This really scratched the vampire itch I had going on! Ciel Pierlot has crafted a whole world overrun with boujie, upper-class vampires and I am obsessed. I felt like the wait for that *one* spicy scene was agonising, but mostly worth it! The character arcs were well fleshed out for each of the three MCs and I grew to love them despite their moral discrepancies.

The ending was the dark, 1-to-100 craziness that I wanted, however there were a few tidbits of information I wanted to know but didn't find out. Like: what happened to the humans after that final big event?

Thank you to 2018 Ciel for writing this, and thank you to Angry Robot & Netgalley for the gifted e-book! I can't wait to get my physical copy so I can take lots of pretty picturessss

If you like vampire books you have to pick this one up. It’s a brutal and fascinating story about a woman trapped in a mansion full of vampires and what she will do to escape.

What I love about this book is that it doesn’t shy away from the brutality in the world Pierlot has built. Kazan is dangerous and intelligent and determined. She doesn’t get pushed around or bullied and she definitely doesn’t fall head over heels for a vampire and lose the ability to do anything on her own (which is such a common trope). It’s such an interesting read that asks the question - how far would you go to survive? I would highly recommend checking this one out June 5th, 2024 when it is officially published.

4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for my review copy.

This book is full of anger. And I loved it. I love a cathartic story about anger and it enthralled me from the first chapter.

I found the plot to be very fast paced, as the majority of the plot took place over three days and I wanted to see how the schemes of the characters would play out.

The writing style was also very easy to read and I loved all the descriptions of the knives and blades that the characters wielded. All of the action scenes were very dynamic.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship in the book, though because the book took place over such a short period of time (like 4 days), it felt somewhat rushed, but the urgency is to be expected when there's many threads to keep track of. It was satifying to see all the backstabbing and betrayal that happened between the vampire houses/clans.

I enjoyed the court/political intrigue and how all the vampire clans interacted with the others and it's been a while since I read a book with that.

At it's core, this is a book about power and anger and the entitled rich. I loved seeing Kazam struggle with being placed in a position that would make anyone angry and her anger is justifiable and relatable and kind of cathartic to read and I loved seeing Kazam come to terms with herself and what she wants as a person and realise that she can do things for herself and she doesn't need to deny herself the ability to do what she wants and indulge in the things she wants.

I can't wait to see what Ciel Pierlot writes next.