I love the cryptid story of The Beast of Gevaudan so of course I was thrilled to find a novel written about it.

#WeAreTheBeasts is a story about woman of all ages. Those who used to be looked upon as less and easy to use and abuse. Its a story of a terrible creature ripping through the french countryside leaving death and devastation in its wake. Its also the story of Josephine who has grown up feeling as though everyone leaves her after her mother and brother pass away and her father believing she too will die leaves her sick and alone never to return. She digs through snow and ice to go to her Clara where she feels safe. Over the years in Gevaudan she watches as girls are misused by men they are supposed to be able to depend on, beaten by those that are supposed to love them and with the beast having come to Gevaudan she sees the oppertunity to safe a few girls from what the world has given them and use the Beast as cover.

I enjoyed #WeAreTheBeasts by #GigiGriffis it is a novel that highlights a time in Gevaudan that was horrible and how woman of that time were treated.

I want to thank #Netgalley for the chance to read #WeAreTheBeasts by #GigiGriffis in return for a fair and honest review.

While I did like this overall, I did have some moments in this book where I felt really taken out of the story by the language--I found it weird that this took place in the 1700s but the language was extremely modern. I wasn't asking for colloquialisms, but the thoughts and things said by the characters were so modern that it seemed like the book was struggling to establish a solid sense of place and time. I feel like the story didn't really set itself up well in the opening chapters either, so the whole story feels like it's missing this...initial set up. There are a few things that come up but are really never mentioned again or fleshed out, which was a bit weird.
The writing itself was solid, and the idea for the story was interesting, too--I think that this author would be better suited to writing in a more contemporary space, though. Overall, not horrible, but it was frustrating because of the language and that the promise and the actual payoff of the story are not 1-1.

I used to think horror was more meant for Halloween, but I have since learned that many people celebrate a tradition of spooky stories during December, including the most famous ghost story of all, A Christmas Carol. And really, any time is a good time for horror fiction, to let us escape for a time from real-world horrors. And so we come to the book I’m reviewing now, We Are the Beasts, by Gigi Griffis, set for publication on Dec. 10.

The cold weather we’re experiencing where I live lets me slip more easily into the setting of this book, where the specter of winter looms. It’s the French countryside of 1765, and a strange beast has been ravaging the land, killing some people, mainly young girls who have to leave their villages for various chores. The teenage protagonist, Joséphine, is aware of this danger as she tends her sheep, but her more immediate concerns are averting sheeply self-harm and staving off starvation in these tenuous times.

Besides, the beast of the forest is not the only threatener of violence here. Many women and children face frequent assaults from the men in their lives, and a priest was actually killed as a suspected witch last year; the new priest blames the sins of the women, and the men who are too soft on them, for the beast attacks, claiming it has been sent as divine punishment.

Joséphine and her best friend Clara end up using a beast attack as cover for a child they’re sheltering from domestic violence. They hide her and want to smuggle her away, but then things get more complicated as events snowball.

Hunters and soldiers take up residence among the cottages, requisitioning beds and food and saying the villagers should be proud to contribute to their own defense that way. Suddenly, starvation is a much more present danger as supplies dwindle, and the searches for the beast greatly complicate the efforts of Joséphine and Clara.

This part reminded me somewhat of John Wiswell’s Someone You Can Build a Nest In, when the nobility is ruthlessly ordering soldiers to burn buildings in a town to try and smoke out the monster’s supposed hiding place, ignoring that they are destroying people’s homes and livelihoods. Some people always know how precarious life and security can be, and others have that knowledge of precarity thrust upon them, but to be expected to be grateful and proud of imposed sacrifices on top of that is a bit steep.

I love this book. I love the vividness of its prose, from the immediacy of the opening, when Joséphine is trying to save a lamb that fell partway down a cliff, to her simmering anger at a soldier’s eating three days’ worth of lentils at one meal, to the dread invoked by a swarm of butterflies, and much more. The dialogue also felt completely convincing.

