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A review by solly
The Silence of Bones by June Hur
3.0
3.5 stars
Overall, I really enjoyed this. It's a venture into genres I don't read a lot of. Most of the historical fiction I read is romance, and I read very little thrillers/mysteries because they're not my favourite thing. But recently, I've enjoyed histrom a lot and wanted to read more historical fiction, plus try to see if I really dislike mysteries of just haven't read a lot of enjoyable, diverse ones.
I still haven't found a thriller/mystery book that satisfies my need for really strong characterization and character interactions (except maybe When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, who has the romance writer skills for this). I don't think The Silence of Bones works for me on that aspect. I liked Seol and Inspector Han as characters on their own, but their character interactions were meh for me, and a lot of the secondary characters weren't super developed (there were a lot of them, so understandable to some extent!). I liked that the main characters weren't necessarily good people!
I enjoyed the mystery aspect, though! It was intricate, deeply linked both to the setting and time period as well as the characters' more personal stakes. I guessed the two big twists/who-is-who kind of thing, but mostly because it was foreshadowed right (I especially feel like you're able to guess the killer at a great time, not too soon, not too late). I enjoyed trying to piece things together, and you have to be really focused haha, there's a lot going on, but I liked it. I'm generally okay at guessing outcomes in a story, and a lot of YAs that have an element of mystery are easy to guess to me and it doesn't often deter from the story if the book isn't a mystery in itself, but it's nice to have to work for it a bit.
I know a lot of people's main complaint with the book is that it's slow-paced, especially in the first half, and it's true, but slow pacing doesn't bother me much if the characters/setting are compelling enough.
There's a trope I don't like by the end that I didn't understand the point of. I don't want to get into spoilers, but yeah, it made me roll my eyes a bit. I'm generally not a fan of the ending of the book. The mystery is satisfying, I think, the resolution of the more personal stakes for Seol I liked less.
I'm a little ??? at some of the religious elements in this. Like it's purely personal but positive representations of Catholicism don't mesh with me well. It's not like an overtly pro-Catholic narrative, the MC isn't Catholic, but most of the Good Guys who are for equality and stuff are and like *laughs in queer raised in a Catholic family*. The book isn't entirely focused on religious stuff, but a significant portion of the plot and secondary characters have important themes/plot points about the persecution of Catholics in Joseon at the time, so yeah, I know some people like to know about this stuff going into it.
I don't know a lot about Korean history, so this was a nice glimpse into that, though!
I'm definitely going to consider buying The Forest of Stolen Girls sometime soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. It's a venture into genres I don't read a lot of. Most of the historical fiction I read is romance, and I read very little thrillers/mysteries because they're not my favourite thing. But recently, I've enjoyed histrom a lot and wanted to read more historical fiction, plus try to see if I really dislike mysteries of just haven't read a lot of enjoyable, diverse ones.
I still haven't found a thriller/mystery book that satisfies my need for really strong characterization and character interactions (except maybe When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole, who has the romance writer skills for this). I don't think The Silence of Bones works for me on that aspect. I liked Seol and Inspector Han as characters on their own, but their character interactions were meh for me, and a lot of the secondary characters weren't super developed (there were a lot of them, so understandable to some extent!). I liked that the main characters weren't necessarily good people!
I enjoyed the mystery aspect, though! It was intricate, deeply linked both to the setting and time period as well as the characters' more personal stakes. I guessed the two big twists/who-is-who kind of thing, but mostly because it was foreshadowed right (I especially feel like you're able to guess the killer at a great time, not too soon, not too late). I enjoyed trying to piece things together, and you have to be really focused haha, there's a lot going on, but I liked it. I'm generally okay at guessing outcomes in a story, and a lot of YAs that have an element of mystery are easy to guess to me and it doesn't often deter from the story if the book isn't a mystery in itself, but it's nice to have to work for it a bit.
I know a lot of people's main complaint with the book is that it's slow-paced, especially in the first half, and it's true, but slow pacing doesn't bother me much if the characters/setting are compelling enough.
There's a trope I don't like by the end that I didn't understand the point of. I don't want to get into spoilers, but yeah, it made me roll my eyes a bit. I'm generally not a fan of the ending of the book. The mystery is satisfying, I think, the resolution of the more personal stakes for Seol I liked less.
I'm a little ??? at some of the religious elements in this. Like it's purely personal but positive representations of Catholicism don't mesh with me well. It's not like an overtly pro-Catholic narrative, the MC isn't Catholic, but most of the Good Guys who are for equality and stuff are and like *laughs in queer raised in a Catholic family*. The book isn't entirely focused on religious stuff, but a significant portion of the plot and secondary characters have important themes/plot points about the persecution of Catholics in Joseon at the time, so yeah, I know some people like to know about this stuff going into it.
I don't know a lot about Korean history, so this was a nice glimpse into that, though!
I'm definitely going to consider buying The Forest of Stolen Girls sometime soon.