Book: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
Reviewed by Weird | weird.reads.books
Rating: 4.5/5
A fantastic historical fantasy following an immortal monster-slayer with a demon companion. If you enjoyed Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils , you will absolutely eat this up. Sullivan delivers a dark, emotionally rich story steeped in themes of loss, duty, love, and redemption, but it never takes itself too seriously. There’s humor woven throughout, often landing as sharp, dark wit that makes the heavier moments hit even harder. While this isn’t labeled as horror, it’s very much horror-adjacent, with lush, grotesque descriptions and occasional gore that genre readers will deeply appreciate.
I was lucky enough to receive an ALC of this audiobook, and the narration is truly top tier. Rory Barnett and Imogen Church bring these characters to life in a way that feels immersive and intentional. The novel is told through three distinct POVs. Our primary narrator is Professor Sebastian Grave of Lárnaca, an immortal monster-slayer who carries an indwelling demon named Sarmodel. Sarmodel serves as our second perspective, offering a deeply entertaining look at how maddening it is to be tethered to a human bound by morals when your own ambitions are far less pure. Their dynamic, especially as they hunt the Beast of Gévaudan, is sharp, witty, and endlessly compelling. The final POV belongs to Livia, a succubus and Sebastian’s housekeeper, whose narration is equal parts hilarious, sarcastic, and grim.
The story itself is non-linear, hopping between time periods with purpose. We see Sebastian twenty years earlier, when he falls in love with Antoine, and Sullivan captures the aching longing and inevitable heartbreak of an immortal loving a mortal with devastating precision. That emotional foundation makes Sebastian’s present-day(the year 1785) journey, centered on grief, healing, and reckoning, hit so much harder. It was genuinely refreshing to see a queer, werewolf historical fantasy/horror explore such complex emotional terrain while also weaving in Christian demonology, the Church, and folklore. The balance Sullivan strikes here is impressive, and it’s honestly wild that this is his debut novel.
My one small gripe comes from the audiobook format rather than the story itself. The Red Winter is written in a memoir style and includes numerous footnotes. Without access to a reader copy, it took me a while to realize these were footnotes rather than stylistic asides—something the narrators convey through inflection, but with a subtlety that can be easy to miss. That said, I loved this book enough to immediately pre-order a physical copy for a more immersive reread. Even with that limitation, the audiobook fully captures the tone and atmosphere I believe the author intended.
If you’re looking for a historical fantasy with eldritch horror elements, queer representation, and clever, confident storytelling, this deserves a spot at the top of your TBR.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Tor, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.