A review by lezreadalot
Darknesses by Lachelle Seville

3.0

“It is not often that prey takes equal interest in its predator.”

Woof. I think this is the definition of a mixed feeling. This book started so strong, and in the first 50 percent, it was everything I wanted out of a super intense, kind of unhinged vampire romance. Around the 50 percent mark, I did start getting a little bit impatient and antsy for the plot to actually go places, and then when the plot did go places, it wasn't as interesting or as absorbing as I had thought it would be. And then the ending used a bunch of tropes that I flat-out dislike. So I'm ending this book liking it a lot less than I did in the beginning. But oh man, that beginning. One of thee most engaging first chapters ever.  

This was another completely blind read; when I started, I had no idea that it had anything to do with Dracula. After I finished the first chapter, I paused, went and read the original Dracula for the first time, and then came back to this book. I think that was a great idea, and I do think that a familiarity with the original book will add to the experience of reading this, because it does use a lot of excerpts and the original characters are important to varying degrees. This is a universe where Dracula exists, but the book Dracula also exists. The author made it work. The best thing about this is really the writing, and you can enjoy that whether or not you read the Stoker original. So evocative and lush, and the romance of it was exactly what I wanted. So all-encompassing; they're ride or die from day one. I just love when people fall in love and are not normal about it. This did have a definite tinge of insta-love, but the way Laura phrased her proclamations, the way her love for Oasis was framed as fated and inevitable, bred in the blood, I really ended up liking it.  

“How can you love me if all I am is food?” I ask.
Laura clicks her tongue as though chastising me.
“You cannot comprehend just how much I love my food.”

But as I said, it didn't work for me on all fronts.

Spoiler

Dracula/Laura is a shapeshifter, and I mostly liked the way that was handled. I do think I would have preferred if Dracula and Laura were a bit more separate than the book made them? I liked the handling of gender, but also, Dracula/Laura is basically larping as a black person? By the time the book gives us a reason/explanation for said larping, I, uh, wasn't sold on it. I would have probably preferred a poly romance where Dracula and Laura are entirely separate. But then, of course, that would have been a completely different book. So that's not really something that can change without fundamentally changing the premise that I really love.

Oasis's background as a cult survivor and all of her trauma with her twin and her mother was heart-breaking and interesting, and I like how we slowly got that information filled in. On the other hand, I didn't like the way the plot with the Van Helsing Institute played out. It was just super slow, weirdly paced and kind of boring. There were some side characters who were ostensibly interesting, but I didn't really get sold on any of them. Laura's sister was a bit over the top, and the Asgardian warrior came out of left field. And then, of course, we ended with an amnesia plot, which is one of my least favourite things in fiction ever. I felt like we were just retreading ground that we had already covered, just with Dracula instead of Laura.  I kind of actively disliked the last 20 percent or so, or however long it took for Oasis to regain her memories.  Amnesia is not my thing.

  

The thing is, this is pretty long. I prefer long books these days, books that spend a lot of time letting the reader get to know the characters. But this is a case where I'm not sure if all of the page time is used effectively. There's also the fact that I took a pretty long time to read this, just because of the fact that I don't have a lot of time to actually sit down with my Kindle for long stretches of time. So that probably impacted my enjoyment and my feelings as well. I still think this was amazingly written, and it's a very unique idea. I'd definitely be interested in returning to this world if the author does so.  

Also, huge kudos to the cover artist. This is gorgeous.

Content warnings:

Spoiler

cults, rape, extensive self-harm, forced anorexia, blood, violence, injury and gore, menstruation

“Home is where you went. If you had gone to the bottom of the deep blue sea, I would have followed you there, too.”