I am a sucker for religious horror, and this one did not disappoint 👏🏼

Book Summary-
Dante, a protestant young man, and Jude, a sadistic pastor of a small Texas church, harbor a terrible secret from the world; they’re together. The two share a taboo and passionate relationship in hidden peace until the dreams start.

God speaks to them in visions of smoke and fire, night after night, until the two of them come to a truth they cannot ignore; Dante is the Antichrist, sent by God and urged to start off the apocalypse.

Dante refuses to participate in the end of the world and the damnation of souls. But Jude is a loyal pastor, indifferent to the suffering of others, and is compelled to do what God tells him; even if it means killing the love of his life.

I just wish this was longer and that they would have found and gotten their happy ending! Besides that, I highly recommend this!

Thank you, @clashbooks & @netgalley! Pub date is February 10, 2026

ok, fess up. Did this stort life as Destiel fan fic? Because it certainly reads like it did. There was a lot of potential here. The concept is great and it has the bones of a good story. But 90% of the book - or it's a short story really - is spent navel gazing at the torid forbidden relationship between a pastor and a 17 yr old boy. Neither character is fully realised. Instead the focus is on the 'just can't quit you even if you harm me' relationship mixed with some very off the peg antichrist is coming dreams. And yet the author has captured the shadow of what I believe they meant to portray here. They just don't have the chops to actually deliver on what was an interesting idea. This would have benefitted from the author writing something else and getting several years' worth more reps in before they attempted this.

This was really poorly done, even for a novella. The characterization was uneven, the stakes nonexistent, none of the themes the summary suggests explored by the plot.

I was, as many other reviewers have stated, very intrigued by the premise of this novella. I love the horror genre and am a fan of the inclusion of religious elements within horror stories, especially for situations such as the Antichrist and a pastor in love. Jude, the pastor in question, and Dante, the aforementioned Antichrist, are embroiled in a secret and vaguely concerning relationship in which Jude seems to hold all of the power - both as the older man and the religious leader of the community. Each have been called by God for their own task, and each of them is struggling against this calling.

While I greatly enjoyed the first half of the novella and the lead-up with the prophetic dreams, I did not love the second half. I would have liked a slower pace and more in-depth examination of the impact of Jude and Dante’s choices, as well as more insight into their motivations. We don’t get much character-building outside of their relationship and religion - just what each of the characters says about the other. I feel as if I don’t know either of them very well, and I place heavy value on characters within a story.

That being said, “Of Beasts” was still an intriguing, quick read that highlighted how people can struggle with what they want and what they should do - morals versus desires.

I wanted to like this more because it's soooo up my alley, but it kind of fell flat in the second half for me. It felt like the tension and action just fell apart. The horror aspect was not very strong. It was so plot driven and then nothing happened with the plot.
I saw other reviews talking about the age gap, Dante is 18. I don't like age gaps 99% of the time, but honestly this seemed like a realistic one and the author even emphasized the older guy never viewed him inappropriately when he was younger.
It was fine, yet overall felt like it was premature. Like the story needed more time to cook.
I definitely think there is an audience for it though.

3.5* rounded up

I love books that immediately pull you into the story, and this short novella definitely catches your attention in the first chapter.

The story focuses on the secret relationship between a young pastor and a teenager.

I really enjoyed reading this, and although I expected more from the ending, it’s still a really interesting novella. I think if you like books like The Wicker King, or shows like Hannibal, you will like Of Beasts too.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-arc from the publisher through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Welp. I fear I don’t get it…. Am I just dumb? I can’t tell 🥴

The story was fine. It kept my attention. There were some wtf moments, but I just didn’t get it overall. Even the pacing was a bit off at times. Maybe if I knew more about the Bible or Dante’s Inferno I would’ve been more equipped (maybe not?? IDEK!!!) but I kept having to yell at my husband, “Baaaaabe, is this a biblical reference?!”

Even though Dante was the Antichrist, I loved his character. He genuinely cared about the world and Jude, whereas Jude only cared about upholding “God’s word.” For a horror novel, there wasn’t much horror, but the little bits we got were the best parts…

Idk, I just expected more from a religious horror story. It didn’t help that the ending was abrupt and left me wanting so much more. Give it a shot and if you “get it” more than I do, please share with me!!! I AM BUT A GIRL!!! 🥺

A queer dark tale of love, religion and purpose. The novella was super quick to read, it might have been better to know the characters longer, but the fast pace also seemed to fit the story. If you're looking for a queer read with some body horror, and a equally toxic, yearning relationship, this is it.
I didn't feel the horror as much as I had hoped, it was more of a little gory medium-horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.
Review:
I was really excited for this book, a priest who falls for the antichrist and religious horror??? Sign me up. However I was kinda of let down character wise, I felt as though I couldn't connect with them and at times the POV switches became kind of muddy for me and I got lost on who's head I was in.
I think this story has insane potential and I do plan to re-read upon official release to see if anything has changed, but for now it just fell flat for me.

