“Life as the loyal, simpering sidekick to one of the region’s top mad scientists hasn’t turned out to be nearly as glamorous as he’d been led to believe.”

Whatever happened to Igor?
Following decades of torture at the hands of his cruel master Victor Frankenstein, the once-downtrodden and pathetic Igor finally rises up and walks out on Victor, in the hope of finding a fulfilling life-less-ordinary elsewhere.
Instead, something wicked his way came, and Igor finds his way to Castlemaine, an accursed village nestled deep in the Carpathian Mountains, where terrors stalk the waking world and ale is more expensive than in London. Among the perverted inhabitants and spooky-goings-on, Igor meets Esmerelda, the beautiful but occasionally violent daughter of Castlemaine’s homicidal innkeeper. Together, they find themselves in a whole heap of eerie trouble, fighting dark forces and demons, murderers, mediums and monsters, spirits and zombies, and, naturally, a very disturbing nun, all in the form of five neatly packaged adventures.

When I first started this book I have to admit I thought to myself that this is going to be a trek to get through as it is an extremely slow burner that relies on its depth of characterisation and description for its success… but I am so glad I stuck at it because I loved it. It is written in old gothic horror style and utilities iconic characters and storylines throughout to develop its plot, whilst having the iconic ‘Igor’ at the centre of it all. It was refreshing and quaint to read. Giving me Shelley meets Pratchett vibes it was not only atmospheric and gothic but downright hilarious. Bravo!

Do you ever wondered what happened to Victor Frankenstein’s servant Igor? Do you wonder where Igor grew up? Did he go to school? How did he become a servant for Frankenstein? Igor is tired of all the bad treatment by Frankenstein when he becomes angry. He decides to leave Frankenstein and try to find a normal life to live. When he happens upon a sign of arrows, telling him where that road goes and how far it is, he decides to go to Castlemaine as he is very tired and hungry. He hesitates for a minute as he has heard how awful Castlemaine is— full of monsters.. Igor finds the inn where he gets his dinner and a nice soft bed to sleep in. Will Igor hunt the monster that are disturbing Castlemaine? Esmeralda who is beautiful but a bit violent is the daughter of the innkeeper. Together they fight dark forces, demons, murderers, monsters and spirits.

The author has written an engaging story about Igor and his adventures in this novel. It is written in a mix of the classic and the original, the subtle and the overt. This is a novel for horror readers and sacrificial virgins! If you like horror, don’t forget to read this book!

Firstly, I would love to post this review on Goodreads, but there seems to be no listing for this book…

Castlemaine is a cursed village, the residents are either drinking or dying, sometimes both. Igor and Esme were interesting characters, Helsing was a bit of a letdown as a bumbling idiot.
The book did have some fun with famous characters, plays on words, dark humour, etc.
Reading this book was a delightful reprieve from everyday tedium and there were some gross parts (Simon the rat), and hilarious parts too. Definitely give this one a read!
Thank you to NetGalley, the authors, and Matador for a copy.

This was an entertaining and amusing book, I particularly enjoyed the author's voice and characters. This book could easily inspire DnD campaigns and other enjoyable shenanigans.

This book didn't work for me. I found the humour to be juvenile and crass and it often felt overly forced. I found it more irritating than amusing. Had the humour been clever or well-delivered and timed it may have worked but I personal found reading this book to be a chore.

The story was interesting in hindsight but I found that task of reading it unpleasant.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for giving me a free digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.