Monster Midwife by Lumen Reese

A big thanks to Lumen Reese, the author, who asked us to read and review her book. Monster Midwife was released on Oct 30th and you can order it here.

Monster Midwife is very different than the first book we read of hers, The Trial of the Lovebird Butcher. In this one, Alanna is a human slave in the fairy realm, tasked with helping mothers with their births. She becomes renowned for helping monsters with births and the opening chapters of this book have her traversing the Labyrinth to birth the Minotaur’s baby. By the end of the book, Alanna has run away, causing a war, and births the child of an Old God.

I sped through this book. I love a fey realm story. I love the dichotomy of their beauty masking their terribleness and Lumen nailed that. This book also has a lot of court intrigue and politics between the different fey kingdoms, so if that’s your sort of thing, then pick this book up!

Initially, this book reminded me, tone and story-wise, of Sarah J. Maas’ Court of Thorns and Roses. A handsome fey prince with ugliness inside, a kingdom that isn’t what it seems. The midwifery was the strongest part of this book, with the court intrigue and the romance between Alanna and Hasan being secondary. I wanted to see more of the connection growing between the two of them or more history to have them be as connected as they are. This book didn’t feel long at all, so I definitely wanted more!

It also feels like Lumen has set herself up for a potential series. There are some loose threads at the end that we don’t get tied up: what happened to the monster mothers and babies that Alanna birthed and then disappeared into the court’s system and how with the Old God Baby manifest itself and will Alanna come to regret helping birth it? I WANT TO KNOW!

Lumen Reese’s deeper jaunt into fantasy was lovely! I want to read more out of that incredible mind! -Ford

CW: starvation, slavery, graphic deliveries, birthing, and mentions of abortion.