Reviews with content warning for War - A Dowry of Blood

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A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

148 reviews

peregrinwho's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was so beautiful. A haunting, sublime sort that evoked velvet imagery on every page. It's so easy to get swept up in that kind of beauty, and once they were able to step out of that church, away from worship, the night began to feel like endless warm days.

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elskede's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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lailybibliography's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I made you into my private Christ, duplicated with my own dark devotions. Nothing existed beyond the range of your exacting gaze, not even me. I was simply a nonentity when you weren’t looking at me, an empty vessel waiting to be filled by the sweet water of your attention.

A woman can’t live like that, my lord. No one can. Don’t ask me why I did it.

I think this might just be my favourite retelling. The dynamic between Constanta, Magdalena and Alexi is so touching and tragic, soaked in blood yet so enticingly erotic and horrific. I’m left in awe of how S. T. Gibson weaved this masterclass in depicting the centuries-long abuse of these three lost souls by an intricate web of gaslighting, isolation, love-bombing and manipulation. Equal parts a love story and escaping a monster, I am so in love with this novel. I cannot wait to read more of this author’s works.

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shaylatrumpower's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is an interesting read. I found the narrative voice to be unique and engaging. However, I would have like more depth and detail. There was a lot of telling rather than showing which usually doesn't work but for the most part suited this particular style.

Constanta was the most well rounded character and we do see her growth through the story. However, Magdalena and Alexi felt less so. I found this to be partially a construct of the narrative. They are vastly younger than Constanta, especially Alexi, and have less time to "grow up" to the extent she does. But it does feel lacking at times.
"You" (Dracula, who is never actually named) is stagnant but purposely so and that carries through the narrative well.
This is in no way a faithful retelling to Stoker's Dracula and in fact there was only one mention of the events of the novel in passing.

One "ick" I had was Constanta's relationship with Alexi. She outrightly states she feels motherly towards him. She spends quite a bit of time explaining how their relationship is not sexual until suddenly it is. It felt clumsily handled and took me out of the story for awhile.

.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It moved at a steady pace and I finished it rather quickly.

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thebookishwizard's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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errie's review against another edition

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dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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judassilver's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I am the outlier in this. I wanted to like this book so badly, the premise and glowing recommendations were so promising, but I just really didn't like it. At no point did I enjoy myself while reading it, and the greatest compliment I can give it is that it was over quickly. It just struck me as shallow all around: shallow characters operating in a shallow, recycled setting, within shallow relationships with each other, to reach shallow, already-established conclusions. I was also disappointed at the superficially researched historical details, which I would normally be more forgiving toward if they weren't the crux of the only dimension this book had. The inaccuracies, the anachronisms, and the thin characters make it hard to maintain a suspension of disbelief necessary for enjoying this book. At no point did I believe this story. I didn't buy the insta-lust/love between any of the characters, I didn't buy that they actually existed in the historical setting provided (flavorful background that never had any consequence or lasting impact btw), and most importantly I never bought that "You" was Dracula. Before reading this book all I saw was people describing this as a re-telling or re-imagining of Dracula, but I fail to see how this book is at all related to Stoker (aside from the blurb and one off-handed mention of the Harkers that came off as more of an almost insulting cameo than an homage). Where are the Gothic elements, the seductive yet toxic lure of blood-soaked immortality, the tension, where is the powerful, inhuman monster that is Dracula? It's all just set dressing on a barely sketched-out plot about domestic abuse, which would be compelling in its own right if it allowed the reader to reach their own conclusions without constant interruptions from the narrator. The retrospective distance of the letter format really hurts any emotional impact this book could have had, and it left me feeling very detached. There were very few actual scenes in this book-- very few instances where characters actually did and said things in a described setting. I felt like I was reading a collection of summaries filled out with metaphors and repetitive descriptions that occasionally made for a good quote pull that would look nice on a blog. It's a vampire story that wants to be profound but seems scared of development, ambiguity, and actually being a vampire story. It's simultaneously so overwrought yet so hollow, and ultimately it's just so very boring. A Dowry of Blood is the very definition of style over substance, unfortunately.

