Book Review: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Official 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.

Most readers of this blog probably knows that V.E. Schwab is one of my 'buy immediately' authors and I usually read her books quickly. Life had some different ideas this time, but now that we are finally done we are ready to share our love for this story!

Maria doesn't want the life she knows she is destined to have, to be the pretty wife of a viscount, to make sure he has heirs and accept just being stuck within the walls of the too large house they live in. When Maria befriends a women, one she met briefly during her childhood, she starts to see there is a better life for her out there. The widow, named Sabine, starts to help Maria make a tonic to help avoid pregnancy, while also showing her the type of life you can live when no one is holding you back. But when Maria finally has the taste of Sabine's freedom she is determined to take it for herself, and now she moves through the world as a widow named Sabine, moving every few years so no one catches onto her antics, or their missing neighbors.

Charlotte doesn't like the idea of going to London to participate in the 'Season' but she has no choice after her brother catches her kissing her best friend, a girl, in the garden. As Charlotte tries to find her place in the world that doesn't have a place for her, she meets a widow who is not from London. Charlotte starts to find herself falling for the young widow, and that fact that she isn't being forced to marry or meet a man. There is no way the widow is that much older than Charlotte is, and she seems to have knowledge on things that Charlotte can only dream of. When Charlotte admits her feelings for the widow, and her desire to escape her own reality, her world changes forever. Now she and Sabine travel throughout Europe, spending their decades falling more in love while meeting other's like them. The problem arises when Sabine starts to act out, losing more of herself as the decades and centuries go on. Charlotte has no choice but to run, leaving Sabine behind as she does.

Alice has recently moved to Boston, trying to escape her story in Scotland and hoping for a fresh start. When she meets Charlotte at a party, and has an out of character one night stand, she is shocked when she wakes up feeling like something as wrong. The more she starts to understand who she has become, the more she is determined to find Charlotte, and ask why she would curse her like this. But as she makes her way through Boston trying to find Charlotte, she learns there is another vampire around, looking for more trouble then either of them could imagine.

Within interlocking storylines and lots of history, I absolutely adored this take on vampires. Maria/Sabine is absolutely unhinged at times, refusing to be places behind rules and expectations again. I liked seeing how she changed throughout the years, and her experiences throughout them. Charlotte remains a mystery for a lot of the text, which I found to be really cool. We don't fully know her backstory for a while, just assuming she changed Alice and ran. Alice has gone through a lot, but doesn't wish to completely change her direction in life, but when she wakes up knowing the sun hurts and craving blood she has a few guesses on what happened to her. Alice's modern story was a very fun take on vampires too, since she is the only one who seemed to figure out what she was on her own because of the media around her.

I adored this book. It felt like the book V.E. Schwab has wanting to write for a while, and had that twisted aspect I've come to love with her books. I know a lot of people will introed to V.E. Schwab through Addie LaRue, but this book definitely reminds me more of the older books, like the Villains series and others. Though Addie was a good book, it definitely wasn't like some of the others she has written through the years, but was definitely one to get her name out there as an author, which I respect. Where there sometimes just aren't good people within the texts. I'm excited to see where her next novel goes (especially since it's another Vicious novel). If you are looking for a sapphic fantasy with vampires that covers a lot of centuries I highly recommend this book.

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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