*The House of the Beast* was a novel that, unfortunately, wasn't for me. Throughout the story, I would have liked more action or perhaps to connect more with the characters. Despite the promising premise, I feel like I was never fully engaged, and at times it was hard to keep up with the pacing. I was going to rate it lower, but I have to admit that what I liked the most was the ending. That was the only moment when I really felt something, which made me appreciate the experience a bit more. However, it never fully captured my interest.

4.5/5 (will round up to 5/5)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

I regret reading this book.
Because I can’t stop thinking about it now. 😭

I could not put this book down for anything during the four days I spent reading it, it entirely consumed me.

Plot summary (keeping it as vague as possible): “House of the Beast” tells the story of a girl who, in a bid to save her ill mother, promises her father to join his prestigious family in their role as vessels for their house deity - the Dread Beast. However, upon her mother’s passing, there is nothing left for her besides being a pawn in her father’s schemes. That is until her god appears to her in the form of her secret companion and friend. Together, they start a journey towards revenge and victory over her father and family.

Everything in this book held me in its grip. From the very start, I was fully invested in the depth and conflicting layers of Alma’s character arc, fascinated and full of questions about the enigmatic Aster, and intrigued by their strange bond. And with every new character introduced into Alma’s story, I found more reason to love the book!

Beyond just the characters, there is never a dull moment. Every event or conversation held an intensity or excitement I couldn’t look away from - from the build up in the first part to the action and danger in the second part when they enter the Umbral Plane to seek their victory. By the last ten percent, I was pacing while reading because it had me in a heart-racing and emotional chokehold.

And did I not mention? This book has wonderfully drawn illustrations throughout! They give it the feel of a dark and lovely manga!

If you’re looking for a fantasy book that is both atmospheric and exciting, beautifully character driven yet full of suspense and wonder, and with surprises that will keep you on the edge of your seat and your heart in your throat… add this book to your TBR for when it releases on July 17th!

Thank you Avon Books, Harper Voyager US, and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

I had a ton of fun with this. Alma was a great protagonist, and I enjoyed the mystery of Aster’s motives and their relationship. I liked how driven Alma was by her goals, and the struggles she ran into as the world opened up to her after years of relative isolation–the conflict of that was great! The world was dark and atmospheric with gods, monsters, and creations like the Tinkerer’s Things. The side characters were likeable and allowed to go through their own arcs. I especially enjoyed Sevelie! It was a slow burn that delivered, and the ending fit the vibes of this story perfectly.

I loved all the illustrations as well; they were wonderful! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

I enjoyed this more than I thought and it’s definitely worth checking out. I would describe it as a dark fantasy about a girl hoping to enact revenge against her father with the help of her ‘imaginary’ friend. It gave One Dark Window vibes and I was here for it. It was a little slow at first but things very much pick up and are worth the wait (IMO). I’ve seen this described as having romantic elements and I mean… maybe? I wouldn’t describe it as a romance by any means (that or I missed it). Again, really enjoyed this one and I’m only knocking off one star because I thought the beginning was slow.

I read this book as an arc given to me by Harper voyage and Avon. I’m extremely thankful to have read this book. It is a fiction sci-fi book and I ate it up. I’m giving this book a five star review. I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. This is her debut book and can’t wait to see more read that she puts out.
The book is about a young woman, Alma, who was taken from her mom, who was ill. Her dad who she never met, who serves the beast. Her dad served the beast. She was taken to meet the beast and her arm was severed off. Anybody that serves, the beast loses their arm. Her Dad has her fend for herself. Because nobody likes her. She is a child born out of wedlock. She lives in a cottage on her own, defending for herself. Her dad checking up on her every now and then. She develops a friendship with an imaginary monster. The boy that is a monster is very mysterious. They developed a close friendship and come with schemes on how to take out down her dad when serving the beast. She has to challenge her dad for the position with the beast. Her monster/God helps her find her way. There’s a few twists and turns in this book. I don’t wanna give too much away. I will say this book was phenomenal.