This book was described as 'a priest falls in love with the antichrist and even God can’t stop the horror it will bring'. That's not a fair representation of the story by my standards.
I would describe it as a queer horror where a teenage Antichrist and his older pastor-lover are caught in a blasphemous, abusive relationship as visions from God urge them toward the apocalypse. This isn't a horror with an opposite-attracts love story - but a relationship that's dark, messy and graphic (especially the opening paragraph).

I was so excited for this as I'm a sucker for religious horror. The weight of the upcoming apocalypse, and the prophetic nightmares haunting each character had brilliant imagery as they both faced the upcoming end. I'm also a sucker for people battling a destiny. Both main characters are given a job by God, and I love seeing how they grappled with their futures and what morality actually means.
There were some great moments from the prose, but otherwise I didn't find it anything special, and the run-on sentences were actually at times a little confusing for me. Additionally, while I appreciate it's a novella, this story would have benefitted from more breathing room. Character motivations aren't fully explored, consequences aren't fully realised, and I think the ending will be polarising.

Overall, while I'm happy to have read this, I wouldn't be racing to recommend it. If you know this type of horror is for you, you'll enjoy it, but I don't think it will convert the unbelieving.

Dante is a 17 (or 18) year old who is having a relationship with Jude, the pastor of a Texas church. They begin having dreams, supposedly from God, that reveal Dante is the Antichrist and must begin the apocalypse, and Jude must stop him.

OF BEASTS is part queer romance, part religious horror that’s heavier on descriptions of sex and very light on why any of this is happening. Without spoiling things, a major miracle occurs and doesn’t seem to phase anyone (including the reader), and with the low key (possibly) symbolic ending, this quick read offers an interesting premise but doesn’t deliver on anything it proposes.

Ooh, do I have some mixed feelings.

The idea of this is really interesting, and there are some very cool scenes. I will say that I struggled a lot with the POV violations---the POV jumps between characters at random, sometimes multiple times per page. Perhaps that was why the inner lives of these characters felt so oddly blank. There was a slow-burn exterior problem, but the characters were emotionally incomplete. There were also inconsistencies in what the characters believed or told themselves about certain things, which would have made for some fun unreliable narration if those choices had been more deliberate and intentional.

I'm someone who enjoys characters more than plot. In other words, if I plot is just a vehicle for the characters to shine, I'll happily ride along. In this, the characters felt underdeveloped and served as a vehicle for the plot/concept. For me, that's a struggle, but the concept was quite compelling. I thought this book was going to be a different kind of horror, but it's surprisingly tender. I still needed those ideas to be a bit more developed on the page, but this *is* a debut. I'd argue that it would have benefitted from some more rigorous developmental editing, but I liked it enough that I would check our Worma's writing in the future. I was also braced for some pretty serious religious trauma horror, and that's not what this is. It doesn't come down solidly on a stance about religion, despite Jude speaking out of both sides of his mouth (which I wish had been addressed more) and the impetus for the violence that occurs midway through. Don't get me wrong, there's darkness here, but it's a different type of narrative than I'm used to, which is a compliment.

Thank you to NetGalley and CLASH for the ARC.

I was really drawn to the premise, queer religious horror with a priest and the Antichrist. But Of Beasts didn’t quite work for me. My own issues with the age gap aside (I didn’t realize this before requesting) the story felt rushed, the characters’ motivations were murky, and the prose was hit or miss. There were some strong moments, but overall, it needed more space to fully land its ideas.
Thank you to Clash Books for the ARC!

I am very simple to intrigue, I see preacher falls for the antichrist I must read. But bizarrely of beasts is more complex and then just as simple as that premise. At a breakneck speed of 77 pages (less if you figure in acknowledgements) we are dropped into a pretty messed up relationship between a young preacher and a young member of his congregation (my issues with age gap aside I didn’t realize this before I requested the ARC unfortunately) that there after turns almost coy even with the characters own depths of feelings. I was oftentimes confused or feeling a little whiplash at just what these two guys motivations were. There was no time to let things breathe and just sit with it. I was reminded of “Don’t Let the Forest in” (despite the premises of the books being very different) but I didn’t find Jude and Dante’s codependent love as compelling or justified. Which is a shame because I love delving into religious juxtaposition. Midway through I liked where it was going and then…I fell off again and just wanted to hurry to the end. I will say because it’s so short, if you are curious there is no harm in loss of a couple hours it would take to read. It just wasn’t as fulfilling as I would have liked it to be

Of Beasts is everything a novella should be; readable and very much easy to drop into. This felt addictive from the off, the tension was stifulling. It's uncomfortable and messed up, but with an ending that took me by surprise. How it ends is weird and I very much enjoyed it. That is all I will say as not to ruin anything. Thank you to Clash Books for the gifted e-arc.

Coming from a queer horror enjoyer based out of Texas, I was really excited to get approved for this one.

I found myself wishing that the book was longer; I wanted more time with Jude and Dante at the end of the book. But, I think that point was so beautifully summarized by a quote at the end of Chapter 20, remembering that everything must end.

This book does deal with unbalanced power dynamics within a southern religious context, so please heed trigger warnings if such are needed for you. However, the religious parallels were well done and I was excited to start reading when I saw what the names of the characters were and how they connected to religion and myth.

