In Monstrous Nights, Genoveva Dimova brings her magical Slavic duology to a darkly magical and satisfying conclusion.

I truly felt like this sequel added just enough intrigue to keep the plot feeling fast paced without adding too many problems to be solved by the end. The romance, the mystery, and the obstacles (both within Kosara and around her) were intriguing and fun to read.

I enjoyed the Slavic folklore and the lush, lived-in fantasy setting that Donovan created in this world.

I would highly recommend this duology to all lovers of dark fantasy and monstrous other worlds.

Once again just a fabulous, dark, fantastical book from Dimova. I loved returning to the world of Chernograd and the wonderful brand of strange and cozy that Dimova manages to convey so vividly. Oh to live in a city as full of kind, caring people as monsters (or one in which sometimes the kind, caring people are monsters)! And it was a real pleasure to watch Kosara realize, after so much time holding herself apart from her city and the people in it, that she has people in her life she can rely on, who are not willing to let the shadow of the man who hurt her swallow her whole.

Once in awhile you stumble upon a series that sets itself apart from the others. This is one of those series. Kosara is back with her twelve shadows in tow. The shadows give her insight into Zmey’s deadly marriages as well as an uncontrollable, immense power. Meanwhile Asen is trying to solve another murder and finds himself one again on Kosara’s doorstep asking for her help. The sexual tension between the two is off the charts as they both try to ignore their feelings. They find themselves once again battling monsters and questioning the intentions of those in their inner circle. No one can be trusted and there are secrets and spells that must be solved in order to prevent the barrier between the world of monsters and their world to vanish.

This is such a good series. The Slavic folklore it’s based on is rich in detail and filled with many interesting monsters, myths and characters. There is magic, mystery, romance, action and really good monsters—🐓 I loved it cans cannot wait to see what is next for Dimova. I will read whatever she writes!!

5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would say the physical book is better than the audiobook. I enjoyed this sequel however I think the first was slightly better. There were some slow parts and scenes that I feel didn't really add to the overall story. However, I still had a fun time reading it.

Genoveva Dimova has a second tale of a city divided by a wall. On one side the monsters attack during the Foul Days(paper) around new years. The other city lives off selling the magic from the first. Unfortunately the barrier between the world of monsters and Chernograd has weakened, letting monsters invade. Not only that, but 2 witches have had their heads chopped off. During the Monstrous Nights(paper from TOR ) Kosara, now with twelve witch's shadows, and detective Asen, who has lost his job, have to find the cause of the failing of the world of monsters and somehow save both cities. I really enjoyed this duology and highly recommend it

In Monstrous Nights, Genoveva Dimova brings her magical Slavic duology to a stunning conclusion, tackling the consequences from the previous novel and the relationship between Kosara and Asen.
What is fantastic about the duology is that each begins with a mystery. In this case, a witch dies and her shadow is missing. That introduction quickly brings together our two protagonists Korara and Asen. As you read, you realize that the truth is complex, that there are unexpected twists and turns, including that the monsters aren’t as monstrous as they appear. I love how three dimensional the characters are and how Kosara must learn that she can rely on others to help her.
In the end, this story is part supernatural, part mystery, part romance and a fabulous stunning conclusion to The Witch’s Compendium of Monsters Duology. If you like supernatural and engaging stories full of interesting monsters, this novel is for you, especially if you read the first book. If you’re still looking for spooky and fun stories for harvest season, I can totally recommend this novel. It’s never too late to find a monster to cuddle up with.

his review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I really enjoyed the first book of this The Witch's Compendium of Monsters series. I seem to enjoy many Slavic mythology fantasy books. I don't want to repeat my review of the first book, so I'll give you a very short recap of the world and characters. I would read these books in order.

I liked Kosara who is a witch living in Chernograd. It is on one side of the wall and has witches, monster hunters, smugglers, thieves and some poverty. During Foul Days around New Year, the monsters come out at night.