I did not know what to expect when I started this book. The story sucks you in and keeps you needing to read just one more chapter to know! Although the very end had me a bit frustrated because it was not the end I realllllly wanted but man, there was so much happening! I had so many emotions the whole time and am glad to have read this as something different than my usual.

I cannot get over how much I love this book. I knew I would like it but WOW. I’m also not happy with the author for that ending.

Thank you for an arc of this book, truly!

This gripping, dark, emotional and rage inducing debut fantasy novel hit all the boxes. The world building along with the “magic” system was done spectacularly and explained well throughout the book. The character development and emotion incited by not only the main character but supporting characters as well makes this truly amazing. You can feel the rage, hurt and anger from Alma beginning to end.

The book truly hits on how easy it is to let yourself sink into dark emotions and how hard it is sometimes to remember the good in not only others but yourself.

And here we are - a book that is all five stars without any regrets. Absolutely a fab read!! This was a such a dark and whimsical and totally unexpected read that I am actually at a loss for words when trying to write a review!!

This was an ARC read thanks to NetGalley.

Honest review is 4.5 stars.

This story is told through a singular POV following our main character, Alma as she enters into a new life serving one of the four elder gods of the land. I would consider this book as a Young Adult read as there was no spice or intimate scenes, however there were numerous fighting and death scenes to watch out for if you have a weaker constitution.

I was interested in this book when I learned that the author is an illustrator for the graphic novel series of The Legend of Korra. She included illustrations throughout this book that really added to the story. I enjoyed every well-placed picture and let that immerse me more into the story.

Throughout the book, I was thinking of ways the story could go. I wasn't sure going into it if this is a standalone or series so I was thinking of twists that could have prolonged the story into a series. The direction of the story led to a fairly solid ending that can work either way. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and only feel disappointment that my first read-through is finished.

Early DNF- I was not able to get far into this book because it was not formatted for kindle and my neurospicy brain can’t handle the random breaks in the middle of sentences and no paragraph breaks.

I’m giving it an in the middle rating because I didn’t really get far enough to accurately judge it but also feel the fact it wasn’t formatted for kindle/an ebook should not affect my feedback ratio and also wanted to be able to provide feedback on this to the publisher as well. Might give this book another try later on through Amazon/Kindle if it’s formatted properly!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC!

I understand the formatting of the eARC was to preserve and show off the illustration in the book but having this in PDF made the book completely unreadable on a kindle for me. The text is too small on the page to read on even a Scribe and converting it to an epub makes the lines break at odd places. I wish the publisher just uploaded the clean text for review instead of the PDF.

I will check out this book when the book officially comes out and is available in an actual readable format. What’s up for review now hinders the reading experience too much.

I honestly can’t decide if this is a 1 star or 2 star read for me. Most likely this will end up with a 2 stars because I did begrudgingly finish it. Even though I 100% regret that decision. But I had hopes that the book was finally going to get good because so many people have given this 5 or 4 stars. Yet sadly that never happened. So clearly I don’t know what book everyone else read cause it’s definitely not what I read.

I think my biggest overall issue with the entire book would have to be one word: LACKING. This book was pitched as “High-Fantasy” yet I was waiting for an actual magic system to transpire. Plus typically in “High-Fantasy” worlds we get elaborate magical powers and world building. Instead we were given quick info dumping sessions that were briefly glossed over. Yet I still thought it’s ok, even though we’re lacking in world building surely this means we will have well thought out and intriguing cast of characters. Apparently no, that was even too much to ask for. Every single character was either boring or one note. Or they were extremely annoying and naive. I just don’t get it. This book had such a unique concept but for me the execution wasn’t there.

