Half of the reason I picked up Of Beasts is because of the cover. I mean!!! Look at it!!! It's very striking. I also nabbed the novella because it's horror and gay.

However.

If I had known ahead of time that Dante, the "young man", was underage I never would have downloaded it in the first place. I'm not trying to be rude. This isn't a moral judgment on the author. I simply wasn't prepared for the experience. Of Beasts is described as "forbidden love" but it's actually just illegal? I don't care if Dante is the alleged Antichrist. He's in a teenager's body. Because of that, I'm not rooting for their relationship, I'm wanting Jude to get thrown in the trash. Period.

But I'm torn because, despite my distaste for the abusive relationship, of Jude's unhinged, controlling behavior and gross anger, this wasn't a badly written novella by any means. On the contrary, I'd say it's one of the best short pieces of fiction I've read this year, if not the best. It was incredibly readable. Very snappy.

Jude had SO much to answer for, though. Dante suffered so much. He was hurt when he didn't deserve it. What about Jude??? Idk. I just feel strongly that, by the end, nothing was resolved in a satisfying way (imo). It was difficult for me to buy into the ending after what Jude did. That doesn't make this a bad book or even a mid book. But I'm not entirely sure it's for me.

I'll definitely try Worma again in the future though because hot damn!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really liked this! Queer, erotic, religious horror is such an interesting genre and this novella captures it perfectly. I read this in nearly one sitting and really love the concept, relationship dynamic, and characters. Really great pacing and the prose had a lovely tone. The choice to have head-hopping narration between Dante and Jude worked well, too.

There were some minor criticisms from me, which kept this from being a 5 star read. Every time Dante was described as 'the teen' (rather than using his name or just with 'he') drew me out of the story more than it should have. I also wish there was a bit more to Dante and Jude's characterisations - I actually found the synopsis more revealing than the actual text! But that's also a sign of a good story for me - the characters were interesting as it stands, I just wish there was more of them because I feel like I could have gone absolutely feral for their dysfunctional dynamic.

I think this works well as a novella, but I think this would have absolutely blown me away as a full sized novel.

OH MY GOD. this quite literally may be the best horror novella of 2026 when it formally releases. there were moments where my jaw absolutely dropped, which i feel like is often an unattainable feat. i found myself going back to reread sections to figure out what the fuck just happened, and the book kept my interest until the very last page. layering in those themes of queer religious guilt alongside evil and sacrifice, it was so successful and kept the pacing throughout. if this is worma's debut, i can't wait to see what they do next.