Sierra’s Reviews > House of Hunger > Status Update

Marion is thriving in pain in her room when Lisavet comes in, makes her drink the twins blood, stays & comforts her for awhile- offers her to go home after seeing her in so much pain, says she can have her pension if she leaves now & returns to Prane. Marion takes it the wrong way, thinks now that she’s sick Lisavet wants to be rid of her just like Cecelia. Lisavet says she’s sorry for suggesting that, that she’d never want Marion to be away from her…

2 days later Marion is feeling a lot better, all the Bloodmaids come to visit her, her illness brought them all back together. A servant brings her breakfast & Irene says that her blood is in it, Lisavet has made an exception to them all only bleeding for her, allowing Marion to consume their blood to recover.

Marion goes to see her tutor after fully recovering, only to find his office completely packed up & the hidden bookshelf door sealed off now…She goes to confront the House Mother, has to wait in her office for her to return, picks the lock on her file cabinet. She finds that all the Bloodmaids never lasted over a year at this house when majority were meant to stay for 7…can’t find any notes in their filed about why they left, can’t find anything related to their pensions either. Now she’s thinking they all couldn’t have been dismissed without pension, stuff is definitely off.
Also finds that there’s gaps between the Bloodmaids, they usually come in sets of 3 & never meet each other in passing. She finds out who stayed in her 1st room before her, finds that the girl left 4 days before Cecelia’s arrival…
Also finds all the letters the girls have written to Cecelia since her departure, now she’s questioning if Cecelia ever left at all…

Next time marion is in Lisavets chambers, she sees ads for new Bloodmaids, finds out Lisa plans on bringing in 4 more, says that her appetite will kill the Bloodmaids she has now, tells Marion it’s a medical need when she gets jealous.
By this point in the book Marion is concerningly devoted to & obsessed with Lisavet.

Lisavet sneaks out of bed that night while Marion pretends to sleep, she watches her go over to a part of the wall & put her hand up to it before she’s called away by court party. Marion goes over to the wall after she’s gone, discovers a secret door leading to a stairwell, goes down to find a torture chamber…shelves of organs, body parts, fetuses in jars. She goes further in to discover cells, inside one of them she finds a shackled old woman. She says her name is “Wretched” but Marion recognizes her & realizes it’s Cecelia…

Lisavet comes down & Marion hides in the shadows while Cecelia pleads for mercy. Marion watches as Lisavet drags Cecelia out by her shackles, makes Cecelia call herself wretched & say it’s an honor to bleed for her…Lisavet starts sucking her blood, Cecelia begins to age even more, her blood vessels in her eyes pop…

Marion flees to tell the other girls, they’re all shocked but agree to come up with a plan to leave the following day, they think Sir Ivor is prob their only ally in the House that would help.

The next day Marion goes to Ivor, tells him what’s going on w Lisavet, says she’ll testify against her in exchange for money so she can buy her & the rest of the Bloodmaids train tickets out of there. They’re hoping her testimony will lead Lisavet to prison, leaving the house to Ivor. He agrees to slip her a check that night at court.

Lisavet summons Marion to dinner that night, which is odd cause she never does that. She has Marion bleed for her, she can taste the truth in her blood…tells Marion that Ivor told her everything, that the girls are being taken below now & if she doesn’t cooperate she’ll kill them all. They take Mae away from the girls, Lisavet shows Marion that she killed Ivor & tells her she’s saying he overdosed, drugs her w the same stuff, takes her down to the tunnels below to join the rest of the Bloodmaids.

Lisavet leads her down into the tunnels, they go deeper & deeper down into catacombs where she has the girls chained to the walls of a cell & Cecelia on the floor handcuffed. Lis opens her mouth so wide, dislodging her jaw, sucking the youth out of Marion- we realize she’s really not human at all.
W her back turned to the cell, Cecelia teaches through the bar, starts strangling Lis w the handcuffs, she reaches behind her & stabs Cecelia w a dagger. Then she turns to Marion, holds the knife to her throat, Marion kisses her, distracting her so she can take the knife & stab her in the ribs.

While Lis is down on the ground, Marion takes the key & unchains the girls, tells them to go to the train station, that she’ll get Mae & meet them there. Goes back down to kill Lisavet- does not go how she planned lol Lis stabs her, chases her, grabs a bow & arrow, starts shooting at her! Chases her up out of the catacombs & tunnels, through the house, Marion loses her & is able to get Mae.
The House Mother stops her on her way out, tries killing her w a huge needle but Marion ends up killing her w Mae’s help. Marion was able to steal a check from Ivors body & forge his signature.

They almost make it out when Lisavet stops them, Marion approaches her & kisses her, stabs her w the needle she took from the house mother, then Lisavet gently bites Marion & drinks from her for the final time. Right before she dies she takes off her huge Ruby ring that’s worth a fortune & tells Marion that she’s won- a very oddly intimate death but very fitting for these two.

Marion, Mae & Evie’s poor cat have to walk through a snow blizzard to make it to the train station where they reuinite w the rest of the girls & are able to escape back to the south, using the Ruby ring to start their new life.