Going into this novel, I had no idea what to expect. The premise sounded fantastic and for the most part, the book was too.

Easy to read, a wonderful weaving of fantasy and Gothic elements. The way the plague worked was interesting and created well, although more information would have lifted the novel.

The thing that didn't quite sit right for me, was the fact that Seraphina was Jewish. (Relax, that is not what I mean). What I mean is, there is no mention of any other religion within the pages of this book. There are one or two "thank God'"s but that's it. It adds very little to the novel other than setting our Female MC 'apart'. I feel like it was taking away from the novel, thrown in when the author needed there to be another point of difference between the MC and other characters.

That aside, very easy to read, definitely targeted towards the younger age groups of YA. But enjoyable nonetheless.

Inspired by dark gothic writer, Edgar Allen Poe, A Multitude of Dreams take readers into a plague filled land where Seraphina is forced to play Princess Imogen, the mad King's favorite daughter. As she awaits her fate, Seraphina plots her leave to find out if the plague still ravages the lands.
Meanwhile Nico is at the service of Lord Crane, a somewhat two-faced man that will entertain survivors and let bury the dead but who has a dark secret side too.
When Nice and Seraphina meet, the two worlds collide with force and the only way to survive is to fight for their lives.
An intriguing storyline with promise of surprise that will have characters gaslit, romance forced onto female characters, and a storyline that can be deduced early on in the book, but not the ending.
The Castle setting, masquerade ball, and secret entrances were enchanting and added to the story's mystique.

Honestly I am feeling extremely mid about this whole book... the first half was phenomenal and I was so hooked on the story. I love the two main characters, Seraphina and Nico find themselves in similar predicaments with hidden identities. The way they're drawn to each other and provide each other absolution for their survivor's guilt was all so perfect to read.

However, the second half of the book leaves a lot to be desired. It felt like the major themes and conflicts were revealed and mostly resolved far too early so the last 50% was like running in circles. They were running back and forth between the two main conflicts. It just felt like stalling to draw out the plot.

Additionally, there is a vampiric twist to the novel. Truthfully I'm not a big vampire girlie so I was predisposed to not enjoy that plot point. But the vampires overall just felt pointless. They didn't have some thematic purpose, they were just power hungry with no other motivation. They also gave the book a magical twist that it wasn't set up to have.

This is the fifth novel from Mara Rutherford. It shows an increasing maturity in her work, but is still an extremely effective young adult novel that will also appeal to many older readers.

Princess Imogen is trapped in Eldridge Hall with her family and a significant number of nobles and servants. Except they’re not actually her family. When the real Princess Imogen died, her three older sisters plucked Seraphina from her home and forced her to impersonate the Princess so as not to distress the ailing King.

The real Imogen was one of the early victims of the mori roja. A plague that is fatal to all who catch it, its’ victims die within three days, bleeding from all orifices. A small number of people are immune to the plague; an even smaller number have managed to avoid all contact with the plague. Imogen and the others walled up in the castle are among that number. They don’t know what’s outside. They don’t know if the plague is still raging, or if everyone is dead.

There are survivors. Nico is one of them. A gentleman by birth, he’s now a servant to Lord Crane, and grateful for it. Crane has helped him and others stay alive in a dramatically depopulated world.

But now Crane has tasked him and two other servants with visiting Eldridge Hall to see if the King or any of the nobility have survived. This will bring him into contact with Seraphina and the two of them will discover that much is not what they thought.

This is both a fast moving action story and a thoughtful exploration of what people will do to survive – and what the costs of those decisions may be.

The world building is strong. It’s easy to slip into this un-named world. There’s enough detail for readers to vividly picture it, but not so much that you get bogged down in unnecessary detail. There are strong similarities to our world – such as the existence both of Jews and of prejudice against them – but it’s just not quite the same.

The characters are particularly strong and vivid. Readers will be wholly engaged in Seraphina and Nico’s struggle for survival. You’ll empathise with them and care a lot about what happens.

The plotting is interesting. Most readers are going to jump to some conclusions faster than the characters (how fast you do this probably depends on how much fantasy you read or watch). However, it moves along fast enough and the characters are smart enough that this isn’t annoying for the reader.

I said that this novel has a greater sense of maturity than Rutherford’s earlier novels (all of which I’ve enjoyed immensely). It’s quite subtle. There’s a little more depth to the writing, and the characters themselves seem a little more mature and fully rounded than some of her earlier creations. However, it left me feeling that this novel is her strongest yet.

This is a really well written, enjoyable read. It is ostensibly young adult, but most adult readers will find enough depth and interest to satisfy them too. They may find it a slightly quicker read, however. I enjoyed this a lot, and recommend it.

