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A review by apollinares
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Who doesn't love a repressed, queer, nervous wreck of an academic? I sure do, and while these short stories weren't as traditionally scary as I'd hoped, they managed to instill in me an eeriness I altogether enjoyed.
Booth is a downtrodden mess, and I relate to him in some ways, especially when it comes to our social anxiety (I'm better at handling it now but I can see a glimpse of my past self in this character); maybe that's why I liked the book - for a horror protagonist, he reacts to things in an entirely appropriate fashion (a pet peeve of mine is the brushing off of extremely harrowing events for the sake of plot; Booth does the opposite. Booth dwells.)
There are some issues with the short story as a format for one protagonist's various misadventures, in my opinion - I wanted a little character growth, if anything, or a mystery that truly stumps our archivist - but there is rarely time to truly explore any of that. Had I consumed the stories as one-offs, I would not have noticed, but I engulfed this anthology in a couple of evenings, and that made my gripes with the format stand out. Which I can't even fault the book for - it's not a bad thing that I want more of this character!
Time to track down the other Booth stories! There's actually a novel that just came out (as of fall 2023) - I only picked up this book to get acquainted with the character before reading it, but now I'm extra excited to be reunited with Kyle Murchison Booth once more!
Booth is a downtrodden mess, and I relate to him in some ways, especially when it comes to our social anxiety (I'm better at handling it now but I can see a glimpse of my past self in this character); maybe that's why I liked the book - for a horror protagonist, he reacts to things in an entirely appropriate fashion (a pet peeve of mine is the brushing off of extremely harrowing events for the sake of plot; Booth does the opposite. Booth dwells.)
There are some issues with the short story as a format for one protagonist's various misadventures, in my opinion - I wanted a little character growth, if anything, or a mystery that truly stumps our archivist - but there is rarely time to truly explore any of that. Had I consumed the stories as one-offs, I would not have noticed, but I engulfed this anthology in a couple of evenings, and that made my gripes with the format stand out. Which I can't even fault the book for - it's not a bad thing that I want more of this character!
Time to track down the other Booth stories! There's actually a novel that just came out (as of fall 2023) - I only picked up this book to get acquainted with the character before reading it, but now I'm extra excited to be reunited with Kyle Murchison Booth once more!