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A review by jems_
The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht
3.5
An interesting concept and atmosphere, though the execution felt just a little off.
I do love dark sceneries and myths which I think this book did perfectly. It had a dark and gritty atmosphere, one you wouldn’t want to be in yourself. A glum industrial town would not be the place I‘d like to spend any amount of time in. Such is Elendhaven.
I also liked the myths in this book and the tad bit of the supernatural making them real.
The characters however felt a bit inconsequential at some points. With how I imagined them, some of the things they did and said felt somewhat out of character.
I would’ve also liked for the book to be a bit longer to explore the characters, especially the „monster-ization“ a bit longer and maybe over the course of that the author could’ve slowly introduced this behavior that seemed odd to me now and make it more believable.
Also beware of the trigger warnings if you read this!
One other thing: As a German reading this, it was funny because it uses some German terms. I mean „Elend“ alone is German and roughly translates to „misery“ which makes sense for the town.
I do love dark sceneries and myths which I think this book did perfectly. It had a dark and gritty atmosphere, one you wouldn’t want to be in yourself. A glum industrial town would not be the place I‘d like to spend any amount of time in. Such is Elendhaven.
I also liked the myths in this book and the tad bit of the supernatural making them real.
The characters however felt a bit inconsequential at some points. With how I imagined them, some of the things they did and said felt somewhat out of character.
I would’ve also liked for the book to be a bit longer to explore the characters, especially the „monster-ization“ a bit longer and maybe over the course of that the author could’ve slowly introduced this behavior that seemed odd to me now and make it more believable.
Also beware of the trigger warnings if you read this!
One other thing: As a German reading this, it was funny because it uses some German terms. I mean „Elend“ alone is German and roughly translates to „misery“ which makes sense for the town.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Blood, Stalking, and Death
Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, and Incest