Monumental

by Adam L.G. Nevill

A story of life and death in the wilderness, and a horrifying tale of extreme survival against supernatural powers, from the four times winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.

Disaster strikes quickly and without warning. What should have been a glorious weekend of kayaking and camping, in a secluded beauty spot, is transformed by a scream. The first crisis, initiating a deadly momentum that accelerates as the valley reveals itself to Marcus and his five companions.

They're trespassing on strictly private land. There's only one way out. An escape route closed until the next high tide fills the estuary. In twelve hours' time.

Recreation becomes survival.

Marooned, unable to summon help, harassed by dire and worsening circumstances, the ties that bind the expedition are stretched taut. If they snap, vital cooperation will unravel and the group members' damning secrets will be revealed.
Only the most courageous and committed have any chance against the area's inhabitants. But is any mind strong enough to endure a confrontation with the most hideous revelation of all? An ancient evil that coils beneath the valley's sinister folklore.

'Adam Nevill writes the scariest modern horror. Period. This man has his finger on something inherently evil ... insidious, bone-chilling, hair-raising, spine-tingling terror' - Sadie "Mother Horror" HartmannAdvanced "When you are in the mood for ritualistic cult horror, this is where you come . . . He zooms into the real horror as it's happening and the reader feels like they are right there--experiencing the whole scope of terror as an assault to all your senses. It's terrifying!" Sadie "Mother Horror" Hartmann

"This is a really excellent horror novel ... I think he's an absolutely fantastic explorer of the darker side of the world. And this is no exception to that ... And it's a book that combines two kinds of horror. It's a survival horror book. But it's also a fantastic work of Eldritch horror." CriminOlly

"The unspeakably loathsome central thing in MONUMENTAL is a repulsively outstanding horror that H.P. Lovecraft would’ve been proud of!" Ken Miller, Monsterzone

"I flew through Monumental by Adam Nevill (pun intended)! Isolated setting, folk horror, creature feature — this had all of my favorite things." Thrilled to Read

'Monumental is atmospheric, bone chilling and absolutely terrifying in the best way possible … No one does folk horror quite like Nevill.' Spooky Bookworm

"This is my 9th visit to the Nevill-verse and as much as I enjoy it, I am always thankful I do not live in it. Old gods and bloody traditions exist just underneath the surface of the bustling world or inhabit the abandoned spaces the modern world has forgotten." The Evil Read

"I absolutely recommend it to horror fans, particularly if you enjoy folk horror, complicated group dynamics, and/or ancient evil." Happy Goat Horror

"Another outstanding piece of horror fiction, packed full of imagery that lingers long after the reading is complete." Anthony Watson, Dark Musings

"Eloquent of prose, vivid in its portrayal of people at the end of their rope, and life-like in its imagery. Monumental is a complex, bloody, and frightening tale; wrought with danger, death, and a darkness that clings to you like a rash vest." Rob's Horror Room

"From the moment the scream rings out across the valley in the first chapter, the horrors barely let up ... a densely atmospheric slice of pure horror." Marcsbooks.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Folklore, Survival, Thriller, Adult Fiction, Audiobook

387 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2026

About the author

ADAM L. G. NEVILL was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is an author of horror fiction. Of his novels, The Ritual, Last Days, No One Gets Out Alive and The Reddening were all winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. He has also published three collections of short stories, with Some Will Not Sleep winning the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection, 2017.

Imaginarium adapted The Ritual and No One Gets Out Alive into feature films and more of his work is currently in development for the screen.

The author lives in Devon, England.

Reviews

[Rebecca Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic folk horror tale from Adam Nevill!

A group go kayaking in a secluded part of Devon. They plan to camp there, though the land is private, as they think they will not be noticed. Very early on in the book disaster strikes with one member of the group seriously injured and they are unable to escape until the tide comes in, which is hours away!

There is action from the very start, and the chapters are short and propulsive. The characters are introduced well, and it clear from the beginning that there is a lot of tension and conflict within the group, particularly between the protagonist, Marcus, and a few of the others in the group, for various reasons. The characters felt very realistic, they all had their flaws. Most of them weren't particularly likeable! The whole story takes place over just one day, and there is a lot going on as the group are separated.

