Kosara is a fire witch living in a walled city where, for one week a year, monsters descend on the town. In an attempt to escape one of these monsters, Kosara trades her shadow to a collector in exchange for immediate passage outside the wall. Now in the bright, untroubled land outside the wall, Kosara begins the search to recover her shadow before she disappears. Aided by a local cop determined to capture a local crime boss, Kosara follows the trail of her shadow back inside the wall ultimately facing the monster she was trying to escape.
Foul Days is an entertaining and faced paced fantasy, adventure. It has subtle romance between Kosara and the cop and between Kosara and the Czar of Monsters. It contains elements to satisfy most fantasy readers. It may also appeal to young adult readers, but there is quite a bit of foul language. Recommended for a quick, enjoyable read.

This is a very cool premise created by Genoveva Dimova about to towns separated by a magical wall that keeps monsters on the one side. In this story we follow Kosara a witch who has grown up with monsters, but after something goes wrong, she ends up without her shadow, and magic, and enveloped in a crime ring. In this story we get to see her fight to get her shadow back but also confront some of her biggest fears and enemies. I really enjoyed the world building, and I look forward to what she does with the sequel!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up!

I did find the beginning of this one hard to get into, but once I was in, boy was I IN.

I found the worldbuilding in this fun, and very interesting. The folklore was really cool, as I haven't read much Slavic Folklore, so it was nice learning about some new things.

The plot was awesome, I loved the mystery to it, and the little twists along the way.
Our main character, Kosara, had some really great growth throughout the story.
The hint of romance was so enticing (and I hope it turns into more in book 2).

While it took me a bit to get around to this read, I do think that this is worth people's time! I will be recommending this one to people, and am now looking forward to the sequel later this year.

I freaking loved this so much. I was instantly hooked to the characters and god the plot. It felt like something i had never read before and i love that it was unique

DNF at 22%.

This had a cool premise, what with monsters only attacking on New Years and the separation between the cities, so that one might remain safe at the expense of the other. Otherwise, this felt very simplistically written. Despite comparisons to Naomi Novik, the only similarities this shares with her work is the inspiration of Eastern European folklore. Dimova's writing doesn't have the lush prose that accompanies Novik's dark fairytales.

In Russian, the two cities literally translate to "dark town" and "light town", and it was that kind of lack of depth or complexity was also present in the writing that drove me to put this book down. Especially, when Dimova also tries to handle the complex experience of fleeing a place of danger to a foreign city- essentially that of a fantasy refugee and fails to portray it with any kind of thoughtfulness.

I'm glad I stopped when I did, and maybe I'll check out this author's future work. This one didn't appeal to me, and I felt maybe best suited a YA audience.

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing both an eARC and an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The Witcher meets Naomi Novik? Say less. I need it now.

Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova is a fantasy novel set in the walled city of Chernograd. As a witch living there, Kosara has plenty of practice treating lycanthrope bites, bargaining with kikimoras, and slaying bloodsucking upirs. There’s only one monster she can’t defeat: her ex, the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters. She’s defied him one too many times and now he’s hunting her. Betrayed by someone close to her, Kosara’s only choice is to trade her shadow—the source of her powers—for a quick escape. Unfortunately, Kosara soon develops the deadly sickness that plagues shadowless witches—and only reclaiming her magic can cure her. To find it, she’s forced to team up with a suspiciously honorable detective. Even worse, all the clues point in a single direction: To get her shadow back, Kosara will have to face the Foul Days’ biggest threats without it. And she’s only got twelve days. But in a city where everyone is out for themselves, who can Kosara trust to assist her in outwitting the biggest monster from her past?

What isn't there to love? There's monsters, magic, and a slow burn romance. Foul Days redefines the very genre it inhabits. And so much more!

Genoveva Dimova has written a smart, captivating fantasy that borrows heavily from Russian/Slavic mythology.

