The Shape of Monsters

The Moon Heresies #2

by Tessa Gratton

A talented heretic and the emperor she both loathes and loves will learn what monsters are really made of in the second installment of the Moon Heresies trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.
 
Iriset—prodigy, outlaw, now sunderer—has broken the Moon-Eater god’s prison at the heart of the empire. But the consequences of her actions land her in a city of monsters where the heretical magic of human architecture is freely practiced, and the only person she knows—and can trust—is Lyric, the emperor she’s lied to and loved in equal measure. As scheming kings and capricious gods drive them towards different extremes, they soon realize that to find their way home, they must remake the world…at the risk of breaking it forever.

Praise for the Moon Heresies
 
"Laced with a vivid sensuality." —Jacqueline Carey,  New York Times  bestselling author of  Kushiel's Dart 

"A beautiful, elegant, passionate novel. A triumph and a delight from start to finish." —Antonia Hodgson, author of  The Raven Scholar 

“Sensual and suspenseful.” — Publishers Weekly
 
"A lush story of dangerous intrigue in an intricate and utterly unique world." —C. S. Pacat, author of Captive Prince 
 

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Adult, Fiction

560 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 16, 2026

About the author

Tessa Gratton is the author of adult and YA SFF novels and short stories that have been translated into twenty-two languages, nominated twice for the Otherwise Award, and several have been Junior Library Guild Selections. Her most recent novels are the dark queer fairy tales Strange Grace and Night Shine, and queer the Shakespeare retelling Lady Hotspur. Her upcoming work includes the YA fantasy Chaos and Flame (2023), and novels of Star Wars: The High Republic. Though she has lived all over the world, she currently resides at the edge of the Kansas prairie with her wife. Queer, nonbinary, she/any.

Reviews

[Siavahda · Rating 5 out of 5]

1/11/25: ACTUALLY screamed, and when I tell you I RAN to preorder--!!!!

15/4/26: think I need to reread before I review it, but THANKS I LOVED IT!

[J. L. R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shape of Monsters is the second and newest book in the ongoing Moon Heresies series by Tessa Gratton, following The Mercy-Makers, which I’ve reviewed here last year. Both books are thoughtful, character-driven stories with a unique magic system, steamy sex scenes, and complicated relationships. They’re a little hard to recommend; the prose is more lyrical than the standard fast-paced fantasy novel, yet the heart of the story lies in its romantic and sexual relationships, making it a romantasy that probably won’t work well for that genre’s primary readership. That being said, I really enjoyed this one. Even more so than the first book, this is a book that revels in sensuality, in melancholy, and in mood at the expense of a thrilling plot. I don’t think it will work for many, but if you’re conceptually interested in romance-forward fantasy with lush prose and a weird world, they’re worth the read.

The rest of this review is going to spoil the first book, so if you haven’t read it yet, you’ve been warned!

At the end of The Mercy-Makers, Iriset and Lyric (rebellious architect and devoted emperor respectively) vanished from their city at the height of a brewing uprising. When this book begins, the two plummet from the sky into the same city - only this time, Iriset’s instinctual magic has pulled them back 400 years into the past. This is the so-called Apostasy Age, where the unraveled Moon-Eater is whole, human architecture is all the rage, and few people have heard of Silence. It’s a city of the transformed, where people can have feathers for hair, augmented limbs and bones, strange eyes and incredible powers. Iriset is enthralled by this world, free from the constraining influence of the Holy Design she loathes, while Lyric is appalled at a world so antithetical to his deepest beliefs.

But it doesn’t take long for events to transpire in such a way as to imply to both its protagonists and to us as readers that Iriset and Lyric are actually the mythical figures of Syr and Aharte themselves, with Iriset forced to create the very religion and political system she loathes in order to keep unstable magic from destroying the city, and Lyric grappling with the bizarre revelation that he is in some ways his own god, which seems to mean that his faith is misplaced.

While The Mercy-Makers is propelled forward by Iriset’s quest to free her father and eventually to overthrow the empire while keeping her true identity hidden, The Shape of Monsters lacks such a clear propulsive plot threat. Instead, it focuses on Iriset and Lyric’s complicated relationship, their worldview-altering revelations, a lot of interesting and weird worldbuilding, and a fundamental question of how should those of us enjoying wonderful lives in the heart of Empire relate to the rest of the world? What does it mean to be politically or morally aligned against a system that benefits you? Would you be willing to throw your ideals away for the sake of your friends, family, and loved ones?

I don’t know how Ursula K. Le Guin would have felt about these books, but they do remind of me her famous “carrier bag of fiction” essay, in which (to simplify to a fault) questions the need for one singular conflict-focused shape of stories. The Shape of Monsters has conflict aplenty, but not in the traditional kind. Instead, it’s a story about grappling with your own desires and beliefs when you find them shaken. It’s a story about love and sex and the messy nature of relationships. It’s a story about wanting to keep your love with you and knowing that they need space to fly away.

I really don’t know who these books are quite for, aside from me, but I really liked this one quite a bit, and hope that Gratton gets to conclude the trilogy next year.

