Title: Kill the Beast
Author: Serra Swift
Narrator: Moira Quirk
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: October 14, 2025
Print length: 309 pages
Audiobook length: 10 hours 40 minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library
Rating:
The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship―for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.
The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.
Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and―even more surprising―retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.
When the witch Ragnhild decrees that Alderic and Lyssa must gather the other ingredients to forge the weapon together, or else the spell will fail, Lyssa gets more than she bargained for. Alderic is ill-equipped for the task at hand, and almost guaranteed to get himself killed.
But as the two of them search for the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, they begin to forge a blooming friendship―one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.
Kill the Beast is a creative, often blood-soaked fairy tale retelling… and given the title, it’s really no surprise to discover exactly which fairy tale we find ourselves immersed in.
In this tale of vengeance and redemption, Lyssa has a fearsome reputation as “the Butcher”, a brutal sword for hire who specializes in killing trolls, goblins, and other magical menaces. But beyond that, Lyssa’s true purpose is killing Hounds — faerie-made creatures whose bloodthirsty rampages lead to mass deaths, and who have a reputation for being unkillable.
Thirteen years earlier, Lyssa saw her beloved older brother slaughtered by a creature known as the Beast, and vowed to avenge him. Over the years, her blood oath has led to successful quest after successful quest, but her ultimate quarry — the Beast — has remained elusive. When she receives a letter from a rich nobleman offering to hire her, she’s skeptical, until she realizes that he also wants to see the Beast dead.
Alderic is not what she’d expected. Beyond the drunken dandy who seems to only care about outrageously gaudy clothing, she finds a man who has a vengeance goal of his own. When the witch who acts as both mentor and spell-creator for Lyssa pronounces that she’ll need to work with Alderic to kill the Beast if they’re to have any chance of success, she hates the idea, but has no choice. The only thing she’s wanted all these years is to kill the Beast, and she’ll put up with Alderic’s company if she must if that’s the only way to get it done.
As they gather the ingredients they’ll need to forge a powerful enough weapon to destroy the Beast, Lyssa starts to see Alderic’s hidden depths. After near misses and dangerous encounters, their goal is within reach, but devastating secrets threaten to derail it all before the end.
The truth behind what’s going on is much (MUCH!) more shocking to Lyssa than it will be to any reader who’s ever watched a certain Disney movie (although Disney was never as bloody as Kill the Beast!). Still, despite a revelation that really isn’t much of a surprise, it’s enthralling to see how the story gets there, what the complicated explanations and origins turn out to be, and to see how the entire plot comes together.
Lyssa is a bristly, argumentative, thoroughly aggressive character who seems to have never met a problem that she couldn’t punch or stab into submission. She’s tough to love, yet we can understand how deeply wounded she is underneath the hard exterior — so even while wishing she’d stop and listen more often, or learn to control her blood lust, it’s hard not to empathize as well. Her partnership with Alderic leads to comic moments as well as surprisingly tender ones. Their friendship is strange and strained, but rings true.
In terms of pacing, the plot sags for a while as Lyssa and Alderic journey from place to place collecting the items they’ll need for the spell to forge a sword with enough magical power to kill the Beast. There are some tense set pieces, but it’s a lot of figuring out what they need, where to find it, how to get it, and then going through some sort of challenging circumstances to make it happen. The story is much more engaging when the focus is on the characters, their personal struggles, and their secrets. Collecting bits of stuff… not so much.
By the final third, Lyssa and Alderic’s quest picks up in terms of intensity and interest level. As hard truths are revealed, we learn just how much is truly at stake for each of them, which makes the entire story feel more dramatic and dire. I appreciated the climactic scenes and the realizations that come — practically too late — as Lyssa finally is forced to reconsider everything she’s held on to since her brother’s death and choose a path forward that might not be what she’d envisioned all along.
The audiobook for Kill the Beast is narrated by Moira Quirk, who’s been a favorite ever since I first listened to her narration of Gail Carriger’s Finishing School and Custard Protocol series. She’s quite wonderful here, especially when it comes to imbuing Lyssa and Alderic with distinct voices, but also at making the action sequences spring to life.
Kill the Beast is much darker in tone than I originally expected, but that’s okay. It’s a fairly grim story, but there are some nice little moments here and there to add a touch of lightness too. With storytelling flair and terrific characters, this is an enjoyable, compelling tale, and I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
This sounds like a good October read. Hope my library has some copies by then.