I’d heard a lot of good things about this book and knew I wanted to get to it as soon as possible. I’m a huge fan of Dracula and vampire lore. Any new spin on the story and I am seated, ready to sink my metaphorical fangs into a new tale of the undead. When I found out this book was told from the perspective of one of Dracula’s wives, I knew it would be a story full of heartache, mirth, and hopefully revenge. 

Not once in the entire novel is the name Dracula spoken. The story is written as if it is being told to Dracula, who is already dead. We are taken back to the very beginning, to our character’s last day as a human. I’m not sure if I’m personally desensitized to gore, blood, or body trauma, I managed quite well through some of the more gruesome details. So many instances reminded me of scenes from Interview With A Vampire, and I loved that I could interchange any major vampire from cultural canon to fit with our understood you male protagonist. 

What surprised me most about this novel was the insatiable jealousy that was prevalent as a major undertone. That jealousy does eventually morph into its true emotion, anger, as our FMC untangles the web of lies and omissions she’s been fed her entire undead life. Our villain is cunning, and gaslights our FMC two steps before she even realizes what has happened. This is a story that dives deep into the underbelly of psychological torment and domestic abuse. This would be my personal biggest trigger warning for readers. You can so clearly see how she could, despite all of his major faults, still be madly in love with him and is unwavering in her loyalty. 

This story was such a beautiful commentary on the dark, grim realities of domestic abuse. On loving, and being dependent on, the one person in this world who hurts you the most. The dependence is by design, and though subtle at first, becomes more and more apparent as the story progresses. We got to watch the life cycle of vampires from their birth to their settling, and watch how their human natures keep them strong or react poorly to the change over time. It was a fascinating study in nature versus nurture to watch the ways some vampires thrived while others wilted away to husks of their former selves. 

This story had both very bad and relatively good poly relationship dynamics, though I would hope this isn’t the reader's first introduction to the concept. Consent is key in these dynamics, and our abusive MMC forges consent in order to create his new family. These scenes were particularly hard to read as our FMC navigated her very complicated feelings, but it was a relief to come back to the epilogue and see examples of what consent and communication in a poly dynamic should look like. 

Our MMC is a villain in every sense of the word. There are so many things I could say about him to make my case. In spite of everything stacked against her our FMC clawed her way to her HEA. This story was fascinating, with commentary on the rise and fall of empires, human nature, politics, relationships, and morality. It was a breath of fresh air in the way it was written, as if we were being directly spoken to but not at all the intended audience. I had such an incredible time with this book, despite it being so incredibly dark and morose. Reader beware. This tale is not for the faint of heart.