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A review by rigel
House of the Beast by Michelle Wong
challenging
reflective
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
5.0
This left me absolutely devastated in the best way.
I'm pretty stingy with my five stars, but House of the Beast earned it after only the first few chapters. Something about it just drew me in and had me absolutely hooked. I wish I could just crawl inside this book and live in it forever.
Alma was an interesting heroine to follow. She wasn't quite morally grey, but there was an aspect of her character that made it so she wasn't the stereotypical, virtuous fantasy MC we see a lot of. She struggled with sustaining the morals instilled in her by her mother, and the duty she was saddled with by her father. Wong did a great job balancing Alma's inner struggle with her actions. Her relationship with her monster gave me very complex feelings, but to me it was the highlight of this whole story.
The magic system was a little bit underdeveloped, but overall the rules made sense and were consistent. The worldbuilding was also lacking a bit as we were confined to one country that supposedly had different rules pertaining to magic than the rest of the world, but as we were confined to Kugara for the duration of the book and only focused on its inner politics, it wasn't very noticeable.
This reminded me a lot of Blood Over Bright Haven, not because the story or themes were similar in any ways, but just based on the way it made me feel. Kind of warm and comforted despite the though themes. I will be re-reading this book (and BOBH) many times in the next coming years.
I'm pretty stingy with my five stars, but House of the Beast earned it after only the first few chapters. Something about it just drew me in and had me absolutely hooked. I wish I could just crawl inside this book and live in it forever.
Alma was an interesting heroine to follow. She wasn't quite morally grey, but there was an aspect of her character that made it so she wasn't the stereotypical, virtuous fantasy MC we see a lot of. She struggled with sustaining the morals instilled in her by her mother, and the duty she was saddled with by her father. Wong did a great job balancing Alma's inner struggle with her actions. Her relationship with her monster gave me very complex feelings, but to me it was the highlight of this whole story.
The magic system was a little bit underdeveloped, but overall the rules made sense and were consistent. The worldbuilding was also lacking a bit as we were confined to one country that supposedly had different rules pertaining to magic than the rest of the world, but as we were confined to Kugara for the duration of the book and only focused on its inner politics, it wasn't very noticeable.
This reminded me a lot of Blood Over Bright Haven, not because the story or themes were similar in any ways, but just based on the way it made me feel. Kind of warm and comforted despite the though themes. I will be re-reading this book (and BOBH) many times in the next coming years.