Published: March 17, 2026
Publisher: Del Rey
Series: The House of Teeth #1
Genre: Fantasy, Dark
Pages: 560 (Kindle)
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
A visionary and atmospheric gothic fantasy about necromancy, vengeance, and soul-consuming love, the first in a duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning and Lady Macbeth
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 honor. 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.
While Innamorata caught my eye thanks to its title and cover, the synopsis really sealed the deal. The merest mention of necromancy in a fantasy book is enough to make me intrigued – there are so many ways this dark magic can be implemented and I’m always curious to see how it’s done. Imagine my disappointment when there is really very little magic to speak of in this book outside of some forbidden rituals akin to those performed by an oracle of ancient Greece.
Innamorata follows Agnes, the silent carrier of the legacy of the House of Teeth, as she initially begins to execute her grandmother’s plans to secure a marriage between her cousin Marozia, the Heiress of the House of Teeth to Prince Liuprand. Liuprand is a descendant of Berengar the Conqueror who destroyed the dark magical traditions of Drepane. Agnes is to infiltrate the castle and uncover the secrets hidden within its library. Agnes, unfortunately, falls in love with the prince even as she sheds the ghosts of her past.
I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. It’s marketed as gothic and dark, but I think it veers into the territory of ‘kind of fucked up’ for no reason other than shock value at times. The list of content warnings is pretty long, so I would recommend googling that before picking this up. Storygraph has a list of user submitted warnings that seems accurate. On the other hand, the characters were extremely compelling and I found myself unable to put this down for the first half of the book. Agnes and Liuprand’s secret love kept me turning pages, if only so I could find out if they ever got caught. There are several other POV chapters from various secondary characters – the wetnurse, several of the leeches, Marozia’s handmaiden, and several other one-offs. These give a broader view of a story that would otherwise feel very limited in scope. This story leans into the court politics as it progresses and I did find that very appealing as well.
Overall, despite liking aspects of this story, I began to feel that it was getting bogged down in the latter half. There is a significant time jump and while it was to progress the plot in a somewhat timely manner, I didn’t like the fact that the author resorted to marrying off a six year old in order to do that. The characters are ultimately all highly self-interested and I found myself rooting for Marozia by the end, which I really didn’t expect. And speaking of the ending… all I can say is that it was completely unexpected. And disturbing. I can safely say I won’t be continuing with this duology and there are parts that I wish I could excise from my brain now.
Powder & Page 
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