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Grimmwald #1
Grimmwald
For love
For legacy.
FOR SCIENCE!
Maxim Volt worked very hard NOT to become the local madman.
He didn’t plot doom upon his enemies (even when they deserved it).
He didn’t stitch together monsters with parts 'recycled' from the local graveyard.
Why, he barely allowed himself a maniacal laugh or two!
And yet, he still somehow ended up getting kicked out of university, banished from the family estate, and inheriting a decrepit castle high in the mountains of Eastern Europe, complete with a spooky but devoted maid. And on top of that, he finds himself caring for an injured werewolf girl, reuniting with his manic yandere lab assistant, and gathering allies to fight a mechanized industrialist looking to usurp him.
Because while he might not be mad, he is the master of Grimmwald Castle. And no one’s taking that or the women who love him without a fight.
Grimmwald is the latest haremlit book from Jay Aury! Featuring eldritch maids, busty werewolves, maniacal lab assistants with the hots for a good death ray, and plenty of mad science!
For legacy.
FOR SCIENCE!
Maxim Volt worked very hard NOT to become the local madman.
He didn’t plot doom upon his enemies (even when they deserved it).
He didn’t stitch together monsters with parts 'recycled' from the local graveyard.
Why, he barely allowed himself a maniacal laugh or two!
And yet, he still somehow ended up getting kicked out of university, banished from the family estate, and inheriting a decrepit castle high in the mountains of Eastern Europe, complete with a spooky but devoted maid. And on top of that, he finds himself caring for an injured werewolf girl, reuniting with his manic yandere lab assistant, and gathering allies to fight a mechanized industrialist looking to usurp him.
Because while he might not be mad, he is the master of Grimmwald Castle. And no one’s taking that or the women who love him without a fight.
Grimmwald is the latest haremlit book from Jay Aury! Featuring eldritch maids, busty werewolves, maniacal lab assistants with the hots for a good death ray, and plenty of mad science!
353 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 30, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 13, 2025
This is basically the answer to "what if someone wrote a sexy fanfic set in the Girl Genius universe". I love Girl Genius (and settings like it), and I have no problems with the concept of sexy fanfic. And indeed, ever detail of this story seems…fine.
The world is good (I mean, obviously; it's Girl Genius with the serial numbers filed off), the characters are fine, the villain is suitably evil, the cliches are many but appropriate, the scene midway through the book where …really, there's nothing not to love.
Except for some reason it all left me a bit cold. Not sure if there's something I'm missing, or if I was just not in the right mood to appreciate it at the time. I'll probably give it another try one day.
The book is exactly what it looks like; if it looks appealing to you, you'll probably like it. Even if, for whatever reason, I didn't.
The world is good (I mean, obviously; it's Girl Genius with the serial numbers filed off), the characters are fine, the villain is suitably evil, the cliches are many but appropriate, the scene midway through the book where …really, there's nothing not to love.
Except for some reason it all left me a bit cold. Not sure if there's something I'm missing, or if I was just not in the right mood to appreciate it at the time. I'll probably give it another try one day.
The book is exactly what it looks like; if it looks appealing to you, you'll probably like it. Even if, for whatever reason, I didn't.
February 24, 2026
I really enjoyed this! Going into this I was expecting some quick and 'cheap' erotica ala long-form due to the few novella's I had read from the author.
As a principle, I abhor steampunk, but I made an exception because all the reviews seemed positive (and I had, frankly, spent too much time on goodreads' bad recommendations), and I had read a few of the author's books before and they were fine; Grimmwald impressed me! The Warhammer Fantasy/ Fun-house mirror Victorian era setting was super interesting, even more so because of the author's blatant satiric portrayal of the factory boss, his company and industrialization in general.
Grimmwald isnt subtle -The Boss' version of Grand!/Good!/Excellent! etc is literally 'Capital!' - and this is what makes the book so entertaining and interesting. Careful attention is also paid to setting the stage for the castle itself ( ) which made it feel ALIVE! ITS ALIVE *ehem*. I can really picture the falling-apart castle at the edge of a cliff -with spikes ofc being complementary-, the constant crackle of lightning, the endless disused rooms and basements holding all sorts of monsters and wonde-.... anyway, you get the point, and a good idea is given about the town, the valley in general, the forest, the vampiric castle, and the greater setup of the world in general (although this last part is necessarily more vague at this point).