I love the characters in this book. Joséphine isn’t always right, and gets called out on that, but her heart is in the right place. She’s brave, sometimes reckless, but also tries to guard others against danger. She’s also willing to admit when she’s been a bit too hasty in her judgments. And although she’s the viewpoint character, others are sharply delineated and engaging. Clara is kind and thoughtful, but firm when she needs to be. A villager who’s been flirting shamelessly with visitors turns out to have had very good reasons, and a thoughtless rich girl turns out to have hidden depths. Even some prankster boys who seem completely callous can be very loyal and clever upon occasion.

Finally, I love the plot of this book. It’s a great idea and setup, using beast attacks to save people from monstrous domestic abuse, and Griffis goes into how complicated plans can be salvaged from their own flaws when people trust each other and work together. Some tragedies may be unavoidable, but when people recognize real risks and take action, some can be saved.

I highly recommend We Are the Beasts. Its great plot is heightened by compelling characterization and carried through with punchy and pungent prose, and I love how everything resolves by the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Randome House Children's, Delacorte Press for this ARC Copy!
The book is enjoyable, but I ended up DNFing it about halfway through because I simply couldn’t handle characters from the 1700’s using such obviously modern language- both words and phrases that didn’t exist yet, but mostly just the way the dialogue was written just took me right out of the story. I enjoyed the story itself, but I couldn’t ignore the language problems anymore.

Thank you NetGalley and Randome House Children's, Delacorte Press for this ARC Copy!

I was worried that this would be a little too young for me because the characters in the story are very young, but they are written in a way that is so easy to keep you interested in what happens to them the entire time. Following these girls in the small village in France during the 1700's really shines a light on just how brutal and horrible women and girls were treated throughout history. The story is about a beast that is stalking and taking young girls but the story is so much deeper than that. Watching the characters who are literal children fight against things that they know are wrong, even though that is just the way its supposed to be is refreshing and empowering. I loved this story and I think it is a must read for everyone not just teenagers.

**Thank you NetGalley and RHCBEducators/Random House Children’s- Delacorte Pree for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Posted to: NetGalley and The StoryGraph
Posted on: 26 November 2024

3.9 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.

I kind of requested this book on a whim after seeing that we are birthday twins (hello other Dec 10 babies <3). The premise of it seemed interesting and I thought it fell into all the right boxes for some of my favorite books, so I said why not and requested it!
Little did I know that I would find a heart and home within the pages.

I usually like to start off my book reviews with things that I didn’t like all too much in the book, but there was very little of that here. I get what some people disliked about the language used. In the first chapter, we get the infamous “not today, satan!” quote that I found a little funnily out of place, but not terribly bad? There’s a lot more instances of “oh la la la la la la” (I’m not exaggerating at how many ‘la’s’ either) that were more annoyingly overused, but even then it wasn’t enough to overpower the rest of the story. Besides that, I personally don’t think the language used sucks you out of the story too much. That’s just my personal opinion though!

Next on the list- characters. There’s a good mix of characters at play in this story. We, of course, have the main duo mentioned in the summary- Joséphine and Clara. We get plenty of villagers too, some soldiers (vaguely anyways) and some rich men too far from danger to realize its true effect. Because of all the moving pieces needed to help nudge the story and its central theme along, I think the length didn’t give enough time to flesh out the smaller notes. Yes, we’re given reasons to hate the monsters living inside the houses, but it’s surface level. We see girls with bruises who flinch away from men or girls who do what they need to get out of their homes. And yes, I did hate the men and the boys and the priest who needed to get more than just bit, but if the novel was longer, the dislike could’ve been sown deeper.
I think that’s my real complaint here, I just wanted this novel to be a little longer. I loved the angry main character who yearned to feel beloved and needed. I loved the gentle secondary character who loved all the sharp bits and held a fire of her own in her chest. I loved the cast of girls we follow that support each other, that learn to lean on each other and break their silence. I think I just wanted to see more of them, especially with the ending that we are given (I got chills reading that epilogue at the gym, truly this book has a piece of my heart)

‘We Are the Beasts’ spoke to the anger in me. It reminded me that the anger isn’t /just/ in me, but in all of us, in different ways. This book is for the fiery, feral voices with teeth sharp enough to rip. This book is also for the quieter, careful voices with hands to mend but hearts that burn. I think this book fed the same fire in me that reading Clytemnestra’s story did- and I wholly support all the women’s wrongs that might have transpired during the first page up to the last of this novel.

