Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - House of Hunger

Sapphic gothic vampire-inspired horror?? Say less. The tension and the pacing of this book is so well done, and even though I could see a few of the twists coming, the journey to get there was just so good!! It did have a little too much medical body horror (like needles and related issues) for my personal tastes, so there were some parts I had to skim to get through, but I enjoyed literally everything else about it. I relate to Marion because I, too, would risk it all for hot countess who could and would kill me. Also in case you're worried

Spoiler

the cat survives!!

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pebbletown's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mfw when the sapphic gothic vampires book is actually rly fucked up and not just sexy: 😲

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behindpaperbacks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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meowster18's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really loved this book. It took me a few months to read it because of constant book slumps but when I was ready to read, hun, I flew through it. Amazing atmosphere. Amazing prose. Amazing characters. I gave it a 4.75 only because I felt the ending to be a bit lacking in my opinion. A bit flimsy. Other than that, great book. Would recommend.

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melliedm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Another great dip into a horror staple from the author (I also enjoyed A Year of Witching) that balances gothic romance, body horror, and class commentary in an accessible, and fast-paced read.

Marion is from the slums of this pseudo-European fantasy world, both the social strata she was born into and her race contributing to her place in the world. She works thanklessly as a maid for a demanding mistress and fights to keep her earnings from her brother, who lost himself to sickness and drink and became the controlling, abusive figure they lacked without parents. Marion is also, straight from the outset, a lesbian—hell yeah.

When Marion sees a listing seeking a new bloodmaid, she sees an opportunity. You see, in this world the northern regions are ruled by a nobility who, inspired by dark tradition, consume blood. They're not vampires, per se—they're a more human metaphor for the desperate consumption and boredom of the upper crust. But hey, becoming a bloodmaid might cost you several pints or quarts over the years, but once you finish your tenure you're basically set for life. That's gotta be better than working till your death, right?

Marion ends up applying, and with the exquisite taste of her blood she gets fast-tracked into the court, where she's soon introduced to the Countess Lisavet, of the House of Hunger. From there, we enter into a thrilling and twisted toxic romance between the two, a courtly competition between bloodmaids for importance, and an old castle full of dark secrets to be uncovered.

Where House of Hunger could have been satisfied there, it instead takes things a step further and makes a firm commentary on the nature of class, the limits we can achieve within a system of capitalistic consumption, and how easily possession can be confused with love.

I loved Henderson's quick pace, especially her world-building. Too frequently I find that authors dump too much information or try to make their world too different from our own, forcing them to spend more time teaching us about how their world works and less time on how the characters interact with the world: Henderson didn't have that problem here. She takes what she needs from our familiarity, settles it into a gaslamp-esque setting, and adds her own twists that she works in where it's relevant to our characters, and doesn't bother giving us unnecessary details.

I had a great time with this read, and devoured it at breakneck pace. With this and A Year of Witching, Henderson is now on my "must read new releases" list.

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giulianalb99's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ehm… ¿qué acabo de leer?
La verdad es que el libro como tal no está mal y la pluma de la autora es espectacular pero me ha dejado un poco sin más.

Tenía unas expectativas medias tirando a altas porque la sinopsis me pareció bastante buena, pero ha acabado siendo otro libro que seguramente acabe olvidando desgraciadamente. La idea principal que es básicamente cómo la nobleza se aprovecha de los más débiles bebiendo literalmente su sangre es genial pero, durante todo el libro, no pasa absolutamente nada salvo el proceso que va tomando la relación bastante tóxica entre la protagonista y Lisavet. Estaba en el 70% y todavía no pasaba nada hasta que en los últimos capítulos BOOM, y después me he quedado en plan “¿ya está?”. Leer tantas páginas de puro aburrimiento (que repito, la autora escribe súper bien) y relleno para llegar al final y que se resuelva todo tan rápido no me ha convencido del todo.
Lo que sí me ha gustado es cómo la autora ha plasmado (de manera digámoslo extraña) cómo los ricos obtienen y hacen lo que quieren mientras se aprovechan de los que no tienen tanto para vivir, así como las cosas tan raras que pueden llegar a hacer pagando infinitas sumas de dinero.

¿Recomendaría este libro? Sí, pero no creo que sea para todo el mundo ya que contiene sangre, tortura, horror, es bastante gore, abuso de sustancias tóxicas, relación tóxica, canibalismo, muerte, y un largo etcétera. Recomiendo leáis los trigger warnings antes de empezar el libro.

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melchncookies's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It started so interesting and as soon as it should have gotten interesting, it fell short. It stayed easy to read, so I finished it.

What I loved: There are no “good guys”. Everyone in this book is broken and awful, but some of them are less awful than the others. It was a new take on vampires, and they didn’t sparkle.

What I am indifferent about: I think the child could have been left out of the book altogether. The story just didn’t need a kid to be present. Their presence in the house made it a little more grotesque, but added nothing to the story and fed into the

Spoiler

women must save the children stereotype.

What I didn’t like:

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The vampires are just entitled ass holes. Other than Lisavet having a “sickness” and needing blood (for an unknown reason), there’s no real discussion about what the blood maids are for.

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I also didn’t love how unsupernatural the whole book was and then the end happened.

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when the first blood maid is taken to the dungeons to become the wretch, I still have no idea what that was about.

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