Review: A Multitude of Dreams

A Multitude of Dreams

Written by: Mara Rutherford

Inkyard Press

2023

A Multitude of Dreams retells Poe’s Masque of the Red Death with a lying princess, a love triangle, and hungry vampires.

A gothic romantasy, A Multitude of Dreams takes place in a world ravaged by a plague, where those who survived have turned into vampires.

Storytelling

I have to say, I really enjoyed this novel. As a massive fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I love reading retellings of his works, to see how they will be adapted if they are still going to feel Poe-esque at their core.

Rutherford was able to do that while also layering the story together. Princess Imogen is not actually Princess Imogen. Her whole life was ripped away from her when she was a child when the plague was in full swing.

For years, she has lived in the palace, in quarantine with the rest of the nobles who put their lives ahead of everyone else. But the food is beginning to run out, and the mad king has no desire to open the doors to anyone.

And then there is Nico, once part of a family with status, who now owes his life to Lord Crane. But this man has dangerous secrets and a deadly hunger.

I love the tension between the characters and the rising tension in the story. There are times early on when it’s a little slow, but the moment the unsettling and sinister feeling appear, they grow, hooking the reader.

I also liked the realistic element, the way Rutherford wove in the historical antisemitism. Often in history, marginalized groups are used as scapegoats for spreading diseases. Here, the medieval element and the antisemitism give the story a root in realism, even when dealing with vampires. And no, the Jews in the novel are not evil vampires, which is part of the point that Rutherford is making.

It always makes me more invested in a story when an author makes a point without trying to force it on the reader by being heavy-handed.

It felt like a historical fantasy, and the vampires fit since they were a strain of the virus not wiped out.

Final Thoughts

I will say the pacing did feel very inconsistent with the storytelling. It didn’t have the natural flow to match the rising tension. However, I liked the vampire element, the Gothic atmosphere that reminded me of Poe, and the characterization. Especially the secondary characters, who brought out more personality in the main characters.

• 2023
• A Multitude of Dreams
• Inkyard Press
• Mara Rutherford