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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book! It was refreshingly different from anything I’ve read in a long time. I definitely did not see the twist at the end of this either which is rare. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I was greatly wounded by the ending!! I wish it would have ended differently. But overall a wonderful book I definitely recommend!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early arc of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early arc of this book.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5⭐️
This just rocketed to my 2025 favourites.
Big thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!
House of the Beast is one of those books that completely pulls you under — dark, eerie, emotionally charged, and so beautifully written. Michelle Wong’s debut reads like a gothic fairy tale told in candlelight, full of gods, monsters, grief, and impossible choices. And her illustrations scattered throughout? Stunning. They add such a rich, moody layer to the story that made it even harder to put down.
Alma is such a strong, complex lead — not perfect, but deeply human in how she carries her pain and anger. And the Beast? He’s as fascinating as he is unsettling. I really appreciated how the story never romanticizes their relationship. It’s toxic, controlling, and rooted in desperation — and the book makes that clear. This isn’t a “beauty and the beast” love story. It’s about surviving the things that try to claim you, and figuring out who you are once the dust settles.
It’s dark, yes, but it’s also weirdly tender and full of heart. And it absolutely stuck with me.
Michelle Wong is an author I’ll be watching closely from now on — I can’t believe this is her debut. Highly, highly recommend for fans of twisted fairy tales, eldritch magic, and emotionally layered storytelling.
This just rocketed to my 2025 favourites.
Big thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for the ALC!
House of the Beast is one of those books that completely pulls you under — dark, eerie, emotionally charged, and so beautifully written. Michelle Wong’s debut reads like a gothic fairy tale told in candlelight, full of gods, monsters, grief, and impossible choices. And her illustrations scattered throughout? Stunning. They add such a rich, moody layer to the story that made it even harder to put down.
Alma is such a strong, complex lead — not perfect, but deeply human in how she carries her pain and anger. And the Beast? He’s as fascinating as he is unsettling. I really appreciated how the story never romanticizes their relationship. It’s toxic, controlling, and rooted in desperation — and the book makes that clear. This isn’t a “beauty and the beast” love story. It’s about surviving the things that try to claim you, and figuring out who you are once the dust settles.
It’s dark, yes, but it’s also weirdly tender and full of heart. And it absolutely stuck with me.
Michelle Wong is an author I’ll be watching closely from now on — I can’t believe this is her debut. Highly, highly recommend for fans of twisted fairy tales, eldritch magic, and emotionally layered storytelling.
A steampunky fantasy with epic battles, trials, and intricate family politics. Nothing was bad, but nothing was phenomenal either resulting in an enjoyable but unmemorable read. My only gripe is the characterization of Aster, who is supposed to be an insanely old and powerful god but acts like a cocky 15 year old complete with questionable flirting and relationship skills.
Listened to the audio, but I heard the book has sick illustrations that would’ve probably bumped my rating to a 4.
Thanks NetGalley for the audiobook arc!
Listened to the audio, but I heard the book has sick illustrations that would’ve probably bumped my rating to a 4.
Thanks NetGalley for the audiobook arc!
Thank you NetGalley, HarperVoyager, and the author for this ARC!
For me, this book was okay. The art sprinkled throughout is spectacular though so I bumped up my rating from 3.5 to 4 stars. The Special edition is going to be beautiful.
I loved that Alma had her imaginary friend in childhood that turned out to be not so imaginary. Part of me feels like more could've been done with this. Aster claimed to be in love with her but she brushed him off. He was always there for her. It was my favorite part of the story.
There's a lot of political moves going on. Everyone has their own agenda. Alma, however, stays focused on her goal. The ending was a huge surprise. I never would've seen that coming.
I recommend this story for fantasy lovers. There's barely any romance but it's a good dark fantasy story.
For me, this book was okay. The art sprinkled throughout is spectacular though so I bumped up my rating from 3.5 to 4 stars. The Special edition is going to be beautiful.
I loved that Alma had her imaginary friend in childhood that turned out to be not so imaginary. Part of me feels like more could've been done with this. Aster claimed to be in love with her but she brushed him off. He was always there for her. It was my favorite part of the story.
There's a lot of political moves going on. Everyone has their own agenda. Alma, however, stays focused on her goal. The ending was a huge surprise. I never would've seen that coming.
