Review by mariebrunelm - Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

mariebrunelm 's review for:

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

María, Charlotte, Alice. Dead for centuries, decades or mere months. Who were buried in the midnight soil and whose roots find each other’s and intertwine.

Reading this book while in hypotension was extra fun because the characters were going through the motions of breathing to pass as alive even though they no longer needed oxygene, while i was having a bit of a harder time breathing than usual and so I was extra conscious of the steps it took to fill in my lungs and absolutely needing it.

That being said, this novel really captured my attention from the first few pages. I revelled in Schwab’s writing style, which never disappoints, and enjoyed the poisonous vibes of this story set over different time periods. I loved the slow pace which gave me time to soak in the atmosphere, and the various female characters, each with her own mindset.

I do have to say that halfway through the book I started wondering if it was ever going to be more than surface-level, which is something I’d been wondering reading Addie Larue as well, and which had ended up disappointing me. Although I preferred Bones to Addie, I was still frustrated with how the author paints characters who live for a very long time, and I wanted more from the book thematically. Also, the story felt quite repetitive. I don’t want to spoil you so I’ll stay vague, but each character goes through the same steps and no matter how beautifully it’s written, when things happened in the same way for the third time I was starting to question where the book was going. For such a slow book, the ending felt quite rushed as well, and very anticlimactic.

All in all, I recommend this book for its gorgeous prose and slow pace, but if you want something a little more thoughtful I’d direct you towards The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

Rep: diverse characters, lesbians MCs.

CW: domestic abuse, blood, alcohol, drug use.

Content Warnings