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A review by maeverose
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
3.5
Cawpile rating: 6 / 3⭐️
I went back and forth on my rating for so long because there were large sections of this book that I loved and large sections of the book that I really couldn’t have cared less about. It took me almost two weeks to get through it even though the book actually reads pretty fast. I just never wanted to pick it up because I was having such a mixed experience with it.
First the things that I loved:
The writing! This book has the perfect balance of poetic writing that flows really well and is easy and quick to read. It doesn’t drag the book down or make it feel slow and never tripped me up or felt tedious to read, all problems I often have with ‘pretty prose’.
The way it explores domestic abuse, while not something I’ve personally experienced, felt very well done. It shows how you can still have love for your abuser without at any point justifying the abuser’s actions or defending the abuser. It was done in a way that was believable to me.
I really liked the addition of (unnamed) Dracula studying vampires and how they work, I thought that was cool and something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a vampire story before.
Now the things I didn’t like:
The first thing I noticed I was at least able to ignore throughout most of the book so it wasn’t too bad. That being that this isn’t believable as an epistolary novel at all. It’s supposed to be made up of letters that Constanta is writing to an unnamed Dracula after she kills him (this is revealed on the first page and isn’t a spoiler), explaining her side of the story and why she did it. But it reads like a prose novel where the narrator is speaking to someone. There’s no sense to when one letter ends and another starts, they don’t start and end like a letter typically does, it just starts and ends like a chapter in a book would. I get that the author wanted it to be reminiscent of the book Dracula by making it epistolary but it wasn’t done well. I just read it as if it was a regular novel and that made so much more sense.
The second and main issue I had was entirely subjective. That being the romance between Constanta, Magdelena and Alexi was extremely instalove/lust and felt forced to me. I didn’t buy their love for each other because of how quickly it moved. If you’re not bothered by really fast moving relationships then you might not mind, but I’m actually incapable of caring for a romance in a book if it’s instalove, so the parts that were mainly focused on that (as well as the sex scenes) I skimmed through because they were boring to me. Unfortunately those all make up a significant portion of the book.
Some quotes:
“You swept your hands over my cheeks, cupping my face and taking me in. The intensity of your attention was staggering. At the time, I would have called it proof of your love, burning and all-consuming. But I've grown to understand that you have in you more of the scientist obsessed than the lover possessed, and that your examinations lend themselves more towards a scrutiny of weakness, imperfection, any detail in need of your corrective care.”
“"They think me a baby-slaying devil," you supplied, with a cordial smile that made it sound more like an introduction.“
“You made it into an art form, this quiet sort of violence. You were so far into our heads your gentle suggestions so often felt like our own thoughts.”
"It would be easier if he hated us," she said. "But he loves us all terribly. And if we go on letting him love us, that love is going to kill us. That's what makes him so dangerous."
And lastly, because it made me laugh:
"You haven't seen anything. After that whole debacle with the Harkers he was sullen for months." "Who are the Harkers?" "Before your time, dear; just some dreadful Victorians."
I went back and forth on my rating for so long because there were large sections of this book that I loved and large sections of the book that I really couldn’t have cared less about. It took me almost two weeks to get through it even though the book actually reads pretty fast. I just never wanted to pick it up because I was having such a mixed experience with it.
First the things that I loved:
The writing! This book has the perfect balance of poetic writing that flows really well and is easy and quick to read. It doesn’t drag the book down or make it feel slow and never tripped me up or felt tedious to read, all problems I often have with ‘pretty prose’.
The way it explores domestic abuse, while not something I’ve personally experienced, felt very well done. It shows how you can still have love for your abuser without at any point justifying the abuser’s actions or defending the abuser. It was done in a way that was believable to me.
I really liked the addition of (unnamed) Dracula studying vampires and how they work, I thought that was cool and something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a vampire story before.
Now the things I didn’t like:
The first thing I noticed I was at least able to ignore throughout most of the book so it wasn’t too bad. That being that this isn’t believable as an epistolary novel at all. It’s supposed to be made up of letters that Constanta is writing to an unnamed Dracula after she kills him (this is revealed on the first page and isn’t a spoiler), explaining her side of the story and why she did it. But it reads like a prose novel where the narrator is speaking to someone. There’s no sense to when one letter ends and another starts, they don’t start and end like a letter typically does, it just starts and ends like a chapter in a book would. I get that the author wanted it to be reminiscent of the book Dracula by making it epistolary but it wasn’t done well. I just read it as if it was a regular novel and that made so much more sense.
The second and main issue I had was entirely subjective. That being the romance between Constanta, Magdelena and Alexi was extremely instalove/lust and felt forced to me. I didn’t buy their love for each other because of how quickly it moved. If you’re not bothered by really fast moving relationships then you might not mind, but I’m actually incapable of caring for a romance in a book if it’s instalove, so the parts that were mainly focused on that (as well as the sex scenes) I skimmed through because they were boring to me. Unfortunately those all make up a significant portion of the book.
Some quotes:
“You swept your hands over my cheeks, cupping my face and taking me in. The intensity of your attention was staggering. At the time, I would have called it proof of your love, burning and all-consuming. But I've grown to understand that you have in you more of the scientist obsessed than the lover possessed, and that your examinations lend themselves more towards a scrutiny of weakness, imperfection, any detail in need of your corrective care.”
“"They think me a baby-slaying devil," you supplied, with a cordial smile that made it sound more like an introduction.“
“You made it into an art form, this quiet sort of violence. You were so far into our heads your gentle suggestions so often felt like our own thoughts.”
And lastly, because it made me laugh:
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Gore
The gore actually wasn’t that bad at all, unless you count blood as gore. It’s very bloody with lots of mentions of cutting or biting so if that bothers you I’d be wary, but there’s only one scene with actual guts towards the beginning and it’s only a paragraph.