Verdict: An award-winning, unflinching sapphic gothic-horror vampire novel set in 1927 colonial Singapore — genuinely dark, beautifully written, and built around an abusive vampire romance, with two mutually exclusive endings. This is dark fiction with a sapphic relationship, not a comfort romance.
Best for: Readers who want their darkness real — gothic horror, toxic vampire devotion, historical atmosphere, and morally harrowing choices rather than a safe HEA. Ideal if you loved the uncomfortable end of A Dowry of Blood and want to go further.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (high — explicit and charged, but entangled with power, danger, and abuse rather than romance-safe)
Rating: ★★★☆ (3.63 average on Goodreads across roughly 1,100 ratings; winner of the 2023 Lambda Literary Award and Golden Crown Literary Award)
Tropes: vampire mistress × maidservant · gothic horror · historical (1927 Singapore) · toxic/abusive devotion · love triangle · dark academia of desire · two mutually exclusive endings
If you’ve been working through our dark sapphic romance recommendations, The Wicked and the Willing is where the shelf stops being cozy. Lianyu Tan’s award-winning gothic horror doesn’t soften its monster or its power imbalance — it puts a destitute maidservant between a vampire mistress and the servant trying to save her, and asks how much love can justify. Here’s an honest look at what makes it extraordinary and who should approach with caution.
What Is The Wicked and the Willing About?
Singapore, 1927. Verity Edevane is a vampire who craves more than blood — she wants the heady mix of desire and fealty from a young woman’s veins, a rarity in the foreign colony she rules over. Gean Choo is a destitute maidservant who needs money, and Mrs. Edevane makes her an offer she can’t refuse. But Gean Choo doesn’t yet understand what her alluring new mistress is, or what earning her love will cost.
Caught between them is Po Lam, who has served Edevane faithfully for decades and can no longer excuse a life of bondage and murder. She needs absolution, a clean conscience, and above all to save Gean Choo from a love that will destroy them all. It’s a standalone gothic-horror vampire novel of about 430 pages, first published in 2022, and notably it contains two mutually exclusive endings. The author is explicit that it depicts an abusive relationship and is for adult readers only.
What Makes This Gothic Vampire Horror Work
When The Wicked and the Willing lands, it lands as literary horror — and the awards back that up. Here’s what readers and juries consistently praise:
- Award-winning craft. It won both the 2023 Lambda Literary Award (LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction) and the Golden Crown Literary Award (Paranormal/Occult/Horror) — rare, serious recognition for a sapphic vampire novel.
- A vampire who stays a monster. Verity Edevane is never sanded down into a safe love interest; the horror of loving her is the point, and Tan refuses to flinch from it.
- Rich historical atmosphere. 1927 colonial Singapore is rendered with texture and specificity, giving the gothic dread a vivid, uncommon setting.
- A genuine moral triangle. Gean Choo, Verity, and Po Lam form a triangle about power, complicity, and rescue — not a simple romance, which gives the story real weight.
- Two endings, real stakes. The dual mutually-exclusive endings turn the central question — whom do you choose, and what does it cost — into something the book actually makes you sit with.
Book Synopsis
In 1927 Singapore, the wealthy Mrs. Verity Edevane is not what she appears. A vampire accustomed to taking what she wants, she hungers for a very particular kind of sustenance: the blood of a young woman who will give it willingly, wrapped in desire and devotion. When she offers a way out of poverty to the maidservant Gean Choo, the girl accepts without knowing the true nature of the bargain — or the woman she is beginning to love.
Watching it unfold is Po Lam, Edevane’s long-serving retainer, who has spent decades complicit in her mistress’s cruelty and can no longer bear it. As Gean Choo is drawn deeper into a beautiful, ruinous bond, Po Lam resolves to break free and pull the girl out with her — if she can. The Wicked and the Willing is a standalone sapphic gothic horror with two mutually exclusive endings, and it does not promise anyone a soft landing.