I enjoyed Nevill's beautiful descriptive prose. He has such a skill for writing creepy, unsettling scenes! The creatures in this story were terrifying, as you can see from the cover of the book! There was a particular scene in the pagan temple that was very claustrophobic and ominous. In a way, I wish the book could have been longer and gone into more detail about the folklore and I would have liked to have known more details about the antagonists. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend this one of you liked his previous folk horror books, The Ritual, Cunning Folk, The Reddening and The Vessel.

[Tracy P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

5-stars of sheer terror.

Please check back for my full review already in process.

[Adrienne L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monumental has an incredibly atmospheric opening that hooks the reader immediately as our six hapless kayakers travel from the mouth of the sea through an estuary and into the pristine yet ominous Wyrm Valley. They know that this is privately owned land (unfair as that may be) and they shouldn't here, but see no harm in camping out for a few days at the river's edge. When they paddle into a tunnel of trees festooned with bones and don't turn back, the dread becomes palpable, at least to the reader if not our oblivious trespassers.

This opening was my favorite part of the book. Once the group lands and begins to set up camp, the creepy tension dissipated a little, although the story certainly ramped up in terms of action and gore pretty soon after. I've read several of Nevill's novels at this point, and all of his short stories that I can find (these are my favorites of his writing for actually unnerving me). I think readers who have enjoyed his other works will also enjoy Monumental. The setting, characters, and atmosphere reminded me of The Ritual and there are direct references to The Reddening. Nevill confirms the connections between his works in the afterward, which is worth reading and gave me a greater appreciation for this novel.

The final half of Monumental is very action-heavy and bloody (it reminded me here of some of David Sodergren's work). The creatures were pretty great, especially the...well, I don't want to spoil anything. I thought overall that this was a well-written and fun horror read, even if Nevill exchanged atmosphere for action mid-stroke.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll sit on a full review until closer to publication date in April.

The prose is sumptuous, classicly brilliant Nevill. A genuine wordsmith.

I did have a few issues with Monumental. I won't go into details with what, but Adam addressed most of them in his story notes at the back of the book. I like a writer that's unafraid.

I must admit, I prefer scary, lurking in the shadows Nevill. Monumental is in your face, almost action, Nevill.

Monumental is a solid addition to the Adam Nevill bibliography.

[Dale Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another super Adam Nevill book. He just has a way with words that no other writer I've read does. His prose just hits differently and sparks my imagination to conjure up the horrors he is trying to gets across. He doesn't tell you things, he skirts around the issue and let's your brain do the rest. Love it!

I know Adam is a fan of kayaking and I did wonder when that sport would make it's way into one of his stories. Im also glad to hear that kayaking groups are nothing like the one in this story!

The story is about a group of kayakers who go on a paddle into unknown territory, set up camp, and stumble upon something they most definitely wish they hadn't. They picked the wrong time of year for this trip! Personal grudges and resentments reside within some of the characters which makes them bicker a lot and engage in a "one up manship" approach. This really doesn't help their situation. And when the true horror of their situation is revealed, wow. There are a few nods of creeping dread to begin with, but this morphs into in your face terror once things start being revealed.

I feel I've waffled a bit in this review, more so than others, but the bottom line is, this is another great Adam Nevill book. Go check it out.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

yet another fantastic Folk Horror Tale by Adam Nevill.
the suspense, the rising Terror, the bloodshed...
i will never Go kayaking...

[Lyndsey Gollogly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolute banger from Adam Nevill. This had me feeling uneasy from the start. Six id say friends but as you get to know them more friends is a bit too generous decide to take a kayaking trip and end up trespassing on private land and private for a very good reason. The build up and suspense is so uncomfortable and i mean the whole book makes you feel constantly on edge. Neolithic gods and priests to cults and horrible human beings whats not to love. Highly recommend. Also the visuals you obtain from this book from scenery to monsters is just incredible.

[Steve Stred]

*Huge thank you to Adam for the digital ARC of this one!*

First, huge huge apology to Adam for not getting this one read and reviewed before release date! I thought my time management was totally on track, but alas I messed up! So, my apologies Adam!

Second, I have a theory about this novel after having read it, which I’ll share later down below, but outside of that, going into this, ‘Monumental’ was ticking a lot of boxes off for me for things I love in books. Great cover? Check! Adam Nevill as the author? Well, duh, check! Remote, isolated location? Check! Folklore content? Check! I mean, at this point, Adam could essentially turn a fast food restaurants menu into a folklore novel and I’d be glued to my Kindle!

