Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - House of Hunger

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

20 reviews

behindpaperbacks's review

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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

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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

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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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melchncookies's review

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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:

Spoiler

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.

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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vixenreader's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

In lieu of the legendary Elizabeth Bathory, this book has some amazing atmosphere, the prose is emotionally-wrenching, the cast of characters (led by a strong female lead) are nothing short of fascinating, and the horror is corporeal to a tee. Seriously, it’s a great book about exploitation, imbalance in relationship dynamics, and what it truly means to escape more than one toxic situation.

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miraclesnow's review

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challenging dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It was enjoyable to read but nothing I’ll obsess over. Some themes & ideas that got left behind should have been thrust more to the forefront. It would have made for more interesting subtext to the story. At it stands now it felt a little samey, but still makes for good fiction.

I also think the pacing was right, but I feel the most meh about the last 10 percent.

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bookish_afrolatina's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.25

When I first saw the cover of this book and read the description, I was expecting a tale about aristocratic vampires drawing in poor young women. In a way, this is what the book was about but in less of a fantastical way. Henderson turned this into a narrative about greed, manipulation, emotional abuse, and literal depiction of the poor feeding the rich. I love that she uses this bloody, sapphic, gothic tale to make one really wonder if it’s better to be an intimate servant of the upper class or continue struggling in the slums.

Marion isn’t your typical naive and innocent mc being pulled into a life of sin. She’s hardened and practical about her circumstances. Most of the time, I could understand her thought process.

Spoiler

It’s understandable to become attached to someone who is abusive to you when they are the provider, whether that be monetarily, emotionally, etc. They have something that may be keeping you going but meanwhile, they are sucking you dry and isolating you.

Well-written book, very morbid, and detailed.

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