Witch Kosara bargains away her shadow and must go on a quest to get it back before shadow sickness overwhelms her. Her quest will lead her to a way to save her city and get revenge on her powerful ex-lover.

I really liked this and will be looking for the conclusion to the duology. I’d recommend this to mid-teens and up, there’s some fairly adult themes but nothing terribly overt.

We need a new sub-genre of fantasy that is a little bit cozy, but still thrilling and mysterious. Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova is a book you want to read with a big cup of coffee under a large blanket. It gives the feel of some of the new adult fantasy, with the ambiance and detailed descriptions, but still has high fantasy themes of monsters, political strife, and adventure. I am really excited to have a new series to have in my to read list!

Thank you Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title! I can't wait for book two!

Will be discussed in upcoming Youtube video
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TL;DR: A unique urban fantasy that I think I read at the wrong time.
Source: NetGalley! Thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: I liked this! Kosara bargains away her shadow in a moment of desperation. And in attempting to retrieve it gets caught up in a plot that ties her past into the city’s futures.
Characters: The characters were very fun. I actually quite liked everyone in this.
Setting: The pitch on this one of ‘The Witcher meets Naomi Novik’ is very spot on. It feels very Slavic in origin, and unique in it’s setting.
Magic: I wish we had a bit more magic, but I suspect subsequent books will see more of that.

Thoughts:

Foul Days follows Kosara who in an attempt to outrun the monster that emotional abused her as a child, bargains away her witch’s shadow for safety. This causes her to loose her powers, and once safe she realizes the foolishness of this action. She sets out in what she hopes will be a simple attempt to retrieve the shadow. It’s not simple, not at all.

This book hit weird for me. I genuinely forgot I was reading it at times, I wasn’t incredibly excited to return to it when I put it down. Yet when I did pick it up I plowed through it, I wanted to know what was coming next and I found it creative, funny and fun. I genuinely think that was a me problem, I’ve been extra moody in my reading lately so I don’t blame the book for that. This one had a bit of everything and it was drawn together in a really fun way. Murder, a sweet and goofy ‘partner’, monsters, and humor.

I’d recommend this for anyone who enjoys urban fantasy that leans more fantastical. I don’t know if The Witcher is a good comp, but Naomi Novik in a urban setting seems spot on. It’s also the beginning of a series that I definitely would pick up again.

4 out of 5 missing shadows

A fast moving tale of two separated cities and monsters that haunt them.

The story follows a witch. And witch's powers lie in her shadow. Well, this witch looses hers in a gamble. On the worst day of the year, the Foul Day. It is a day (or 12) between the old year and the new, when all the ghosts, ghouls and monsters come knocking. And everything goes up in the air for our witch, Kosara. She has to team up with a cop, from the other side of the wall, to figure out how the gambler, a murder, and the King of Monsters are all connected.

It was a story full of adventure and action. Never stopping, never moving. But also full of hear, and heartbreak, and a loss of family, finding a new one, and of course growth as a person and as a witch.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and now need to see how the story ends in the second book.

This was a great start to a new duology! I love the folklore-inspired world Genoveva Dimova created and I can't wait to see where Kosara and Asen end up next.

When this book was pitched as "The Witcher meets Naomi Novak," I absolutely stopped in my tracks. WHAT?! SIGN ME THE EFF UP!!

This book was SO MUCH FUN! The monsters, the magic, the lowborn romance?! It absolutely pulled through for me in the best of ways and I am so happy that this is not the only book in the series and that we can expect more in the future. 10/10 would recommend!!

