A Multitude of Dreams is a "Masque of the Red Death" retelling with a lot of Jewish elements in it. The story follows Imogen née Seraphina as she's impersonating the Princess Imogen and trapped in a castle with her "family" to hide from the mori roja. Meanwhile, gravedigger Nico is fighting his own battles outside the castle.
"Masque of the Red Death" is one of my favorite short stories, so I had hopes. Big hopes. But my hopes were dashed. I hate to say this but beyond mori roja (red death, clever right?), this story had very little in common with Poe's famous tale. I found the characters to be flat. I didn't particularly care what happened to Imogen or Nico, and I know that I was supposed to. I just...didn't. The world building didn't really make much sense (view spoiler)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. All in all, I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.
"Masque of the Red Death" is one of my favorite short stories, so I had hopes. Big hopes. But my hopes were dashed. I hate to say this but beyond mori roja (red death, clever right?), this story had very little in common with Poe's famous tale. I found the characters to be flat. I didn't particularly care what happened to Imogen or Nico, and I know that I was supposed to. I just...didn't. The world building didn't really make much sense (view spoiler)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. All in all, I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.