kaavyareadsbooks 's review for:

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong

2.5

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Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Voyager for the ARC. I really wanted to like this but unfortunately it was not as enjoyable as I expected. I really like stories where the main characters are on a journey to take revenge, but this was barely satisfying. The relationship between Alma and Aster is pretty boring, like he does have a thing for death, but he's not a hot monster. I was expecting something more dangerous and tense, but everything in this story unfolds rather easily for Alma (not enough blood and gore and destruction for me), and the relationship with Aster also lacks tension, he mostly goes along with what Alma wants and we don't really see the starting stage of their relationship, so it's pretty boring. The side characters also lack depth. The world building is alright, The good part and reason why I give this 2.5 stars is the fight scenes. I love reading women fighting with swords, and there is a good amount of fighting, so I enjoyed that.