My Review
The Wicked and the Willing is the book I point people to when they say they want dark sapphic romance and I suspect they actually mean dark sapphic fiction. This is horror first, and it earns its awards: the prose is controlled and elegant, the 1927 Singapore setting is immersive, and Verity Edevane is one of the most genuinely frightening love interests in the sub-genre precisely because Tan never redeems her. The dread is real, the power imbalance is the story, and the book knows exactly how uncomfortable it wants you to be.
That is also the fair warning. The author states plainly that this depicts an abusive romantic relationship, and she means it — the central bond is possessive, coercive, and destructive by design. This isn’t a toxic dynamic played for swoon; it’s interrogated as horror. The two mutually exclusive endings drive that home, forcing the reader to weigh escape against surrender rather than handing over a tidy resolution. Readers expecting a romance with an HEA will not find one waiting for them here.
My honest take: the 3.63 Goodreads average undersells the craft and oversells nothing about the difficulty. Reviewers who go in prepared for literary horror tend to find it remarkable; those who wandered in expecting a spicy vampire romance often bounce off the bleakness and the deliberate discomfort. Go in knowing what it is — award-winning gothic horror about a love that destroys — and check the content notes carefully. On those terms, it’s one of the most accomplished dark sapphic books you can read.
Tropes & Themes at a Glance
| Element | In The Wicked and the Willing |
| Category | Sapphic gothic horror / dark vampire fiction |
| Central relationship | Gean Choo × Verity Edevane — maidservant and vampire mistress, shadowed by Po Lam |
| Core tropes | Vampire mistress, gothic horror, historical setting, toxic/abusive devotion, love triangle, complicity & rescue |
| Setting | Colonial Singapore, 1927 — a wealthy household and the world around it |
| Heat level | 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ High — explicit but entangled with power and danger |
| Series | Standalone (~430 pages) with two mutually exclusive endings |
| Content notes | Abusive romantic relationship, coercion, violence, blood/horror, disturbing scenes — adult readers only (see the author’s site for the full list) |
How Spicy Is The Wicked and the Willing?
Fairly high, but not in a way you should mistake for a romance. On our five-chili scale it’s around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ — the intimacy is explicit and intense, but it’s inseparable from the horror. The eroticism is bound up with feeding, control, and the abusive power dynamic, so the heat reads as seductive and alarming, exactly as intended. This is sensuality as a trap, not as a reward.
The important caveat: because this is gothic horror about an abusive relationship, the explicit content carries a very different emotional charge than in a conventional spicy romance. If you’re reading for uncomplicated heat, this isn’t that book; if you want eroticism that’s genuinely unsettling and thematically loaded, it delivers.
Who Should Read This Book?
More than almost any other title on our list, whether this book is for you depends on knowing what you’re walking into.
You’ll likely love it if: you want genuinely dark sapphic fiction, you’re drawn to gothic horror and morally uncomfortable stories, you appreciate award-winning literary craft, and you’re fascinated by a vampire who is never redeemed and a love that functions as a trap.
You may want to skip it if: you need an HEA, you’re looking for a romance-first read, or the depiction of an abusive relationship, coercion, and horror sits outside what you want from a book right now. The author is unusually upfront that this is for adult readers and contains disturbing content — take that seriously, and read the full content notes before starting.
In short: this is a case where “dark romance” is almost the wrong label. It’s dark fiction with a sapphic relationship at its core, and it’s superb at being exactly that — for the right, prepared reader.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Wicked and the Willing a standalone?
Yes. It’s a complete standalone novel of around 430 pages, with no series commitment — though unusually, it offers two mutually exclusive endings rather than one.
Is it a true sapphic romance?
It’s a sapphic story, but it’s better described as gothic horror than romance. The central relationships are between women (Gean Choo, Verity, and Po Lam), but the author explicitly frames the main bond as abusive, so it doesn’t follow romance conventions or promise a happy ending.
How steamy is it, really?
