Lyndall Clipstone has crafted something exquisitely unsettling in Tenderly, I Am Devoured, a novel that reads like a fever dream painted in watercolors of salt and shadow. This is not merely a book—it’s an incantation, a ritual performed in prose that lingers long after the final page dissolves into memory like seafoam against obsidian rocks.
A Portrait of Betrayal Painted in Blood and Brine
Eighteen-year-old Lacrimosa “Lark” Arriscane returns home to the isolated coastal village of Verse in disgrace, expelled from her prestigious boarding school following a violent confrontation that left her arm scarred and her future in ruins. The weight of her family’s impending financial collapse crushes down like a tide that never recedes, threatening to wash away generations of heritage. In desperation, Lark makes an impossible choice: she agrees to marry Therion, the chthonic god worshipped by her hometown—a being of feathers and amber eyes who dwells in the space between the mortal world and something far more ancient.
But when the betrothal ritual goes catastrophically wrong, interrupted by a mysterious Salt Priest, Lark finds herself caught between worlds, slowly vanishing from the mortal realm. Her only hope lies with the Felimath siblings—Alastair, the brilliant boy who once shattered her heart, and his enigmatic sister Camille. Together, this unlikely trio must navigate the treacherous waters of folklore and desire, performing a hedonistic bacchanalia in hopes of repairing the connection between Lark and her otherworldly bridegroom.
What emerges is a story that pulses with the rhythm of the sea itself—sometimes gentle as lapping waves, sometimes violent as a storm-wracked shore.
Characters That Breathe with Mythic Weight
Lacrimosa “Lark” Arriscane: The Wounded Swan
Clipstone has created a protagonist who embodies the liminal space between vulnerability and fierce determination. Lark’s journey from expelled student to willing bride of a god is rendered with devastating intimacy. Her relationship with trauma—both the fresh wound on her arm and the deeper scars left by betrayal—feels authentic and raw. She’s neither helpless victim nor unflappable heroine, but something more complex: a girl learning to wield her own agency even as forces beyond her control threaten to unmake her entirely.
The Felimath Siblings: Mirrors of Desire and Destruction
Alastair emerges as more than a typical brooding love interest. His character carries the weight of his own trauma, creating a compelling parallel to Lark’s journey. Camille, meanwhile, operates as both friend and potential romantic interest, her presence adding layers of complexity to the novel’s exploration of desire and connection. The dynamic between all three characters crackles with tension that feels both inevitable and precarious.
Therion: A God Worthy of Worship and Fear
Perhaps most impressive is Clipstone’s portrayal of Therion himself. This is no sanitized, romantically convenient deity. He is genuinely otherworldly—possessed of amber eyes and translucent claws, wreathed in feathers and speaking with a voice that makes the very forest tremble. Yet he’s also surprisingly nuanced, capable of tenderness even as he embodies something fundamentally alien to human understanding.
Prose That Flows Like Dark Honey
Clipstone’s writing style deserves particular praise for its atmospheric richness. Every sentence feels carefully weighted, like sea glass polished smooth by endless tides. Her descriptions of the coastal setting—the salt mines, the grotto caves, the endless expanse of gray ocean—create a sense of place so vivid you can taste the brine on your tongue.
The author excels at sensory details that ground the supernatural elements in visceral reality. When Lark drinks the chthonic liquor, we feel it burn down her throat, taste its indigo bitterness. When she touches the obsidian mirror, the buzzing static that fills her skull becomes our own disorientation.
Consider this haunting passage: “His mouth against mine is the night itself, a starless dark that speaks of ancient things, of the deep, strange lands beyond this world.” This is writing that understands the power of metaphor to make the impossible feel inevitably true.
Gothic Romance at Its Most Intoxicating
The romance elements of the novel succeed because they feel earned rather than inevitable. Lark’s attraction to both Alastair and Camille creates genuine tension, while her complex relationship with Therion operates on an entirely different register—less romantic in the traditional sense than mythologically profound. The bacchanalia sequence, in particular, showcases Clipstone’s ability to write desire that feels both beautiful and slightly dangerous.
The Gothic elements permeate every aspect of the narrative. This is a world where ancient debts must be paid in blood and salt, where mirrors serve as portals between realms, where gods can be banished by speaking the right words in the wrong moment. The sense of decay and lost grandeur—from the Arriscane family’s dwindling fortunes to the exhausted salt mine—creates an atmosphere of beautiful melancholy.
Thematic Depths That Reward Close Reading
Beneath its supernatural trappings, the novel grapples with profound themes of agency, trauma, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Lark’s decision to marry a god functions as both literal plot device and metaphor for the ways young women are often forced to sacrifice themselves for their families’ survival.
The exploration of betrayal—particularly through Lark’s relationship with her former friend Damson—adds psychological complexity to what could have been a straightforward fantasy romance. The school sequences, told in flashback, reveal how cruelty can masquerade as friendship, how love can become a weapon wielded by those we trust most.
Minor Criticisms in an Otherwise Stunning Work
While Tenderly, I Am Devoured largely succeeds in its ambitious goals, there are moments where the pacing feels slightly uneven. The transitions between the “Now” and “Then” chapters occasionally jar rather than illuminate, and some of the supernatural mechanics could have benefited from clearer explanation. Additionally, the resolution of certain plot threads—particularly regarding the fate of the salt mine—feels somewhat rushed compared to the careful build-up.
The novel’s commitment to its atmospheric approach occasionally comes at the expense of narrative momentum. Readers seeking fast-paced action may find themselves frustrated by the dreamlike quality that pervades much of the story.
A Literary Feast for Gothic Romance Enthusiasts
Tenderly, I Am Devoured represents a significant evolution in Clipstone’s already impressive body of work. Where her previous novels in the World at the Lake’s Edge series (Lakesedge and Forestfall) established her as a master of dark fairy tale retellings, this standalone work demonstrates her ability to create entirely original mythologies that feel both fresh and timeless.
Tenderly, I Am Devoured shares DNA with several other standout works in the Gothic romance space:
Similar Reads That Capture This Dark Magic:
- For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten – Another tale of a young woman sacrificed to dark forces, with similarly lush prose
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Atmospheric horror with romantic elements and a decaying family estate
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – Immortal romance with mythological undertones
- House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland – Dark fairy tale vibes with sisterhood and otherworldly horror
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – Portal fantasy with gorgeous prose and complex family dynamics
Final Verdict: A Triumph of Atmospheric Storytelling
Tenderly, I Am Devoured succeeds brilliantly as both Gothic romance and coming-of-age story. Clipstone has created a world that feels lived-in and mythologically rich, populated by characters whose emotional journeys resonate long after the final page. This is a novel that trusts its readers to embrace complexity, to sit with ambiguity, to be moved by beauty even when it comes wrapped in thorns.
The book earns its place among the finest examples of contemporary Gothic romance, offering readers a story that is both deeply personal and mythically resonant. It’s a novel that understands that the most profound transformations often require us to be unmade before we can be reborn—tenderly devoured, as the title suggests, only to emerge as something both strange and wonderful.
For readers who appreciate atmospheric prose, complex character relationships, and mythology that feels both ancient and immediate, Tenderly, I Am Devoured represents essential reading. This is Clipstone at her most confident and accomplished, delivering a novel that reads like a secret whispered by the sea itself.
Recommended for fans of dark academia, Gothic romance, and anyone who has ever felt caught between who they were and who they might become.
