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inkandplasma 's review for:
The Monster of Elendhaven
by Jennifer Giesbrecht
Full review: https://inkandplasma.wordpress.com/2020/05/11/the-monster-of-elendhaven-by-jennifer-giesbrecht-review/
One of the main things that keeps me coming back to this book is the atmosphere. For 160 pages, the whole thing is intoxicating. There’s not a word wasted to paint a picture of a dark and twisted town in the shadow of a mountain and the shadow of a plague. The mythology is threaded through and explained neatly so that the reader is never left wondering what’s going on, but without resorting to plain exposition – which would be off-putting in a novella length piece of writing. I could feel Elendhaven coming to life around me as I read. It left me hungry for more; more Elendhaven, more Florian and more Johann; but I’m also certain that anything extra would be unnecessary. This is a perfect bite-sized piece of fantasy-horror, and the ending is as potent as the descriptions.
The eccentric main characters themselves, Johann and Florian, were incredible. I love them. That atmospheric writing came together perfectly to make them feel fleshed out and individual, and though they are both terrible people I was rooting for them the whole time. Is there anything better than a story about plain old villains drawing you in so intently that you throw your morals out of the window in the hopes of revelling in their victory? I somehow managed to miss the clue that The Monster of Elendhaven was a queer book, so the ‘romance’ (using the word loosely) between Johann and Florian was a delightful surprise. Their relationship was what really sold this book to me. Master and servant, bodyguard and client, lovers, indifferent sorcerer and devoted monster. Their dynamic was perfect from the start, and the way their personalities meshed made them so interesting to read about. They’re both unrelentingly, unrepentantly bad in their own ways, and I think it’s the lack of concern or apology that made them so fun.
I would highly recommend the audiobook if you can get your hands on it, because the characterisations are done so well that as I was rereading a physical copy I couldn’t shake the narrator’s voice from my mind.
One of the main things that keeps me coming back to this book is the atmosphere. For 160 pages, the whole thing is intoxicating. There’s not a word wasted to paint a picture of a dark and twisted town in the shadow of a mountain and the shadow of a plague. The mythology is threaded through and explained neatly so that the reader is never left wondering what’s going on, but without resorting to plain exposition – which would be off-putting in a novella length piece of writing. I could feel Elendhaven coming to life around me as I read. It left me hungry for more; more Elendhaven, more Florian and more Johann; but I’m also certain that anything extra would be unnecessary. This is a perfect bite-sized piece of fantasy-horror, and the ending is as potent as the descriptions.
The eccentric main characters themselves, Johann and Florian, were incredible. I love them. That atmospheric writing came together perfectly to make them feel fleshed out and individual, and though they are both terrible people I was rooting for them the whole time. Is there anything better than a story about plain old villains drawing you in so intently that you throw your morals out of the window in the hopes of revelling in their victory? I somehow managed to miss the clue that The Monster of Elendhaven was a queer book, so the ‘romance’ (using the word loosely) between Johann and Florian was a delightful surprise. Their relationship was what really sold this book to me. Master and servant, bodyguard and client, lovers, indifferent sorcerer and devoted monster. Their dynamic was perfect from the start, and the way their personalities meshed made them so interesting to read about. They’re both unrelentingly, unrepentantly bad in their own ways, and I think it’s the lack of concern or apology that made them so fun.
I would highly recommend the audiobook if you can get your hands on it, because the characterisations are done so well that as I was rereading a physical copy I couldn’t shake the narrator’s voice from my mind.