A review by salonniere_anspik
The blood of the vampire by Florence Marryat

adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.5

 Oh wow, this was nowhere near what I expected it to be. I thought it's going to be something like Carmilla, a female vampire but with the bonus of being written by a woman. The first part of the book is situated at the Belgian hotel resort (the second half is happening in England) and we meet a whole array of distinctive characters along with our main girl Harriet, a rich orphan of creole descent and unusual beauty and lure. But she is not a blood sucking vampire, she is a different kind of human leech surrounded by the worst types of victorian society members, men and women included. Huge TW for fatphobia, racism, eugenics, sexism, you name it, it's here. I audibly gasped or nervously laughed all the time but I was so captivated and amused at the same time!