Although I thoroughly enjoyed Henderson's debut novel, "The Year of the Witching", this new book just totally missed the mark for me. Despite an intriguing premise, "House of Hunger" is bogged down by a slow beginning and characters who are simply not given enough time to develop properly or be fleshed out. Even the main characters are barely given more than a couple personality traits to distinguish them, let alone the main relationship between Marion and Lisavet; it goes from 0 - 100% in a mere matter of pages with hardly any real interactions between them. There is absolutely NO buildup in their relationship so everything between them felt unearned and dry. I felt like up until around page 220 (of this 288 page book) I was just rereading the same thing over and over again but with different synonyms thrown in. ( )

Holy cow, this book was riveting.
A sapphic retelling of the legend of Elizabeth Bathory with a nod to Dracula and his brides as well.

While some of the concepts like "blood fuel" and "blood wine" confused me in terms of how they would chemically work, I think they were meant to be more of a metaphorical concept of how industry and empire run on the exploitation of life.

The descriptions of the food, architecture, and Dionysian delights were scrumptious and provided an interesting foil to the more ghastly and disturbing details, much like the dank and moldy labyrinth underneath Lisabet's estate. The pacing was good and didn't feel too long or too short. I can't remember the last book that was so effortlessly enjoyable for me to read as this one, I practically devoured it in only a few days! I appreciated the diverse perspectives and think the character development was great as well.

I just wish I knew what happened to the girls at the end of the book after they board that night train. Do they succeed at toppling the horrifying blood maid and blood-based nobility system or at least manage to find some happiness, healing, and safety on their own? Since this book is a horror story, I would like to think the reason it ended so abruptly is that the horrors ended for them after that night. ( )

What a bloody good time of a book! This was my first read from Alexis Henderson, and while I did have a few quibbles, overall it didn’t disappoint.

This is the tale of Marion Shaw, a 20-year old girl who was born and raised in the slums with an abusive brother. So we already know she’s tough. Desperate for a better life, she answers an ad for a bloodmaid to one of the rich houses in the North. When there, she’s drawn into the dark world of Countess Lisavet Bathory (based on Elizabeth Bathory), the mysterious noblemen and women who reside there, and her fellow bloodmaids.

I really liked Marion as a character. She is tough yet vulnerable, so very relatable. The atmosphere is wonderful - you could really imagine the setting, the lavish yet mysterious house, and you felt what the girls did. Countess Lisavet is alluring and seductive, and holds a lot of secrets. The nobles are just as sneaky and twisted as you first suspect. And the twists when Marion discovers what’s *really* going on! I found myself really rooting for her at the end.

Writing was beautiful and flowed well.

That being said, I found the pacing to be off. Not a lot happened for a good long while, and then a lot happened in the last 1/3 of the book…like the events leading to the ending happened at warp speed. The romance between Lisavet and Marion was also a bit strange. I couldn’t figure out why Lisavet fell in love with her, out of all the bloodmaids she ever had. I saw the lust, yes, but I didn’t really feel the love between them that they claimed to feel.

This is told in third person from Marion’s POV, and each chapter is headed with a quote from a bloodmaid that hints at what the chapter will be about.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s well-done. I would definitely put this author at the top of my horror authors list! ( )

What a bloody good time of a book! This was my first read from Alexis Henderson, and while I did have a few quibbles, overall it didn’t disappoint.

This is the tale of Marion Shaw, a 20-year old girl who was born and raised in the slums with an abusive brother. So we already know she’s tough. Desperate for a better life, she answers an ad for a bloodmaid to one of the rich houses in the North. When there, she’s drawn into the dark world of Countess Lisavet Bathory (based on Elizabeth Bathory), the mysterious noblemen and women who reside there, and her fellow bloodmaids.

I really liked Marion as a character. She is tough yet vulnerable, so very relatable. The atmosphere is wonderful - you could really imagine the setting, the lavish yet mysterious house, and you felt what the girls did. Countess Lisavet is alluring and seductive, and holds a lot of secrets. The nobles are just as sneaky and twisted as you first suspect. And the twists when Marion discovers what’s *really* going on! I found myself really rooting for her at the end.

Writing was beautiful and flowed well.

That being said, I found the pacing to be off. Not a lot happened for a good long while, and then a lot happened in the last 1/3 of the book…like the events leading to the ending happened at warp speed. The romance between Lisavet and Marion was also a bit strange. I couldn’t figure out why Lisavet fell in love with her, out of all the bloodmaids she ever had. I saw the lust, yes, but I didn’t really feel the love between them that they claimed to feel.

This is told in third person from Marion’s POV, and each chapter is headed with a quote from a bloodmaid that hints at what the chapter will be about.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it’s well-done. I would definitely put this author at the top of my horror authors list! ( )

I have to admit, I was pretty excited to read House of Hunger. I had heard a lot of buzz about it, and the cover art was so beautiful. But when I finally got around to reading it, I have to say that I was a little disappointed.

There were definitely things that worked for me. I loved the strong beginning, the beautiful writing, and the captivating worldbuilding.

However, the things I didn't enjoy overshadowed the positives. For one thing, I thought the pacing was pretty uneven. Some parts of the book moved quickly and kept me on the edge of my seat, but then there were other sections where I found myself getting bored and wanting to skip ahead.

The book reads much like a YA novel, with more heat and gore thrown in to bump it to an adult rating. Not being a YA fan, I can't say I enjoyed that aspect.

The bottom line is that I was underwhelmed. House of Hunger is an okay novel with an interesting premise, but it has some pacing and narrative issues that kept it from being a truly engaging book for me. ( )