As for the characters, I have to say I am quite interested in our 'young master' over here where he seems to be the right type of insane, responsible, intelligent (with ofc a good deal of plot armour and cheating skills as any good protagonist must have), caring and just a bit maniacal and sadistic. His background is interesting as it alludes to an interesting backstory certain to cause surprises -as it did in this book-, but not overly detailed as to slow the story or railroad our young master (beyond the railroading necessary to set up the story). The harem is slop, and the sex scenes a bit whatever, but its good fun! But it causes some problems.
Our lovely warewolf is interesting and I will accept that someone saving your life and helping you get revenge is enough reason to fall in love (or at least better than most harem settings) and fuck so quickly. Maybe its my weakness for warewolf girls, but in my books she passes the 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' test.
Our MC's lab assistant is much less justified, alluding, in fact screaming, of tropes very much common in these sorts of books. There may be some room to improve this with her interesting background, but in this book she is basically a living sex toy, albeit a very willing one. She definitely fails the 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' test.
Our castle's (and lord's) majordomo (is that the right word? I am definitely not using the one used by the author)is much more interesting! From being a tailor, to correctly clocking our mc as a harem protagonist and thus giving 'his girl' lingerie, working two jobs as a service worker, taking no shits from the villainous goons, hatching -and conducting- an elaborate revenge plot, having a very interesting so far unexplored backstory with the vamps, and being a revolutionary, or at least an advocate for the townspeoples, she should ace my harem novel test of 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' - alas almost at the end, and from my perspective out of the blue, she declares her unwaring loyalty to the master of the castle -which I can excuse because training to be the majordomo was her entire life so far- and has sex with him in a carriage... She begrudgingly passes the test because I liked the book and the sex scene is short and not referenced again.
Finally, the MOST INTERESTING CHARACTER OF ALL: MOIRA (see how I remembered her name all of the sudden? much to think about). Simply put, I am in love with her and her mystery. Her dark eyes, her floating, her popping up silently everywhere, her endless databank of anecdotes that spans centuries which -at her age- she shouldnt even be able to have memorized, her choice of inheritor and the knowledge attached to it, her being drained away from the castle, her... uhhhh... skills in making men... disappear in the dark, like literally, her conspicuousness paleness and her... uh... powers. I wanna know MORE, and frankly she would be the person I would be most interested to see start a relationship with the MC or, even more interestingly though I would be a bit more disspointed, not.
I am excited to see where this goes, and can, for the moment, forgive the lews elements!
As a principle, I abhor steampunk, but I made an exception because all the reviews seemed positive (and I had, frankly, spent too much time on goodreads' bad recommendations), and I had read a few of the author's books before and they were fine; Grimmwald impressed me! The Warhammer Fantasy/ Fun-house mirror Victorian era setting was super interesting, even more so because of the author's blatant satiric portrayal of the factory boss, his company and industrialization in general.
Grimmwald isnt subtle -The Boss' version of Grand!/Good!/Excellent! etc is literally 'Capital!' - and this is what makes the book so entertaining and interesting. Careful attention is also paid to setting the stage for the castle itself ( ) which made it feel ALIVE! ITS ALIVE *ehem*. I can really picture the falling-apart castle at the edge of a cliff -with spikes ofc being complementary-, the constant crackle of lightning, the endless disused rooms and basements holding all sorts of monsters and wonde-.... anyway, you get the point, and a good idea is given about the town, the valley in general, the forest, the vampiric castle, and the greater setup of the world in general (although this last part is necessarily more vague at this point).
As for the characters, I have to say I am quite interested in our 'young master' over here where he seems to be the right type of insane, responsible, intelligent (with ofc a good deal of plot armour and cheating skills as any good protagonist must have), caring and just a bit maniacal and sadistic. His background is interesting as it alludes to an interesting backstory certain to cause surprises -as it did in this book-, but not overly detailed as to slow the story or railroad our young master (beyond the railroading necessary to set up the story). The harem is slop, and the sex scenes a bit whatever, but its good fun! But it causes some problems.
