“Read the final pages, and felt beset by the strange mix of pleasure and grief that came with finishing a book.”

Would I Recommend It?

Yes, but you gotta enjoy vampires on a basic level. Can’t get squeamish about blood and people being murdered. And you gotta not be squeamish about women-loving-on-women. This story, if stripped down to its basest level is a vampire-lesfic, but definitely so much more if you can immerse yourself in V.E. Schwab’s warring thoughts of our selves.

Thoughts?

I love this author’s style of writing and I love it when she writes a stand alone!

Absolute page turner for me. I was sucked in. I loved that this was the last book I read in 2025 and loved that I began 2026 with this book. (The non fictional book I began reading right after is already falling short.)

The story spans across 500+ years and has multiple characters and does jump between present day and past, but it is incredibly easy to keep track. No notes required. Love it. (Unlike the most recent read of mine, Kate Morton’s The Clockmaker’s Daughter where I was forever lost in time and among the myriad of characters.)

I greatly enjoyed that while it is a book about women being liberated it also strongly touches on the point that women are just as fallible and treacherous, as men are, when given too much power.

Enjoyed the storyline. Enjoyed the characters. Perhaps didn’t so much care about Alice’s sister’s story. That was the only thing I found a tad boring, but I understand its significance to the character. You think it’s gonna go one way, but then goes another. Then twists yet again another way. And perhaps ends maybe not the way you expected it to. I enjoyed it that it went against the plot that was taking shape in my head at the beginning of the book. 

Is it as emotional as The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue? No. I had a feeling a good third of the way in that she will likely not be able to elicit the same emotion in me. I reserved some hope, but wasn’t distraught when the ending didn’t end in emotional ruin. But the two books do share similarities about the consequences of living “forever” and how to carve out a life after dying. I also feel that this book was a much faster read. It’s not quite as descriptive or doesn’t require as much time to absorb the words. This is not a negative–just a notation of the difference between the two.

Quotable Quotes:

The … below are to block out character names as way to avoid spoilers. I don’t feel that the quotes in and of themselves are spoilers.

“… knows the words are meant to make her feel small, knows that she should go ahead, pretend to shrink beneath them. But she doesn’t.” – page 68

“The world is far too fucking bright.” – page 73

–Let me tell ya. Don’t gotta be a vampire to feel this way. Me. Every day. Without my sunglasses. Even when the sun is behind clouds.

“… is not a patient pupil. Her temper is quick to burn, and hard to quench.” – page 98

–Yupp. All me.

“… melts into his side, and she wonders how long they have been together, to fit like that, wearing space into each other’s bodies.” – page 149

“She knows these things, but there are no memories to go with them and the few she has are like tea bags used too many times, all the flavor fading till it’s just tinted water.” – page 196

“… laughs, “No, he hates it. It drives him mad. But that can be fun, sometimes, as well.” – page 210

“The daylight usher in another kind of torment: children.” – page 224

–Evil laughter. Love it.

“Wit is like salt, my dear. Best in small doses.” page 310

“Read the final pages of <i>Udolpho</i> and felt beset by the strange mix of pleasure and grief that came with finishing a book.” – Page 321

“…you have always worn it like a second skin. Open to the world. You feel it all. The love and pain. The joy and hope and sorrow.” – page 332

“It’s the way you cannot hide your feelings. If they do not spill out of your mouth, they shimmer on your skin. They fill the air around you, so loud they almost shout.” – page 351

“… wakes the way the sun comes up: not all at once, but by degrees.” – page 363

–Timi, it’s you! =)

“Ten years, and as glad as she was to finally be free, somewhere along the way the freedom soured, turned to loneliness. She misses the warmth of company, the lightness of a life shared with someone else.” – page 439

Book:

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Author:

V.E. Schwab

Genre:

Fiction

Fantasy

My Rating:

5 Stars