Sending a huge thank you to the publisher, CLASH Books, for sending me a digital version of this Advanced Readers Copy! I would like to give an additional thank you to NetGalley for making my request for this ARC possible. Lastly, I have some messages for the author.

First, I want to say congratulations on getting published. Writing and working tirelessly to get your novella out in the world likely took a tremendous amount of effort, and I applaud that. Because you put so much of yourself into this, I suggest you stay away from this review. Unfortunately it is not the most positive.

So, without further ado readers, let us get into it. Of Beasts is a short, seventy-seven page queer horror novella about a priest who falls in love with the antichrist. Sounds right up my alley, honestly, so imagine how upset I was to find out it was far from it.

The most glaringly obvious issue with this is that our antichrist is SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD in love with a priest who is in his twenties. While Worma does not endorse this at any point, they also don’t really make it seem like a bad thing. In fact it almost seems romanticized.

Now, were this better written, I probably could have pushed this aside. Perhaps if there was a shred of nuance or clever storytelling, it would have been an interesting study of grooming. Maybe a nod to how in the bible the original translation was “man shall not lie with boy,” which was an indictment of pedophilia rather than homosexuality.

I digress. My next point is that Worma must not know the definition of subtlety. There is no real symbolism, no showing instead of telling. Worma just shoves in your face the way they want you to feel and think about these characters and their circumstances rather than just allow yourself to come to your own conclusions.

I will say that the last twenty pages were pretty okay. Solidly intriguing and fast paced, yet still lacking a certain something. The most frustrating element of all of this is that there is, without a doubt, potential here. I don’t believe this is an author incapable of writing something good or possibly even great, but unfortunately nothing landed.

Even so, I still encourage y’all to check Of Beasts out for yourself and decide what you think. If you are interested, this novella will be published February 10th, 2026. Here’s the publisher website.

Thank you to NetGalley for my e-ARC, and a special thank you to Clash Books for my physical copy with extra promo swag items!

I don’t even know where to begin this review because honestly, this was intense in more ways than I could have ever anticipated. I was immediately drawn to the cover art. Demonic lamb, what could get any more intriguing?!

A kinky sexual pastor falls for one of his local community members and attendees of his church congregation. As this kinky, queer horror story evolves we are left with the questions: whose love is stronger?, whose faith is strong enough to conquer the fears of their interconnected nightmares that start to overlap into reality.

This was a rapid read. From the literal first sentence til the end of the book, this was one wild rompous!

This story is not for anyone who is easily offended, has strong religious beliefs, has remotely any kind of issues (knowingly or subconsciously) towards/about the LGBTQ+ community, or alternative sexual activities.

As this book is publishing in February 2026, I hope that the editing issues will be resolved prior to the final printing.

Would I recommend this book? Fuck, yes! 5*

In this queer horror novel debut, a priest falls in love with the antichrist and even God can’t stop the horror it will bring.

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.

This queer horror love story hones in on the humanity of the Antichrist, a half-human entity as flawed, complex, and doomed as any other soul. With lyrical prose reminiscent of Clive Barker, blasphemy is redefined and love is tested. In Of Beasts, Worma explores if love is enough for someone born to be evil.

Of Beasts is M. Jane Worma's queer horror novel debut. Dante, a young Protestant, and Jude, a sadistic pastor of a small Texas church, are in a very taboo relationship they must keep secret from the world. Then … things start to happen. Weird things. They both start having dreams with a message. Dante is the Antichrist. Suffice to say, this book goes into the unhinged. The religious trauma and prose made this a compelling bite sized horror. Thank you to Clash Books & NetGalley for the ARC. You can pick this up from Clash Books' site when it publishes February 10, 2026!

Queer, horror and priest combined in one story? I have to read that! I like the element with the dreams, but the love between the two is also palpable. Definitely a cool book.

Reading this felt like a walk on a foggy night - quiet, contemplative, and eerie. By all measures by that alone I had hoped to have loved this novella, but I could not find myself to connect with Jude and Dante, both of whom felt like chess pieces more so than characters, though this may very well be the point. While poetic, I could not feel much for their romance - the yearning, the desperation - it all fell fairly flat to me and felt more so as a love built out of (in)convience of circumstances.

However, by premise alone this is still a fairly strong debut and I look forward to seeing how Worma evolves as an author - I just feel as though this may have needed a bit more time to cook and some stronger characterization.

This was fine. I did not go into this with very high expectations, to be completely honest, but I was so curious that I had to read. I'm a big fan of religious horror, and the concept of a horror romance between a pastor and the Antichrist was too intriguing to ignore. It's a quick read, and the writing itself isn't bad. But it's just kind of meh. I wish it would've picked a lane and stuck with it. It didn't convincingly pull off either horror or romance in my opinion. I also thought the age gap between the two main characters was weird, though I understand that there is meant to be a clear power imbalance between the two. In my opinion, there was no need for Dante to be 17 instead of 18, unless there is some sort of context I missed. I don't want to go too hard on this, because it truly was fine. I love the cover, and I liked some of the twists that it took. I liked the ending as well. There will definitely be people that love this, but it didn't work for me. Thank you so much to Netgalley and to CLASH Books for the ARC.

A deep and gripping horror of the conflict between religion and queerness. Amazing characters that have you enthralled in their world. Even though it's a short book, it drags you in deep, leaving you yearning for more. It questions destiny, tradition, love and fate. I loved every page of this story and hope there will be many more by this author.

there is nothing, NOTHING, i love more than a good rebel against what the powers on high deem you should do - especially when it concerns who you should love and how you should love them.

there's something almost memoir-esque about this, as i'm sure i've read countless times the god fearing character picking and choosing what tenets to abide by and ignoring others where convenient, and the way the true desire of the heart overcomes any divine intervention - from heaven or from hell - in this book is outstanding.

i loved it. the one downside is it's not long enough!! i wanted more.

