ALC Review: Monstrous Nights by Genoveva Dimova
Release date: 22 October 2024
Rating: 4/5
Narrators: Tim Campbell and Zura Johnson
Synopsis: With her magic reclaimed and her role in the community of Chernograd restored, Kosara’s life should finally be back to normal―but, of course, things can’t possibly be that simple.
She is now in possession of twelve witch’s shadows. Holding them may grant her unprecedented power, but that doesn’t mean they’re always willing to do her bidding.
Across the wall in Belograd, Asen chases his only lead on the latest witch murder case. He follows the trail of smuggling kingpin Konstantin Karaivanov to an underground monster auction―which leads him right back to Chernograd.
There, sinister events follow one after another: snow falls in midsummer, a witch with two shadows is found dead, and monsters that should only appear during the Foul Days are sighted. The barrier between worlds thins... and Kosara is certain it's her fault―and her job to fix.
Review
Stop! This review may contain spoilers! If you have not read Foul Days, please read at your own risk!
If you loved Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy and/or Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver and Uprooted, you’ll absolutely love Dimova’s Witch’s Compendium of Monsters duology. Chernograd has a wonderfully spooky, dark thematic atmosphere, and the mystery plot reminds me of older detective noir stories. Kosara and Asen once again team up in this one again to solve another murder and hopefully ignite the tiny spark that lit between them. After the cliffhanger from Foul Days and no resolution to the slow burn, I sure was glad to get into this one so soon after the first book released. Dimova’s conclusion was one of the best wrap-ups I’ve seen to a fantasy, and I will definitely be paying attention to this author in the future.
I love the fantasy setting in this series. Chernograd reminded me strongly of East and West Berlin, which I found later in the author’s note was a spot-on assessment. (If you liked this book, you should check out The Man from U.N.C.L.E., it has a great depiction of the setting and it’s a spy thriller/mystery.) The wall between Chernograd and Belgrad does more than separate two different classes of people, also. Both books begin with one of the characters in our duo crossing the wall and meeting the other. In Foul Days, Kosara crosses to meet Asan. In Monstrous Nights, Asan needs help from Kosara, and he goes to her first. Small details like this in stories really make a story much more engaging for me, and I love them.
Dimova writes characters like a pro, and I’m not talking only about the main ones. Kosara’s house ghosts stole every scene they were in. Kosara and Asen are not half bad, either. Over the course of the first book, her onion layers slowly peeled away to reveal a person motivated by loyalty to her family and friends, instead of the skin saver she came across as initially. Asen’s character gets fleshed out a bit more in Monstrous Nights. We get more of his back story involving his wife and show his immense amount of grief and guilt. This may all sound like a complete sad party, but the author weaves some comedy throughout for relief, which I definitely appreciated.
The narration in this one was superb. I was impressed enough with Johnson’s and Campbell’s narration that I actually looked at the narrators’ website and saw many different accents. The voice and intonation were easy to understand, and there weren’t any low parts I had to strain to hear. I recommend listening to this one if possible.
Overall, 4/5 for the story and 5/5 for the narration. Great characters combined with a fantastic writing style and great setting (especially for October) make this a 4-star read for me. I’d give it a 5 if not for the copious amount of foul language, which hampered the experience for me. For one, it makes the fantasy setting less believable, and for the other, well, I don’t like it.
My thanks to Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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