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Book: “Oubliette” by L.V. Russell
Publishing Info: Quill & Crow Publishing, October 2026
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley
Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: Rue knows only bloodshed, longing, and isolation. Born into ancient wealth on the Cornish coast, Rue grows up in the crumbling Folkehaven Manor, steeped in rot and haunted by the dead. Twisted specters trail through the halls, the lords and ladies of high society Rue delivered to her mother. For her mother is hungry for attention…and for flesh. During one blood-soaked feast, Rue is drawn to Oren Pengelly, a quiet gentleman whose sister’s betrothed is consumed. Oren sees past Rue’s sins, beyond all the horrors, and sees someone deserving of love. But Rue struggles to leave her mother, for who will keep her fed?
With blood beneath her nails, and a soul darkening by the day, Rue wonders if there might be something more than violence and decay. Something more than hunger… Or if perhaps hunger is all she was ever made for.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!
We are starting to wrap up my Horrorpalooza celebration. October always goes so fast, and I am pleased with the varied books that I was able to tackle this time around. I am once again talking about vampires (ish? I feel like perhaps it could be a ghoul tale), one of my favorite sub-genres of horror, and “Oubliette” by L.V. Russell is on the opposite end of the spectrum that my last vampire read. Instead of a dark academia vampire romance, we are now into Gothic territory, with a dilapidated mansion, a Victorian time setting, and a vampire mother who keeps her daughter close, no matter how much the daugther wants to leave. It had great promise, and for the most part it delivered.
I do love a Gothic horror novel, just as I like complex stories about mothers and daughters no matter what the genre, and “Oubliette” combines the two into a vampire/ghoul story as well as a mother daughter tale where the child craves independence while the parent wants to hold on. Rue is a young woman who feels tethered to her vampire mother Sylvatica, and feels like she cannot leave her behind even though she would love to go live a life for herself and away from the rotting home, as well as the rotting parent. Sylvatica’s appetites and gory and gross, going above and beyond the usual ‘vampires drink blood’ and entering into straight up consuming flesh territory in ways that made my stomach turn, though it never got too be too much as I read. It had the right amount of gross horror without being distracting. We also get another well crafted metaphor of vampires feeding off of people in ways that go beyond just blood to sustain their life, as Sylvatica manipulates and guilts her daughter, feeding off of her innocence and her need to be devoted to her mother, no matter how monstrous she can be, because of the need to feel that maternal love from her. I was less convinced of Rue’s burgeoning relationships with the outside world, whether it was a romance with a young upper class named Oren or a friendship with his sister Anne. In Oren’s case especially it felt a bit rushed and like instalove. I suppose it could have been a commentary about how desperate Rue is to get away, latching onto the first thing that seems like an out, but if that was the intent it wasn’t as clear as I would have liked.
But I also appreciated that we did get some flashback backstory to Sylvatica’s past, from her birth to her childhood and young adulthood to her eventual descent into being a monster. I almost enjoyed her chapters more, watching as she went from powerless peasant girl, with no support at home, on a failing farm, so desperate and lonely, to something terrifying, was really gratifying to read. It doesn’t excuse who she becomes and the kind of mother she is to Rue, her insatiable hunger and refusal to let her child go for her own ends always terrible and tragic. It would have been easy to just see the thing she had become and the violence that she left behind, be it the physical of the people she eats (no matter how some may have deserved it), or the emotional of the daughter she refuses to let go of. It made Sylvatica far more well rounded than I expected and I liked it.
“Oubliette” was a spooky and sometimes heavy tale about independence and codependence, and I liked the complexities of it all, even if there could have been more branching out in other areas beyond the mother and daughter relationship. Overall, it was a good read.
Rating 7: A dark and ultimately bittersweet story about toxic parent child relationships and trying to break free from an abusive cycle.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Oubliette” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you enjoyed “Night’s Edge” by Liz Kerin, this would probably be a good fit.
