The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I absolutely love horror, but don't read enough of it. I knew I needed this book from the first time I saw it, especially going into the Halloween season. The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht is a horror fantasy novella following a monster and a sorcerer, both with a love of magic and murder.

Johann knows he is a monster and nothing else. Florian is a sorcerer, bent on bringing back the plague that killed his family. Alone, they have nothing. Together, they have a power to bring the entirety of Elendhaven to its knees. But someone is watching them, hunting them, threatening to send their plans crashing down.

This book had so many different elements: horror, fantasy, queer representation, Victorian-esque history, town legends, and more. The writing was vivid and descriptive, and it was so easy to imagine the dark alleys, abandoned factories, and black ocean of Elendhaven. The blurb likens the setting to Jack the Ripper's London, and I definitely see that. There is a lot of fairly graphic violence in this one, so I want to make people aware of that. It's ruthless, dark, and gritty, much like the cover would suggest.

While I did enjoy this story, I found myself wanting more. It was hard to follow at first, and there were some plot lines that I didn't think tied up well. That being said, it was a novella, so it couldn't have the robustness of a full-length novel, though I think a full-length novel would have done this story more justice.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Thanks so much for Tor for an ARC of this read! The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht is out tomorrow, September 24th, so be sure to pick up a copy!