Emily A. Duncan is back with Blessed Monsters, the final book in her Something Dark and Holy trilogy, and she is bringing all the eyes, blood, and angst with her.
After the events of Ruthless Gods, we find our characters a bit worse for wear and scattered across the land. Nadya and Serefin wallow in regret and Malachiasz is barely holding on to who he is, but something was released on the mountaintop when they last saw each other, and it wants to destroy the world. Through the love and blood and betrayal they’ve endured, our monstrous trio must find a way to come together or watch their world fall into eternal darkness.
One thing Duncan has excelled at throughout the entirety of the Something Dark and Holy trilogy is the atmosphere. The moment you crack open one of her books, you are instantly transported into a bleak world of gods and monsters and blood. Each novel feels all encompassing and coming back into the real world after a reading session feels like a physical transition.
That said, Blessed Monsters, like its predecessors, has some pacing and repetitive issues. The first 200 or so pages of Blessed Monsters dragged a bit, even though the atmosphere and character growth was on point. But when the plot picked up, it really picked up. The ending sneaks up on you like a rip tide, but somehow you enjoy getting pulled under. The only other annoyance is Duncan’s propensity for repetition of words in her writing. It may be a stylistic thing to refer to characters and the “boy” or the “girl”, but this leads to a lot of repetition and no benefit that I can see.
So let’s talk about the boy and the girl, the monster and the cleric, the toxic couple that you can’t quite help but root for: Nadya and Malachiasz. From the safe distance of reality, the reader can revel in the angst and betrayal of this dark duo, and there is no shortage of that in Blessed Monsters. Duncan layers these characters so well, and while they are definitely disaster children in the truest sense, you can sense the depth of love she has for them. While Nadya and Malachiasz may be the main characters people think of when talking about this series, Serefin’s development is a thing to behold. The care Duncan put into each character, big or small, is evident from the start.
What stands out the most is Duncan’s ability to make a big, bloody, epic story of gods and monsters feel very human. There are times when readers may get a bit lost in the magic and mythology, but our main trio act as a human touchstone. Experiencing the story through Nadya, Malachiasz, and Serefin’s POVs brings the colossal scope of the world back into a manageable plot for us mere humans. Duncan walks the line between easily consumable story and over the top saga that readers get lost in, and she walks it well.
Endings are always hard. It’s what I lament on in nearly any review I write for a final book in a series. But Blessed Monsters stays true to the vibe and atmosphere of the Something Dark and Holy trilogy. While you need to have a hearty constitution, and preferably no arachnophobia, to survive this book, I can say that you will most likely be satisfied with the conclusion. I, along with many other readers, have enjoyed this dark and twisted tale of a cleric, a monster, and a prince. And now that they can rest, readers will be eagerly awaiting what darkness Duncan crafts next.
Blessed Monsters is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of April 6th 2021.
Will you be picking up Blessed Monsters? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The startling conclusion to the instant New York Times bestselling Something Dark and Holy trilogy
The girl, the monster, the prince, the queen.
They broke the world.
And some things can never be undone.
In Emily A. Duncan’s Blessed Monsters, they must unite once more to fight the dark chaos they’ve unleashed—but is it already too late?