I recommend this story for fantasy lovers. There's barely any romance but it's a good dark fantasy story.
adventurous
This was epic, I knew it would be good because the author is the illustrator for Legend of Korra… but wow!
I was so captivated from the first chapter.
Alma grew up with her single mother in poverty, being two of the few people in the entire country to not worship one of the 4 eldritch gods of their world. Because of that she grew up lonely with no friends except the one she made up in her head.
Her mother gets sick and the “healers” are all priests who worship one of the four, since they do not the healers won’t help. Alma wants to get in touch with a rare college of medicine that uses science over faith in healing. While going through her mothers things she finds a letter from a father she’s never met and writes to him asking for help.
He shows up and promises to help her if she will come back to his city and be his bastard heir to assist him in some death trial pilgrimage. With no other options she has to agree. Since he’s an elitist prick, he lies and her mom dies.
The dread beast accepts Alma’s sacrifice and her life is forever changed trained and honed to be a weapon, but instead of helping any of the elitist awful families she is a weapon for revenge.
I loved every single part of this book, EXCEPT THE ENDING 😭
Thank you NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Michelle Wong for an advanced ready copy of this debut.
I was so captivated from the first chapter.
Alma grew up with her single mother in poverty, being two of the few people in the entire country to not worship one of the 4 eldritch gods of their world. Because of that she grew up lonely with no friends except the one she made up in her head.
Her mother gets sick and the “healers” are all priests who worship one of the four, since they do not the healers won’t help. Alma wants to get in touch with a rare college of medicine that uses science over faith in healing. While going through her mothers things she finds a letter from a father she’s never met and writes to him asking for help.
He shows up and promises to help her if she will come back to his city and be his bastard heir to assist him in some death trial pilgrimage. With no other options she has to agree. Since he’s an elitist prick, he lies and her mom dies.
The dread beast accepts Alma’s sacrifice and her life is forever changed trained and honed to be a weapon, but instead of helping any of the elitist awful families she is a weapon for revenge.
I loved every single part of this book, EXCEPT THE ENDING 😭
Thank you NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Michelle Wong for an advanced ready copy of this debut.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
So I unfortunately didn’t like this.
The dialogue was very juvenile for an adult fantasy book, this could be in part due to the narrator who I really didn’t enjoy. I feel like this easily would’ve been more successful if the book was marketed as YA as there was no romance, minimal explicit language, and the protagonist was freshly 19.
Alma, the main character, was supposed to be fuelled by rage and constantly talked about getting revenge but was always nice and proper in action. I wish that she had been pushed further to be a morally grey protagonist. All supporting characters were also very flat including the all mighty “dread beast” who was manifested as a blonde teenage boy which I thought was an interesting choice. I do feel like this was so they seemed similar ages so that her having a crush on him wasn’t weird, but I wish that had pushed into the romantic relationship more or had him seem more wise/ancient in being.
The fantasy aspect wasn’t fully developed/explored though I feel had lots of potential and just got lost within all the filler (as there was a lot). I also fear I guessed the “plot twist” at the beginning so that was anti climactic for me.
I feel like if I read the physical book I would’ve liked it (a little) better. Plus the physical edition has illustrations throughout and a map!
Thank you Harpercollins and Harper Audio for the ARC!
The dialogue was very juvenile for an adult fantasy book, this could be in part due to the narrator who I really didn’t enjoy. I feel like this easily would’ve been more successful if the book was marketed as YA as there was no romance, minimal explicit language, and the protagonist was freshly 19.
Alma, the main character, was supposed to be fuelled by rage and constantly talked about getting revenge but was always nice and proper in action. I wish that she had been pushed further to be a morally grey protagonist. All supporting characters were also very flat including the all mighty “dread beast” who was manifested as a blonde teenage boy which I thought was an interesting choice. I do feel like this was so they seemed similar ages so that her having a crush on him wasn’t weird, but I wish that had pushed into the romantic relationship more or had him seem more wise/ancient in being.
The fantasy aspect wasn’t fully developed/explored though I feel had lots of potential and just got lost within all the filler (as there was a lot). I also fear I guessed the “plot twist” at the beginning so that was anti climactic for me.
I feel like if I read the physical book I would’ve liked it (a little) better. Plus the physical edition has illustrations throughout and a map!
Thank you Harpercollins and Harper Audio for the ARC!
