were used plus it had period clothing that i just didnt know

hyphae's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

devonduane14's review

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.5

rlouis's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The elegantly dark prose definitely saved this one for me, I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. If you enjoy

monster fucking

then yeah this is definitely for you. 

The short length felt both an advantage and disadvantage, if that makes any sense at all. 

vtmichelle's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

emrodav's review

4.0

A very strange little book. Not totally sure what to think about it, but I did mostly enjoy it. The writing style had a weird magic to it that I liked. I’d definitely read more from this author.

savvie1991's review

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0