Specific spoilers:

Constanta only ever targets people who "deserved it" so she has the moral high ground on big bad Dracula makes me roll my eyes. Feels hypocritical when she goes on to create more immortal bloodsuckers of her own with no introspection.
The sex scenes were fine, I do feel like they were to the detriment of any possible emotional development though. This could be commentary on sex as a coping mechanism but the epilogue kinda killed that for me.
The sexual relationship between Alexi and Constanta: Ew, ew, ew, ew. I liked the setup of the implication Dracula groomed his brides, even while underage, and swooped in on their most vulnerable. That felt very real to an abuser and was a rare moment of subtlety. I could have done without Constanta getting the hots for Alexi while reiterating how young he was and how much she felt like his mom, and then having sex with him. Which again almost felt like a commentary on emotional incest and how entangled sexual and emotional relationships can get under an oppressive abuser who controls every aspect of your freedom of expression. Their splitting up at the end almost sealed this for me... and then the epilogue killed my appreciation.
"a modern Machiavelli"... 5 seconds with Google, I beg you.

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monakersch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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kinskinn's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was good. I’ve always lamented that modern Dracula adaptations squander the concept of “vampire wives” by making them oversexualized, Uber-hetero, and/or catty; im looking at you The Invitation (kinda), Van Helsing, Dracula: 2000, etc. this book takes the concept and runs in a different, much cooler direction. The sexy bits of this book weren’t very sexy (for good reason imo), but they spoke of an intimacy and connection between the spouses I’ve always wanted to see.

this book was a really nice exploration of the inherent queerness in vampirism; if you live forever, completely transgressing any & all rules of humanity, what’s stopping you from swinging any way the wind blows??? nothing! there’s no quibbling about what kind of person any of the chars are sucking & fucking, and im living for it. it probably would’ve made the book too clunky, but i would have loved it if the author tackled gender identity in vampirism too. maybe something for next time! my only real complaint here is that there were no strap-ons or whatever the ancient equivalent would be. ye olde inventors could make intricate torture devices, but not a way for women to fuck men? I can’t believe that. where was the pegging! u can’t tell me Magdalena wouldn’t have been into that

on a serious note, this book was also a very real depiction of control and abusive power dynamics. the vampire spouses are inhumanly strong, never die, never tire, but their relative strength doesn’t preclude them from being gaslit and abused. information on their vampire anatomy, wealth, independence: “dracula” holds these over Constanta, Alexi, and Magdalena as someone older and more experienced in vampire life; he whittles them down to beings who can’t fathom how they’d survive without him as a guide, and puts them to work to keep each other content in his clutches. Constanta can’t even remember her real name; just the one he gave her at “birth”. a twisted, evil man to his core, empowered by his ability to “grant” eternal life to vulnerable, isolated people he handpicks. a serial abuser given the power to give and take life as he sees fit; now THATS what I call horror.

this take on the monster that is dracula is refreshing; in media he is almost always monstrous and manipulative, but this is the first time I’ve seen that reflected in his “family life”; usually he is just Bad Because Bloodsucking. Here his murder and bloodlust takes a backseat to the interpersonal violence he commits. incredibly well done

The best thing about this book, to me, was that it wasn’t really a dracula adaptation at all. He takes only a nameless villain role in the story of love and perseverance that is Constanta/Magdalena/Alexi. I loved Constanta, she was so earnest, so honest in her retelling of her history, nearly to the point of being unkind to her past self. she laments, she foreshadows, she rages, and I felt immense compassion and empathy for her and her spouses. I could read about her discovering pants and mp3 players for 100+ more pages; she is just that charming. She writes this “letter” to help herself process; dracula is a ghost on the page of a chapter she is ready to close. loved it!!!

That being said, I did not like the “you” POV or the near-epistolary style; it was jarring and a bit distracting. i found myself getting confused between “you” meaning the dead Dracula the letter was addressed to, and “you” meaning the person being spoken to in the actual dialogue. I’ve never liked epistolary novels, so i came in with that expectation, but the pov threw me for a loop. I much preferred the style in An Education in Malice. (I liked that book more than this one, and a good bit of the reason is style). just not my cup of tea, but the characters and story were enough to outweigh my dislike of the storytelling method.

I’ve rambled enough but I really liked this, and would be thrilled to read more from this author. I really fuck with her frank interpretation of what eternal life and preternatural power would mean for relationships, and the simultaneous love and harm that would inhabit vampiric spaces. fantasy often glosses over the unsavory parts of love & sex to get to romance, but Gibson instead respectfully hones in on those elements while still managing a love story in the end. bravo

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