Really struggled in if I should give this a 4. I really love the concept and the illustrations. It felt more YA to me. The execution wasn’t perfect, some of the world building wasn’t super clear to me while reading. I didn’t follow the whole thing with Aster’s eye at the end, for example. But the themes were good, I liked the parallels between Alma and her cousin’s finance, in who they’d fallen in love with and willfull ignorance.
3.75 ೃ⁀➷ I feel hollow :')
The moment I started this book, from the first paragraph I was hooked. It was unique, unlike anything I've ever read and at first I thought it would be everything I've ever wanted in a fantasy book... until the weak spots became bigger.
This book follows Alma, a bastard daughter of one of the House lords, who has been shunned all her life. When her mother falls ill she agrees to join her father and serve the God their house represents: the Beast, but even here she is shunned by everyone. When her mother dies, Alma swears revenge on all those who wronged her and suddenly becomes aware of a strange connection inside of her that has finally surfaced. With his help, they both set course on their secret mission to destroy the world.
What to expect~
💙 Awesome illustrations
💗 A Toxic co-dependent relationship
💙 Elements of Horror
💗 A Gruesome Quest
💙 Desire for Revenge
So now for my opinions. I think the world the author has created is amazing- I love it when authors create their own religion has has vast extremes like in this one where people must offer limbs etc. However this world wasn't explored nearly enough, and the world building was quite minimal. We didn't get offered much information about the houses and instead words were wasted on tediously long descriptions of the architecture etc.
Another major issue in this book was pacing imo. It was super fast paced at the start (maybe even rushed?) then after the time skip everything became slow and parts could have even become edited out. I think the book would have benefitted of a slower pace at the start when we see Alma's 'villain origin story' so that we could really get a true deep sense of her feelings and how unjustly she was being treated. It would have also allowed for the bad relationships to be explored more and set in stone.
Anyone else think Euphina was too easily convinced to give up the information 💀💀 the pacing aarrrrghhh
When Alma started to show kindness, I feel like it was semi-random. Whilst that interaction with Olissa Goldmercy did trigger it, I don't think it had the capacity to go full blown 'let's help every single person who hates me and i hate back!'. Honestly it pissed me off because it felt random and also this was literally never the plan why has it changed right now.
Alma and Aster though 💔😭 Your Honor I loved them too much. When Aster first talked, I never wanted him to stop. He felt like a random equivalent of Loki ugh. I loved the dynamic he and young Alma had. Then when she was 19/older it became clearER how manipulative he was. Eventhough he grew her rage, he still did pull her out of her depression/grief, which was more than what anyone else offered her. Her chilhood made me so sad and angry. She deserved more. Then to be given a similar ending to Katniss?! oml. These motherfuckers don't deserve her, istg.
Another fave character was Sevelie!!! God, I shipped Sevelie with Alma so hard, I'm actually sad I wasn't right 😭💀 They were the sapphic couple we readers deserved. Sevelie- argh- my angel :( I love her sweet soul too much.
The ending :') hah. Honestly I was confused a little bit because I felt like the writing wasn't clear at times or I just missed stuff, but I figured it out. Honestly, after what Aster did I don't think I could forgive him. But Alma loved him sm. And he loved her too.
and they both lived happily ever after.
the end.
3.75 stars
The moment I started this book, from the first paragraph I was hooked. It was unique, unlike anything I've ever read and at first I thought it would be everything I've ever wanted in a fantasy book... until the weak spots became bigger.
This book follows Alma, a bastard daughter of one of the House lords, who has been shunned all her life. When her mother falls ill she agrees to join her father and serve the God their house represents: the Beast, but even here she is shunned by everyone. When her mother dies, Alma swears revenge on all those who wronged her and suddenly becomes aware of a strange connection inside of her that has finally surfaced. With his help, they both set course on their secret mission to destroy the world.
What to expect~
💙 Awesome illustrations
💗 A Toxic co-dependent relationship
💙 Elements of Horror
💗 A Gruesome Quest
💙 Desire for Revenge
So now for my opinions. I think the world the author has created is amazing- I love it when authors create their own religion has has vast extremes like in this one where people must offer limbs etc. However this world wasn't explored nearly enough, and the world building was quite minimal. We didn't get offered much information about the houses and instead words were wasted on tediously long descriptions of the architecture etc.