And while Adam’s last novel took a detour away from isolated folklore – ‘All the Fiends of Hell’ was PHENOMENAL FYI – it always felt like he’d return to writing something such as this, so it was no surprise that he did. Saying that, if you follow Adam on any social media platform, you’ll undoubtably see his love of all things kayaking. Much like when Tim Lebbon writes about running/marathon’s in his books, it absolutely elevates the ‘realness’ of the events and Adam bringing kayaking into this novel worked so very very well.

What I liked: The novel follows a group of kayaking pals as they make their way to a remote estuary. A place that is supposed to be a ‘no-go’ area, they foolishly believe that they can make their way up stream and camp on the outskirts, nobody wiser regarding their intrusion. Made up of a variety of skill levels and fitness levels, they’ve gone on a number of paddles together, but nothing like this before.

Once on land, Marcus starts to set up his tent while dealing with others egos, an older woman’s struggles and his growing feelings for Jane. He doesn’t notice Jane wander off – none of them do – until she screams in pain. Once found, she’s in rough shape and Marcus knows they must get her help.

This is the point of no return in this novel. Once Marcus and two others – Nigel, the husband and Sophie, the wife – head off to find help, leaving Jane with the older woman, Mary and the other male, Julien, in the group, things continue to get weirder. They find stuff hanging in the trees, they find rocks and ruins and they come upon finely manicured farm land. And then they encounter the man who owns the estuary – Clement Colman. A former tech bro billionaire, he’s crafted a cult from former addicts, and insists that they’ve found a God deep below the building in the middle of their farm land.

Nevill has a gift of making every branch eerie and every shadow creepy as hell. And when scales start scraping the rock walls and the air grows heavy and rancid, every reader understands that all hell is about to break loose and Nevill won’t be holding back.

And Christ-all-mighty he doesn’t hold back.

We get bone clubs, Little Priests, an arthritically, twisted old woman and the reality that the estuary sits equally between here and there, between this realm and the next and with each time Jane is mentioned and she rambles in the throes of crossing over, her comments only work to confirm that nothing good comes from over there. Or from up there.

And I can’t state enough that while the God within this book is never fully ‘described,’ that’s the perfection of what makes this thing so terrifying.

The final quarter of this book is a pure sprint – or rather paddle – of survival. We see some glimmer of hope and some slight lightness at the end of the tunnel, though even that is left more to the readers interpretation.

The ending of this is bleak and solidly horrifying, letting the taste that we develop in our mouths to remain putrefying on our tongues after the last page is turned.

What I didn’t like: There was two things that I noticed, but both were really my own issue than anything of note!

The first – well, I found there was a lot of internal discussion happening for each character. It seemed that every other chapter a character would spend a solid few pages just going over the situation again as well as where they found themselves. I got that it was Nevill showing their deterioration, but I found it slowed a bit of forward momentum in later chapters. How many times could Marcus go over his own personal decisions from the weeks and months prior to this trip?

Second thing – there’s a moment where Marcus is essentially home free and could leave and survive and he decides to turn back and try and find his friends. I wanted to reach through my Kindle and strangle the man. Leave. Get help. Return. Instead he returned to the belly of the beast. Good grief, haha!

Why you should buy this: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’ve never read an Adam Nevill story (no matter the length) that doesn’t make me feel dirty and stained. As though what I’ve read has bleed through my device and coated my skin and bones. It’s a perpetual trademark that his writing has and I think it’s a combination of his prose and story structure.

‘Monumental’ is just that, another amazing vessel where Adam showcases his prowess to throw a group of people into the middle of nowhere and then beat them down blow-by-blow.

And as for my theory I mentioned before? Well, I felt like I read Adam’s take on a Conan tale. A horror novel that was really a sword-and-sorcery fantasy novel. We have a warrior – Marcus, who battles a force of evil – Clement, who has called forth a dragon – the God. Marcus needs to save the damsel in distress – Jane, and in this book, Marcus literally uses a sword against the Little Priests. Throw in the fact that he has a faithful steed – his kayak, and needs to travel across an inhospitable landscape – the Wyrm valley, and I rest my case. I’m probably wrong, but throw on some Iron Maiden as a soundtrack and I feel like you’ll get where I’m going here!

