Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance
In this gothic fantasy retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” with a bloody twist, the author of The Poison Season gives us a dual-POV story set in a plague-ravaged world about a commoner posing as a princess, a destitute gentleman posing as a prince, and the web of lies they must navigate to defeat the monsters coming for them both.
The bloody plague is over, and the survivors are finally safe…or so they think.
Princess Imogen is living a protected life at the castle on borrowed time. The illusion of order is fading, and she must escape before the fast-dwindling rations run out and all hell is unleashed.
Now-destitute Nico Mott wouldn’t have survived the aftermath of the plague if not for the generosity of Lord Crane. But does owing Lord Crane his life mean he owes him his silence?
When Lord Crane sends Nico to search for more plague survivors in the castle, Nico collides with a princess who has her own reasons for wanting to break out—into a world where fresh horrors lie in wait.
Mara Rutherford's A Multitude of Dreams is a gothic fantasy retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” with a bloody twist. The story alternates first person narratives between Seraphina Blum and Nicodemus Mott. The characters in this post-pandemic world of Goslind must navigate a land that’s been changed forever after a bloody plague, grapple with what’s been left behind, and consider how they can move forward.
Seraphina has been sequestered in Eldridge Hall for the past 4 years posing as Princess Imogen youngest daughter of a Mad King. She is afraid to reveal her true identity because of lifelong persecution she’s suffered due to her heritage and social class but one of her sisters is the reason she is here, and among her people. As a Jew in this world, her people were blamed for the plague that created Immaculate's, Immune's, and people who die, and came back to life.
You may call them vampires since that's what the publisher and author are pretty much making them out to be instead of zombies. Before the Mori Roya plague, Nicodemus Mott used to live a good life before the plague took everything and everyone from him. Thanks to Lord Crane, Nico, who wanted to become a doctor, is not relegated to doing anything from being a gravedigger, to a valet, to a horse groomer.
Nico and his friend Colin Chambers begin to question everything around them when a visitor who is looking for her brother at Eldridge Hall, goes missing and her horse wanders back to Crane manor. Nico suspects that things are even more twisted than he realized. Soon thereafter, he and Colin are order to Eldridge Hall to see if there are any survivors. Nico poses as the Prince from Pilmond who is supposed to be engaged to Prince Imogen.
Princess Imogen is living on borrowed time. The illusion of order is fading, and she must escape before the fast-dwindling rations run out and all hell is unleashed. Her one ally Lord Greymont has true feelings for her, and may be her hope to get out of Eldridge and see the rest of the world. When Nico runs into Imogen (Seraphina) and learns she wants to leave, he has to stall to keep them alive and away from the horrors that lie outside of the castle walls.
*Thoughts* Rutherford takes the sad
historical fact of Jews being accused of causing and spreading plagues
during the Middle Ages and harshly scapegoated for it whenever there was
an outbreak, and uses it to create a world ravaged by the Bloody
Plague, a terrible disease that has exterminated a great chunk of the
population. There is still antisemitism in the world today, especially by certain members of Congress who I shall not name.
Anyway, this was more "inspired by" instead of a retelling. The story leaves a bit to be desired like the dark rooms in the original story. Even the author herself stated she was drawn to the story including the macabre ending, and yet she changes her own ending for reasons that elude me. The book takes place in a fantasy world that was very similar to Europe during the Black Plague which makes sense. I don't hate either character. I think Seraphina was more drawn out than Nico, but Nico actually spend 4 years surviving while Sera was being pampered and living with a shuttered castle.
Ooh nice review! I was eyeing this one just because I've been meaning to read this author's books forever! Sounds like an intriguing story! I might have to pick it up sooner rather than later! Nice review!
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