Overall, Would I recommend this book? Sadly no, which absolutely kills me cause I was highly anticipating this one. But unfortunately it wasn’t for me. Lastly big thank you to NetGalley & Harper Voyager for providing me with an arc to read and review in exchange for my honest opinions.

WOW so good!!! This was so unexpected and extremely impressive given it’s a debut novel for this author. I absolutely loved the depth that this story and these characters carried. Everything felt so multidimensional in these characters’ desires, vendettas, secrets, conflicts, … really everything! I was locked in from beginning to end and absolutely loved how visual this novel is - from the intricate physical drawings all the way through to the words on the page that painted a picture of such an elaborate and interesting world. This author also really excelled at crafting powerful moments for the main character that made me say ‘oh hell yeah’ out loud on multiple occasions.

My only issue would be towards the end where there was a fair amount of infodumping, which I would have preferred to get more bits and pieces of spread earlier through the story to help bring the ending together in a more impactful way. I had been feeling everything so intensely throughout the story but then became a bit detached in the ending as I was trying to process what was happening. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to others and think it will be a fantastic book club pick for all fantasy (and romantasy!) readers.

HUGE thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the digital ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Voyager for the ARC. I really wanted to like this but unfortunately it was not as enjoyable as I expected. I really like stories where the main characters are on a journey to take revenge, but this was barely satisfying. The relationship between Alma and Aster is pretty boring, like he does have a thing for death, but he's not a hot monster. I was expecting something more dangerous and tense, but everything in this story unfolds rather easily for Alma (not enough blood and gore and destruction for me), and the relationship with Aster also lacks tension, he mostly goes along with what Alma wants and we don't really see the starting stage of their relationship, so it's pretty boring. The side characters also lack depth. The world building is alright, The good part and reason why I give this 2.5 stars is the fight scenes. I love reading women fighting with swords, and there is a good amount of fighting, so I enjoyed that.

This was such a unique read and I loved every part of it. The characters and the world building were beautifully done. I will definitely be buying this book when it comes out!

I can not even compose into words how much I loved this book! It’s has the characters, the world building, plots with twist and turns. Love love how it was not saturated with romance. It’s the perfect touch of everything! 5/5 stars. Only set back is I have to wait till July to talk about this with my friends!!!

Where do I even begin? I don't imagine I would have enjoyed House of Beast more than I did. This was even more stunning and incredibly unique than I would have imagined. Every character felt real and unique, and each had reasons for you to both love and dislike them. Alma and Aster were a perfect duo, each with their flaws, but I loved them both regardless. The story was intricate and complex, motivations clear, politics and magic coming into every decision. Each of the Houses all felt well-developed. Those twists at the end caught me by surprise as well!

Thank you Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm still very excited to read this but the Kindle formatting was extremely off and very difficult to read, so I'll pick this up once published.

3-stars since NG requires it.

Shoutout to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for letting me read this early! This book was not something I personally thought I'd enjoy because I'm not a huge fan of romance fantasy but I thought the cover was creepy enough to be promising and I was correct! This book is full of horror (in the best way possible). To put it simply, it is a well thought out and developed story of a young girl who must essentially sell herself to death but in the process finds, you guessed it, an unexpected love. A very unexpected love. One thing I will say is if you can get your hands on a physical copy of this once it is released you will be delighted because it includes illustrations and the formatting of the pages is lovely. The formatting feels very purposeful as an added bonus to the story itself. If you like your protagonist to be smart and determined then this is a must read for you!

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this one. It was fast-paced and kept me intrigued. I think the author did a really good job with both the world building and with making the characters easy to connect with. Even the side characters didn't feel flat.

I appreciated that even though the story was about a young girl, she wasn't annoying or making incomprehensible decisions like what happens in a lot of YA. She also wasn't just inexplicably the best at everything all the time. I also liked her dynamic with Aster. Some of the reveals with him weren't surprises, but it still played out in a satisfying way.

Also, the illustrations were a nice touch. I think I'll have to get a physical copy at some point.