Reviews

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

kmparsons's review against another edition

1.0

This book was so underwhelming. Even though it is only 160 pages, it took me nearly a week to get through because I was so uninterested. The concept of this book, a misshapen creature created by magic and a magician getting revenge, was so interesting, but the execution was terrible. I felt like too much of the book centered on the romance. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance from time to time; however, I do not enjoy them when I am reading a horror book. I read descriptions of this book calling it “terrifying,” which it was not. Not even a single sentence in this book left me feeling scared or even nervous.
Another issue I had with us was the lack of explanation of the magic system. An author cannot just explain a complicated magic system in 1-2 pages and expect everything to be good. The characters felt flat and experienced no arcs, the plot was boring and anything that was interesting was glossed over, and overall, this was just not good.

trin's review against another edition

2.0

Very Hot Topic. Very Tumblr. Very edgy 2013 Hannibal fanfic.

zeilia's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

mvri's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

brisingr's review against another edition

4.0

short, engaging and charmingly to the point with the type of writing that just builds an entire world and atmosphere by skill alone. absolutely loved the images around elednhaven as well.

kaine_'s review against another edition

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 against another edition

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 against another edition

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