Asen is a cop in Belograd. He is a widower, married to the daughter of the biggest crook, who killed his own daughter. Belograd is full of wealth and is safe from monsters due to the wall between the cities. They do have smugglers and thieves, just no monsters.

In Foul Days, Kosara teamed up with Asen to fight the monsters. They were frenemies who fell for each other. I wanted to read more about them working together.

Monstrous Nights starts out about 6 months later, and I was disappointed that Kosara is in Chernograd and Asen is in Belograd, not in contact. Asen starts to go after his FIL, the big crook and is found out by one of his complicit. So he runs for his life, to Chernograd and Kosara.

In Chernograd, the monsters are coming out and it is not the Foul Days! So Asen and Kosara do form a team again feeling the other does not want them. They work to avenge Asen wife and to figure out how to fix the tear and the wall to save people.

I'm leaving out a key component which is Zmey who is a monster who took a witch bride from Chernograd every year, married her and then within a year killed her for her magic and her shadow. Kosara was a possible bride who escaped. Her sister did not. Zmey lived in the monster realm. Another witch who escaped was Vila who is a mentor to young witches.

I enjoyed seeing Asen and Kosara together and solving the world's problems in spite of their doubts. Their doubts of themselves, each other and the strength they would need to defeat the evil and greedy who took and murdered without remorse. Monstrous Nights also had a glossary of sorts at the end about the different types of monsters. I hope this is not the end.

The fast-paced and exciting conclusion to the dark, Slavic fantasy duology The Witch's Compendium of Monsters.
We get a more depth look at the characters from book one plus a couple key new characters. This was a very satisfying conclusion to book one and I look forward to seeing what this author will do next!

A great follow-up to the first novel Foul Days. This book reads smoother and comes off as more put together now that the characters have been established and fleshed out. There is more room for them to grow their relationships with each other.

The writing is just as good as the first book and the world just as immersive. Dimova has constructed a very unique world with fascinating creatures and characters that are a delight to follow. I eagerly await her next novel.

Monstrous Nights is what I would consider to be a fitting conclusion to Genoveva Dimova's duology, which started with the very fun and creative Foul Days. In this book, Kosara and Asen must reckon with the changes wrought from their efforts to imprison the Zmey, which have had quite a few unseen consequences. As these consequences build, strange murders complicate things even further, resulting in a rush of detective work, incredible secrets uncovered, and desperate witchery to prevent everything from falling apart.

I really enjoyed the conclusion to this duology. It was great to be back in Chernograd and I can’t wait to see what Genoveva Dimova writes next.

What an incredible conclusion to this duology! I also loved that I didn't have to wait years to spend more time with Kosara and Asen! This story was a little lighter in tone than the first book, but didn't lose its gritty charm at all.

The elements of The Foul Days that I loved (Slavic folklore, the mystery, the monsters) was abundant. Monstrous Nights starts 6 months after The Foul Days ends, and speeds along from there. This book read so incredibly fast, while introducing us to new monsters (a giant vicious chicken), a love triangle, a book club for karakajols, and baked goods. It was very hard to put down, but ended in a completely satisfactory way. Sometimes sequels aren’t as powerful as the original book, but I feel this book was even better than its original. I am keeping this spoiler free, but promise that if you enjoyed The Foul Days, this will be one you won’t regret reading at all! There are many books based on folklore out there, but this one does feel completely unique in a very special way.

A bit dark and gritty, but not too grim and hopeless. It’s not a happily ever after sort of story but happiness enough can found in survival. Great world building and a story that moves right along. The pair of the, would make for excellent Halloween reading!

When it comes to saving the world, you can’t just leave a job half-finished. Half-measures just won’t cut it.

Foul Days, the first half of this duology, was an intriguing surprise from debut author Genoveva Dimova earlier this year. I remarked at the time that it felt like a lot of brilliant ideas that hadn’t been brought together so smoothly but that I was very interested in reading Monstrous Nights because I really wanted to see where the story was going because I truly think Dimova is fabulously talented and very creative. Foul Days was just a bit rough.

