A review by emilywemily6
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

There are lots of things about this book that give it merit, but it just didn’t quite do it for me. The writing is beautiful and gripping, and the characters are all very interesting. I think my expectations didn’t align with the book itself as I thought this was more of a retelling than a “reimagining,” so it was hard to appreciate this story when it kept going against the original Dracula novel. The darkness of this book was found more within the toxic relationship with Dracula than with the nature of vampires; I thought this book would show more of the wives’ descent into evil. This take made them seem like immortal humans rather than devilish creatures of the night. I liked seeing the progression of the toxic relationship and how the “wives” came to see Dracula for who he really was. This gothic tale strays from the original novel and tells a very different kind of story. This is a polyamorous relationship also, which took me by surprise. Overall, I’m not sure how much I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I’ll be thinking about it for a while.
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