Once again, Nevill delivers a dark and wicked novel, one that will keep many readers up late at night, as only he can.

Fantastic.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuinely gripping read. Monumental had me completely locked in from the start, especially as someone who loves pagan horror. There’s a real sense of ancient, creeping dread woven through the story that feels both grounded and otherworldly at the same time.

What really stood out to me was the pacing. The time constraints placed on the characters created this constant pressure that genuinely affected how I read—I found myself speeding up, almost urging them forward, which is exactly what you want from this kind of story. It’s rare for a book to physically change your reading rhythm like that.

If I had one small wish, it would be for a little more lore. The world and its underlying mythology are so intriguing that I found myself wanting to dig even deeper into it. That said, it never detracted from the experience—in many ways, the restraint adds to the mystery and unease.

Overall, this is a brilliant piece of pagan horror: tense, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling in all the right ways. An easy five stars.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kayaking Adventure "Adam Nevill Style" The build up of "dread" in this story is so palpable you can almost taste it!
Adam Nevill never disappoints.

[Ken Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six sea kayakers paddle down a tidal estuary into a privately-owned valley in Devon, where they intend to camp for the night. Making their way along the narrowing estuary they reach marshy wetland, with bleached trees standing in an expanse of mudflats… and from the branches of these dead trees hang the bones of animals. Though they’re a little spooked by this sight, the group pushes on, traversing a creek worming its way through a marsh filled with brown reeds. After heading down a widening river overhung with trees, they reach a flat meadow, which they decide will be the place to pitch camp. But, after something ghastly happens to one of their group when she wanders into the trees clinging to the sloping side of the valley, the kayakers are plunged into an ever-worsening, nightmarish situation from which there is no escape until the next high tide…

MONUMENTAL is the latest novel from Adam Nevill, and it is a real page-turner! With the estuary’s tidal cycle enforcing a ticking clock element on the story, the reader knows that everything happening in the plot will be dictated by this tight timeline, plus the enclosed valley environment itself ensures this yarn becomes a nerve-shredding contained survival-horror experience that piles extra pressure onto the protagonists who find themselves with very restricted routes of escape.

I don’t want to go into too much detail with regard to the plot, but I will say that as soon as the novel begins Nevill immediately and effectively sketches-in the character dynamics between all the kayakers – and the way in which he introduces the Wyrm Valley really places you there in the landscape with the unsuspecting group. It will come as no surprise that MONUMENTAL deals with ancient pagan terror, with the particular horrors depicted here sticking in your mind long after you’ve closed the book. What’s really cool is the way Nevill has continued expanding upon his pantheon of fearful entities lurking in the same region of the UK that has also been featured in his books THE REDDENING, CUNNING FOLK and THE VESSEL. Though each of these novels are standalone stories, there is definitely the suggestion that South West England is the focal point of an accumulation of primordial evil.

The unspeakably loathsome central thing in MONUMENTAL is a repulsively outstanding horror that H.P. Lovecraft would’ve been proud of! And talking of classic writers of yesteryear, the action beats later in the story, involving lead character Marcus taking on swarms of pallid terrors, have the exciting vitality of Robert E. Howard’s propulsive prose. Honestly, this is a book that’s simultaneously horrific and extraordinarily exciting!

Nevill’s novels THE RITUAL and NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE have both been turned into movies, and MONUMENTAL is screaming to be adapted for the big screen too. Come on Hollywood, somebody make this into a movie now!

[Runesrasmussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Xroldx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy folk horror. Reads like a movie.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book definitely gives the same vibes as The Ritual, which is my favorite Adam Nevill book. Big fan of the mix of folk horror and cosmic horror. I got a little giddy when this one tied into previous books. I like that it's not a sequel, but it hints that it ties into an extended universe. Makes me wonder if in future books there will be more to tie the ancient pagan gods together, or maybe an explanation as to why they are concentrated in a certain area. Would definitely recommend, especially if you have read Adam Nevill books in the past, but even if you haven't you should still give it a go.

[Paul Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well... he has done it. For years Lost Girl was my favourite of Adams books, then Cunning Folk nabbed the top spot, that has now been usurped by Monumental. Which was, uh Monumental.
Another British Folklore Horror masterpiece.
6 members of a kayaking club venture by sea, through an estuary into a remote valley, what they are met with is the stuff of nightmares.

