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librarianryan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
In this tale, Vlad the Impaler is not Dracula. He is just a king at war with the Turks. His daughter Rauxandra has been in a convent for 10 years. She has spent her childhood there. Until Dad shows up and says, come with me. Turns out daddy has nefarious plans. His warriors strip her naked and lay her out in a pentagram inside a cave to call forth a demon. Vlad demands power to defeat the Turks and offers his virgin daughter as a sacrifice. But the fallen angel wants nothing to do Vald. It asks Rauxandra if she wants to live. When the answer is Yes, the fallen angel gives Rauxandra everlasting life and Princess Dracula is born. But this book does not Follow most Dracula stories. Rauxandra spends most of the book learning and dreading what she has become. There are scenes that try to be spicy, but it’s a man writing sex scenes for women and it reads like one. It has Sapphic moments as Rauxandra and her her best female friends experiment so they are knowledgeable for their future husbands, but these parts of the story are not done well. Overall the book is intriguing. I am not sure I will read the rest of the series. Book 1 ends with a note of what happens 132 years later in order to get you interested in the next book, and while intrigued, I’m not sure, I’m intrigued enough to continue.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
There is no actual rape, but there is sexualized assault, and death by sex.
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