Reviews with content warning for Incest - The Monster of Elendhaven

Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

21 reviews

thelittle_seokmin's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

I had a lot of fun with this!! Love a dark atmosphere and Giesbrecht does s0 damn well delivering this. Obsessed with the writing!! ☆▪︎☆ (chapter one could've been a short story in of itself o0Ooo0 it's so good~)

I just could've done with more from it? Like i even more depth to the characters, even more explaination of what Florian's goal was. And I need closure in an ending which this didn't really give. It is a bit rushed and a bit too vague. Add a hundred or more pages for more greatness and this probably would've ended up as a fave. ♡♡♡

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abyissmal's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

There is a craving when I flicked the last page of “The Monster of Elendhaven”. A desire to know more about the place that lies at the end of the world; to witness more of Johann’s murderous spree; to watch as Florian ensured his life’s work would meet its end. I was satiated, sure. But I wanted so much more from this book. This place is pulsing with death, corruption, rot—all possible wretchedness you could possibly think of. These characters are undeniably cunning, biting, and with monstrous desires of their own longing to be sated.

Giesbrecht’s writing has such a grotesque yet somewhat elegant flair that elevated my senses. You can feel the density of Elendhaven’s air. You can almost taste the lingering scent of iron from the bloodiness of this book. You can feel yourself tingling from disgust. It is grimy. It is full of rot. It is corrupt. It is dense with death.

That growing desire to know more ceases to end. Despite the book’s fascinating and dense with delicious horror, I believe there’s more to be said about the story and the characters. Although it isn’t necessarily fast-paced, I thought everything felt abrupt. And by the time we reached the end, it had simply… ended. I wanted more of them. I wanted to know more about the monsters that have their grip on Elendhaven. I wanted more of the convoluted dynamic between Johann and Florian and just as I was witnessing it grow, that was it.

I wanted to see more development with them as individuals. The book is primarily spent its time through Johann’s perspective, but even so, I felt very little development from him. It’d only been sprinkles of it here and there. From his lack of understanding about humanity, about himself, and how he grows some form of fondness towards Florian. But that was that: only sprinkles of them.

However, that’s just about the only issue I had with the book. Its only lack is its length. That it ended so quickly before I was even ready to bid my goodbyes to these characters. Before I could understand them on a deeper level. It feels like a story that could’ve gone a little longer than it did. Just stretching a little longer to allow the characters, the world, and its story to flourish.

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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mafii's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-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

5.0

Vibes are off the charts!!! Very fucked up and atmospheric. :)

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bsmucker's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

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

3.75

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witchycowboy's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is a nasty book, with nasty people doing nasty things.
If you can get your hands on the audiobook I highly rec it. As it really just made this book so much better!
This is a dark fantasy horror that follows two men that fancy themselves as monsters. Florian is a wizard with a heart full of hate for the people around him and Johann is the unkillable beast that serves him.
I love this book so much, it has everything that I love. Nasty main characters, gothic fantasy themes, LGBTQ+ characters, and lastly ... Lots and lots of gore, body horror, and lust.

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rotfaced's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book inspired me to start writing again. My only complaint is that it is too short. The prose is beautiful, tightly written, and full of detail which makes rereading fun. I read this book twice, each time in one sitting; Many of my friends were able to do the same. If I were not currently lending it out to my friends, I would likely be reading it again.

This book has incredibly dark overtones and sets the scene with a (TW) sexual assault, which is obvious if not terribly explicit. The gore is spelled out in detail. The main characters are well-personified bastards, obviously meant to be read as villains, and their relationship-- central to the plot and to the pacing-- is filthy and treacherous. This is not a light read, nor is it meant to make you feel good. You are getting right what it says on the tin, but I loved every moment of it.

On Johann and Florian's relationship:

Disclosure: I am a bisexual man. I want more mlm content like this. This book is explicitly gay in its framing of the relationship between Johann and Florian (sexually/physically, if not always romantically). I want more awful, terrible men who are also queer. Reading this book destroyed my standards. I had given up on trying to find compelling queer men in rich fictional settings where the narrative isn't ABOUT being queer, and this book got my hopes up again. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, nor do I expect it to be, but it is something I wish we had the option to read more often.

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