Spoiler-Free Review
House of Hunger was the boon I was looking for after marathoning A Dowry of Blood. If you’re looking for another lush, atmospheric gothic tale – but with a dark w/w relationship – this is the one for you.
As a gothic horror novel, it can be dark – click here for trigger warnings.
What’s House of Hunger about?
In a world where blood is a valuable commodity, a young woman named Marion agrees to become an indentured bloodmaid for a noblewoman – but not everything in the mansion is as it seems.
It wasn’t perfect, but it satisfied my gothic mood.
Coming in under 300 pages, House of Hunger made for a quick read. It was eerie, and the moments of luxury would be interrupted by strange discoveries. For example, after riding on an elite train and then arriving at the mansion and the start of her new life, Marion discovers a human tooth under her bed. Creepy, much? There were excellent moments like this throughout.
I will say the length was actually a drawback in some respects. I wish it was a little longer to give the characters and relationships more time to develop. While intriguing and interesting to follow as a main character, I didn’t feel that Marion had a true character arc. Her situation changed a lot throughout the course of the book, but I don’t think she as a person changed much.
But, Marion is ruthless, conniving, ambitious, and street smart – which I found very enjoyable. A stronger character arc just would have elevated it to the next level. Either way, the plot kept me invested, and it was easy to dive in every time I picked it up.
The concept of human nobles drinking blood for its healing and revitalizing properties is such a unique twist on vampirism. Plus, there was a lot of room to analyze class disparities with young, poor women submitting themselves to bloodmaid indentures. They are literally draining their blood, their lifeforce, for rich, hedonistic nobles just to create a new opportunity for themselves.
Now – the ending. I won’t spoil it here, but I will say there were some aspects to the climax that I had to just go along with, but didn’t actually land for me. It was fine. It was neither good nor bad; it was perhaps a bit dramatic, and some things struck me as a little convenient.
I think this book overall had a really strong premise with a lot of potential and the execution was decent, so I’ll definitely read more by this author.
Should you read House of Hunger?
If you liked A Dowry of Blood, you’d probably like House of Hunger as well. If you enjoy dark, sapphic stories or are looking for a vampire story that’s not a vampire story, definitely check this out. As a gothic novel, it can be slow-paced with a greater focus on atmosphere than a strict plot, which some readers don’t enjoy as much. But it’s great if you’re looking for creepy dark mansion vibes.
