Reviews

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

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bookforthought's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Dimitri, the former Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo, is living in exile with what remains of his court – the few most trusted among his advisors, the only ones he can still call friends. Increasing his anguish following the end of a brutal civil war is the knowledge that the coup that led him to lose everything was led by his now estranged husband Alexey, whom Dimitri thought to be the love of his life. Except Alexey is no ordinary usurper: through a perversion of his religion, he turned himself into an immortal demon-like creature and now claims to be guided by God Himself with devastating consequences should his plans succeed.

The Sins on Their Bones starts off with an intriguing premise for a dark fantasy queer romance. The story is told through multiple POVs, alternating chapters narrated by Dimitri, Alexey and Vasily, Dimitri’s spymaster and lover. This certainly adds some dynamism and depth to these characters, all three of whom have to grapple with trauma, impossible choices and love – both the abusive kind and the healing one.

Alexey’s and Vasily’s chapters were the most interesting for me, as I really struggled to connect with Dimitri. Some of the chapters in Alexey’s POV ended up detracting somewhat from the suspense though, as certain key points in his plan were revealed quite early on to the reader while still remaining a mystery to the other characters. I enjoyed the found family vibes between Dimitri and his court, and I would have loved to see more of these characters as well, but they felt mostly sketched rather than fully fleshed out.

The writing is deeply immersive and perfectly paints the picture of this Eastern-Europe-inspired world. The novel also incorporates several elements of Jewish lore, which I wasn’t really familiar with but were so seamlessly weaved into the narrative that I had no trouble at all following along. Most of the descriptions were quite evocative and flowed nicely, even though some of the dialogues were a bit too verbose and unnatural for my taste.

The structure of this book is what I struggled with the most. The story starts after the end of the civil war when Dimitri and his friends are already in exile. Several past events are referenced throughout and discussed among the protagonists yet they are never shown, not even through flashbacks.

Though this choice could have been very original, bringing a new perspective to the story, it felt as though I was reading the second book in a series without having read the first. I also ended up getting a bit tired of all this telling after a certain point and would have liked to see more of the things the characters were talking about. The pacing also didn’t quite work for me. After a fairly interesting beginning, I started to feel the story drag along and the whole middle section was really hard for me to get through. Things did pick up again towards the end but, by that point, I had kind of lost the momentum.

I would have also liked to see a bit more of this magical yet brutal queer-normative world, which seemed really interesting from the glimpses we got from the characters but wasn’t really shown all that much. In this sense, this book gave me the same feeling of a theatre play: mostly played out indoors in few settings and propelled by dialogue between a limited cast of characters. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it wasn’t what I was expecting from this given the blurb, and it left me wanting a little more.

That being said, I appreciate what the author did with her exploration of the themes here. All the characters are battling their demons (some inner and some… less so) and dealing with the aftermath of their choices and the pain that comes from having to live with that. PTSD and matters of mental health feature heavily here, and I really liked how Dimitri’s friends worked together to ensure he felt supported and loved while going through an extremely difficult time.

Sensitive readers should be very careful approaching this book as there are many content warnings to be given, as well as explicit sexual content between consenting adults. The spicier scenes were actually quite disappointing for me, as they felt very repetitive, but other readers may enjoy them more.

Overall, The Sins on Their Bones is an interesting exploration of what it means to be human, of the seduction of power and the constant battle to do the right thing – whatever the cost. I really wish I had connected more with this book, but maybe it just came to me at the wrong time or with the wrong expectations. I think that readers who do connect with it will really love it, and this is definitely an author I’ll be keeping an eye out for!

I received an advance review copy of this book for free from the publisher and Wunderkind PR via NetGalley. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Content Warnings

luceeefur's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

char_gadling's review against another edition

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5.0

This book had me crying multiple times. Although I do not relate to the specific trauma the characters have experienced, as someone with CPTSD that is still healing and I felt so incredibly seen. Not to mention how gorgeous the religion and politics were and how the author built on their own experiences for that. Thank you, this book wasn't an easy read but it was a healing one and it was a privilege to read.

