The Blood Confession

by Alisa M. Libby

Book Overview

Erzebet is young, beautiful, rich, and imprisoned in her castle, waiting to be sentenced for murder. In a brilliant fiction debut, Alisa M. Libby resurrects the real-life Erzebet Bathory, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525477322
• ISBN13: 9780525477327
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 389 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Beautifully Evil

The copy of the book I got was really cool,it was a hard back & the bottom of the pages look like the book was dipped in blood. This book is not a biography but a really beautifully written novel about the blood countess.It starts off when she is a small child and she belives she is cursed by a comet that flew through the air the day she was born. She is obsessed with her beauty and youth. She looks in morriors all the time and baths in the blood of her servant girls to keep her skin smooth & white. This all sounds pretty creepy but the time is set in the 1600's and it's romantically written. Great book!!

Very Dark But Captivating

I'd heard of The Countess Erzabet Bizecka as a historical footnote often mentioned along with other charmers like Vlad the Impailer. Not the subject I'd imagine for a YA novel but when I saw it I figured it was worth a shot. Told in flashbacks from by the countess as she awaits trial the book starts off slowly. Ignored by her self absorbed father and vain, mentally unstable mother Erzabet is noticed and praised only for her beauty. Gradually she comes to believe that her only value lies in her appearance; a belief that is reinforced by the fact that her father ignores her mother as her looks begin to fade. Erabet's first taste of friendship is with Mariana- a peasant girl with visits the castle to play with her, though Mariana cannot share Erzabet's vanity. The only one who seems to share that is the "dark prince" who surprises Erzabet at various moments. He makes his first appearance after Erzabet learns that she was born as a star fell from the sky. Astrologers believed that this was an angel falling from heaven and that a child born under this star would die and early death or live forever. He asks Erzabet which she chooses. Erzabet chooses eternal life and believes that she can find this in bathing in the lifeblood of other young women. If that sounds confusing it's because it is. Erzabet shows signs of mental instability early on, and the links she makes between phenomenon is sometimes tenuous. But that's part of what makes her story interesting. Is the "prince" who visits her real or is he a figment of her tortured psyche? Does her blood ritual work or does she belive it does and believe she sees it's effect? Is blood simply a means to an end for Erzabet or does it become an end in itself? There are aspects of Erzabet's thinking that do make sense. Marriage and children don't appeal to young Erzabet who sees that as relinquishing her freedom and independence. She sees her options as a woman are limited and that her beauty is what gives her power. In a patriarchal society Erzabet's hope lies in manipulating mnen and in that her beauty is her most powerful weapon. She decides to cultivate that but at great cost to her soul. It's intersting to try to see Erzabet justify her actions to herself as well as others. This novel can be read as a fantasy: a dark fairy tale featuring the wicked queen from Snow White. It can also be read as a indictment of the limitations of women in the 16th century or a claustrophobic depiction of Erzabet's descent into maddness. It's a slow descent and that may try the patience of some readers. But stick with it. Look at the bottom of the book. The pages begin to show read ink as Erzabet's actions become seeped deaper and deaper in blood- it's as if that blood appears on the bottom of the volume itself. It's difficult to say whom this is inteded for. It's not for the squeamish and younger teens might be bored with the lack of overt action in the first half. At the same time horror junkies might object to the

a great read!

alisa libby has done something really remarkable: she's taken a dark, misguided character like erzebet -- a serial killer -- and made her likable. Relatable, even. This book is smart, and i think will challenge any reader to question his/her own sense of right and wrong. i really loved this book. morality issues aside, The Blood Confession is totally engaging and cluttered with fantastic detail!! velvets and lace and dried candied fruits and wine and pretty red lips and buckets full of dark red blood! and who can resist a silvery white wolf named Kyzoni?! not i. really, The Blood Confession is a terrific read and gets my highest recommendation. 5 stars!

I couldn't put it down...

This is a fantastic novel that I highly recommend to all readers, young and old alike. The gothic imagry was so stark and compelling...there just aren't enough good books like this that pull you into their world so thoroughly. And the subject matter is absolutely facsinating - I can't believe I'd never heard of Countess Bathory before. Just a great read.

A Bloody Good Read

The characters in this novel pull you in from the first page. Erzebet, the Countess and Snow are especially intriguing. The reader can imagine themselves lurking around the castle late at night trying to catch a glimpse of Erzebet and her girls. The imagery and descriptions are haunting and you can't stop turning the pages!