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A review by emilypoche
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
4.0
Thank you to Zando for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunne is a genre-defying story of a Victorian era woman who’s struggles with the pressures of being the perfect society wife and hostess are further complicated by the unexpected appearance of a mysterious stranger. With a high level of detail to historically accurate expectations and morés and a gory element that will please the darkest of horror levels, this is a great take on the vampire trope.
While still definitely a “sexy vampire,” Carmilla is never explicitly described as such. She definitely gives hints of her supernatural status, but there’s no overt statement that she’s a vampire. Further departing from the trope, she doesn’t come to Lenore, our main character to take from her but rather to give. She’s a dark, inspiring guardian Angel with a touch of bloodlust. (I also imagined her as sounding like Nadja from WWDITS.)
The story, at its heart, is about desire and want. What happens when you suppress everything you want in order to fit in? What happens when you give in to your every desire? While the metaphor can be a little heavy-handed in places, it’s still a very satisfying discussion and creates some great imagery.
Something that I liked after the fact was that in the acknowledgments the author did a wonderful job of listing the references and inspirations behind some of the places and characters in the book. I love a commitment to having a setting in realty, even if the book literally involves supernatural elements.
I really thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it had some very satisfying moments. A very well deserved 4/5 stars!
(Trigger warning: infidelity, blood, gore, murder, mentions of workplace violence)
Hungerstone by Kat Dunne is a genre-defying story of a Victorian era woman who’s struggles with the pressures of being the perfect society wife and hostess are further complicated by the unexpected appearance of a mysterious stranger. With a high level of detail to historically accurate expectations and morés and a gory element that will please the darkest of horror levels, this is a great take on the vampire trope.
While still definitely a “sexy vampire,” Carmilla is never explicitly described as such. She definitely gives hints of her supernatural status, but there’s no overt statement that she’s a vampire. Further departing from the trope, she doesn’t come to Lenore, our main character to take from her but rather to give. She’s a dark, inspiring guardian Angel with a touch of bloodlust. (I also imagined her as sounding like Nadja from WWDITS.)
The story, at its heart, is about desire and want. What happens when you suppress everything you want in order to fit in? What happens when you give in to your every desire? While the metaphor can be a little heavy-handed in places, it’s still a very satisfying discussion and creates some great imagery.
Something that I liked after the fact was that in the acknowledgments the author did a wonderful job of listing the references and inspirations behind some of the places and characters in the book. I love a commitment to having a setting in realty, even if the book literally involves supernatural elements.
I really thoroughly enjoyed this one, and it had some very satisfying moments. A very well deserved 4/5 stars!
(Trigger warning: infidelity, blood, gore, murder, mentions of workplace violence)