Another major issue in this book was pacing imo. It was super fast paced at the start (maybe even rushed?) then after the time skip everything became slow and parts could have even become edited out. I think the book would have benefitted of a slower pace at the start when we see Alma's 'villain origin story' so that we could really get a true deep sense of her feelings and how unjustly she was being treated. It would have also allowed for the bad relationships to be explored more and set in stone.
Anyone else think Euphina was too easily convinced to give up the information 💀💀 the pacing aarrrrghhh
When Alma started to show kindness, I feel like it was semi-random. Whilst that interaction with Olissa Goldmercy did trigger it, I don't think it had the capacity to go full blown 'let's help every single person who hates me and i hate back!'. Honestly it pissed me off because it felt random and also this was literally never the plan why has it changed right now.
Alma and Aster though 💔😭 Your Honor I loved them too much. When Aster first talked, I never wanted him to stop. He felt like a random equivalent of Loki ugh. I loved the dynamic he and young Alma had. Then when she was 19/older it became clearER how manipulative he was. Eventhough he grew her rage, he still did pull her out of her depression/grief, which was more than what anyone else offered her. Her chilhood made me so sad and angry. She deserved more. Then to be given a similar ending to Katniss?! oml. These motherfuckers don't deserve her, istg.
Another fave character was Sevelie!!! God, I shipped Sevelie with Alma so hard, I'm actually sad I wasn't right 😭💀 They were the sapphic couple we readers deserved. Sevelie- argh- my angel :( I love her sweet soul too much.
The ending :') hah. Honestly I was confused a little bit because I felt like the writing wasn't clear at times or I just missed stuff, but I figured it out. Honestly, after what Aster did I don't think I could forgive him. But Alma loved him sm. And he loved her too.
and they both lived happily ever after.
the end.
3.75 stars
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved this story! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but I absolutely loved it!
This story follows Alma, the bastard daughter of the House Avera, as she is taken into her father’s family and prepared to assist in an ancient ritual to the Dread Beast.
This story is action packed. It features a strong female character fueled by anger and the need for revenge. All the characters could be considered morally grey, but Alma knows how to pick her own battles, even if it means angering her beast.
The intro throws you right in, meeting Alma as a young girl, living with her mother, and then being removed from her mother, when she falls ill. The story follows the first few months at House Avera, and then quickly progresses to 8 years later.
A large part of the story is spent building the story. Building the history, the customs, and developing the relationship between Alma and Aster, her “Imaginary Friend” Any lag or lull is worth it, as each relationship, each person, is crucial to the overall story.
Once the pilgrimage begins, this book becomes another beast entirely, full of action, violence, monsters, and gore. It does not disappoint!!
I was lucky enough to be provided the e-arc through The Nerdfam, and the advance listening copy from Netgalley and Harper Audio.
Sprinkled throughout the book are illustrations drawn by the author, which add such a special touch to the story. We get to see what the author envisions her characters looking like and get to see a few scenes come to life on the page.
The narrator, Jeanne Syquia, does a fantastic job at narrating this story. Making it easy to tell each character apart, and building tension, and emotion throughout the story!
This story was so good. I highly recommend checking it out!!
This story follows Alma, the bastard daughter of the House Avera, as she is taken into her father’s family and prepared to assist in an ancient ritual to the Dread Beast.
This story is action packed. It features a strong female character fueled by anger and the need for revenge. All the characters could be considered morally grey, but Alma knows how to pick her own battles, even if it means angering her beast.
The intro throws you right in, meeting Alma as a young girl, living with her mother, and then being removed from her mother, when she falls ill. The story follows the first few months at House Avera, and then quickly progresses to 8 years later.
A large part of the story is spent building the story. Building the history, the customs, and developing the relationship between Alma and Aster, her “Imaginary Friend” Any lag or lull is worth it, as each relationship, each person, is crucial to the overall story.
Once the pilgrimage begins, this book becomes another beast entirely, full of action, violence, monsters, and gore. It does not disappoint!!
I was lucky enough to be provided the e-arc through The Nerdfam, and the advance listening copy from Netgalley and Harper Audio.
Sprinkled throughout the book are illustrations drawn by the author, which add such a special touch to the story. We get to see what the author envisions her characters looking like and get to see a few scenes come to life on the page.
The narrator, Jeanne Syquia, does a fantastic job at narrating this story. Making it easy to tell each character apart, and building tension, and emotion throughout the story!
This story was so good. I highly recommend checking it out!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced