The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht is a gorgeous little novel about monsters and betrayal and the darkness of the soul that plots the revenge of not just one self, but of an entire family. It is in short, a terrific gothic tale that cries out for Vincent Price to narrate it in your mind.

Summary

“…A creature newly named is a creature still half-animal, and Johann’s self-education made generous space for the use of tools and the vice of violence before he could learn regret. He learned lessons like this:

A man wrenching fingers in his hair. Forcing him to the ground. Forcing a lot of other things, too, all the while grunting and pressing bloody little half circles in his shoulders. When it was over Johann was left lying in a puddle of his own sweat and piss, staring at a very large sharp rock. Without his thinking about it, his fingers closed around the rock and he stumbled to his feet.

He found the man and kicked him in the nose, bashed his face with the sharp rock, and ground his heel into his windpipe, relishing the muted snap of cartilage and all the delightful little croaks that bubbled up and out of the man’s mouth. When the man stopped moving, Johann used the rock on his face until it wasn’t a face anymore. He stared at the blood and pressed a stained palm to his heart. He panted heavily, in time with the flutter between his ribs.

Power was sweeter than apples. It was cheaper than water, and sustained the soul twice as well. If Johann was going to be a Thing with a name, then from now on he would be a Thing with power, too…”

Johann grew in the back alleys and filth of Elendhaven until he became the Thing he was named. A monster who kills but cannot be killed. Though he tried to kill himself over and over again. He became something different than what he had been born. But such things happen in Elendhaven.

The city of Elendhaven sits on the edge of the ocean, ravaged by plague and abandoned by the South. It no longer has industry and is slowly rotting and dying. But it is a city with a memory and a bitter sense of pain. Elendhaven still has a touch of dark magic about it and now it is poised to reap its vengeance on the world.

Review

When you were a child, you were told stories, and if you were blessed, you were told scary stories that left the taste of ash and the scent of smoldering flame in your nostrils that hinted at the nightmares to come. The Monster of Elendhaven is just such a tale.

Gothic horror and just a touch of dark fantasy give this novel a wondrous sense of place and time. Brutal and violent, it also tells the story of love and grief. It mourns and cries out for justice. It finds this justice in the hands of dark magic and a gleeful monster who kills and kills.

A terrific tale of death and sweet revenge.

Don’t miss it!