Review: Monstrous Nights by Genoveva Dimova

Kosara has reclaimed her shadow and her magic, returning peace to Chernograd. Her Ex, The Zsar of Monsters, has been successfully entrapped within the magical barrier separating Chernograd from Belograd and citizens can now freely travel between the two cities. All is as it should be, but Kosara cannot shake the feeling that something isn’t as it seems. She hears the Zmey reaching for her in her dreams and monsters that should have been banished have found their way back into Chernograd. She has not seen Detective Asen since they parted ways after their quest, but now powerful witches are turning up dead and the barrier between the living world and the one of monsters is fracturing and it might be their fault. Asen follows his own leads with the murders despite his superiors directing otherwise and finds himself back in Chernograd where he and Kosara join forces to uproot the truth. Kosara and Asen follow the clues and the bodies and uncover just how complicit they are in the state of current affairs.

If you’ve ever finished a book and wondered what happened to the central characters after they defeated evil, Genoveva Dimova reveals that it’s not so glamorous. Asen and Kosara successfully managed to trap the Zmey in the wall, but after a series of murders primarily targeting witches begin to surface they are soon dragged back into their last job and the ghosts that refused to stay buried. There are no confessed feelings or happily ever afters in store for these two and avoiding one another is impossible what with a bloodthirsty witch killer on the loose. Dimova brings on the slow-burn romance, monster pets, and delightful schemes to round out her Witch’s Compendium of Monsters duology.

If Foul Days is an adventurous mystery set alight with Slavik monsters, Monstrous Nights is its dark and violent sister that underpins the events of the first novel to bring further evil crashing down onto Chernograd. Everything rests on Kosara’s shoulders since she defeated the Zsar of Monsters and established herself as a source of strength in her community. Kosara harnesses tremendous power not only after her bout with the Zmey but with the twelve witch shadows now in her possession. Their presence threatens to change her completely as every passing spell alters her appearance at great personal cost. Meanwhile, Asen denies his connection to Kosara as he ruthlessly tracks the smuggler Konstantin Karaivanov, the man responsible for killing his wife several years ago. Monstrous Nights is my favorite kind of sequel, maintaining the humor but pulling apart the issues initially framed within Foul Days. Kosara and Asen are two people who just want to rest, read some romance novels, and continue to deny their feelings for each other, but they keep getting interrupted by the most absurd things imaginable. One thing I thoroughly enjoyed was the development with Asen and his Varkolak transformation. Dimova has previously featured monsters as characters but there had yet to be any kind of monstrous transformation among the main cast. As Asen adapts to his Varkolak side, he meets others like him in Chernograd, now his home as monsters cannot pass through the wall into Belograd. The Varkolak romance book club had me laughing and Asen getting way too into A Night of Passion With the Upir Lord was so adorable and unfortunately very on brand for him. The niche communities and personal moments are given much more time to evolve in Monstrous Nights as Kosara and Asen work to build peace on their terms. This sequel is just so good all around. Its protagonists weighed down by the past and guilt when all they want is to rest, Monstrous Nights is a thoroughly rewarding conclusion to a duology formed by magic and empowered by community.

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing this advance copy.

Trigger warnings: blood, violence, murder

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