Anexis Matos

Blind author, content creator, and freelancer

recent posts

about

Hi, everyone! I’m Anexis and my pronouns are they/them. Nice to meet you! I’m a blind college student majoring in english with a concentration in creative writing. I’m a content creator who began on YouTube with the channel Videl Blind-The Blind Reader. I now currently run the channel Anexis Matos and no longer post on my old one. I started blogging to share my writing. I’ve always enjoyed stories. I started writing when I was between the ages of 10 and 12. My stories started out as Dragon Ball fanfiction which will never see the light of day because I deleted them. Now, I write original stories that I hope to share at some point. My aim with this blog is simply to share my thoughts on whatever interests me. From reviews to blindness, you’ll see it here.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson: Dracula’s First Bride

I first heard of this story on YouTube. One of my favorite podcasts, Unresolved Textual Tension reviewed it. Here’s the video if you’re interested.

This was just very fun to read. At some point, I want to write a reimagining of Dracula, so I was curious to see what Gibson would do with this character.

Synopsis

This is a reimagining of Dracula from the point of view of his first bride.

Book Information

Genre: Fantasy
Category: Adult
Explicit violence: Some
Explicit sex: Some
Content warnings I noticed: Psychological and physical abuse and implied sexual assault

This is a standalone book followed by an epilogue short story originally sent to subscribers of the author’s newsletter. According to the Goodreads description, it can be read for free on substack.

Review

The prose is great. Accessible yet poetic, it’s very beautiful and easy to read. It’s one of my favorite parts of the book and a big reason why I read it in three days.

My main complaint regarding the writing is the ending. The story is separated into three sections. Each reads like a novella which I love. However, the last part feels rushed. Everything that happens feels contrived and like they were added for plot reasons to get rid of Dracula.

This doesn’t bother me, but what could bother some readers is the amount of telling. This story is written in first person retrospective. Constanta is telling you about events that happened, so there’s less showing than there would be if things were happening in present time. There’s also a lot of time skipped constantly. I’m okay with this. It’s an interesting style.

The pacing is good. It’s slow, but, at the same time, it’s a very fast read. I’m not sure how I would describe this pacing, but I liked it.

I don’t think this book is attempting to deliver a message. There are no themes I can discuss here. They probably flew over my head. It’s refreshing for stories not to send a specific message. I don’t think all stories need to.

The characters are great. Constanta and Magdalena are the best. Alexi had a lot of potential, but his arrival feels forced. His main reason for him being in the story is to bring Magdalena out of her depression and to irritate Dracula. Unlike the women, he’s not well developed.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a good story. I enjoyed it. It’s a great pallet cleanser and an easy read. It’s kind of like Murderbot Diaries with how easy it is to read. If you’re interested in my thoughts on this series so far, check out this playlist.

I rated it four stars.

Posted in

Leave a comment