The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing

Author: Marshall J. Moore

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 9/22/26

Publisher: Bantam

Categories: Horror, Humor, Fantasy, Paranormal

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Bantam for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A mad scientist’s apprentice, a witch’s cat, and a vampire’s wife walk into a haunted mansion…

Humor meets horror in this heartwarming tale of friendship, solidarity, and stolen body parts.

As the laboratory assistant to the brilliant but demanding Doctor, Igor spends his nights robbing graves, stitching together body parts, and ensuring that his master doesn’t electrocute himself (too badly). It’s thankless work, but Igor knows it’ll all be worth it once they finally succeed in the Doctor’s all-encompassing quest to create new life from dead flesh.

When a mob of peasants wielding torches and pitchforks drives them out of town (again), Igor and the Doctor relocate to the isolated Ravenwald Manor to resume their experiments. But Igor and the Doctor are not the only ones seeking refuge within the walls of Ravenwald. The manor is already home to a vampiric Count and his highly dissatisfied bride, Cornelia—and an enigmatic witch and her feline familiar, Grimalkin, intend to use it as the site of a magical ritual.

At Igor’s suggestion, the three pairs come to an uneasy agreement to cohabitate in Ravenwald, lest they attract the suspicion of the nearby village. In the wake of this truce, Igor, Cornelia, and Grimalkin soon begin to realize that they might have more common with one another than their respective masters. When the trio discovers that they’ve been unwitting participants in a horrible plan to destroy the world as they know it, they must work together to stop their masters from bringing on armageddon… and stop the increasingly suspicious villagers from reaching for their pitchforks and torches.

Igor, Grim, and Cornelia must unite to cast off the chains of their masters and embrace life on their own terms in the hilarious, heartwarming, and just-spooky-enough The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing.

Content Warning: grave robbing, body horror

This was gifted to me by the publisher and it is not usually the type of book I would pick up or read but I was curious. The writing is great and it kind of gave me The Nightmare Before Christmas vibes in that it’s horror but kind of cozy. Like I adored Igor and Grim. Igor is the Doctor (mad scientist) assistant and he is not being treated well by his master so it was nice to see him Igor grow and come into his own at the end.

There’s a bunch of interesting characters from all walks of the paranormal world in this one, and it was fun getting to know them.

But because it’s not the type of book I usually read and I needed to be in the right mood to read this I found myself taking awhile to read this one.

Final Thoughts:

If you love horror with humor and a little bit of cozy vibes I think you will enjoy this one. For me, it was outside of the genres I usually read so it took me awhile to get into the mood to read this but the writing is great and the characters were charming.

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