The descriptions of the landscape and weather, draw you in completely, you can smell the sea air, vividly see the estuary, feel the wind on your neck. His short story 'experiment' Wyrd and other Derelictions really served as a blueprint for the love of nature shown in this book.

Beware the Valley.

[Pan | Book Reviews and Recommendations · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Nevill has long been one of the most formidable voices in modern horror, and his latest novel, 'Monumental', proves once again why he is a master of nightmares.

This novel is a masterclass in escalating dread. An unrelenting descent from outdoor adventure into pagan terror that grips from the first scream and never loosens its hold.

What begins as a serene weekend of kayaking and camping, quickly mutates into a nightmare when Marcus and his companions stumble into a secluded valley that feels wrong from the moment they arrive.

Nevill excels at transforming the natural world into something hostile and uncanny, and here he weaponizes isolation, folklore, and the unforgiving landscape with chilling precision.

The group’s predicament, trapped on private land with no escape until the next high tide, creates a ticking clock that amplifies every moment of fear and tension.

As circumstances worsen, the psychological unraveling of the group becomes just as terrifying as the external threats.

Nevill’s talent for exposing the fractures within human relationships shines; secrets surface, loyalties strain, and survival becomes as much about confronting inner demons as escaping the horrors lurking in the valley.

The supernatural presence at the heart of the story is classic Nevill; ancient, inscrutable, utterly nightmarish and profoundly unsettling.

Monumental is both a brutal wilderness survival tale and a deeply atmospheric work of folk horror.

Fans of The Ritual, Cunning Folk and The Reddening will feel right at home, yet Nevill still manages to surprise with fresh, visceral terror and a sense of mythic menace that coils beneath every page.

This is Nevill at his best: immersive, harrowing, and monumentally haunting. A must‑read for anyone who craves horror that lingers looooooong after the final chapter.

[Hayley Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so completely immersed in this story I could almost smell the blood. Much more gory and action packed than his other novels, but just as creepy and atmospheric. Terrifying, bloody, and brilliant!

[The Blog Without a Face · Rating 3 out of 5]

Devon Has a God Problem
BWAF Score: 6/10

TL;DR: Nevill builds his horror from the ground up: a real Devon valley, a real tidal clock, and creatures older than the pyramids that have been waiting in the dark beneath both. The setting alone is worth the admission. What costs it is the pace, which the characters’ considerable baggage occasionally holds hostage. The valley delivers. Getting there takes patience.

The dead trees come first. Standing upright and bonewhite in the mudflats of the Wyrm Valley’s tidal estuary, roots long drowned by a sea that crept in millimeter by millimeter over three centuries until the trees simply could not hold any longer and died standing where they had grown, their bleached limbs raised at whatever angle the last living season had left them. Hanging from those limbs, strung on wispy brown twine from branches selected as thoughtfully as a butcher selects his hooks, the disarticulated remains of large animals: spinal columns intact, skulls gaping, femurs and ribcages arranged over the silted creek like the keys of a glockenspiel awaiting a hand that will not come. Six sea kayakers paddle beneath them in their bright neoprene, and the marsh does not acknowledge them, and there are no birds anywhere, and there never have been.

This is what Adam Nevill can do. He can make the English countryside feel like evidence.

Monumental is the third novel in what Nevill has quietly assembled into a pagan terror trilogy rooted in the Devon landscape where he now lives: The Ritual drew from Scandinavian forest and Nordic dark; The Reddening from the Brickburgh caves and a prehistoric coast; and here, born from seven years of sea kayaking the county’s estuaries and headlands, the Wyrm Valley, a real place known by another name, fenced from the public by steel and tidal inaccessibility, which Nevill entered by kayak and which his horror brain immediately understood as a location that had been waiting for exactly the kind of story he would tell. The bones in the trees are autobiographical. The dead wood rising from the mudflats is a real thing he saw. He stood there on the water and understood what it was for.

