Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

237 reviews

probablytoolate's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Blood, Death, Violence, Murder, and Sexual content

jackiepreston's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Alcohol

maria_k2000's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Violence

emilywemily6's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, and Death of parent

dollhousebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Confinement, Violence, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

aileron's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Blood, Domestic abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Mental illness and Infidelity

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Self harm

katherineshawwrites's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

As a huge fan of the original Dracula, I hoped I would enjoy this, but I didn't expect to devour it so quickly and enjoy it quite so much. Rather than a tale of horror and gore, this explores the other monstrous side of Dracula's character - his manipulation, control and coercion of his lovers.

The toxic relationships at play are written masterfully, and are really what drives the story and keeps the reader so engrossed. I yearned for Constanta to finally be free, and flew through the pages to find resolution.

My only criticism is that there is virtually no tie-in to the original tale, but only one throwaway reference to the characters. I had expected to see the two tales woven together, and the lack of that was a little disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Gore and Sexual content

rene_kampfer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book is both sensual and devastating. The author somehow managed to deal with heavy topics of abuse in a way that isn’t glorified but is also tragically seductive. The author took everything I love about vampires and threw it into a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

livfowler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, War, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

malisac16's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Mental illness