Brimming with magic, monsters, and Slavic folklore, FOUL DAYS is a delightfully dark debut that sucked me in from the very beginning. I adored this world that the author created and I loved the monsters and the mythology that the story is centered around. ⁣
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The story starts almost immediately when Kosara and a group of friends take shelter in a pub to wait out the monsters that plague the city during New Year’s. The monsters appear year round, but they are strongest this time of year. Kosara can defeat most monsters, with the exception of the Zmey. The worst of all of them, as he appears human but is anything but. Kosara comes up with a plan that will take her over the wall that divides her city from the monster-less one in hopes of avoiding the Zmey, and that’s when the story really takes off. ⁣
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Phenomenal world-building, incredible characters, and a fast-paced and exciting storyline combined to make this a book I couldn’t put down. I adored everything about this debut, but the highlight for me was Kosara trying to break away from the relationship she once shared with the Zmey. ⁣Much of the story focuses on how badly that relationship has affected all aspects of Kosara’s life, and the feeling of impossibility and hopelessness that she harbored really oozed off the pages. Their relationship was definitely an abusive and toxic one, and I appreciated how that brought a heavy dose of reality to this otherwise fantastical tale. ⁣
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All told, I adored this book and will be patiently waiting for the sequel. I’m giving this one all the stars and putting it on my favorites for the year shelf.

I thought this book was just the right level of fun and mysterious while balancing rather dark topics like domestic abuse. My only complaint is that I wanted more of all of the characters. More back story, more dialogue, more everything because they were all interesting in their own way. Thankfully this is going to be a series so I might just get the extra character development I’m looking for! The Slavic folklore included many creatures I’ve heard of before, but spun in a wonderfully unique way, and other monsters I wasn’t familiar with. You can tell the author has a great appreciation for the legends and myths she is recreating.

The Foul days are the series of days in which monsters flock to the walled city of Chernograd and everyone is on high alert. Kosara is
A witch who gives her shadow away to save her life at the start of these days and by the end finds herself teaming up with a detective to take down the Tsar of monsters. I really enjoyed the characters in this story and the mix of folklore. It’s packed full of interesting witches, monster hunters, monsters and a bit of a murder mystery. I can’t wait for the second book!

I kept waiting for this book to hook me, but it never did. This is mostly due to weak characterization. This book gets so wrapped up in the worldbuilding (admittedly, cool) and the slow mystery of our protagonist's dark backstory (admittedly, interesting) that it forgets to give our protagonist emotions. Even when our protagonist has lost everything dear to her, the typical reaction is one line of, "She sighed," and then the story moves briskly along. We never stop for reactions, or anticipation, or planning, or emotions of any kind.

Oh, and don't even get me started on this romance. No chemistry. No emotions. Just the very occasional, "Wow, he's hot isn't he? But, I'm not here to make friends so I'm not going to think about it." The book is just expecting you to fill in the romance yourself based on the bare minimum tropes it hints at.

The audiobook is well performed. The narrator includes a Bulgarian accent for some of the characters, making the setting and people in the book come alive.

A video review including this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tor Books, and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Foul Days is the first book in the dark fantasy duology The Witch's Compendium of Monsters, written by Genoveva Dimova and published by TOR. Drawing heavily from Slavic folklore, we have a dark twisted adventure, with an excellent atmosphere, following Kosara, a witch from the walled city of Chernograd, and her fight for survival against the Zmey, the Tsar of Monsters.

Persecuted by the Zmey, and after being betrayed by a friend, Kosara's only resource to flee is trading her shadow (the source of her powers) in exchange from illegal passage across the Wall to Belograd, a safe place for monsters. However, despite Belograd is a safe place, she starts experiencing a fast-acting version of the deadly illness that affects shadowless witches; her only cure is tracking down the smuggler that took her across the Wall.
When she finds the death of the smuggler, with all the hints pointing towards Chernograd, she will have to team up with the Belogradian detective (Asen) that is investigating the assassination; both will have to collaborate if they want to recover Kosara's shadow and survive.