Our lovely warewolf is interesting and I will accept that someone saving your life and helping you get revenge is enough reason to fall in love (or at least better than most harem settings) and fuck so quickly. Maybe its my weakness for warewolf girls, but in my books she passes the 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' test.
Our MC's lab assistant is much less justified, alluding, in fact screaming, of tropes very much common in these sorts of books. There may be some room to improve this with her interesting background, but in this book she is basically a living sex toy, albeit a very willing one. She definitely fails the 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' test.
Our castle's (and lord's) majordomo (is that the right word? I am definitely not using the one used by the author)is much more interesting! From being a tailor, to correctly clocking our mc as a harem protagonist and thus giving 'his girl' lingerie, working two jobs as a service worker, taking no shits from the villainous goons, hatching -and conducting- an elaborate revenge plot, having a very interesting so far unexplored backstory with the vamps, and being a revolutionary, or at least an advocate for the townspeoples, she should ace my harem novel test of 'is she portrayed as human(oid) or a living sex toy' - alas almost at the end, and from my perspective out of the blue, she declares her unwaring loyalty to the master of the castle -which I can excuse because training to be the majordomo was her entire life so far- and has sex with him in a carriage... She begrudgingly passes the test because I liked the book and the sex scene is short and not referenced again.
Finally, the MOST INTERESTING CHARACTER OF ALL: MOIRA (see how I remembered her name all of the sudden? much to think about). Simply put, I am in love with her and her mystery. Her dark eyes, her floating, her popping up silently everywhere, her endless databank of anecdotes that spans centuries which -at her age- she shouldnt even be able to have memorized, her choice of inheritor and the knowledge attached to it, her being drained away from the castle, her... uhhhh... skills in making men... disappear in the dark, like literally, her conspicuousness paleness and her... uh... powers. I wanna know MORE, and frankly she would be the person I would be most interested to see start a relationship with the MC or, even more interestingly though I would be a bit more disspointed, not.
I am excited to see where this goes, and can, for the moment, forgive the lews elements!
December 11, 2024
This was definitely an interesting and fun book to read.
The MC is a mad scientist that has been thrown out of his magical college and family, but inherits a large, gothic style castle near the Carpathian mountains in some alternate Earth setting. From there, he encounters various difficulties from uninvited guests to the townspeople trying to throw daughters at him, and then there is the antagonist.
He has 3 different women as lovers by the end of the book, and two he put zero effort into. The second was his former lover at college, so she had some previous effort that we don't really see outside of a mini-backstory. The lack of relationship building was a shame, as was the accelerated rate he gained the women. Still, they were interesting, and the Yandere one wasn't annoying like the trope often can be.
I look forward to where the author takes this series in book 2.
The MC is a mad scientist that has been thrown out of his magical college and family, but inherits a large, gothic style castle near the Carpathian mountains in some alternate Earth setting. From there, he encounters various difficulties from uninvited guests to the townspeople trying to throw daughters at him, and then there is the antagonist.
He has 3 different women as lovers by the end of the book, and two he put zero effort into. The second was his former lover at college, so she had some previous effort that we don't really see outside of a mini-backstory. The lack of relationship building was a shame, as was the accelerated rate he gained the women. Still, they were interesting, and the Yandere one wasn't annoying like the trope often can be.
I look forward to where the author takes this series in book 2.
January 24, 2025
Great intro to a series with a rather abrupt ending. 4/5
Ok, another haremlit,... The set setup is pretty nice, not as typical, and the male MC is written as a mad scientist. The story is really cohesive and flows rather well, the pacing is excellent, nothing feels like fluff, and the build-up and payoff are excellent. However that being said, the ending feels rather closed as far as a series goes...could be read as a standalone but as of now, it's difficult to see in what direction the series is going to go,...which could be intentional but a sneak peak into what is to come would have been nice.