The novel’s structure is its cleverest device, a ticking clock made not from bombs or deadlines but from the ancient mechanism of the sea. Two tide cycles contain the entire story’s action, roughly fifteen hours, and once the group has paddled into the Wyrm Valley the creek empties beneath them like a bathtub draining, and they cannot leave until it fills again, and the thing that has been using this valley for eight thousand years knows this as well as any paddler with a tide chart. What makes it work is that the constraint is not symbolic. The water level is an actual problem. This is survival horror that requires you to have read the forecast.

The horror itself is wellmade and properly strange. The Little Priests, Nevill’s wights, pallid and grublike and no taller than a man’s waist, their faces masked in gull feathers, their mouths disproportionate with doublespined teeth, are rendered without apology and with a specific biological disgust; they feed the way parasites feed, with patience and method, and the cattle they’ve marked lie heaving in the valley’s upper pastures with their flanks opened to a slow careful work that is somehow more terrible than if they simply tore the animals apart. The god they serve, when it finally comes, is properly abominable. It is not a dragon and not a demon; it is older and wetter than either, a flying column of something that should not be flying, and Nevill has the discipline not to show it clearly, which is the only discipline that matters in this particular economy.

It is here, in the middle distance of Nevill’s career, that Monumental becomes legible as something other than a standalone exercise. He was born in Birmingham in 1969 and grew up between England and New Zealand, published through Pan Macmillan for a decade, and won four August Derleth Awards for Best Horror Novel across that period: The Ritual, Last Days, No One Gets Out Alive, The Reddening. His first story collection, Some Will Not Sleep, won the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection in 2017. Two of his novels have been adapted to film. He left Pan Macmillan in 2016 to found Ritual Limited, his own imprint, which he runs from Devon with a network of editors and cover artists and proofreaders that amounts to a small press with a single title on its backlist at any given time. He has attributed the departure to creative freedom, specifically the editorial suggestion that The Reddening did not need its god, which he rejected and then proved wrong. Monumental is the product of a man who has earned the right to trust his instincts about what his novels require, operating without anyone to tell him otherwise. That is both his freedom and his particular liability.

What the novel needs, and largely gets, is a protagonist worth following into a valley that wants to kill him. Marcus is the best thing Nevill has made here. Not a good man but a selfaware bad one, a compulsive philanderer who has reached the stage of his affliction where he can watch himself act and feel the familiar shame gathering even as he acts, a man who has burned down enough rooms that he has developed a studied manner of standing at the edge of things he’s set on fire and explaining to himself and others that the fire was inevitable. He is exhausting and convincing, and his attempt at decency in the valley, when what he wants is irrelevant and what he owes is the only currency that matters, produces the book’s most surprising emotional note. Nevill renders him entirely from the outside. The outside is sufficient.

The group that surrounds him is less uniformly successful. The interpersonal warfare is sharply observed: the married couple corroding each other, the pompous older paddler who treats every dangerous situation as an opportunity to demonstrate expertise he does not quite possess, the cancersurviving older woman who should not have made this paddle and knows it and came anyway. In the first third of the book this material does real atmospheric work, making the valley feel like a second pressure cooker around a group that arrived already inside one. But Nevill has given each of these people their own point of view chapters, and the multiple perspectives, convincing individually, accumulate a mass that slows the horror engine. The social grievances of the group begin to feel like the primary subject. The bones hanging from the trees begin to feel secondary. That is not the right proportion.

The same charge can be leveled at the novel’s longest single scene, in which the valley’s owner, a tech billionaire delivers an extended account of what the valley is and what he found there, while Marcus has been quietly drugged and cannot stand up. The scene earns its place. Clement Colman is an interesting monster, a man who believed he had made a bargain and has been discovering for years what he actually agreed to. His account of the Neolithic site beneath the valley is fascinating in the way that all wellresearched pagan prehistory is fascinating: the processional cursus, the ring of staves, the stone structure deposited with bones for five millennia, older than the first Egyptian pyramid. It is also the most dramatically inert passage in the book. Nevill knows the information is necessary. He has found the most honest way to deliver it and delivered it honestly. Honesty is not always the same thing as momentum.

There are moments in Monumental that remind you this is an author who has spent years outside, in the dark, on the water, watching what the tide does to land, and those moments justify everything around them. The dead white trees at the start of the journey, their roots underwater twice a day, their bark gone pale as driftwood. A meadow gone still with a weight that is not wind. A mine shaft filled with the bodies of a hundred birds heaped like something awaiting collection, which is precisely what they are. Nevill does not explain this image. He does not need to.