The cover is what drew me into this book and also I’ve been really into gothic spooky reads lately and this was perfect. I’ve never read anything by this author but I will for sure check this author out again.

I was attracted by the beautiful cover and the read was enjoyable with a little bit of Poe, plague and vampires. The ending dragged for me as once it was clear where it was heading there were no surprises and the weaknesses in the characters stood out more.

A Multitude of Dreams very much lived up to it's name - it was a multitude of ideas rolled into one book, rather than giving each thing it's own time and own moment. In the beginning, the characters are tough and hard to place, with little to no explanation of things going on. I understand mystique in a book, but there still needs to be a good deal of world building for a new read and I have to say, it was just okay. Then, when we reach the 70% part and things start really moving - they move too fast and almost off a cliff. This wasn't an awful read, it is just for a very specific audience - and I was not part of that.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This has all the right ingredients. A Poe retelling, gothic horror survival story locked in a castle with a mad king while pretending to be his royal daughter? That sounds amazing.

I read Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death in prep for this read and I’m still not sure if that was the right choice. There were some elements from the original story that played well in this retelling, namely the core concept of being locked away while a plague ravishes the country. It was fun picking up on the references and easter eggs. And yet, I wonder if I would have liked A Multitude of Dreams better if I wasn’t comparing it to the Poe original.

Overall, the world feels flat. The world-building feels shallow and the most imagery we get is within the castle while the plot occurs without. I was hoping the entire time that the story would lean deeper into the castle setting, and ramp up the concept of a mad king and the turmoil of politics within the castle and manipulation between the nobles. But in the end, it turned out to be primarily princesses preparing for a costume party while the central conflict develops outside of the castle walls.

I wanted to see more devastation from the plague and more bloodlust on behalf of the survivors. It was an okay read for me. I was curious to see how Rutherford would retell the Poe short story, but even with all the right ingredients it didn’t taste as immaculate as it could have been.

A multitude of dreams is a dnf. I haven't read a book this slow in yonks. Nothing seems to be happening, there's no character development, it's just been a slog. Not to mention the fact that it's a fantasy world but Rutherford has included the Jewish religion and the Jews are kept segregated in their own living community and they are generally despised by those living outside... I mean sorry but who decided that antisemitism is a good idea, especially with their past??? (The part where I basically dnfed was out of anger when one person reveals 'also she is a Jew so that's all the answer you need' and I just couldn't handle that)

Book: A Multitude of Dreams
Author: Mara Rutherford
Platform: 100% Read
Pages: 384

The mori roja has swept through Goslind and its surrounding kingdoms and with it, many of its people. Only the immaculates and the immune remain.

Nico is immune to the mori roja but owes his life to Lord Crane who took him in whilst the plague raged across the lands.

But the plague is over now and Lord Crane has sent Nico to the castle to search for survivors.

Princess Imogen is the fourth daughter and favourite daughter of King Stuart...or is she? Locked away in the castle to avoid the mori roja, the royals walk a fine line between certain death inside and outside the castle walls.

As King Stuart succumbs to his madness, Princess Imogen will seek to break free from the castle's grip on her. In her attempts, her path will cross with Nico in a way that will change their lives forever.

...if they can untangle all of the secrets.

I first fell in love with Mara's work after reading the Poison Season and that's what drew me to pick up this book without even reading the blurb! Mara is amazing at creating standalone fantasy books that are so atmospheric and action packed.

Mara is definitely a new autobuy author for me and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out next!

Thank you to Harlequin Australia and NetGalley for gifting me with a ecopy of A Multitude of Dreams in exchange for an honest review.

Four years ago a plague ravaged Gosalind. To protect himself and his Court, the (slightly mad) King barricaded the Nobel class inside the castle. His youngest daughter Princess Imogen is hiding a secret and discovers food is running out and servants are leaving.
Meanwhile, outside the walls a young man, Nico, discovers his master and saviour is not as he seems and questions what he can do about it.

As the plague slows and survivors begin to emerge Nico discovers there are monsters far worse waiting in the shadows. When Nico heads to the castle looking for survivors he discovers the Princess wanting to escape, but will he be able to help when neither he or the princess knows the whole story?

I really enjoyed reading this story, finding the fast pace and twists and turns kept me turning the pages. I loved the main characters and the way their relationship grew and bloomed through the story gave me all sorts of warm fuzzies.
Whilst a dark storyline, the journey held great stories of friendship that kept me wanting to read along with the interpersonal relationships the real highlight of the story for me.