You can see in Monstrous Nights that some of that roughness has been smoothed out. There are still some issues with character consistency and there are times when I felt like both of our main characters were being far too melodramatic for both their ages and constitutions, but since the machinery of this book was oiled so well and a lot of the unevenness from the first book seems to have been ironed out in this second half it made that issue much easier to brush away in favor of enjoying the world and story.

I really enjoyed this duology as a whole, especially when it came to worldbuilding, the variety of monsters pulled from Balkan folklore, and the creative ways they are used in the story. It was all really refreshing material that you don’t see much of and I really wish there were more authors out there writing fantastic stories about the lesser-known mythologies.

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Fantasy/Romantasy/Fantasy Series/Urban Fantasy

Monstrous Nights is the stunning conclusion to the Witches Compendium of Monsters Duology that began earlier this year with Foul Days. This time we pick up only after only a few months have past. While Kosara and Asen were able to stop the threat to both their city's, the work is clearly not done as new problems emerge. Kosara and Asen have to work together once again, and perhaps along the way they will find some long deserved healing with each other.

I loved the first book and the dynamic between the two main characters. They both are deeply wounded in different ways and work so well together. The world Dimova creates is based in Russian and Jewish folklore mixed with.a cold war wall between two major cities. The cast of monsters is so creative and yet believable in this world. It is such a unique concept and executed beautifully.

Monstrous Nights is a more than satisfying conclusion to the story begun in Foul Days. It has plenty of action to keep you guessing and enough romance that makes you want to root for these two to find some happiness in the world.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor for access to an eARC of the book for review purposes.

A dark, thrilling, and dangerous conclusion to the “The Witch's Compendium of Monsters” series—Monstrous Nights brings us right back into the world of Chernograd to follow the conclusion of the witch Kosara’s story.

❤️What I loved: I devoured this book in one morning! Excellent characters, a captivating setting, great themes and emotional exploration, all topped off with a fast-paced plot will keep readers hooked until the very end.
I thoroughly enjoyed both books in this series, and would highly recommend them to fans of fantasy with a dark edge. Do yourself a favor and pick these up!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)

Acknowledgments & Disclaimers ✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Genoveva Dimova, and Tor Publishing, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book. ✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

I love this duology SO MUCH. This was the perfect sequel to Foul Days and the character development between that book and this one was INCREDIBLE. Kosara and Asen had tremendous growth and I fell a little bit more in love with each of them. The delightfully fast paced plot was SO entertaining. The humor alone is so wonderful, I just couldn't stop. If you are a fantasy lover who adores stories steeped in folklore and a hint of romance, this will be for you.

Thank you so much for sending me this ARC. Since it was the 2nd book, I made haste to read the first book and absolutely fell in love with the gritty, but vivid world and characters and continued one quickly with the 2nd book.

I loved Kosara and Asen together, but loved that there was some romance, but it wasn't the point of the story and didn't feel thrown together. The second book def' felt a lot more faster paced, but that doesn't diminish the first novel.

Loved the aspect of Kosara using the shadows and getting aspects, even as silly as a little baby toe.

Foul Days walked (sprinted?) so Monstrous Nights could run. Dimova created an enthralling story that was impossible to put down. This was full of dry humor, fascinating Bulgarian folklore/magic, and a pinch of romance. And a freaking giant chicken.

The way I was able to immediately dive into the story without feeling lost speaks volumes to how well developed the characters were in the first book. This book was non-stop plot. One resolution would lead to more questions until it was all tied up nicely in the end. Kosara continued her self-discovery in her journey to find the root of the strange new happenings in Chernograd. Asen’s struggle to reconcile his past was sad but believable. The fantasy (almost gothic) murder-mystery type vibes prevail throughout with just a little sprinkle of a tiny romance sub-plot.

This was a great duology that I will recommend to all fantasy lovers. Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the eARC!