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Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for allowing me to read this ARC!
Content Warning: death, murder, violence, sexual harassment, animal death.
Marion Shaw has grown up on the streets of Prane, forced to learn how to thieve and manipulate for survival. Now, as a grown woman, she lives a life of drudgery, working as a housemaid. Secretly, she aspires for something better, a world outside of the poverty and deprivation that is the cornerstone of her life. This time, when she sees the advertisement for a Bloodmaid in the papers, she decides that the luxury they promise will be hers -- and, in a shocking turn of events, she is picked to go and live in the House of Hunger, one of the great, blood-drinking houses of the North. But when Marion arrives, she quickly learns that not all is as it seems -- and that the price of being a Bloodmaid is far higher than she ever could've imagined.
The beautiful cover and interesting, rather unique premise drew me towards this book. Gothic is certainly having its revival, which I'm quite excited about, and I was secretly hoping that this book would be a twist on sapphic horror/love stories like Carmilla, or the wonderful reimagining of Erzsébet Báthory and her lover's life in Borowczyk's Immoral Tales (the standout of the film, which perfectly mixes eroticism and death). This, too, is based off the legends around Báthory's purported love of blood and torture of her female servants, but as it turns out, House of Hunger never quite reaches the full potential it's capable of, even with such fascinating figures as Báthory being inspiration.
Admirably, though, Henderson is never short on ideas, and if anything, this book is unique. I've never read anything quite like it before, and I sincerely doubt that I will in the future, either. It was a surprise to me that this was actually secondary fantasy; when I picked it up, I assumed it would be taking place in our own world, not in one of Henderson's creation. Some people felt that this bold move didn't pay off, but for me, I rather liked it. It doesn't always feel fully fleshed out, but all in all, I think that Henderson does a pretty good job making her world captivating.
The protagonist, Marion, is one of the reasons this didn't manage to rise above three stars for me. As the novel progresses, it seems as if Marion doesn't grow as a character, and in some ways, her emotions and her personality remain static over the entirety of her journey. There was a lack of depth that left me feeling a bit confused -- and I had this same problem with all of the side characters, as well as Marion's mistress/lover, Lisavet. In the very first scene with Lisavet, I had an inkling of what Henderson could've achieved with her character. She came off as complex, dark, a little strange. But once again, the same problem arises: everything feels slightly shallow.
I think the length of House of Hunger is one of its faults, and, in fact, one of the reasons why everything feels as if it's lacking a certain depth. I rarely ever say this, but it was simply too short. For everything that Marion goes through, there was not enough time for any of it to feel realistic. She falls in love, out of love, she apparently strikes up this deep rapport with her fellow bloodmaids... and yet I couldn't bring myself to really believe any of it. Everything happens way, way too fast, and the times she actually interacts with Lisavet in any meaningful way, on page, are few and far between. The plot, too, is rushed, and many things don't make sense (some of which I cannot mention without spoiling the entire thing).
Overall, while I did enjoy the journey, and some of the storytelling was lovely, the entire experience of reading House of Hunger just felt average. Some of Henderson's writing is truly beautiful, but there were so many amateur mistakes that left me thinking this was actually her debut, another problem that perhaps prevented me from "clicking" with this book.
Although I didn't love this, I think so many people will. I love its darkness, the way it lets its female characters be ugly and vulgar and mean and petty, and Henderson's way of looking at her characters as complex regardless of their acts of villainy.
Recommended if you love Gothics, female characters who are allowed the full spectrum of emotion (the good, the bad, and the ugly), and dark fantasy.
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