Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - The Monster of Elendhaven

Everyone in this book is a bad person but if you want a quick, queer fantasy/horror novella to listen to while you work, this is the one for you. Everyone in this is also a bitch (compliment) so it can be very fun until something either very sexual, very violent, or both happens and you're just sorta like "oh yeah I remember what I'm reading."

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cathgotaknife's review

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dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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dark funny 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

When I looked up the author's name to see if she had written anything else, I was not surprised in the least to see she was one of the writers of the much-despised Homestuck Epilogues. I can feel the glimmer of Homestuck in the dialogue and humor, so take that as you will.

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chris_reads's review

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dark funny lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I have such mixed feeling on this because I loved the prose and atmosphere and setting, but not so much the plot. As with the characters, they were fascinating and well-crafted but I wasn't exactly rooting for them. This had so many elements I love but they just fell short for me.

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river24's review

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5/5
Where do I even begin? This is the most beautiful, well-written book that I've ever read. The writing is magical, every single line holds so much depth and emotion. I loved every single aspect of this book!
It's dark and bloody and so, so incredible. The relationship between the two main characters had me screaming in this venomous glee. It was–for lack of a better word–gloriously fucked up. Their relationship teetered precariously over the cliffside, swaying back and forth between the firmness of the crumbling soil and the black waters below. I cannot describe with words how perfect this book was. The relationship also reminded me a lot of the relationship between Hannibal and Will in the Hannibal TV show.
This book delves into a shadowed city with a vengeance at its heart and a monster on its heels. I always adore when books explore what it means to be a monster and what it means to be human, this book did so flawlessly in a non-explicit way.
Queer horror as a genre is something I always love and always come back to, please give me recommendations if you have any !! This book was everything and is something that I'll be recommending forever–I will not be forgetting about this book anytime soon!
I always stand by the fact that magic is a metaphor for queerness and I think that the horror genre often holds its own unique spin on queerness in its bloody jaws and both of those factors I am in awe of every single time.
This is quite a short book therefore this review doesn't go into immense detail because I don't want to spoil it, but trust me this book is worth your blood, sweat, tears and more.
Some of my favourite quotes were; 'Don't you feel it, sometimes? As if the world wants to consume itself.' 'Magic is not in the brain, miss; it is in the bones.' 'Thin ice isn’t a problem for the sea; it’s a problem for the blind idiot who steps out on it.'

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aardwyrm's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Pure dark chocolate in unsafe proportions, lovingly rendered villain protagonists full of weird, macabre nonsense and loads of gothic vibes. Skillfully rendered, 100% atmosphere by volume, self indulgent and exquisitely so. Anyway there's weird magic and a lotta murder.

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orcamagicka's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A short and easy gothic read full of homoerotic tension, lush prose, absolutely disgusting yet clever descriptions of gore and filth, and two wicked men with near polar opposite yet equally captivating personalities. And despite Johann’s depraved behavior and blackened morality, his witty commentary and “out of pocket” personality had me a bit charmed (then again I love a good nasty villain 👀).

I wish the story could have been 30-50 pages longer, the world building was interesting and has a LOT of potential. It seems like the city was its own character rather than just being a setting, which I love. And while captivating, I wish Johann and Florian’s relationship could have developed more slowly and been a bit more in depth, that way the climax could have had way more of an emotional punch.

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inferiorwit's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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