I thought I knew more or less what I was getting into with this one, but was still VERY pleasantly surprised.

A pastor and the antichrist fall in love and chaos ensues—easy enough right? But this author manages to stuff some heavy topics into this novella without the work feeling bulky or pretentious. It’s magnificent.

I wanted to love this but I could only really muster up liking it and barely at that. The premise is so intriguing, a pastor falling for the Antichrist but Dante is so, normal that there's nothing to really distinguish him from a normal teenager. I know this book is more about the humanity of the Antichrist but I just couldn't bring myself to care about Dante and Jude. The prose is beautiful and there is a lot of ambiance but that's about all. It's incredibly short, and the characters spend the entire book completely avoiding the very thing that makes the premise interesting. Nothing of note really happens after Jude kills Dante. And given the supernatural origins of Jude's orders, it's incredibly unclear how he was supposed to carry them out after killing Dante. Then God just, gives up on them after they both leave their hometown. I went in expecting and hoping for a passion filled toxic romance between the saved and the damned and I left feeling unfulfilled. I was done with the book before I realized and the fact that it ends with several pages describing the characters walking only to end abruptly did not help with that.

I really enjoyed this novella. The writing style was an easy yet beautiful read with religious horror playing a big role in the plot. There is guilt and trauma laced throughout this book, along with dealing with being queer in a heavily religious setting.

Dante and Jude’s relationship was messed up and had a flare for the dramatic but ultimately I thought it was written really well. It was intense and a little worrisome at a few moments but reading how it all played out kept my interest.

Plot: 10/10
Pace: 10/10
Ending: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Enjoyability: 7/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Would I Recommend? Yes
Favorite Character: Jude

Favorite Quote: ❝ looking up at Jude with his sparkling, wicked eyes, glaring. They looked different, Jude realized. The cinnamon color was brighter, more like raw rubies. Staring into them, he thought they shined eerily similar to the ones from his dreams, when firelight danced across them. ❞

OF BEASTS reminded me of the album “PREACHER’S DAUGHTER” by Ethel Cain, which is the highest of praises in my book!

The relationship between Dante and Jude was murky and questionable, there is a certain power imbalance between the two given Jude’s high status in their local church and with him being a few years older than Dante, who we are often reminded is a teen. Their relationship complemented the darker aspects of the story quite well, the religious/spiritual and moral dubiousness went hand-in-hand and ultimately made for a compelling read. It took me a bit of time to become invested in the story but by the middle I was flying through the pages. The ending wasn’t where I thought the story would go and I must admit I was slightly disappointed, but I also understand why the author concluded Jude and Dante’s story the way they did. It was fitting, just not what I was anticipating.

I see great potential for M. Jane Worma as an author, I would like to read their work again in the future, I think they’d do quite well with a longer novel format. To say that short stories/novellas are quite hit or miss for me, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed OF BEASTS as much as I did, I commend the author for that!

This review was also posted to Goodreads.

I was very disappointed i dont know why it was necessary to have a 17/22 years old relationship and made me uncomfortable, its not something i like to read and enjoy to see and i gave a chance seeing the pastor was aware but it seemed it was actually never an issue and i cant agree when we know the reputation of the church and then about the actual plot i was waiting for him to become the antichrist but the ending was anticlimatic and made it like nothing happened so im not sure of the point being made, it felt more like a trauma porn than anything

the pacing of this book felt strange and anticlimactic for such a short book. the sexual relationship between the adult and teen was deeply unsettling, and i’m not sure how we were meant to interpret it. it read as explicit pedophilia, but the narrative didn’t treat it with the seriousness it deserved. instead, it came across more like a toxic relationship subplot, which felt deeply uncomfortable.

there were moments that seemed like they were trying to make a statement about religion, but those themes fell flat and came off more like religious trauma porn than a thoughtful critique.

it only took me about thirty minutes to read, but honestly, i don’t think it was worth the time.

1 ⭐️✖️✖️✖️✖️

I was drawn in to requesting it on the idea of religious horror. What it ended up being in a queer novella of a 23-24 year old priest in an abusive sexual relationship with a 17 year old boy/teen. Personal ick.

A queer horror novel about a pastor and the antichrist falling in love should be amazing… but sadly, the log line does most of the heavy lifting here.
The pacing? Rough. After the initial setup, the plot kind of drifts without much momentum. And the romantic/sexual tension between an adult and a teenager? Yikes — very uncomfortable. Add in heavy religious iconography (which, fair, I expected), but without a background in it, I found myself Googling things just to keep up.

This was a really enjoyably dark novella about the antichrist and his boyfriend, the local pastor. I'm hesitant to say more for sake of spoilers, but the writing was incredibly well done. It was a quick read that answered all my questions but left me wanting more.

I had high expectations of this novella, and it absolutely didn't disappoint. Queerness viewed through a religious lens is always going to be both insightful and intense, and Jude and Dante's inappropriate relationship is one that is deep, dark, and destructive. Worma doesn't flinch from the uncomfortable truths, and the taboo, while horrifying, is handled sensitively. The prose is beautiful, compelling, and full of longing.

Of Beasts is a queer horror about toxic love and beliefs that could destroy you, if you let them.

Falling in love with the antichrist? Sounds like a fun story. Sign me up. This story was really different than anything I’ve read before. I wanted more of it. Just seemed way too short. Didn’t really have enough time to connect to the characters and really build up the relationship between Dante and Jude. I think if this was a full novel, we could get more elements that would connect me with the world. I wanted more about Dante’s mom and Jude’s dad. The story felt rushed and I didn’t think it needed to be. I still really enjoyed the story but it made me long for more.