Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - A House with Good Bones

This is probably one of my favorite Kingfisher books so far! She has a way of mixing humor and terror so well, you’re chuckling one minute and cringing the next.

Sam is staying at home with her mother in their childhood home after her archaeology dig was postponed. Unfortunately, the house seems to have changed and the dead are not at rest.

This novel is fast paced, humorous, and filled with magical realism giving it a cozy feel. I don’t usually like humor
mixed with horror, but the way Kingfisher writes, I find myself greatly enjoying her stories. This novel is part haunted house, part ancient magic, and part comedy with the overarching theme of familial trauma underneath all the roses.

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for something a little lighthearted but that still packs a punch with horror.

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kaitieg97's review

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challenging funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

T. Kingfisher is such a good visual writer, I've read "What Moves the Dead" as well, and they are both incredibly immersing, which is why I'm so sad to give this book such a low rating. The ending felt weird with

Gran Mae the Rose Monster, The Underground Children, Gail and Hermes being angel/vulture/witches

, too many twists that I felt were unnecessary. I don't think Kingfisher knows how to write endings.

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ashlyndiane's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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dreamy_demon's review

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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booking_along's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this is one of those books who’s horror aspects sneak up at points of the story in ways that completely depend on the reader and what they find scary. until the actual big scary thing comes out to play and all of a sudden the little horrors just seem like cute little harmless pranks.

that is to say: this book was fantastic and i really enjoyed a lot!

i loved the entomology moments, i adored the vulture moments and the rose hate was very fun to read about because o will never understand why people romanticize those things! so that was a bit of a nice surprise to find another person also seeing roses as a bit of a monstrosity.

that all being said this book is not at all for every reader - as i come to believe non of Kingfishers works are.

you either love the specific tone she had and works with … or her books just will be either boring until they get to the point (which isn’t especially quick for a book just scraping over 300 pages) or just believe that the author keeps going on unnecessary uninteresting side notes.

i personally enjoy learning more about things. i love hearing about people and their different jobs and learning about what other people are passionate about and working in that field!

but i was also the kid at 9/10 that wanted to be a pathologist or a archaeoanthropologist (trying to identify human remains instead of those of bug remains like the main characters job in the book) and way yes, i was the 9 year old kid asking the librarian what the job was called when someone would dig up dead people and try to find out who they were and at what point in time they did (don’t ask me what the reaction was… let’s just say that my mom helped me look up what it was called and than she also was the one that helped me learn to say that because what a nightmare of a word to try to say/read/write with dyslexia!)

i loved learning a bit more about vultures and looking up even more while reading because i forgot a good bit of what i looked up the last time that particular interest for me got strong enough to look them up.

who doesn’t love big smart birds that gather in larger groups and are extremely curious and don’t understand humans and humans strange behaviors?

and the bug info was very nice too.
being someone that was bitten by a ladybug before and told i was imaging things because ladybugs don’t bite… thank you kingfisher!
it’s nice to see it confirmed!

that is to say: i enjoy reading about things some people might not!

so for this book; be prepared to bugs and good amounts of them, so don’t like bugs or get freaked out by them and don’t enjoy that? don’t read this book!

was this “review” helpful so far?

guess not.

let’s try again:

this is a fantastic horror book that combines different aspects of life, especially suburban life of the typical usa american tv show version with horror aspects of different kinds.

i enjoyed that throughout this book there is a lot of questioning of what’s really going on and logical answer searching because who would believe something supernatural crazy right away right now?

but i loved how even though Sam (main character) didn’t want to believe the crazy stuff, she always believed her mom and was very sure that what ever was going on she would try and help her mom.
it’s always lovely to see a good parent/kid relationship as well as a realistic sibling relationship represented with everyone being an adult.

the horror elements of this book are more of the supernatural elements instead of the true horrific kind and while towards the end of the book i was not able to put the book down and just had to find out where this was going and how it would end… i don’t think it ever reached the point of true horror for me where i felt horrified, scared or repulsed in some way.

this reminded me of the kind of horror in the same way that supernatural tv shows are lumped in with horror. like “supernatural”, “buffy”, even “charmed” this book has that kind of horror.

so if you jump scares or bloody horrors? not the book for you.

if you want “what is going on?!” supernatural spooky creepy things? i think this is a good one.

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dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Absolutely the kind of book I've been looking for! I'm also an entomology lover and have been looking for books that are in the SF/F and speculative genres that have bugs in, that aren't viewed negatively.
I also love the vultures and how they tie in.
The story and the plot twists aswell are so creative, and T Kingfishers writing is so comical and made the characters really relatable.
Overall, one of my all time favourite books I think, and I'm excited to read more of her work!

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nrogers_1030's review

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dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

T.K. always entertains me. This book is creepy and funny.

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ptaradactyl's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

So good and weird and readable.

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