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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A Dowry of Blood is queer fantasy romance with horror elements by S.T. Gibson. The ebook version is 248 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at five hours and is narrated by Abby Craden. We follow our main character with a second-person point-of-view as if she is writing a love letter or confession.“This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. I suppose both are a sort of gentle violence, putting down in ink what scorches the air when spoken aloud.”
Our heroine Constanta was a dying medieval peasant until she became Dracula’s first bride. Once turned, he sweeps her away to make a home in a remote castle until the plague comes and they leave to travel around Europe.
I don’t read too many books that are in the second-person, but I really enjoyed this one. Gibson’s prose is dripping with lyrical brilliance. Excuse me while I go read everything else the author has ever written.
Tropes in this book include: bisexual featured characters, ethical nonmonogamy (m/f/f/m), retelling (Dracula’s Brides), vampires
CW: violence, murder, depression, mania, self-harm, blood, gore, gaslighting, domestic violence (emotional, verbal, physical), sadomashochism
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