In a world where vampires exist and becoming one is the only way to escape the horrors of life, the split perspectives of Marie, Charlotte, and Alice follow the start and end of a reign of terror and hurt. It shows hunger, turning into love, turning into rage. From the author of “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,” V. E. Schwab’s “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil” is an absolutely gut-wrenching tale.
The story starts in the year 1532 with Marie, a young woman forced into the whims of the social norms, and ends in 2019 with Alice, a college student who only wanted to start a new life.
I absolutely adored this novel. My favorite part of it would have to be the way each of the perspectives seemed to blend in with each other, only for them to connect later into the story. It just made the flow of everything smooth and easy to read.
That being said, there were some moments that were slower and a bit more confusing to read through. Something that I will commend this author for is her ability to write in the style of three completely different eras of time. Sometimes, though, it is just written so well that it makes it harder for the reader to understand.
The way the romance in this book kept building and building and building only to crash and burn in the end made this a beautiful read. Schwab’s ability to write a romance novel reveals an incredible new work of art with each novel I read.
However, if you want a slow burn novel, this is it. Not quite “The Night Circus” level of slow burn, but something different in its entirety. It starts out slow with the other half of the pair not appearing until much later in the story, and it grows and builds until it is the only thing the reader is able to focus on.
Something that I was not as impressed with in this book was the ending. While it did provide a complete and rounded finish to the book, it just felt sudden and nothing until the last few chapters left any hint of what might come. It felt like the use of foreshadowing in this book was lost.
The use of three different perspectives throughout this book can also lead to some jarring whiplash while reading. A relatively more action-oriented chapter could end and lead to a different perspective where the character is just wallowing in their own thoughts.
This was an absolutely beautiful and brilliant book to read. From the flourishes of the 1500s style of writing to the straightforwardness of the 2000s writing style, it might be one of the most artistically sound books I have read in a while. My only qualms with it would be the ending and some very minor pacing issues found throughout the book. I give this book a 4.5/5.