The valley is good. The horror is earned. The tidal clock is a machine that works. And on the night side of the novel, when the Priests are feeding and the god is in the sky and Marcus is crossing an open meadow with someone he cannot carry fast enough, Nevill recovers everything the long first half asked the reader to accept on credit, and he does it without sentimentality and without waste. The bones hanging from the dead white trees at the start of the journey do not feel like atmosphere by the end of it. They feel like a promise kept. Kept at some cost to pace. That is the honest accounting.

[Juan Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 This atmospheric folk horror was so much fun to read. Great creature design, eerie setting, great character work, excellent writing. Some expository chapters took me out of the story a little, but what a great and dark read.

[luceski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Nevill has a gift for taking the great outdoors and making it feel quietly cursed. Monumental follows a group of kayakers heading into The Wyrm Valley, and from the moment they arrive, there’s this creeping sense that the landscape is watching them a little too closely.

The group dynamic is… tense, to put it politely. Marcus, our central figure, is the kind of man who collects bad decisions like souvenirs. Nigel, the brittle leader of the trip, clearly has unresolved issues simmering under the surface. Jane, Sophie, Julian - everyone brings their own emotional baggage and it doesn’t take long for the cracks to show. You can practically feel the friction before anything supernatural even stirs.

Nevill leans into folk‑horror in a way that feels both earthy and uncanny: ancient rituals, strange symbols and a community living in the valley that seems just a little too devoted to its own mythology. The atmosphere is thick with unease and the further the group ventures, the more the valley feels like a trap disguised as wilderness.

My Thoughts:
I did enjoy Monumental, though it didn’t hit quite as hard for me as No One Gets Out Alive. Nevill’s writing is as atmospheric as ever - he knows exactly how to build dread and make the natural world feel hostile - but I didn’t connect with the characters as much this time. And Marcus… I spent a good portion of the book mentally shouting at him to stop making everything worse.

Still, the folk‑horror elements are wonderfully eerie and Nevill’s sense of tension is unmatched. It’s a slow, unsettling descent into something ancient and hungry, wrapped in that signature Nevill bleakness.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Nevill returns with another folk horror masterpiece, demonstrating his mastery of the genre. This instalment revisits expedition horror, echoing the hiking horrors of The Ritual and drawing on the events of The Reddening. It continues his Devonshire horror tradition. Once again, it’s a great read, featuring a solid cast of characters villains and supernatural horrors.

[Kim Hulme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic

A cracking read, I took two days to enjoy and I rebelled in both! Utterly recommend this immersive adventure, enjoy!

[eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever try to light a camp fire, it doesn't take for ages so you put some lighter fluid onto it and it goes up like a bonfire? That's the pacing in this book. The story and premise of this book were amazing and the visuals it carved into my brain were spooky as shit. Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to care for the characters as they were all just kinda shity people so it loses a star.

[Stephen Mead · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have liked Adam Nevills previous works, you will surely love this one too. Makes you feel uneasy in so many ways and keeps you glued to the pages!

[Sara Applegate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely horrifying, like watching a car crash I couldn't tear myself away. Watching Marcus fight the way he did was incredible and I was cheering for him by the end.

[Lyndsey Resnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

ALGN does it again. He's created another folk horror to match those that came before. A new old god, some acolytes, a forbidden place...everything a folk horror needs.
Two small details that didn't work for me in this one: Most of the group of kayakers were not likeable, and I think it would have helped if they had been. Also I could have done without the final chapter. I am seeing this more and more in books where the author adds, for me, too much detail. Some things can remain open-ended. The mystery works for me.

[Rachel Jeffares · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of kayakers make a poor decision to trespass on private land.

A lot of silly choices are made by all characters in this enjoyable folk horror.

[Amber Graham]

Just too long winded and needless complicated explanations and I just couldn’t get into it. There is a balance for me on convoluted prose vs I can no longer understand what or where your talking about and I’ve lost interest

[Collin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride! Adam Nevill delivers again. Folklore, outdoor survival, cults and dread, all my favorite things rolled up in one awesome book.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Adam's work, or anyone who loves some good cult horror.

Thank you for the advanced copy Adam, it will have a special spot on my bookcase!