I loved The Poison Season so when I saw Mara Rutherford's new book, I had to read it and I completely blew through it and couldn't put it down.
A Multitude of Dreams is a reimagination of Poe's The Masque of the Red Death--A plague runs rampant in the kingdom while the king and the nobles lock themselves into the castle and pretend it doesn't exist. The story alternates points of view between Seraphina, a girl from the Jewish quarter who was stolen away and forced to imitate the dead Princess Imogen to placate the Mad King; and Nico, a minor noble who was the only one to survive the plague and has found himself serving the enigmatic and very much evil Lord Crane. After four years trapped in the castle with dwindling food and patience, Seraphina's path crosses with Nico's as she is trying to break out and find her way home while he is sent by Lord Crane to find out if anyone in the castle has survived.
The book has lots of mystery, creepiness, and red herrings. The first half of the story builds everything up so so well, but the ending was just a little too neat and everything wrapped up a bit too cleanly. All in all, it was a great read, I just wish the ending had the same feel as the start of the book.
A Multitude of Dreams is a reimagination of Poe's The Masque of the Red Death--A plague runs rampant in the kingdom while the king and the nobles lock themselves into the castle and pretend it doesn't exist. The story alternates points of view between Seraphina, a girl from the Jewish quarter who was stolen away and forced to imitate the dead Princess Imogen to placate the Mad King; and Nico, a minor noble who was the only one to survive the plague and has found himself serving the enigmatic and very much evil Lord Crane. After four years trapped in the castle with dwindling food and patience, Seraphina's path crosses with Nico's as she is trying to break out and find her way home while he is sent by Lord Crane to find out if anyone in the castle has survived.
The book has lots of mystery, creepiness, and red herrings. The first half of the story builds everything up so so well, but the ending was just a little too neat and everything wrapped up a bit too cleanly. All in all, it was a great read, I just wish the ending had the same feel as the start of the book.