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Title: House Of Hunger

Author: Alexis Henderson

Pub. Date: September 22nd 2022

Genre: Gothic Horror/LGBTQIA+

Format: DRC

Publisher: ACE

Pages: 304

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╰☆☆ 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭. ☆☆╮

Marion Shaw is tired of the life she’s living in the slums scrubbing floors while being degraded on a daily basis. Home doesn’t provide much of a refuge for Marion who lives with her brother who is addicted to drugs and physically abusive. It is inferred that Marion’s brother is living with a terminal disease but it’s not spelled out on the page. His tight hold on Marion makes it impossible for her to build up a nest egg to get them out of the slums, what she makes in coin he finds. She knows very little of the North where wealthy nobles live in great houses consuming the blood of bloodmaids, when she comes across an ad in the paper calling for a new bloodmaid at the House Of Hunger. Countess Lisavet is mysterious and charismatic character, her doors always open to the noble elite with proclivities towards hedonistic activities. Marion’s blood has captured the interest of a traveling taster, one known to find bloodmaids with desirable blood and bring them North to the great houses. Lisavet is instantly drawn to Marion after tasting her blood and so begins their toxic love affair. Marion becomes obsessed with pleasing her Mistress all the while girls begin to go missing at night. She often wakes in the middle of the night to find Lisavet has left their bed but with no idea where she has gone. Questions begin to form with an unsettling feeling that things aren’t what they seem at the House Of Hunger. Things may actually be much darker than the vampiric tendencies of their Mistress. The House Of Hunger has its secrets and a history of violence that turns out to be a lot more than what Marion bargained for.

Whenever I sat down with this book, I found myself fully invested in our main character Marion. She’s gritty, a fighter, and as tough as the slums she comes from. She’s self aware and sees she’s become dependent on Lisavet’s validation just like the other girls in the house. Marion KNOWS she’s in a toxic relationship of sorts with Lisavet, and yet she still feels special and chosen when Lisavet removes Cecilia (previous First Bloodmaid) from her position to give to her. She is literally being bled dry by Lisavet and is willing to give her more, until she starts to see the parts of Lisavet reserved for the First Bloodmaid. The last 30% of this book really amped up the horror, I was cringing at some scenes and reaching for the lights during others! The ending however, was wrapped up a little too neatly for my liking. That being said, I’m probably in the minority group of readers that still found the House Of Hunger to be quite atmospheric even though the only setting we have is in the house itself. Alexis Henderson painted some vivid scenes of debauchery with nobles playing cat & mouse games into all hours of the night. There are also underlying themes to consider with the exploitation of young women of color that come from the poorer parts of the North. The power imbalance created by the socioeconomic disparities between the nobles from far North vs. the young women from Marion’s region. The gross abuse of power exercised by Lisavet and her ancestors is also lightly touched upon. That being said, at its core House Of Hunger is a gothic horror that delivers a good dose of mystery paired with a sense of urgency that’ll have you wanting answers for our MC. House Of Hunger was Nominated as a Goodreads Choice Award in the Horror category in 2022.

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