amieis 's review for:

House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau

4.5

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 In House Of Blight we follow our FMC Edira, a threadmender, this worlds version of a magical healer, who has to sacrifice her own life threads in order to “mend” others. She has managed to keep her powers hidden for her whole life by dying the distinctive white hair that threadmenders have, so that others are not tempted to abuse her powers. But, when her brothers succumb to the deadly blight that is ravaging the world, Edira is left with no choice but to step into the dangerous and mysterious world of the Evers, a number of enigmatic Fae families, in an attempt to work with them to find a cure for the blight. Taken off to Fernglove Manor, home to the most prominent of the Ever families the Ferngloves, she is manipulated and coerced by the entire family in her race to not only cure their matriarch and her brothers, but to do so without sacrificing her own life. She soon discovers that all that glitters is not gold however, when cracks start to form in the meticulously crafted and maintained glamour the Ferngloves have cast over their lands. 

Despite Edira being quite admirable for her loyalty to her brothers and her determination to find the cure no matter what, I did find her incredibly annoying at points as she makes some pretty poor decisions even though she is constantly warned not to trust anyone or anything within the manor. She appears to be so taken with the magic and shiny surface that appears to her within the manor that she’s blinkered to what is actually going on under the surface. The romance is so contrived and its clear that she’s being manipulated into it, but she seems to be so blinded by the pretty exterior that it almost comes across as her being purposely obtuse. 

The manor and its grounds play a pretty key role within the plot, almost coming across as a character of its own. It has this creepy, gothic feel to it which adds to the tension in the plot, and with the addition of the horrific sounding Ancestor Tree (no spoilers!), what Edira believes to be a spirit roaming the halls and the brutal blight which we discover is not only affecting its inhabitants, but the manor itself, the book actually borders on fantasy horror. 

The story is a pretty familiar format – the down on their luck, struggling to survive FMC is seduced by the mysterious and handsome immortal who convinces her that she is the only one who can save the day, and falls in love with him in the meantime, but it is so incredibly well written with enough variation in the stereotypes to make it feel completely new and addictive. The pacing was a bit slow in parts, but the pay off is worth it as the intense sense of unease increases and some pretty bombshell revelations and twists are thrown at you in the second half of the book. 

While the plot is pretty neatly wrapped up at the end, there is JUST enough left untethered to set up beautifully for the second book which I absolutely cannot wait for.