I found Kosara to be a great character, sarcastic at points, but still somebody that wants to use his powers to protect Chernograd's people, her people; with time running down, she will have to swallow her pride and collaborate with Asen, especially as the Zmey seems to be the one holding her shadow. Despite being young, she has seen too much, and that is reflected in the ways she behaves; confidence needs to be gained.
In comparison, Asen may lack that knowledge, but he's guided by a strong sense of duty; even if that means breaking the rules. His relationship with Kosara doesn't start in the best way, but slowly, confidence gets gained as both are struggling with guilt, and share the objective of protecting the people of their respective cities. The slow burn relationship between both (I'm not sure I would call it romantic) is simply sweet.
The rest of the characters are less defined, outside of exceptions such as the own Zmey; it is interesting how the Zmey, apart from being the Tsar of Monsters, is practically the archetype of the toxic love, that partner that covers you in love to, subsequently, show its true face and become the most possessive and abusive individual.

The worldbuilding is simply excellent, drawing from that Slavic folklore, and including many of the creatures; most of them appear in encounters that have an episodic feeling like in The Witcher. I would like to point that the dichotomy between Chernograd/Belograd can also remember to East Berlin/West Berlin, separated by a wall that not only keeps the monsters inside, but the people; Chernograd rooted in tradition and with many inhabitants that drink or smoke to deal with their difficult situation.
The pacing is fast, without a single dull moment, but allowing some times to recover the breath between high-tension moments; and Dimova's writing enhances the reading experience, giving us many memorable passages.

Foul Days is an excellent novel, a great example of modern dark fantasy that uses folklore not only to build the world, but to also include a thoughtful social commentary. Dimova's debut is a candidate to be my book of the year, and I can't wait to read Monstrous Nights, the second book in this Witch's Compendium of Monsters.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I felt a little hesitant to start a longer book with fantasy themes often oppressive of some peoples. The pacing was good and with the character and world development at a reasonable amount of detail, I didn't have trouble.

Kosara was a great character. She was very relatable having her fears and desires. She was caught up enough in her own guilt and worry that she didn't pay close enough attention to others' manipulations. She lives in Chernograd which is on one side of a wall. Chernograd has witches, monster hunters, smugglers, thieves and some poverty. During the Foul Days at the start of the New Year, the monsters from Slavic mythology come out at night and so everyone must stay inside.

Belograd is on the other side of the wall, full of color and wealth. The wall keeps the monsters out so they have no fights, deaths or worries about monsters. There are smugglers and thieves though, and they are the ones who know how to get back and forth across the wall. People from Chernograd who manage to get to Belograd have to be quarantined (caged) during the full moon to make sure they don't turn into monsters. There are many kinds of monsters though.

Kosara because of her fear of a monster loses her witch shadow. The story focuses on her retrieving her shadow, her confidence. She finds out who her true friends and allies are. She makes a new frenemy, Asen, who is with the police in Belograd. They each have their own secrets and it is intriguing to watch them unfold and find common goals.

I love that this will be a series, The Witch's Compendium of Monsters, with Monstrous Nights in October 2024. I want to watch Kosara and Asen as they right wrongs and give more people a chance at a safe and comfortable life. There are more bad guys to put out of commission. And who doesn't want to learn more about monsters?

In Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, the author has created a detailed and complex novel that is emotional and full of action. The story moves quickly, but still allows time for the reader to get acquainted with Chernograd, Kosara and Bakharov as well as find out exactly why Zmey is a monster.
I love the way Kosara is written, her deep love for her city but also how she struggles with trust and learning to be strong, not trusting even herself. I love the fun references to other witches, like the house with legs or the mention of gingerbread. Witches are treated with respect in this novel, shown to be women of power, just like Kosara if she can learn to embrace her powers. I also like the way the author explores the differences between Chernograd and Belograd, the discrepancies but also the similarities. Best of all, I love the intrigue and romantic elements that leave me wanting more by the end of the novel.
If you love stories about strong women, witches and novels that are detailed and complex, this is the novel for you. It was exciting, full of intrigue and romance, Kosara is easy to fall in love with, with all her flaws but also strengths. The ending only whetted my appetite for more from this fantastically skilled author.