“You could have kissed me or slit my throat and either would have made as much sense.”
― S.T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood
Category: Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Vampires
Age Rating: Adult
Literary awards: Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror (2021)
Pages: 304
Publisher: Orbit
Trigger Warnings:
Emotional, verbal, and physical intimate partner abuse, Gaslighting, War, famine, and plague, Blood and gore, Consensual sexual content, Sadomasochism, Self harm, Body horror, Violence and murder, Alcohol use, Depression and mania. It also contains brief references to: Sexual assault (not directed at any named character), Drug use, and Drowning.
Representation: Bisexual main character, Lesbian main character, Gay main character, Polyamorous.
Synopsis:
A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A DOWRY OF BLOOD is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets.
With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
“This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. I suppose both are a sort of gentle violence, putting down in ink what scorches the air when spoken aloud.”
― S.T. Gibson, A Dowry of BlooD
My review (may contain slight spoilers):
I honestly don’t know what I expected when I first opened this book, but the way the narrative was written was so painfully beautiful that I couldn’t put it down, and read the entire book in one sitting. The story follows the POV of Dracula’s first bride through a series of letters. This novel is spread out over hundreds of years, and I truly loved the changing histories around the main characters.
There were many deep topics covered within this book, especially around manipulative and abusive relationships and the difficulty of trying to escape. It was challenging to read, but so utterly captivating that I had to keep turning the page. I fell in love with the characters as they were so richly written and had such drastically differing personalities that blended beautifully together to create a truly complex cast of characters.
The prose within this book was some of the most beautiful writing I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time. There were many dark topics covered throughout this novel which I did find difficult to read through, but I would highly recommend this for people who want to be swept away in a world of lyrical prose, devastatingly beautiful yet tragic souls and relationships that stand the test of time. 4/5
“Even loneliness, hollow and cold, becomes so familiar it starts to feel like a friend.”
― S.T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood
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