3.5/5 stars

quick thoughts:

i enjoyed the book and would recommend it for people who are looking for a quick fantasy read with a somber, eerie, post-apocalyptic vibe and a dash of fright.

longer review:

after months of procrastinating i finally picked this book up, and surprisingly, it only took me a few days to finish it!

in my initial review/thoughts, i had mentioned the term "slow-burn". what i meant by that was that there was a tension that slowly climbed throughout the story. that tension was probably my favorite part of the book, as it made me want to keep reading and not stop until i finish. once you get through the first act, the story unfolded pretty quickly (for a high fantasy book).

the shining jewel of the book was definitely seraphina. her backstory was heartbreaking, and i really liked her strength of character that was demonstrated in different ways. some of the other characters had depth, but others felt almost cartoonish (which i didn't mind but i know is a big issue for other people).

the main storyline (iykyk) was very fun for me to read. there were a few other threads throughout the book that i thought would lead somewhere, only to end up going nowhere, so that was a bit disappointing.

towards the end of the book i just wanted the tension to be released, so even though the climax was quite underwhelming, i wasn't mad about it.

thank you to inkyard press and netgalley for providing this arc!

I was very excited for this book. The description was great! I've heard so many great things about the author and I own others of her books. This novel however started very slow and there wasn't enough worldbuilding. The main character was Jewish but it felt very fantasy genre, not realism fantasy. (Not saying I have anything against the religion, just that it didn't feel like this was based on any 'real' life things.) I did become a bit intrigued with the story once Seraphina started to see the issues and Nico got into the castle. The interest dwindle pretty quickly. There was a lot of talking and walking but not really much action. The punches didn't feel well versed. I was hoping it would be a great spooky read but for myself, it fell short.

I have loved Mara's other books and was so looking forward to this one but it just didn't do it for me. While I thought the world building was very well done the romance in the book felt super forced. It ended up being just an okay read for me.

So I was excited to read more from Mara Rutherford, since A Poison Season was not my favorite, and this one was certainly interesting.......but for a story that has Vampires as the bad guy....they weren't very scary and I never felt like they were going to win the conflict. The friendships were the highlight of the story while the actual relationship bits were...flat....
A great premise but it just was not for me as I don't think there was enough depth in plot/character/or world building

Spooky fall vibe turned up on this one! This is my first book by Maura Rutherford and I’m obsessed. First of this over is stunning!! I think it will pop on any bookshelf this fall and will be a great Halloween read. This story was very intrigue and I couldn’t put it down. All of the characters were really thought out and kept me in the story until the very end. I can’t wait for more from Maura Rutherford. She is in her spooky autumn girl bag!

Sadly this book just didn’t grab as much as I hoped it would. I put it down and picked it up multiple times but I just couldn’t connect with it. Super bummed.

I actually really liked this one! It was an interesting new take (or at least new for me) about the creation of vampires, or as they’re called in the book, the reborn. While it was a fantasy novel, it didn’t have the never ending world building that I’ve usually found in fantasy books. Instead, the author did an amazing job of building the world while keeping me ingrained in the plot! I thoroughly enjoyed this!

A plague, a mad King and the undead … you’ve got my attention! Pulling inspiration from the great Poe, Rutherford brings the eerie tension to life as we follow our main characters to a world where not everything or anyone is not what it seems. Truly enjoyed reading till the very end however, in my opinion some aspects of the story were plopped within the story rather than woven through. One of those examples is the Jewish representation, I would have loved to see it as a bigger part of the main characters story then just a matter of fact moments when discussing her past and it having no effect on her or the story during critical events. Other plops include a couple of characters, some particularly adorable felines and smaller things that could’ve made the eye for detail increase greatly. Do not get me wrong, I still rather enjoyed this book and will recommend this to readers looking for the perfect plague doctor Poe vibes.

I kept trying to pick this one up but it’s not connecting. DNF for me but would try another book by the author.

Retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of the Red Death!
18yo Seraphina lives trapped in Eldridge Hall with the Royal Family, servants and courtiers since the plague began three years ago. Seraphina masquerades as Princess Imogen after the real princess died four years ago. The Royal sisters were terrified of how the king would react if he discovered Imogen’s death so the sisters found a look alike Jewish girl, Seraphina, and took her away from her family. She’s been Imogen ever since. 19yo Nico goes to Eldridge Hall to see if there are any survivors. He soon discovers that the man who saved him from the mori roja plague years ago, and who claims to be helping plague survivors, is really a monster. Now Nico is compelled to save everyone he can in and around Eldridge Hall.

Likes/dislikes: I love retellings and this is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death with added supernatural and historical elements. The author shares her background and reasoning for creating this story and I’m impressed with her forethought and hindsight. Wonderful characters bring the book to life.
Mature Content: PG for kissing
Language: R for 43 swears and no f-words.
Violence: PG-13 for deaths.
Ethnicity: Royal family falls to white. Jewish descendants Seraphina and Dalia have olive skin. Lord Greymont has bronze skin. Elisabeth has olive skin. A dark skinned man is mentioned. Colin has brown skin.

Thank you to the publisher, my BELOVED Inkyard Press who I am DISTRAUGHT to see leave us, and to NetGalley for this eARC to review.

4.5/5 stars!

I am very quickly becoming a fan of Mara Rutherford. Her pacing always seems to be perfect for me and *my brain*, and her stories always have the perfect amount of twists! I really enjoyed getting to see the story develop from both character's sides of their world, and eventually collide at the major tipping point only halfway through the book! It was almost insane that basically from 50% on it was one giant climax where things we're constantly developing in an almost explosive way. And the character's and their relationships were honestly my favorite part of the entire series. There were so many layers between them all, and nothing was very easy to predict.

Mara Rutherford has woven the excellent back story of a time when the safest place to be is inside, behind locked doors. Her character development shows how each individual responds to this forced confinement and even though they know it's for their own good, the resentment grows, and grows. With so many dead or dying, escape is still on the minds of the survivors.

Writing as skillfully as any painter, Rutherford has drawn the characters, the castle and the community until I have a clear visual of them all. With a cast and community this large and involved, this is no easy task. The story is excellent.

〰️Imogen is a princess of Goslind, well, kind of. In reality her name is Seraphina, a Jewish girl who was taken from her family during the deadly and bloody mori roja plague, locked up in King Stewart’s castle, and forced to impersonate the dead princess. It doesn’t help that the king’s other daughters despise Seraphina. Plus the hatred of Jews that permeates the kingdom–many blame the plague on the Jews–makes her feel completely alone and hated. With rations dwindling and the king going mad, the illusion of safety and abundance starts to fade and some wish to leave the castle.⁣⁣⁣⁣
〰️Nico once lived a life of comfort, but now he is a grave digger that was taken in by Lord Crane during the aftermath of the plague. When a woman arrives at Lord Crane’s, all alone, Nico is sent out to see if any more survivors can be found, but soon suspects that Crane may have an ulterior motive hidden within his desire to find survivors.⁣⁣⁣⁣
〰️Nico and Seraphina soon cross paths and as they navigate the lies they have told, and the lies told to them, they find that they have a long path ahead of them if they are going to survive the plague’s aftermath.⁣⁣⁣⁣
〰️A Multitude of Dreams is a reimagining of Edger Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.. Being a fan of E.A. Poe, I was excited to see what Rutherford would do with the tale. For the most part I enjoyed A Multitude of Dreams, but there were some times that the narration dragged. The ending was fast-paced and enjoyable, it just took a lot to get there. I did enjoy Seraphina; she is a tough girl that has to face a lot of hate and obstacles all on her own. I feel like there is a phenomenal story idea here, but it all fell on its face when the concept of vampires was introduced, which put a shadow over the entire novel, slow-going or not.

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 and there were vampires for some reason, silly ones at that.

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.

This review is in exchange for an e-arc of A Multitude of Dreams. Thank you so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to offer my honest views on this.

I really enjoyed A Multitude of Dreams! I enjoyed the main character, Seraphina, and found her likable and believable. Taken from her family during a plague sweeping the land, she is thrown into the role as the youngest, most beloved princess, with her uncanny resemblance to the deceased princess.

I also really enjoyed the multi POV’s this book offered. The side characters were fun and kept me engaged.

This is my first book by Rutherford and I am now very eager to visit her other works!

This was a beautifully atmospheric gothic tale featuring a lush fantasy world and vampires. I find Mara’s writing to be perfect for any type of fantasy fan — those new to it or those wanting familiar tropes and writing styles.

I have read Rutherford’s previous duology and really enjoyed it. I knew I had to check this one out because I love the world Rutherford creates. Well, this one was amazing and I really enjoyed the storyline of this book. It’s a retelling of The Masque of the Red Death, though I’m not familiar with the story, I still enjoyed it. The book was a bit hard to get into at first because I was a bit confused but once I understood the story I enjoyed it. I loved the world that Rutherford created for this world as it was simple and easy to understand.

I enjoyed the dual perspectives of each character and they were greatly written. Serephina was a great character but it took me a while to get to like her and know her. I loved her journey though and seeing her develop. Then there is Nico who was a good male lead but I didn’t really care for him. There were a good bit of side characters in this book but the story mainly focuses on the MCs and their goal. The romance wasn’t my favorite part of the book as I just couldn’t feel the chemistry between the couple.

The ending was good and overall this was a great story. I enjoyed the gothic adventure readers could go on and included Jewish representation. A lot goes on and if you want to go on an adventure, then I recommend picking up this book. I wouldn’t pick it up if you are looking for a YA fantasy romance as the romance was lacking but the gothic retelling was great.

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

This was a really fun YA fantasy read. A retelling of an Edgar Allen Poe story?! Sign. Me. Up.

As a longtime fan of the gothic, I appreciated all the nods to the genre and other works within the genre. The tone and overall vibe of the story carried throughout, giving me just the right amount of creepy feel as I read along. There were some very heavy topics addressed, some swoony moments, the right amount of suspense. Just overall, lovely lovely read and wonderfully written.

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of this title. This review contains my honest thoughts.

It has been 3 years and things have drastically changed. Princess Imogen of Goslind has been living a sheltered life in a boarded-up castle to stay safe from the bloody mori roja plague that is running rampant in the kingdom. People are complaining and rations are dwindling. Imogen has a secret but does not want to reveal it as the kingdom is in an upheaval and the king is going mad. Then, there is Nico who once upon a time had a good, comfortable life but it was all ripped away from him when the plague took everything and everyone from his life. Imogen's and Nico's worlds collide when Lord Crane brings Nico to the castle to search for plague survivors.

I am a sucker for books that have royalty and kingdoms. Mara does a great job of setting up the dark feel of this book by tying a plague into the book to make a reason for why the people of the Kingdom are struggling and going into a state of upheaval. But the one thing I am struggling with is books that have plagues or pandemics in them. I do not know the reason on why I am struggling with books with this topic in them, but it just makes me struggle and I am not sure how to explain it...but, maybe bored?

Also, with the world building, I found it to be weak at times because we really only see a closed off castle and nothing really outside of this castle. This could be on purpose because we know that there is a plague going on out in the world and people are in discourse so being secluded from the world would change the characters idea of what it looks like out there.

For the first half of this book, it was slow going but around the halfway mark it started to pick up a bit to where I was starting to enjoy it.

Mara includes Jewish representation in this book which I thought it was very interesting in a fantasy world setting but I really liked the representation in this book. I think it worked out well.

When it came to the romance aspect of this book, I really liked that it did not take center stage of this book and that it did not overshadow the plot. The characters were done pretty well and introduced well.

I barely found out that this is a reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death." I have not read any of Poe's work (even though I grew up right outside of Baltimore City and he was always mentioned since he passed away in Baltimore. But I know Poe's work was always talked about being on the darker feeling side and Mara really encompasses that dark feeling with this book.

For me this was just an okay book, but I think this will make a great book to read in the fall time. If you are a fan of Poe, darker toned books/gothic stories, and royalty then you probably will enjoy this book. If you are not a fan of plagues, then I say you probably should skip this.

I plan on trying more of Mara's books down the road.

A touch scarier then I thought it would be. This book was incredibly immersive! From the characters to the setting, I really thought I was in this world and struggling again everything the MC was. IT was such a spooky delight and a wonderful reread for the Halloween season.