Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Dowry of Blood

This books prose and style was enchanting, it pulls you in and feels so very real. It's incredibly vivid and poetic, however it lacked certain depth, particularly in the plot.

I found the romance to very strong lean towards insta love, especially when it came to Magdalena and Alexi. I understood the allure and love surronding Dracula a bit more especially where it leaned towards manipulation. However, the depth of love and affection towards the fellow spouses felt a bit unexplained.

The characters were interesting, but were a bit too closely tied to lust, while claiming the love and passion of actually affection. This left me feeling like I was seeing the characters perspective and feelings with the prose, but without any lasting impressions.

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

3.25

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imskylow's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book had me strapped in. I ate it up like a person starved. I listened to the entire audiobook in one sitting. I have nothing but great things to say about it. It's lyrical. It's moody and gothic. The prose had a lovely rhythm and the characters and relationship dynamics had me feeling all sorts of things. I didn't know whether to like him and accept that vampire life and culture is different from humans or to want him to die. The ending, however, left me incredibly satisfied and I loved how it tied everything together. Obviously, with how vague I'm being, I don't want to give much away but I definitely recommend this book. And if you like audiobooks, the narrator does a fantastic job reading. It's as if Constanza's is reading her own journal to you.

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thegayestghost's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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mogojojo1013's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The writing in this book is exceedingly slow and incredibly decadent. I felt like I was watching one of those Dove chocolate commercials only for blood and vampirism. I spent most of the book just WAITING for that jerk to die (not a spoiler, she tells us right at the beginning that she kills him) and damn was it worth the wait.

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crybabybea's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Dark and gorgeous. I was constantly impressed by S.T. Gibson's writing, from her ability to set scenes with palpable energy, to crafting allegories that would fit right into classic gothic literature, to perfecting every word used to add tone and emotion. Definitely the best part of this is the writing, hands down. S.T. Gibson elegantly crafted a lush gothic setting, and although we spend most of the book in the head of our narrator Constanta, the world behind it feels atmospheric and dark.

If you dislike melodramatic writing, you will probably roll your eyes, but I ate it uppp. Here's an example of one of my many favorite quotes:

Don’t ask me why I did it.
I was tired of being your Mary Magdalene. I was tired of waiting expectantly at your tomb every night for you to rise and bring light into my world once again. I was tired of groveling on my knees and washing blood off your heels with my hair and tears. I was tired of having the air sucked out of my lungs every time your eyes cut right to the heart of me. I was tired of the circumference of the whole universe living in your circled arms, of the spark of life hiding in your kiss, of the power of death lying in wait in your teeth. I was tired of carrying around the weight of a love like worship, of the sickly-warm rush of idolatry coloring my whole world.
I was tired of faithfulness.
I made you into my private Christ, supplicated with my own dark devotions. Nothing existed beyond the range of your exacting gaze, not even me. I was simply a non-entity 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.
God, forgive me.
Christ, forgive me.

There isn't much in terms of a plot since it heavily focuses on Constanta and her relationships with Dracula and his other consorts. Because Dracula is controlling and hides as much as he can from the characters, there isn't much in terms of world-building and it's not the kind of book that explores vampiric power. It isn't a fun paranormal book with thrilling twists and magical settings.

Instead, the author takes us through Constanta's struggles in an abusive, coercive relationship, which fits perfectly in the gothic world she sets up for us. The writing is strung along with confusion, like you know something isn't right but you almost want to convince yourself that you're reading too much into things and seeing things that aren't there. I think it's such a brilliant way to portray a relationship like this, filled with constant gaslighting, walking on eggshells, fear and anxiety. It's a bittersweet journey to take as you watch Constanta swing from devotion to terror so quickly, and the way she is programmed by her abuser's behavior to watch for every tiny micro expression and hidden meaning behind every word he speaks, until the very end when after centuries of abuse she snaps and determines to find her way out.

The way the novel is written is super unique as well, an epistolary story written in second-person perspective. Constanta details her life in letters addressed to her abuser in hopes of explaining why she felt she had to make the choices she made.

I found the ending brilliant and incredibly accurate to what it feels like to finally cut yourself loose from an abuser; it's not only full of rage and hatred but also love and grief, and as much as you are grieving the glimpses of happiness you found during your abuse, you grieve the life you could have had, the years wasted, the confusion and the intoxication of adoration and passion mixed with hatred and anger. I really loved this portrayal so much.

The novel does include sexual content, but I didn't find the sex scenes to be about pleasuring the reader like typical smut scenes do. To me, they served to depict the intense passion wrapped up in all of the character's lives, the way they clung to each other and the way they defined love for themselves in a space that was suffocating and controlling. The codependency and the way they loved each other like family made the scenes feel less sexually gratifying and more for the purpose of storytelling and furthering the bonds between the characters.

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