Monstrous Heart, Claire McKenna
Monstrous Heart, Claire McKenna
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

Monstrous Heart

Author: Claire McKenna

Narrator: Elaine Claxton

Unabridged: 13 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 03/31/2020

Synopsis

A sensational debut novel: gothic, romantic gaslamp fantasy at it’s very best. A magical tale of intrigue on dangerous waters and a love story for the ages. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab and China Mieville Arden Beacon arrives in the salt-swept port of Vigil with a job to do. Tasked with using the magic in her blood to keep the lighthouse burning, she needs to prove herself worthy of her family name and her ancestors’ profession. But the coastline Arden must keep alight – battered by a sea teeming with colossal, ancient beasts – is far from the cultured, urban world she knows. It is a place of secrets, rumours and tight-lipped expectations of a woman’s place. More than anyone, the town folk whisper about Arden’s neighbour, Jonah Riven, the hunter of leviathans. They say he murdered his wife. They say he is as much a monster as his prey. Amidst all her determination and homesickness Arden cannot get this shadowy stranger out of her head. A plot swirls around the lighthouse keeper, the hunter and the authorities. Arden must make sense of these dark waters – before they wash her away.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lexi on May 04, 2025

3.75 ✧ Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna follows Arden Beacon as she arrives at the stormy, salt-swept port of Vigil, tasked with keeping the lighthouse’s flame alive through the blood magic coursing through her veins. But what should have been a simple, isolated duty becomes tangled when her br......more

Goodreads review by KellyAnn on July 17, 2022

I appear to be in the minority but I rather loved this gothic romantic historical-feel fantasy. There are lighthouses lit by magical flames, prehistoric sea creatures still populating the oceans, mysterious islands that aren't featured on any known maps and a secret eugenics society policing family......more

Goodreads review by Emma on April 12, 2020

I didn’t really understand what was going on with this story. The writing was very flowery but I didn’t really know what was being said! The world building was insufficient and the main character was annoying. The blurb for this book made the story sound very special but unfortunately this book wasn......more

Goodreads review by Bethan on October 16, 2019

Buckle up, nerds. Ever wanted your Brontës with blood tithe magic, plesiosaurs, and sisters of sappho? LITERALLY LOOK NO FURTHER. I first heard about this absolute arkenstone of a book at YALC 2019 and devoured the sampler in about 5 minutes. This was a fantasy world unlike anything I had read before.......more

Goodreads review by Aoife on December 19, 2022

DNF 73% Arden Beacon is a 27 year old woman in possession of a special kind of magic within her blood that means she is tasked with being a lightkeeper on a lonely island, keeping its inhabitants safe from monsters in the deep. As soon as Arden arrives in her new town, she is told terrifying tales of......more

Quotes

‘A wonderfully tortured and emotional mystery’SFX ‘A beautiful lighthouse keeper whose blood keeps the lamp alight; a Heathcliffian kraken-skinner living on the next door headland who may or may not have murdered his wife; a complex, steampunk world of eugenically determined magicians … what’s not to like?’Daily Mail

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