CW: blood, abuse, mention of child death and allusions to how it happened/what happened to the body, murder, passing mentions of torture and sexual harassment where you can assume what the intentions were but it’s not exactly written out word for word.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I had been interested in the Beast of Gévaudan since it's mention in another book that I read. Pair the beast with the dazzling courage and bravery of a couple of girls and you get a book that I absolutely loved. The development of Josephine and Clara's characters and their relationship was paced well and lead to a stunning final act of retaliation. Thank you Gigi Griffis for writing this book and thank you NetGalley for offering me the chance to read it.

DNF
It’s probably a good thing I don’t work the slush piles in publishing, cause I DNFed this after chapter one. I lied. I wanted to after chapter one but forced myself to read another to confirm my feelings are still true.
I will admit the opening paragraph was great. It hooked me. It then threw itself off a cliff immediately after. And I had been excited to read this having heard different tellings of the Beast of Gevaudan and to then have mixed in some feminism and sapphic. However, by page two I had the unfortunate experience of reading, and I quote, “Not today Satan.” Cue my very dramatic eye. There’s a way to make a historical story relatable with out sounding like that Steve Buscemi with a skateboard meme. And as this is in first person, the inner thoughts are too modern that it felt so out of place for 1765, throwing me out of the story. Like if I hadn’t read the description and instead just read the opening pages, I would’ve assumed this was contemporary. Then mix in the random, almost flippant scattering of French terms that would probably would offend a native. All this was an immediate red flag that I wouldn’t be able to read 350 pages of this. But also the fact the opening chapter was a bag of nothing. It didn’t show me anything of the characters or the world or its problems. At least until the end of the chapter, and then it was told to me in info dump instead of shown. Literally I found myself skimming.
I loved the idea of this story, I just think this author is better suited for more contemporary stories. Unless you are someone who likes stories where the historical aspect is more like it came from SHEIN and it’s trying to be “cool with the kids,” I would recommend passing on this book. If you’re cool with this camp kind of style, then maybe check it out for yourself?
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

This was a cute little read. The story was entertaining. The suspense of not knowing what the beast was and whether it was really or not was great. I was not expecting the reveal at the end, so that was a bonus. It's definitely worth the read!

In a small rural town in the French countryside, a series of killings is plaguing the townspeople. Some believe it is a beast, punishing everyone for their sins against God. For sixteen year old Josephine and her best friend Clara, it's the perfect opportunity to save a young girl from the village from her violent father. After staging the little girls death at the hands of the beast, they hide her away to keep her safe from the abuse. The women and girls of their village are no strangers to this type of violence from the men of their town that are supposed to protect them. To make matters worse, the king has gotten word of their beast and has sent his soldiers to their town to try and kill it. Now overrun with soldiers that are eating them out of house and home, Josephine, Clara and a handful of other girls take matters into their own hands. There is only so much that a woman can take before survival instincts kick in and she's forced to defend herself from her abusers.

I absolutely loved this book. It's a feminist story not only about the helplessness women feel on a daily basis, but the strength they possess when threatened. In this book you mainly follow Josephine as our narrator, but you get glimpses of how women of all class levels are treated, from the poorer community to the upper class. No woman is immune to the abuses in one form or another. While the threat of the beast is very real, it takes a back seat to the men in their lives. The pacing was pretty fast and engaging. You get a real sense of what life was like back then and how families survived the plague. The reveal of the beast at the end was satisfying. I found myself trying to figure out what it was the whole time. Was it a monster, or was it a known animal that nobody could get a good glimpse of? Overall I loved the characters and the story and was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was based on a true story about a series of 4 years of killings in a small French town that went unsolved.

