A review by agravereader
The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

4.5

I think this could have been a five-star read for me had the end not been so rushed. That being said, I absolutely loved this. It was so dark and yet so wholesome. I loved the three perspectives we got, and I truly appreciate how different each voice was. The characters were believable, and I understood their motives, even if I didn't agree with them always.

The only parts that seemed out of character, were near the end,

after they stab Alexey, Vasily seems randomly concerned with Ivan? Like I know he liked him, but considering Dimitri was fading away, it made no sense for him to prioritize Ivan? I wish it had been swapped, and Dimitri was begging Vasily to save Ivan, so he did so against his better judgment or something. Same with killing him. I wish it had been Vasily to beg Dimitri to allow him to do it instead of Dimitri commanding him to.. I get that he saw Dimitri in Ivan, but Dimitri was right there to focus on.. 

Then following Dimitri's resurrection, I wish we had a passage of Vasily reuniting with him physically and not just a 3-week jump... I would have liked to hear what happened to Ayla? It would have been cool if he legitimately all his "bastard" siblings like he did Ivan. 

I would have liked to see more of the fruition of Vasily and Dimitri's 400 pages of pining, as well.. instead of the rushed vignettes we got...

All in all, I did really enjoy this book. I found it compulsively readable, and I was excited to return to it every time I had to put it down. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of Samotin's work in the future.