The Monster of Elendhaven

By: Jennifer Giesbrecht

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

"[Narrator Daniel Henning] fully commits to this tale, providing a nearly breathless and deliciously evil-sounding narration while also developing unique voices and presenting surprisingly layered characters." (AudioFile Magazine)

"A black tide of perversity, violence, and lush writing. I loved it." (Joe Hill)

Debut author Jennifer Giesbrecht paints a darkly compelling fantasy of revenge in The Monster of Elendhaven, a dark fantasy about murder, a monster, and the magician who loves both.

The city of Elendhaven sulks on the edge of the ocean. Wracked by plague, abandoned by the South, stripped of industry and left to die. But not everything dies so easily. A thing without a name stalks the city, a thing shaped like a man, with a dark heart and long pale fingers yearning to wrap around throats. A monster who cannot die. His frail master sends him out on errands, twisting him with magic, crafting a plan too cruel to name, while the monster’s heart grows fonder and colder and more cunning.

These monsters of Elendhaven will have their revenge on everyone who wronged the city, even if they have to burn the world to do it.

©2019 Jennifer Young (P)2019 Macmillan Audio

Wow!

I ddi not expect to like this as much as I did! The mlm relationship is subtle but exhilarating, the overall story sinks its teeth into you and doesn’t let go! My only complaint is that the MC’s voice is a little grating, the narrator does an amazing job otherwise!! I loved all of this!!

Not a Horror Book

This book is well written, but I do not know why it’s under the horror genre. It’s more like fantasy love story that has some magic.

Tasty

This book is like poisonous berries. Bright and sweet and lethal.

It's written much in that style and it's been a while since I read such a flowery book. But it fit, especially given one of its main characters was a fluffy dandy. The story really is about a pair of villains; any other book would have these as the nefarious antagonists, as what they are doing is quite monstrous and wicked. Yet it works.

What really pushed me through was the sexual tension between the main characters, the hints that kept building. But then the story pulled me past.

When There Are No Good Guys

Beautifully written story of a town where everyone is horrible. The attention to detail makes a vivid portrait of small-town life where crime and decadence rule the streets and the minds of the residents.
I was slightly thrown off by the modern-sounding speech of only one character, which must be lower class banter contrasting the more refined, high class talk of the others, which better matches the setting. I imagine it must be historically correct, but it sounds to me like speech from two different times in the same place. Great job on making villains more human and even likeable.
Astounding changes in pitch and tone in the performance to bring different characters to life.

A queer quick read that's a horrifically good time

As a fan of Sweeney Todd and as someone just discovering a love for queer horror novels, this short novella scratched just the right itch for me to enjoy this past week! Every night I couldn't wait to listen to more, and if I'd had the physical copy I know I wouldn't have been able to put it down!

I found this book very compelling, although I do admit reluctantly that after all the anticipation and foreshadowing in the beginning, I expected more to happen in the climax of the novel concerning Florian's plan, the fate of Elendhaven, and the relationship between the main characters.

It might be because it's a novella and isn't as long as a full-length novel, but I felt like I rushed to the end too soon and like I was still waiting for more of a conclusion. Overall, even if the ending was a bit of a disappointment, I can definitely say I had fun reading this story and will probably buy a physical copy to reread over again in the fall!

Gruesome and Wonderful!

A terrific listen, great deep story and characters, funny, great narration, gory, Lovecraftian, gothic, Its feels like a full novel but it’s only about four hours. Amazing.

A murderous love story, a tragedy, a corpse.

Cannot begin to describe what a wonderful read and listen this was, absolutely recommend. Everything was simply perfect.

I Wish it was longer

I really like the world set up and the weird characters. It felt like a pulp horror book. I just wish it was either longer or told from a single perspective.

Short but sweet

A nice, neat tale, expertly told. For it being as trim as it was, the crafted mythology was rich and essential.

too a lil bit, but it got there

It was okay, few low points, few drag points, all and all not the worst book.