Marion, a 20 year old woman living in poverty in the southern city of Prane, dreams of a life that allows her to better provide for both her brother and herself. This dream leads her to respond to an ad in the paper calling for applicants for bloodmaids to the nobles of the North who drink the blood of beautiful, healthy young women because they believe it has medicinal properties. Immediately after Marion enters the House of Hunger, the ailing Countess Lisavet takes an interest in her and it’s not long before Marion is living her best life as a bloodmaid in this new, lavish world. But the halls of the sprawling manor hold secrets beyond Marion’s wildest imagination, and if discovered, those secrets could bring death to the House of Hunger.
First line: Before she was first bled, when she still had the name her parents first gave her, Marion Shaw was a maid at a townhouse in the South of Prane.
After reading Carmella in February, I decided I needed more sapphic vampire stories in my life. Around that same time, I accidentally stumbled upon House of Hunger, which mostly fit the bill, and I thought the premise sounded great.
Unfortunately, I did not emerge from the House of Hunger a superfan. My main issue is a me-problem, which is that I don’t like romance books. Yeah, this one is a horror book but aside from the drinking of blood which is actually depicted in the least scary, most vanilla way possible, nothing about it stood out to me as horror until around 80%. Up until then, it really felt like dark romance. Earlier this year, I DNF’d a thriller because it felt too much like I was reading an extremely clichéd, cheesy romance novel. I didn’t DNF House of Hunger because the romance felt more serious than cheesy, and it was sapphic (which I find a little easier to read). I understood going into it that there would be romance, and I’m always fine with books that contain romance, but only romance for well over half the book when it’s categorized as horror just isn’t for me. I appreciated some of it, but it still felt too long and slow, and then the last 20% was like: whoa, shit’s going down very quickly whooosh now it’s over! as if I was speeding by something on the side of the highway. There was hardly time to take it in and absorb it before it was gone, and that was a bummer. I honestly think that if it was paced more to my liking, I would have enjoyed it much more.
I also took issue with some inconsistencies throughout the book. There were contradictions, important points brought up that didn’t matter later but they should have, things like that. Some of these issues were small things I’d usually let go, but ultimately they started adding up, and too often I found myself feeling confused about certain things I’d read that didn’t make sense.
I did really like the slightly ominous quote from a usually unknown bloodmaid at the start of each chapter. Most of the quoted bloodmaids were from different houses and it was fun to think about what kind of experiences they might have had and whether or not they were similar to Marion’s. There was also some commentary on the idea that the rich don’t give a shit about the poor, the strong trample over the weak to survive, etc., nothing that hasn’t been said before but it’s not like we need to stop hearing it.
The atmosphere of the House of Hunger was really dark and luxurious and I feel like I know exactly what its smoky parlors full of drunken overindulgent nobles look like. There are a lot of interesting places and scenes I think would lend themselves perfectly to a movie. I think I’d really enjoy a film based on the book.
If you’re someone who likes romance (with a little spice), and is into mysterious gothic vibes, you might really like House of Hunger!
Little Vermo Reviews 