Ok, another haremlit,... The set setup is pretty nice, not as typical, and the male MC is written as a mad scientist. The story is really cohesive and flows rather well, the pacing is excellent, nothing feels like fluff, and the build-up and payoff are excellent. However that being said, the ending feels rather closed as far as a series goes...could be read as a standalone but as of now, it's difficult to see in what direction the series is going to go,...which could be intentional but a sneak peak into what is to come would have been nice.
May 5, 2026
Fun, funny, formulaic 3 and a half stars
Comedy/harem/sex scenes
IF you took Young Frankenstein, Discworld, and MAD Magazine parodies of old EC comics like Tales from the Crypt, and then added titties, and sexual innuendo, and Monty Python quotes you'd have something just like this.
While the jokes are pretty derivative, there are plenty of them and they mostly all land.
If you've read Villain for Hire by Jay Aury then you've 50% read this already.
Comedy/harem/sex scenes
IF you took Young Frankenstein, Discworld, and MAD Magazine parodies of old EC comics like Tales from the Crypt, and then added titties, and sexual innuendo, and Monty Python quotes you'd have something just like this.
While the jokes are pretty derivative, there are plenty of them and they mostly all land.
If you've read Villain for Hire by Jay Aury then you've 50% read this already.
December 6, 2024
At first, I thought the synopsis was just a facsimile from Villain for Hire (another series by this author) good guy wearing a villain's cloak. Even though the character traits resemble the other series, they are well-placed and not lazily pasted.
Good Start for the series and I hope to read more.
Good Start for the series and I hope to read more.
December 20, 2024
Awesome!
I really loved reading this book. It was funny and entertaining. The story and characters were incredibly interesting and engaging. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. This book is definitely worth checking out.
I really loved reading this book. It was funny and entertaining. The story and characters were incredibly interesting and engaging. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. This book is definitely worth checking out.
December 21, 2024
Another Mad Romp
Jay manages to sum up the entire genre on Madlads and Madladies with this work. From the Aadams Family moto to the Girl Genius town of potential minions. Enjoy this romp down memory lane and watch out for flying cogs!
Jay manages to sum up the entire genre on Madlads and Madladies with this work. From the Aadams Family moto to the Girl Genius town of potential minions. Enjoy this romp down memory lane and watch out for flying cogs!
January 18, 2025
Spicy Mad Scientist fun!
Very well written, good characters, MC is a reluctant mad scientist inherits an Evil Castle. Hey becomes the benevolent tyrant everyone has been waiting for.
Lots of spicy scenes with 3 different female characters. Was done really well.
Very well written, good characters, MC is a reluctant mad scientist inherits an Evil Castle. Hey becomes the benevolent tyrant everyone has been waiting for.
Lots of spicy scenes with 3 different female characters. Was done really well.
January 26, 2025
OMG, better than a sentient octopod with a monocle
I got this book on a whim from a recommendation and was simply amazed. It's the first haremlit, mad scientist, steampunk book I've encountered and I loved it.
I got this book on a whim from a recommendation and was simply amazed. It's the first haremlit, mad scientist, steampunk book I've encountered and I loved it.
February 19, 2025
It was good, some pacing issues particularly with chemistry and I wanted it to be longer. Overall, it was interesting enough to make me want to continue the series. Really wished the author spent more time on the world building, feel there was a lot of potential left to the wayside.
December 1, 2024
Very good book
This is a fine steampunk fantasy harem adventure novel. It is well written and edited. I especially like the creepy maid Moira. I anxiously await the sequel.
This is a fine steampunk fantasy harem adventure novel. It is well written and edited. I especially like the creepy maid Moira. I anxiously await the sequel.
January 9, 2025
A great beginning!!!
This story has everything any reader could want,lots of very dark humor,monsters of questionable morals, evil idiot and a mad science for an MC!!!
This story has everything any reader could want,lots of very dark humor,monsters of questionable morals, evil idiot and a mad science for an MC!!!
April 11, 2025
Highly enjoyable.
April 15, 2025
Ridiculous over the top fun.
February 17, 2025
It has been a while since I read this. I remember it being fine but never quite managing good. Nothing wrong with that, they can’t all be Roger Zelazny.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews