‘A gorgeously gruesome Gothic romance.’ Jacqueline Carey
📅 Release Date: March 17, 2026
🏷️ Genre: Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Dark fantasy
📖 Publisher: Del Rey
📚 Series: Book One of The House of Teeth Duology
A visionary and atmospheric gothic fantasy about necromancy, vengeance, and soul-consuming love, the first in a duology from the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning and Lady Macbeth.
Synopsis
Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy.
A conqueror’s blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic.
But defiant against the new order stands the House of Teeth and its last living members: beautiful Marozia, the heiress to the House, and her cousin, the uncanny Lady Agnes.
Though she has not spoken a word in seven years, Agnes is the true carrier of the House’s legacy. And she has her orders. She must recapture the secrets of death magic and avenge her family’s fallen honour. She must arrange the betrothal of her beloved cousin Marozia to Liuprand, heir to the conqueror’s throne, for access to the forbidden library in his grotesquely grand castle.
Revenge burns in Agnes’s heart, but so do stranger passions – and it is Liuprand, the golden prince, who speaks to her soul. This passion is as treasonous as it is powerful, poisoning the kingdom’s roots and threatening to tear the already shattered realm in two.
For Agnes’s final order is the gravest: She must not fall in love.
Quick facts
🗡️ Tropes: Artist × Muse romance, obsessive love, beauty as power, forbidden inspiration, self-discovery
🧝 World Setting: An alternate version of Venice during the Renaissance, where art carries real magic and muses,supernatural beings,can inspire or destroy the artists they attach themselves to
🔥 Vibe Check:Lush, romantic, slightly dark, and obsessive, think living art and love that borders on dangerous
📖 Length:~400–450 pages (depending on edition)
Multiple editions of this book are available. Of course we are spoiled with special editions, but the regular ones are gorgeous as well! Let me highlight some of them out for you:
Available at Bol.com | Amazon.nl | Libris.nl
Available at Bol.com | Amazon.nl | Libris.nl
Available at Bol.com
My review will follow soon! Since I’m in a huge reading slump, I decided to wait for the audiobook to come out. I just received an e-mail my pre-order is available and I can enjoy it right away! 🙂