Thank you to M. Jane Worma, CLASH Books, and NetGallery for the eARC! Release date will be February 9, 2026.

This cover and this premise really caught my eye -- the book, however, wasn't up to what I was hoping.

It was a quick read, with good body horror. However, it just felt, superficial. I didn't get to know the characters, or care about them. The ending was lacking.

2.5, rounded up.

Dark fantasy meets horror with some truly unsettling moments. The worldbuilding was unique, though the pacing felt uneven. An intriguing debut with serious potential.

A relationship between a pastor and the Antichrist, in a quiet Texan town, with an overarching feeling of Southern Gothic foreboding. How could I say no?

Of Beasts is a lot shorter than a typical book I'd read. Coming in at around 80 pages for my eBook version, I read it over the course of one morning. I have one big question for the author: why so short? Such a beautiful cover and such a promising blurb shouldn't be done and shelved in the space of three hours! Yes, I enjoyed the story, but it had so much more potential.

Firstly, the prose. It was easy to read, which I found welcoming, especially as I have never read the Bible and part of me was worried this book was going to be full of Biblical references and jargon that I would simply not be able to follow. Nevertheless, in the first half of the book, sometimes the prose felt overly simple. Scenes between Dante and Jude would have benefited from more grounded descriptions of place and setting, as there were a few "white room" moments in the first half of the book. Although a narrative does not necessarily need a flowery setting description to be effective, I feel that the Southern Gothic tones that had been put forward in the promotion of this book were lacking compared to expectation. If the author had taken a little more time to establish the characters' surroundings, this would have grounded the atmosphere of their scenes, and the characters' thoughts and feelings wouldn't have needed to be "told" to the reader.

In the second half of the book, however, I found myself pleasantly and gratefully surprised. Scenes of true Gothic horror, contemplation, beauty and anguish—such as Dante and Jude discussing their fates, or the entire heartfelt scene in the candlelit church—were handled marvellously. The prose flowed beautifully, and where I previously struggled to situate myself in a scene, Worma dragged me down along with their two leading men. These scenes were by far the strongest in the book: I could feel what the scene was showing me, rather than merely spectate it. I only wish that the prose in previous or surrounding scenes could have been handled with such care. I refer again to my initial complaint regarding the length of the book: an extra page here and there would have given the author more space to really explore the narrative they were telling us, set its tone, and let the characters do the rest.

On the topic of characters, despite the frequent detailing of Jude and Dante's thoughts, it took a little while for me to get a firm grasp of who they really were. This delay in characterisation meant that when Jude and Dante started having their nightmares, the emotions these caused in the pair did not seem all that impactful. I was pleased that by the end of the story, I found myself quite attached to Dante. His character was likeable and his development was linear and understandable. Jude, on the other hand, was not quite so straightforward. Having a conflicted character is one thing—conflicted characters with twisted motivations are the heart of Gothic stories—but inconsistency is another. Without letting the reader in on the reasons, or without at least providing the reader with enough clues as to the reasons, conflict becomes inconsistency, and this is Jude's flaw in Of Beasts. Whether this was the author's intention, I cannot say, but it meant that while I sympathised with Dante, moments where I feel I should have been invested in Jude took some effort. By the end of the book, Jude’s character had gained a firmer hold, and I cannot dispute that his character developed. However, I feel that he experienced less of a character arc and more of a set of character levels, in the sense that yes, he evolved, but not as naturally or progressively as Dante.

All in all, for a shorter book, Of Beasts was an enjoyable read that explored the conflicted destinies of two conflicted lovers. I do feel that this story would absolutely shine as a longer piece of work, though, where the author has more room to flex the Gothic writing muscles that this book scratched the surface of, and where we can be given the time to fully explore the characters’ mind and motivations, as well as immerse ourselves fully in the Southern Gothic atmosphere I had hoped for a little bit more of. For a debut publication, Worma has undoubtedly begun to show off their skills, and I hope they will continue adding modern Gothic works to their bibliography. Despite some rush, some clumsiness and some inconsistent decision-making, Of Beasts is a book worth reading, especially if you are a fan of conflicted, romantic torment, and finding the beautiful in the horrible. I also commend the author for tackling such delicate topics so sensitively and earnestly.

3.5 stars!

I want it to be known for the sake of posterity that I read this on pope selection day.

Dante finds himself inexplicably drawn to Jude, the local pastor, and the two have an relationship as obsessive as it is forbidden. When both begin to have dreams that reveal Dante as the antichrist and Jude as his killer, they simply can't stay away from one another. This bite-sized queer religious horror was a good time. It's pretty low on the horror elements and it reads more like a short story since it's so fast-paced. The premise is definitely compelling and there's enough genuine tension to keep you reading but it doesn't really go anywhere and the ending really felt like a throw away.

I think the good parts are great and the weaker parts were disappointing, but it's not going to waste your time and works great if you just want a quick fix of something more than a little blasphemous!

Thank you to M. Jane Worma and Clash Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Happy reading!