Well-written and laden with metaphor, this book is an interesting historical reimagining. Love the strong female protagonists and their desire to do better for all young girls struggling in a world that continually subjugates and underestimates them.

This story line was so interesting. I loved the resolution being a bit open ended but light and humorous. As someone who used to speak French pretty okay and still understands it, the frequent little French bits annoyed me more than anything as they felt overdone. That coupled with the MCs little saying being such a cliche kept making me this feel very middle grade to me. With that in mind—this would work really well for middle grade readers that enjoy a more intricate story line than the typical mg has to offer. The small bits of romance were never risqué so it’s also a clean read. Thank you Delacort & NetGalley for the ARC

A thriller set back in 1765, a book about the ultimate friendship between two girls that try to take on the scariest beast you can imagine at a young age. This wolf-like creature is attacking their livelihood, sheep, as well as people and someone has to stop it.

The truest form of friendship that the two main characters shared with each other but also the other girls in the town was extremely heart warming and made me want to be part of the group. The beast gave me chills especially when they first discovered how close it truly was to them.

Overall, I did like the above items but felt like there was more that could've brought me into the book.

This was not for me. The themes were interesting but the language was way too modern for a book set in the 1700s. I’m disappointed because I really wanted to like this!

Full of angst and male chauvinism, Griffis takes us on a journey through the dangers of being a woman in 18th century France. Even more dangerous is a woman who refuses to live by the rules set by men. Joséphine and Clara are such women. Joséphine is brash and strong, but fears abandonment. Clara is calm and rational, and loves Joséphine deeply. They are the fight coming for the men in the town of Mende, as they are also fighting the beast who haunts their woods.

Griffis writes a powerful novel about brutality and abuse of women at the hands of men. She also highlights witchcraft hysteria that was used to keep women in a position of submission-fear becoming a weapon of choice and coercion. But the author gives us a group of eclectic characters that you come to love and cheer for, who choose courage in the face of immense adversity. They also embrace who they are, regardless if society accepts them.

This book was an enjoyable read-full of tension and anguish. If you are a fan of fantasy and underdog-to-hero, this one’s for you.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars!

This was an enjoyable read! I don't typically gravitate towards historical fiction, but I quite liked this one and I found it interesting this was somewhat based on real events. Some things I noticed is that the writing felt much more modern compared to our 18th century setting, which made really immersing myself into the story a bit challenging. Along with that, I think the way that the actual French was integrated into the book was not the most graceful, and at times felt a bit clunky or pointless.

I liked our characters, I thought they were engaging enough and I never tired from reading their POV. The themes I think were also excellently executed, touching on the topics of feminism and abuses of power. For a YA book, I think this is very good, it's just that it doesn't quite reach the heights I had hoped for with it. Though it wasn't quite for me, I think there is definitely an audience for this book that will absolutely adore it.

Inspired by true events, this book is set in rural France in the 1700s where a village is plagued by a mysterious beast that is targeting women and children.

The men in this village are generally awful and abusive, while those who don't participate in the abuse happily look the other way. A few teenage girls see the beast as an opportunity to stage their deaths and escape the village for a better life, but the beast is real and they also need to avoid actually falling victim to it.

This was a pretty good YA historical fiction with fantasy, horror, and feminist elements to it.

The writing felt a bit modern for historical fiction which I see people complaining about in other reviews. It's a legitimate complaint but it didn't bother me that much. The book is YA and the language made it more readable. Also we have to remember that teenagers in 1700s France were just normal people like us and probably thought in a way similar to us. Yeah the book didn't have old timey prose, it also wasn't in French. Whatever.

