Synopsis:
Judith Ban – convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief – is looking for her next identity. She’s no stranger to wealth or danger, but the glitter of New York’s Gilded Age hides a darkness even she has never imagined. Here, the city’s elite maintain their grip through opulent balls, whispered rituals, and marriages with demons hungry for human devotion.
When she crosses paths with the formidable matriarch of the Howard family, Judith is offered an irresistible bargain: to take the place of a missing debutante in the coming season. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith becomes white, rich, and ready to risk it all. If she can hold onto her charm, her wits, and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power.
But in a world ruled by appetite and ambition, the most dangerous hunger of all might be her own.
Review:
Okayyyyy, this was an incredible standalone.
A dark and gothic fantasy set in Gilded Age New York with vampirism demons.
Judith is a failed thief and courtesan who strikes a deal with the elite Howard family to assume the identity of their missing debutante granddaughter.
This is an exploration of power, identity, wealth, and control. Judith has the missing debutante’s face physically stitched over her own. She swaps the danger of being an Oriental, French lone girl that gets used to a white young woman with respectful opportunities (if you count demons courting you as respectful).
When you tell a story about something that happens to you, you flatten it. Instead of memory—hot, cutting, strong enough to fetch you a blow that will put you on your back for a week—it becomes words. The words are a bag that help you to carry it.
Nghi Vo makes the metaphor literal: trading a woman’s body, her blood, for a man’s protection. It’s constantly a give even as you win – women exerting power in the world through their husbands.
I have found Nghi Vo’s earlier works lacking in depth, engagement and connection. Here, you truly get into the desperate and arrogant kind of Judith.
The atmosphere is gritty and glamorous, quite like the reality of Gilded age New York.
This was almost five stars, but I wish there was a bit more depth to the supporting cast. This is very internal and I wish we got more from the characters around Judith.
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