Content Warnings

readingrenbo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bibliosaurier's review against another edition

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5.0

holy fucking shit

this is definitely one of my favourite reads of the year (well ever tbh)

this was so emotionally devastating and heart warming at the same time like dimitri and vasily?? their found family?? hellooo (and the goat!! i really miss piotyr :(()

but yeah mostly painful WHY IS THIS NOT A STANDALONE AND WHY DID I FIND OUT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE CLIFFHANGER

anyways, i'll need a few days to uh process what just happened i–

proper review coming soon ish

(and there are a lot of content warnings, i'd recommend looking at the author's instagram page, there's a detailed list there; and please for the love of the goda take the tws seriously, this book is a dark fantasy for a reason)

fae_princess_in_space's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Goshhhh this one was so so good. I knew it would be a ‘me book’ when I saw the author describing it as ‘Six of Crows meets Captive Prince’ and boy oh boy it did not disappoint. This book was a book about healing from trauma, particularly traumatic relationships, and doing what is right, even if it rips your own heart out in the process. It was dark, gory in places and the characters were all so well written and broken in so many different ways. The storyline at times reminded me of a Wes Anderson movie, with the snowy, freezing yet beautiful setting, as we flick from Dimitri, to Alexey to Vasily’s POVs.

Dimitri is the rightful Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo (an Eastern-European inspired fictional nation), however he is on the run after losing a brutal and bloody war to his husband, Alexey. Tired of living in his royal husband’s shadow, Alexey has used a form of dark magic dubbed ‘The Holy Science’ to return from the dead and forge himself into an immortal, unkillable being, determined to take over the nation and rule everything, no matter the cost. Dimitri, with his cadre of 4 loyal friends, including spymaster Vasily, has to work out how to infiltrate Alexey’s court and put a stop to the bloodshed and madness.

This book was beautifully written; I was completely immersed in the warring nation of Novo-Svitsevo and I absolutely loved Dimitri’s found family; his court of 4 loyal friends who would to anything to protect him. I also enjoyed the magic system, a dark mix of demons and angels, sacrifices and vows. I felt so many emotions reading this and I just loved all the characters; there were points when I wept 😭

Read The Sins On Their Bones for:

✨ Lovers to enemies & Friends to lovers

✨ Chosen found family

✨ Royals at war, court politics

✨ Dark, demon-infested magic

✨ Bleak gothic setting

✨ Healing from trauma (whilst sustaining even more trauma) 👀

✨ LGBT+ rep inc gay, bi, lesbian, asexual, aromantic, non-binary

It’s really hard to really sum up how much I adored this book in a single review! There is definitely going to be a second book (2025 release) as although this ends on a HFN and you can happily read it as a standalone, there is definitely still a lot of threat out there and I for one am excited to see where the next phase of the story goes!

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westtiff's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

burntotears's review against another edition

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I really wanted to like this book. The world is interesting, though you are kind of thrown in at a weird place where there's nothing going on but a lot of sitting around and whining.

The main character is, quite frankly, annoying. If we weren't given the POV of the main villain, then it might have actually worked, but we are and the guy is so "Capital E" Evil, that watching the main character pine over him feels outrageous.

Having this guy be a Tzar who supposedly cared a ton about his people, all he's doing is lounging around and complaining about losing his villain husband while his subordinates are ready to do something about it. It's hard to understand why they love this guy and wanna support him when that's all he does.

There was also a significant amount of sex scenes in just the first 40% that I read. I don't take issue with sex scenes, but one chapter ended with one and then the next started with another two characters going at it and I'm not entirely sure what it was adding to the plot (especially at a juncture where we barely know any of these characters and are meant to be getting invested in them). It just felt like it was thrown in there to be salacious and while it might work for some, it didn't work for me.

Content Warnings

firefly99's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

ladyareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Okay okay, it’s dark fantasy and it took me a while to get into it but grew on me and I’m glad I stuck with it. There is a lot of sexual trauma and queer representation throughout the whole story and just in case you didn’t get the memo it’s an Ashkenazi Jewish Folklore inspired story and it’s sooo worth it.

# The Sins on Their Bones
# 5/17/2024 ~ 5/22/2024
# 3.75 / 5.0

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