Book Description Review “Popovic balances lush, romantic language with gruesome imagery in this tale of innocence lost.Readers will likely be inspired to do actual research into Lady Bathory’s murderous misdeeds.”, Booklist”Popovic also touches on how a patriarchal society can drive women to extremes without letting the truly terrifying Bathory, or Anna, off the hook for their own actions. . . A lush and bloody historical thriller.”, Kirkus Reviews”Hand to fans of dark historical fiction and powerful female characters.” , School Library Journal Read more About the Author Lana Popovic is the author of Wicked Like a Wild re and Fierce Like a Firestorm. Born in Serbia, she lived in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania before moving to the US, where she studied psychology and literature at Yale University, law at Boston University, and publishing and writing at Emerson College. Read more Customers Review: Elizabeth Bathory, The Blood Countess, the female Dracula. That is what this story is about. A historical fiction that tells her story from the point of view of a young midwife in training. Anna is a small town girl who has learned midwifery from her mom, she is a good herbalist, and healer. She is brought to the Countesses attention because her son is sick and Anna is hired to heal him. The Countess wants Anna for herself as a healer, witch, conspirator, sage and lover. The story goes onto tell their relationship and shows how bloody, evil, and manipulative, Elizabeth’s crimes were. There is good character building and a good backstory of these characters. The story is a good retelling of The Blood Countess.
I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t.It was boring, the characters were all one dimensional, and the story line only progressed because the Protagonist would excuse Countess Bathory’s sadistic behavior with the flimsiest of reasoning. It was frustrating to have a main character that has the will to be strong and intelligent at times, and then does a complete 180 when the storyline needs her to be to progress.I would like to note I did not finish this book because it was entirely too frustrating, so maybe others who give it chance and finish the book will be satisfied with the conclusion.
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)Blood Countess is enigmatic. Beginning with the picture of a woman married to an abusive man, Blood Countess immediately sets the scene of the ways women are seen and abused by men. Not all men, but we are shown the power struggles of women, whether it be because they need their beauty to maintain their allure to men – and thus their financial stability – Blood Countess is a story about power, obsession, and freedom.Popović illustrates this choice clearly from the beginning as Anna is stuck between her father’s exploitation and the possibility of a marriage she doesn’t desire. Within Blood Countess we see not only a queer relationship in a picture of patriarchy (f/f relationship), but also the manipulation of toxic relationships. It’s a book that asks us about who we are as people, complex, flawed, and sometimes not deserving of forgiveness. A question throughout the book that never leaves our mind, or Anna’s, is from where does cruelty stem?
When I first got wind of a retelling of the infamous Countess Elizabeth Báthory, I squealed. I love all things vampire related so anything about Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Báthory, I NEED in my life. Up until now, I hadn’t read any retellings, so I was dying to get my hands on a copy of Blood Countess.Blood Countess follows the story of Anna Darvulia, a poor village girl gifted with healing, who dreams of working for the illustrious Countess Elizabeth following a chance opportunity to assist Elizabeth in a personal matter. Following the death of her abusive father, Anna leaves home in hopes to work as a chambermaid to Elizabeth so that her salary can keep her family from starvation. Once Anna settles into the palace, she quickly learns of Elizabeth’s sadistic tendencies and torturous punishments for the smallest of offenses. Anna must find a way to stay loyal to Elizabeth and curb her treacherous ways before the body count starts piling up.First thing, if you have trouble with gory scenes, skip this book because Popovic does not shy away from the horrific things that Elizabeth decides to carry out on a whim. To say that Elizabeth is sadistic and disturbed in an absolute understatement. I thought that Popovic did a brilliant job of creating a character that started off as someone you could enjoy, maybe even love (as in the case of Anna) and let that person’s true, treacherous persona seep to the surface until any sense of morality was destroyed. Loved it.I loved that the Anna that you start with in this book is NOT the Anna who ends in this book. Her character arc was definitely my favorite. You see a teenage girl full of hope and innocence who just wants to pursue a life for herself and to please Elizabeth. Anna starts out as so naive and trusting. Every time one of Elizabeth torture games becomes more depraved than the next, a piece inside Anna awakens to the horrific reality that she has shackled herself to.I found this story to be fast past and gripping. Coming in around 300 pages, there’s no filler chapters or extra fluff to propel the story forward. Overall, I think this was a great start to the Lady Slayers series, and I can’t wait to see where Anna’s story ends up next.Thank you to @PiqueBeyond (ABRAMS) for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own. |
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