by Jennifer Giesbrecht
Published on September 24, 2019 by Tor.com
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 160
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror
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.
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If you had to read a book during the spooky season, let it be The Monster of Elendhaven. This novella is weird and dark and ALL sorts of twisted, and I still don’t know if I loved it for its unusualness, or simply liked it well enough.
I can’t really summarize this novella. The plot twists and bends and weaves in and out of the present and the almost distance past that’s consequences are finally coming to light. The bite of vengeance nips the air, murder walks the street in the form of an almost-man, and beneath it all hangs a weird and twisted almost-romance.
Almost, for I hesitate to really call it what you would likely consider a love story because that is not this world, this book. The Monster of Elendhaven makes me think of an end-of-the-world setting where humanity reverted to a previous era (in this case something akin to the Victorian era meets a bit of the industrial age). In this world, a poor boy (Florian) is left alone in an empty house, the perfect setting for him to concoct a revenge so determinedly dastardly and twisted that only the most inhuman of companions (the monster, Johann) could possibly understand. Theirs was a companionship of mutual destruction and a weird lust that made this book all the stranger.
And the first part of the novella sets all this up quite beautifully. If I had to recommend this book for one thing only, it would be the intricately descriptive writing. It’s beautiful, there’s no question about it, and while I’m generally not one for flowery writing, something about this book in particular continued to draw me back.
That said, the writing saved it, in a way, by the end. I mentioned I can’t really summarize the plot because it’s all over the place. I didn’t understand some of the character motivations or connections between characters and past events in general. It’s all a bit convoluted which adds to the mysterious atmosphere but also made the story hard to follow as a reader.
Yet, it didn’t really matter? I finished The Monster of Elendhaven and my first thought was everyone needed to read this book. Does the story always make sense? No. Did it speak to my fondness for all things dark and twisted (without falling head first into horror)? Absolutely.
It’s a strange little book with strange little characters that take “morally gray” to a whole new level. And it definitely wasn’t what I expected when I picked it up (I was expecting more Jack the Ripper type vibes, to be honest).
I would recommend The Monster of Elendhaven, yes, but it’s definitely not for every reader and if you’re not a fan of more gruesome stories and graphic deaths then perhaps avoid this one. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy meeting the Monster.
About Austine
I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.
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