Synopsis:
From V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger.
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:
A few years back I discovered V.E. Schwab by reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I, like many others, fell in love with Schwab’s beautiful prose. She wove an intricate story told over hundreds of years, pulling in elements of romance, historical novels, supernatural fare, and fantasy. While I read it, I certainly enjoyed it, but there was…maybe a little subdued…a little depressed — which makes sense given the nature of Addie’s story. A woman who became invisible for generations, cursed to travel through life, but never fully participate in it.
Here though, in Schwab’s latest, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, the gloves are truly off. Reading it felt visceral. Primal. Almost like Schwab was tapping into something deep within herself to tell this story.
In some ways there are a lot of similarities with Addie LaRue. In both books, we have female lead characters who traverse centuries. Time is a central character in this book, as the reader sees the ways that women have been allowed to navigate society from the 16th century to modern-day. The hurt that happens in the 1500s is central to the plot of the book, but also comes from a key part of the women’s experience at a time when they weren’t considered citizens, had little in terms of individual rights and were better known for their relationship to the men in their lives.
OK…we’re far enough into the review, that I’ll mention what this book is all about. In fact…I went in virtually blind. I hadn’t read any reviews and as you can see above, the synopsis is pretty bare bones as well. As I was reading, I found myself wondering a bit when the fantasy elements would come into play, but then they show up and stick around for good about twenty percent into the novel. I do hesitate to say what the core of the book is, because Schwab herself only uses the word 4 TIMES in the course of the book. What’s the word?
(SPOILERS — TURN BACK IF YOU WANT TO GO IN BLIND…)
….
…
..
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Vampires.
Or, more specifically, lesbian vampires.
Or, more more specifically, traumatized lesbian vampires.
Fine — Toxic Lesbian Vampires.
There are definitely comparisons to be made here between this and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, in particular Lestat (played by Tom Cruise in the movie of the same name). Lestat carries with him the trauma of his past and inflicts that on those he chooses to harm and those that he tries not to. In Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, the Lestat comparison goes to the character of Sabine. She is our throughline in the book from early 16th century Spain to Victorian England and modern day America.
And Schwab really paints a picture of how the trauma just keeps compiling from one century to the next and the terror that comes at the end of the book is really more due to unresolved issues than the actual fangs in her mouth.
I really enjoyed Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. As always I’ll be thrilled to pick up her next book, whether she’s writing for adults or teens. Her voice is a needed one even more than ever in this world and I’m glad girls like my daughter have an author like her writing necessary and needed books.
Thank you to Tor for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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