The Mercy Makers is set to publish June 16, 2026.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC.

Between The Mercy Makers having less than 400 ratings on Goodreads and Tessa Gratton herself saying in the afterword of this book that she's not sure if she'll ever finish this trilogy, I am deeply, deeply concerned that we are not going to get a conclusion to this story, which is unfortunate, because this one ends on another cliffhanger.

As far as books go, I think it does suffer a bit from Second Book Syndrome. Following the events of the first book, Isiret and Lyric end up in another place and spend the whole book trying to get home, rewrite history, etc. The new setting comes with its own new cast of characters who are intriguing to various degrees. The book continues to be very horny but not necessarily SEXY. I am unsure why there is such an emphasis on this. Meanwhile, the "modern day" timeline we left Amaranth in feels EXTREMELY underutilized. There are only four chapters in the ENTIRE book that are devoted to this, and I would have liked to spend more time here as Amaranth is a much more interesting character than, say, Lyric.

As for "scenes that jump out" there is a FAIRLY PROLONGED eyeball scene in this book; beware. There's also a weird god-sex scene; I found the one in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms to be better as far as these go.

I have no indication of where the story is going to go from here, but I hope we ultimately do get a conclusion for it.

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Tessa Gratton for providing with me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Edit: for whatever reason, GoodReads is a hard time with saving my star rating, so I want to be clear. This was a solid 5/5 stars!

Oh. My. God. This was a phenomenal sequel. It definitely was easier to read as I understood the magic system, so I was not as lost as I was in the first book. But I would argue this was even better than book one! It was deeply complex and does not shy away from intense feelings of grief, anger, and pain, as well as love and the process of finding yourself in a strange world while also bridging that identity of who you were in the past. As in the first book, every single character was at the risk on being on the chopping block and I LOVED it! I loved trying to predict who lives and who dies, and being satisfied (but sad) when I was right.

This book follows Lyric and Iriset (and the numen!) immediately after the events of book one, where they find themselves in a land of monsters and human architecture, while Amaranth and Garnet deal with the aftermath of their sudden departure.

It was extremely interesting to see the growth of our main characters, Iriset and Lyric. They grew immensely in this book, and Tessa did not shy away from making them confront their belief systems and their own identity. Their growth as characters, both individually and as a couple, was really well paced and well done. Nothing felt rushed or out of the blue. Their thoughts and decisions made sense.

The other vast cast of characters were very complex and very vast. It's hard to list them without any spoilers, so I won't, but I will say, I am looking forward to more of Amaranth in the next book (I HOPE!). On the flip side, a certain character appearing in the last chapter was immensely disappointing as I was hoping we'd leave them behind in this book. But alas!

I will say, the one element of this book I did not enjoy was the large number of POVs. I felt like there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and I did not care for some of the characters, so I was like "damn, again?" when a certain animal-named character was narrating the chapters. I tallied the POVs, and there were nine (9!) narrators. Even though they all had their purpose, it felt very excessive. I know this book wasn't just Iriset's and Lyric's story, but everyone's story, and everyone was interconnected, but they were MY babies, and I wanted more of Iriset and Lyric.

[Kenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books, and Tessa Gratton for allowing me to receive an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Warning: this review contains slight spoilers








I want to start off by saying I loved The Shape of Monsters. The Moon Heresies has become my new obsession. I don’t think I have truly been this hooked since I read the Locked Tomb series.

This book was brilliant, poignant and intense. Lyric and Iriset are foils to each other in the story, which is not something I was expecting. The ways that they both change and really get to know themselves is beautiful. They both get what they have always wanted to a certain degree and find it is not what they thought it would be.

I cannot wait until the next book!!! Tessa Gratton is absolutely going on my automatic "buy this authors book" list.

[Monique Tutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has become one of my all-time favorites. The prose are stunning — lyrical, ambitious, and dreamlike in the way it pushes boundaries while feeling deeply emotional. Every part of the world feels alive, from the magic system to the layers of political intrigue woven throughout the story.

What makes the series stand out to me, though, are Iriset and Lyric. They’re messy, complicated, and deeply flawed in ways that make them feel incredibly real. After the explosive opening, the story settles into a slower, more immersive pace that allows the world and characters to fully breathe, and I thought that worked perfectly. Then, by the final stretch, the tension builds all over again in a way that completely hooked me.

I’m so invested in this story and already counting down the time until the next installment. I NEED IT, TESSA!!

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is absolutely one of my favorite series of all time. The prose was gorgeous, heady, boundary-pushing, Joycean, incredible. Iriset is incredible - complicated, torn, ecstatic (haha), and so vividly painted. The pacing felt a bit slower to me like a lush sprawl after a very tense opening and I really felt that it worked so well - and then ratcheted right up at the 90% mark.

I am so completely ready for the third. I am SO EXCITED!!! Tessa Gratton, the author you are <3

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this series. The world and magic system are so lush and intricate, and I find all the political intrigue utterly brilliant.

Iriset and Lyric are deeply flawed yet fascinating main characters, and I think that’s what makes their story arcs so interesting to follow.

I’m so engaged with this series and I cannot wait for the next one!