Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Monstrous Nights by Genoveva Dimova Narrator: Zura Johnson, Tim Campbell
Series: The Witch's Compendium of Monsters #2
Published by MacMillan Audio, Minotaur Books on October 22, 2024
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Pages: 362
Length: 10 hours, 48 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley
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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, which belonged to a series of young, magically powerful women lured into the deadly marriage with the Zmey that Kosara only narrowly escaped as a young woman. 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 the only lead on his latest case, one of several unsolved witch murders, even against the orders of his direct superior and the mayor. He’s convinced the smuggling kingpin Konstantin Karaivanov is behind them, and follows his trail to an underground monster auction—which leads him right back to Chernograd.
There, sinister events follow one after snow falls in midsummer, a witch with two shadows is found dead, monsters that should only appear during the Foul Days have been sighted, and cracks appear in the sky that only Kosara seems able to see. The barrier between worlds thins... and Kosara can’t help but feel her actions are the cause.
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.
Narration:
I’m appreciating the narrators for this series. There is one for Kosara and the chapters from her point of view and another for Asen and his chapters. The voices felt authentic for the region along with the accents. I am not knowledgeable enough to say they are accurate but were comfortable for me. There were distinct voices for characters. I really enjoyed the emotional tones which added to the performance. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Tim Campbell
Tim Campbell is an award winning actor and singer who lives in Los Angeles, CA. He works primarily in audiobook narration and voice over and has narrated hundreds of titles spanning almost every genre. He has won or been nominated for almost every major award in the audiobook industry, including most recently a 2018 Audie, a 2019 Audie (nom), a 2019 Voice Arts Award, and several Independent Audiobook and Audiofile Magazine Earphones awards.
He lived and trained in the UK and Germany, narrates as both an American and a Brit, and has studied performance diction in German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese, and Latin. He specializes in accents, dialects, and character work and holds three degrees in theater and music as well as graduating from the esteemed two year Great Books Colloquium of Pepperdine University.
In his other, musical life, Tim sings regularly with the LA Master Chorale, Los Angeles Opera, and in studio sessions for TV and Film. Highlights include principal ensemble in Candide at LA Opera, Courfeyrac in Les Miserables at Fresno Grand Opera, Jud in Oklahoma with Cabrillo Music Theater, and Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Pacific Opera Project and singing on the soundtrack for Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker and films such as Creed 2, Venom, and many others.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Glad you enjoyed.
I’m loving this series!
Ooooo. Mmmm. I’m so picky with this genre, but I’m curious.
I hear you. I can be picky too. I love this series so far.
Thank you for your review and very helpful overview of the whole series, Anne. I wasn’t remotely aware of this author, or the series and now it’s on my wishlist.
I’m really enjoying it. I hope you like it.
Perfect book for Halloween!
yes and for some reason I love this Slavic mythology.