Synopsis:
This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.
This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.
This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.
This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.
Review:
Tor UK kindly sent me a copy of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil for review.
I don’t know where to start other than I utterly loved this. It gave me big Addie LaRue vibes (which I ADORED), V.E. Schwab writes immortal women well, and she also writes these gorgeous pining, dangerous and heart-breaking romances.
Is Bury our Bones a romance? Well, no. It’s a vampire book where the events are all set out by romance, or love, or sex, however you want to look at it. Each thread of story starts with some form of yearning. Schwab does this so damn well. There’s something poetic and sweet and dangerous about her love stories. She not only writes romance as a positive but as something that can twist and turn vicious and dark. There’s no one out there doing it like her.
At over 500 pages Bury our Bones is quite the beast of a book. And Schwab uses every moment, every page is well-paced and there’s no drag. Weaving three separate stories and times together to create this heart-wrenching meet at the end I found myself utterly gripped. From our first meeting of Maria there’s no time wasted in introducing the vampirism that weaves threads through the entire book.
These aren’t dark and scary vampires. There’s no turning into bats or huge blood baths. It’s more of a quiet vampirism, in girls that draw your eye and Schwab weaves vampire society (what there is of it) into the every day and mundane. It’s a story deeply rooted in our world and it’s all the better for it.
The story broke my heart. You watch Maria from when she becomes a vampire through many stages of her life. You’re also introduced to Sabine, Alice and Charlotte. All girls whose lives are deeply intertwined and changed by each other. It’s a stunning story and I desperately wanted to know how everything & everyone was going to link together.
Read this. If you loved Addie LaRue, read this. If you love vampires, read this. If you love stories with big hearts, read this. You won’t be disappointed.
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