I really enjoyed the idea of women using the idea of a monster to escape the real monster in their life which is the patriarchy and religious oppression. It worked well and there were a ton of memorable lines and quotes in the book (which I won't add here since I read an arc which is subject to some changes).

I'd definitely recommend picking this one up! It's a quick easy and inspiring read. Thanks to Penguin Teen Canada for the advanced copy!

This was an interesting historical horror YA take on the Beast of Gévaudan. I really liked the historical research that Griffis did for the book, but I felt like the horror could’ve been vamped up to really make this feel creepy, but I also thought the narration style of the book made this feel younger than its target audience. 😕

The book follows Joséphine, a 17-year-old shepherdess who finds that her town is now center stage for a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances by the creature that the area has come to call the Beast. I had my issues with her as she’s incredibly reckless for someone who experienced traumatic abandonment in her childhood. On top of this, she makes rash decisions, jumps to conclusions, and is incredibly quick to anger so this made for a very interesting and rather annoying character for me. Not only was this a bit of a hurdle to get through, but also the way in which she talks and narrates the book at times felt like she was younger than her 17 years. 🙁

I also felt like the book was written with a stark black and white kind of filter when it came to men in general. The male characters were either incredibly self absorbed, violent, or unable to take anything seriously. There’s one character that was able to avoid this kind of characterization, but on the flip side, he was so loyal and father-like that it felt weird to not get a middle ground between the two. 😐

The Beast itself felt less like horror and mystery, and more of a guessing game. Because of this, while I liked the historical take on how the Beast could have come about, I still thought the way in which this revelation comes about could have been a bit more suspenseful and creepy since this was pitched as a YA historical horror. 🫤

All in all, it was fine, but I just feel like some things could have been done better. Big thank you goes out to Delacrote Press and NetGalley for accepting my request to read this in exchange for an honest review. ❤️

Publication date: December 3!

Overall: 3/5 ⭐️

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

We Are the Beasts by Gigi Griffis is a first person YA Queer historical horror. Inspired by the unsolved mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan, Jo and Clara are two young shepherdesses living in the French countryside in 1765. Their town is being terrorized by beasts, both one that no one can capture and the humans hiding beastly natures.

My favorite part of this was how there is this constant mystery element of whether or not something supernatural is going on. There were times where I thought it was going to lean one way and then new evidence directed me in the other direction and I would switch back again. The constant push and pull is highlighted by how Jo has a strong desire to bite the men who are predators around her and the way certain characters are introduced. It really felt like it could have gone either way.

Clara and Jo have a slowburn romance that is based on a strong friendship since childhood. Jo has lived with Clara’s family since her father abandoned her and she left the home of Belle, another girl in the area whose father is obsessed with appearing virtuous but doesn’t actually care about others. Clara is of Ethiopian descent, helping to highlight the rich diversity that has existed in Europe for centuries and in the French-speaking world. Jo and Clara have a prayer that is a confirmation of their love and devotion to each other and I loved seeing it every single time.

Belle and Jo have the second best relationship even though it is extremely messy. Belle is very self-centered and not very self-aware, but we get to see her better points over time. What makes Belle feel unlikeable is when she is more interested in the publicity the Beast has been attracting than the fact that people are dying and there is a risk of a young woman being accused of witchcraft. But I do see potential in her to grow and change if she ever leaves her father’s thumb. Jo’s frustration with her is more than understandable, but even Jo can see there is something else going on and does have compassion for Belle despite their very strained history.

Content warning for homophobia, abuse, sexual assault by a religious figure, and sexism

I would recommend this to fans of YA horror that is historical instead of contemporary, readers who prefer horror that deals with critique of religious institutions, and those looking for a horror based on an unsolved mystery

This is a bit of history/folklore I’ve been interested in for a while but this was the first book I’ve read about it. I enjoyed how the author took the lore of the beast and wove it into a larger story, particularly using the beast as a metaphor/comparative of patriarchy. I didn’t know that there was a sapphic romance, so I was pleasantly surprised by that and felt the tension between Clara and Joséphine immediately.