Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Review #258)

 

"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:

Man, do I love gay vampires.

We have three vampires at the center of our story. Well actually, really only two. We have Alice, a newborn in the way vampirism, a good steady set of eyes into the world we're introduced to. 

Alice, I felt was an interesting character, in that not only is she new to vampire life, but normal American college life as well. She's fresh off the boat from Scotland, going to college in Boston. Her past is marked by trauma, and we see flashbacks of it throughout her POV. She's definitely melancholy incarnate, if you ask me. Despite that though, she provides us readers with a purpose of discovering how she became a vampire and seeking revenge on her creator. 

Charlotte, I don't even really want to talk about in terms of main characters, because she really doesn't appear until the last third of the book, and to me, it was too late of an intro. We are already deeply intrenched in the other two main characters, and I feel like Charlotte's story would have had a much bigger impact, if the author didn't set it up to be this kind of reveal. 

If we had seen Charlotte's love story play out maybe without knowing the true identity of her lover, the twist in the third act could have been the twist. That way too, we could've gotten a more detailed and in-depth look at their story instead of what basically amounted to a quick montage. 

Speaking of Sabine. Sabine was THE most interesting character in this book. A psychopath, even before turning, and it made for the most ruthless and compelling of characters. We are with her from page one, first as Maria, then as Sabine. She is the through line of the entire book. She was so deeply multifaceted, and because we are with her for the majority of the book, we see her evolve, we see her learn and grow, we see her figure out what she wants from her immortal life and how she forms relationships throughout the ages. She was something to behold. 

And then Charlotte happens. Listen, I am all for the love triangle Schwab set up. It, in theory, is compelling. but once the pieces start falling into place, I was just pissed off. Sabine is the villain all along? She went crazy and everything's her fault? OHHHH PLEAASSEE!!! This could have been so much more epic than that. The author trying to convince me that Charlotte, the character we have only barely been introduced to, is the precious treasure, the one everyone wants apparently, and Alice is just a pawn? We could have made this so much more interesting than that.

It really left me with a sour taste in my mouth; I was team Sabine! The villain is the best character and I stand by that! Overall, it felt like this book wasn't about plot, it felt like the plot was an afterthought. But the vibes? The gay? The murder? immaculate. 

Enough about what I think, let me know your own thoughts and feels down below in the comments, and I'll see you on the next one very soon!