Fairly explicit — around four chilies — but the intimacy is fused with horror, feeding, and a coercive power dynamic. It’s intense and unsettling by design rather than romance-safe, so treat the heat as part of the darkness, not a break from it.
Does it have a happy ending?
Not in the conventional sense. It contains two mutually exclusive endings, and given the abusive central relationship, neither is a tidy HEA. If a guaranteed happy ending is essential for you, this isn’t the book — and that’s by design.
Is it really that dark, or is that just marketing?
It’s genuinely that dark. The author’s own content warning names an abusive relationship and disturbing scenes, and the book commits to that framing throughout. It’s literary horror first — acclaimed for it — so approach it as such and check the content notes before reading.
If You Loved The Wicked and the Willing, Read These Next
If Tan’s unflinching gothic horror worked for you, you’ll find more in the same register on our dark sapphic romance recommendations guide — including Lianyu Tan’s own Captive in the Underworld for a dark F/F Hades-and-Persephone retelling, plus S.T. Gibson’s vampire and gothic titles for toxic devotion at a range of intensities. It’s the best next stop for finding the exact flavor of darkness you’re after.
The Bottom Line
The Wicked and the Willing is an award-winning, uncompromising work of sapphic gothic horror — a beautifully written, deeply uncomfortable novel about a love that destroys, set in vivid 1927 Singapore and offering two mutually exclusive endings instead of a safe one. Its Lambda and Golden Crown wins reflect real literary craft; its abusive central relationship and bleak commitment to horror mean it isn’t for everyone, and it never pretends to be. If you want dark sapphic fiction at its most accomplished and are prepared for where it goes, it’s essential. Check The Wicked and the Willing on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
Our house scorecard, weighing the book across the dimensions that matter most to dark sapphic romance readers.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall — ★★★½ 3.6/5
- ✓ An award-winning sapphic gothic-horror vampire novel.
- ✓ A 3.63 Goodreads average across roughly 1,100 ratings.
- ✓ Winner of the 2023 Lambda and Golden Crown Literary Awards.
- ✓ Dark fiction, not a comfort romance — rate accordingly.
Romance — ★★★ 3.4/5
- ✓ The vampire-and-maidservant bond is magnetic and ruinous.
- ✓ A genuine moral triangle raises the emotional stakes.
- ✓ Framed as abusive by design, not a swoony love story.
- ✓ Powerful, but deliberately not romance-satisfying.
Characters — ★★★★ 4.1/5
- ✓ Verity Edevane is a genuinely frightening, unredeemed monster.
- ✓ Po Lam’s guilt and longing for absolution are compelling.
- ✓ Gean Choo’s vulnerability drives the horror.
- ✓ A cast built for moral discomfort, not easy sympathy.
Writing — ★★★★½ 4.5/5
- ✓ Controlled, elegant prose that earned its awards.
- ✓ A vivid, immersive 1927 colonial Singapore setting.
- ✓ Masterful sustained gothic dread.
- ✓ Craft is the book’s clearest strength.
Emotional Impact — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Genuinely unsettling and hard to shake.
- ✓ The two endings force the reader to sit with the choice.
- ✓ The horror of the central love lands with real weight.
- ✓ Bleak by design — impact over comfort.
Heat Level — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Explicit and intense throughout.
- ✓ Eroticism fused with feeding, control, and danger.
- ✓ Sensuality functions as a trap, not a reward.
- ✓ Charged and unsettling rather than romance-safe.
Ending — ★★★★ 3.9/5
- ✓ Two mutually exclusive endings — a bold structural choice.
- ✓ Neither offers a tidy HEA, by design.
- ✓ The dual finish makes the central question land.
- ✓ Divisive but thematically earned.
Re-read Value — ★★★½ 3.7/5
- ✓ The two endings invite a second read.
- ✓ Dense atmosphere rewards revisiting.
- ✓ A complete, self-contained story.
- ✓ Heavy content means re-reads are a mood choice.
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