What if Dracula were a femme fatale who engineered blood economies and called you pet?
Lian Zhang has ruled Shanghai for decades, weaving power from charisma, cutthroat pragmatism, and an empire built on human blood. To be chosen by her is both privilege and prison, her affection as addictive as it is suffocating.
Mina Park knows this better than anyone. Once Lian’s favored fledgling, now her reluctant captive, Mina dreams of freedom in a city where blood is currency and loyalties are lethal. But resisting Lian means more than defiance—it means rejecting the allure of the only person who has ever truly seen her.
Into this labyrinth waltzes Javier Robles, a human donor searching for his sister. What he finds is a city gilded in lies and a woman caught in the thrall of a monster who will never let her go. To help Mina, he must confront the brutal reality of Shanghai’s vampire houses and discover what price he is willing to pay to subvert a system designed to devour.
Perfect for fans of A Dowry of Blood and Certain Dark Things—a lush, gothic fantasy of obsession, survival, and the dangerous duality of love.
Vampires of Shanghai is the first book in Hollow Empires, a sweeping trilogy tracing a centuries-old battle for power across continents and empires.
