Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - All the Murmuring Bones

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter

6 reviews

flyingwuzzle's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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cherie_cheriri's review

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dark emotional mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Vibes alone: 5 stars
But if I am honest: 4.75
I really liked this, a lot. Yet, I'll be honest there are some "convenient" ways things came about in the end. The story did a great thing of pacing at the beginning and towards the middle (imo). I had some guesses along the way as to how things would go - like Miren having Mer blood, albeit it is quite thin at this point. I was rooting for her and the green-eyed footman to pair up, and that didn't end well and honestly the very slight romance at the end with Jedidiah was expected, but felt quite rushed - the entire ending felt quite rushed as soon as we entered Blackwater. Jedidiah is a nice man and I loved how he interacted with Miren, I just wish he had seen their relationship grow instead of feeling rushed from showing her dead dad, what has been going on in Blackwater, oh his wife was one of the ones drowned, takes her back to the estate and is sneaked into her room by her and he is gentle with her, and then he is gone - and he would have been a good help against Aiden, but we didn't get that and I am saddened. I got to wonder whos child is Miren carrying? The footman's or Jedidiah's? I guess it doesn't really matter as Miren states he acts like a dad to her "not little sister" and feels he will do the same for the child she has. I'm happy she found someone who loved her, still wish we had more time to see them get together, she had more history with the footman honestly and they had only exchanged a few words and boned!
Finding out about an "uncle", a mean housemaid that I thought for a moment may have been some other mythological creature that had been captured and used, like the O'Malley's had done with the Mer, could have honestly thought a Selkie perhaps as they are mentioned. But we get a conman who got in way over his head, that is 100% not related to Miran as Aiden had confirmed to which, oh my god Aiden. Listen, never liked him, but I really didn't think we'd see him again but we had to shut the door on that part of the plot and reveal to us the Sea-Queen and such. Also the Sea-Queen, I did not expect the twist with her completely on her being captured and used for generations. Although, very quickly was she freed by our Kelpie friend, I expected more of a struggle and perhaps the Queen getting pissed over time as Miren figured out to get her out, or even the Kelpie saying that he would need help to get her out.
I wish we knew more of Delphine the automaton, she seemed like such an important piece to the plot. Like something grander was to be made of her, but instead she somehow captured Miren's voice of her story and that's how Aiden got to track her down. Another slight dislike, but minor.

Also Bethany Lawrence! We saw her once in the theatre and we know she has Aiden's coin purse in the palm of her hand, runs a criminal underground and the entirety of Breakwater. Used Aiden to get silver from the O'Malleys - or that was the plan - and now has Hob's Hallow. But that's it, we really don't feel anything of her presence, we know she exists and minorly know what she has done but doesn't feel like a tangible threat. I guess she was never meant to be one besides to Aiden but, it would have been nice to have her.

Miren's parents. It's disappointing that we never met them. We know Liam thought himself better than everyone else, and was head over heels for his wife alone. Isolde was a witch, took the Sea-Queen from Hob's Hallow, ran and left her only daughter behind and presumably had more children and fed them to the Sea-Queen to get silver mines. To find out such a powerful, scheming, crafty witch was merely taken out by a conman is saddening. Miren and us as readers get no answers as to exactly whey she left Miren behind, sure a last perhaps Hail Mary to have an O'Malley still in the world as back up -perhaps. But we will never know like our main character, and perhaps that's just the point. There are something you will never know.

Now was this a fairytale, yes and no. I loved the different mythical creatures! Mermaids, Selkies, Kelpies, but they were quite sparse and the world building is very unique. By unique I mean we really don't get a lot of info and have to accept it all as fact. Like witches exist, magic exist, anyone can do magic with intent and will but that does not make one a witch.

All in all, I loved this despite its flaws! I couldn't put it down!

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skrulls's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

4.5

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story_goblin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was fascinating and helped me articulate something I wasn't able to before- I would love Gothic literature a lot more if the characters were more interesting. This book is exactly that/what the blurbs promised. It's a sweeping gothic fantasy with mer-people and other "monstrosities". Although nothing like myself, I found the main character to be well-constructed and engaging, so I was very invested in her journey. I was not able to fully guess all the secrets, which is always a plus for me, though the seeds were sown in the story. It reminded me just a little bit of What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo and Gallant by VE Schwab.

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bethsiekierawalker's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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ecwiggin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was so wonderful to read. It feels so expertly written. I feel like many authors have attempted gothic fairy tale in the past but she just NAILS IT. You can feel the elements of story taken from Faulkner but also classic fairy tales (not the happily ever after kind. The twisted original versions).

The story is so compelling. It started off a bit slow, almost to the point of "oh Lord. Is this gonna be a book with a moping protagonist?" But then it quickly takes the turn into "oh, she's gonna get shit done". Miren is such a complicated, yet straight forward character. You understand every choice she makes and ask yourself if you would do the same. Honestly, it's rare to find (female) characters as well written as Miren. Splatter harnessed gothic feminine power at it's best.

I desperately want to read more from her. This is probably one of the most enjoyable books I've read this year. Easily makes my way onto my favorites list.

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