Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan, a new historical fantasy released on February 24, 2026. I was so excited to be approved for this ARC because the synopsis sounded brilliant. Read on to see if it lived up to the hype in my head. lol.

A tragic love story, a bewitching twist on history, and a blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption—The Red Winter by debut author Cameron Sullivan is the story of the first werewolf.

In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gevaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.

Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.

Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.

But Gevaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.

Debut author Cameron Sullivan tears the heart out of history with this darkly entertaining retelling of the hunt for the Beast of Gevaudan. Lifting the veil on the hidden world behind our own, it reimagines the story of Europe, from Imperial Rome to Saint Jehanne d’Arc, the madness of Gilles de Rais and the first flickers of the French Revolution.

***Thank you to Tor Books for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

The Red Winter was an absolutely riveting story. It weaved through three separate timelines and somehow managed to combine them into a seamless narrative that had me hooked from start to finish. I was surprised by how well the author tied different periods of European history together with a single thread. The structure of the story and how it bounced between timelines kept things intriguing in a way a linear narrative might not have. I also loved that the story was told from the perspective of being a written account from the main character. It just worked so well and allowed the character’s personality to suffuse throughout the storytelling.

I almost always love a book with footnotes, and The Red Winter was no exception. It used footnotes to provide valuable context and round out the world-building. Generally, the world-building in this book was fantastic. The magic and use of demons, spirits, angels, and other mythical creatures were so interesting. It brought together so many disparate concepts and ideas and deposited them into a fascinating alt-history of Europe. The use of the werewolf and its origin and history were particularly compelling, and I was just blown away by how gritty and realistic everything felt despite being intertwined with so many fantastical elements.

As for the characters in The Red Winter, they were all complex and interesting with plenty of quirks and a lot of history. Sebastian was thousands of years old, and his long lifespan and the impacts of his variety of experiences were key components of the story. His relationships with his sassy on board demon and his contracted succubus were definite highlights, as was his budding romance with Antoine. I do think Sebastian’s motivation for hunting the Beast in the first place could have been explored a bit more. The demon’s obsession with catching it for the power made sense, but Sebastian’s willingness to go along with it to such extremes fell flat a bit. Of course, his continued interest after his entanglement with Antoine made sense, but I’d have liked a bit more depth to his motivations overall. In general, the reader learned a lot about Sebastian and his history over the course of the story, but I never felt like I got to KNOW him. In many ways, he was a mystery even to himself, and that created somewhat of a distance from him at times while reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Red Winter. It was a fascinating blend of history and fantasy with interesting characters and exquisite world-building. The story left plenty of room for so many more books with these characters (while still working just fine as a standalone story), and I’d love to read them. I enjoyed this one so much that I went out and bought a finished copy on release day, which is the best compliment I can give it. Therefore, I rate this book 4.5 out 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan. Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments!