I always have to read the latest Nghi Vo. And, unlike The Chosen and the Beautiful, I had so much fun with The Scarlet Ball. Face changing with razor teeth is just my brand it seems. Keep reading this book review of The Scarlet Ball for my full thoughts.
Summary
Pick a face, pick a fate.
Judith Ban, former convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief, is on the lookout for her next identity. The daughter of a Vietnamese adventuress and a French naval officer, she’s no stranger to risk, but she’s unprepared for the secrets of New York’s legendary Four Hundred, or for the women who build their power at the city’s heart through blood-soaked, gold-etched rituals of demonic marriage.
In exchange for enough wealth to outrun her past, Judith strikes a deal with the matriarch of the powerful Howard family: she will stand in for the missing Howard granddaughter, who was poised to make her debut when she disappeared. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith is white, rich, and about to risk body and soul in the deadly games that determine which girls will find a match—and which will be devoured. If she can keep her wits and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power who will be hers to command… so long as she can keep his infinite hungers fed. But to survive the season, Judith will have to seduce a storm in the shape of a man, before the night to which everything has been leading—the Scarlet Ball where the demons choose their brides.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Scarlet Ball is a roiling mass of ambition turned inwards on itself with hunger. It’s a devastating, dangerous, powerful gaping maw of hunger and ambition twisted beyond recognition. On one hand there’s the very real material conditions of needing the security with the allure of power. How we can get a taste of what it feels like to dance in the shadows, to play power games with increasing stakes. The Scarlet Ball exists at this nexus of both of those ambitions swirling around each other like circling wolves. The Scarlet Ball mixes horror, fantasy, and debutante balls. It explores what we would sacrifice – and who – to get ahead.
Their lives are full of fangs, thinly veiled threads delivered with white gloves, and games of chicken. Judith is chosen because of her tenacity, her stone cold determination, but even she will be tested. How much will she bleed for her own future, for the future of Iphigenia, and for her payment. The tides of fortune are fickle and quick to deflate our sails. The Scarlet Ball is a fantasy which showcases how we feed our monsters, the ones we tie ourselves to, and the ones we become. I adored the themes of ambition so much they almost singlehandedly carried me. I wish we had seen more of the face changing magic in the world building though.
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The Scarlet Ball glitters as Judith illustrates the ways women who are pursued, or offered, to men, for futures with razor blades and chains, supernatural or not. How we trade our bodies and lives for power and security. Find The Scarlet Ball on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.