Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

I want to start by saying—I’m not someone who DNFs. That being said, this book made me realize I need to be way more selective moving forward. (Joking… but not.) I saw this floating around different spaces, and I’ve had V.E. Schwab on my radar for years now. After really enjoying ‘This Savage Song’ some time ago. I jumped on this thinking it would be a good place to start again. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t. While I did enjoy the writing and the way Schwab captured certain feelings and moments in time, the story and characters just didn’t connect for me. I found myself more irritated than invested—and oddly, more drawn to the side characters. The main plot felt like it dragged, despite the immersive writing. Still, I pushed on, hoping the ending would redeem the journey (and my time). To its credit, it did enough to gain a solid three stars, though it was touch and go through most of it. In the end, what was promised…wasn’t. What was owed, was. I’m still looking forward to picking up another Schwab read—this one just wasn’t it.

This felt slow and dreamy, like someone telling a me a story while I'm drifting of to sleep. Maybe this is why the characters stick with me. V.E Schwab has a way of getting the reader invested, even though it is clear it can't end well. I'm wrapped up in all of the characters, not really rooting for them, but just enjoying their lifetimes, since the clearly get more than one. This reminded me of Lestat and David right after the theif of body snatcher (iykyk). I think I enjoyed it more because of it gave me the vibes of Vampire Chronicles, and that series will always be my first love. I found the ending satisfying, although predictable. I would have given it 5 stars but the ending felt rushed, so 4.75 it is A story of dead that ends in dead.

Okay, so I love vampire stories. Ever since my first read of Interview with the Vampire when I was a teenager, I’ve been drawn to vampire stories. I was really excited for this book and it did deliver for the most part. I, however, think that it was maybe too ambitious. I think the strength of this tale is in the chapters about Maria, Sabine, and Charlotte and the whole intrigue of their stories gets muddied by the modern-day chapters with Alice. In particular, all the story-telling around Alice’s real life family and sister Catty pulled me right out of the narrative. Every time the story diverted to it made me mad. All that said, VE Schwab does something here that many - most - vampire novels don’t: she plainly shows these women as monsters. Doesn’t over romanticize the idea of the undead but instead exposes their brutality and deep-seated evil impulses. It’s a good study of evil, a truthful telling of lore that is so often veiled in heady sex and romantic overtures. Perhaps because we are living in a time so filled with real, everyday acts of brutality and evil, it’s too difficult to shroud nowadays.