There were some elements to the storyline that seemed quite rushed, but overall I enjoyed the read and am grateful for the chance to read and review this one - thanks Netgalley for the Arc!

A tale of survival, horror, differences and lies. The plague might be over but does something new threaten the survival of those left? “If you want to stay alive, there are three ways to survive; Run away across the sea; pray for blood immunity; Or die and be reborn again, and drink the blood of living men.”

Now I will start with saying I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend giving it a read. However, I did have some issues with it.

Okay so one of my big dislikes with this book was the antisemitism and how the author wrote it in. I think, especially in regard to this, the author could have benefitted from some more worldbuilding to make it make sense. Why do people hate Jews in this fantasy world prior to the plague?? Also, I don’t know how I feel about the reasoning behind including it in the first place. Wanting representation because historically Jews were blamed for plagues, seemed like an opportunity to spin a different tale. I feel some people with Jewish backgrounds might dislike the representation this book gives. Additionally, if there is such a deep-rooted hatred for Jews, I struggled to see how the princesses would have wanted her to play the role of their sister. I also struggle to see how they even knew she looked like their sister, as their lives are so far removed. I really struggled to believe there wasn’t a revolt from the royals in the palace, one crazy king keeping them looked up for four years…. limited food…yeah, I think people would have killed him or killed each other for resources.

I have to admit, I wasn’t overly interested or convinced by the romance. For me Nico seems to pretty much immediately fall in-love with any woman who appears that is slightly pretty. I felt it didn’t fit with Seraphina’s character either, I wanted her to be more independent than how it finishes.

Now I actually wish this book had been more drawn out. As the battle with the “main villain” felt too easy. The “main villain” is charismatic and intelligent, and I felt his demise should have occurred with a little more struggle. I was actually disappointed in the choice of monsters in this, it's hard to discuss without spoiling it, however I think a more murder/greed plot would have been more interesting.

I might differ from others, but I enjoyed the pacing at the start. The writing was absolutely GORGEOUS, and I wish the pace had remained slow so we could explore the characters more. I would have loved if this was a duology so a better, more detailed struggle could have taken place. Additionally, I wanted to see how the characters continued to exist in this changed world.

I also have to say I enjoyed the author discussing that this book was a subtle nod to Edgar Allen and explaining a few of their choices. It’s always so interesting to read about what inspires an author to write a story.

Once again, I need to address how much I loved the writing and language choices in this book. So beautiful and perfectly constructed to suit each POV. Whilst I was never shocked by anything that occurred in the novel, I did constantly find myself going “OOOhhhhh this is getting GOOD”. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every character. The uniqueness of the side characters and main characters was brilliant. However, I will say that as the book continued, I did find Seraphina falling a little bit too much into the “not like other girls” trope. I also would have loved more of an exploration into the dynamics between each of the sisters.

I would rate this 4 out of 5 stars. Whilst I enjoyed reading it and finished it in three days, I just wish it had a little more and hadn’t finished so flatly. I would recommend it for readers who enjoy fantasy, gothic, fantasy or just in general enjoy YA. I would not recommend it for people who don’t want to read about a plague.

4.8⭐️

Firstly, thank you to Harlequin Australia for the eARC of this book!

This book immediately sucked me in, with a sense of mystery and underlying eeriness that tells the reader something isn’t quite right. The pacing was spot on and kept me intrigued right up until the end - if it wasn’t for pesky adult responsibilities (like work) I probably would have finished it even more quickly (in all likelihood in one sitting, finishing at 3am 😂).

A plague has swept across the lands of this world, driving people to isolate, or face an apparently certain death. A few years later, the two MCs find themselves in vastly different environments, and the contrasts between their POVs were fascinating.

Seraphina has spent the years since the plague hit locked away in a castle “built on lies”. She and the other inhabitants are unable to even see out the windows due to the paranoia of their ruler, the king, who has a touch of madness, and sentences people to death for even trying to remove the boarding from the windows, let alone if they’re caught trying to leave.

In contrast, Nico was taken in by Lord Crane, and spends his time outside doing menial tasks, including grave digging.

They each believe that everything is not what it seems, and find increasing evidence that this is true. And when they meet, despite their different circumstances, they discover they are both suffering from the same tremendous sense of guilt.

Both are really likeable characters, and I really enjoyed reading their interactions with the other characters and how they survived in the circumstances.

I did think that some of the side characters accepted certain things a bit more quickly than I would have expected, but this can probably be explained by the chaos of the world around them.

Overall, this was a very well paced, engaging, intriguing read that I couldn’t put down, and although I’m not a horror fan by any stretch of the imagination, I really enjoyed the eeriness. I’ll definitely be reading more of Mara’s work in the future!