Imagine you have a crazy ex, but it's worse because that ex is a vampire and goes around killing everyone you date going forward.
Anyway, I have a new book review.
I read best-selling author VE Schwab’s latest novel “Bury My Bones in the Midnight Soil”. It’s about vampires, and the story stretches over 500 years. A friend recommended that I read Schwab, and when I went to my local bookstore, this brand new one from her was displayed front and center, so I picked it up.
The genre is gothic horror romance, basically. With an elevated/literary element to it. The vampire themes are presented on two levels:
-The first is the straightforward level; there are actual vampires. So there’s a plot, action, all sorts of stuff involving some superpowered murderers. One cool detail I liked is that (as undead beings) the vampires hearts don’t beat, but when they drink someone’s blood, their heart beats for a minute and circulates that new blood around. They crave blood to satisfy hunger, but also to feel a heartbeat again, albeit briefly. Nice touch.
-The second level is that the vampires are an allegory for empowerment. Since the book takes place over five centuries, it includes several time periods where women were without much power or rights. And if you were a lesbian (as the author is, and some characters are), well you were pretty much out out of luck. Becoming an immortal vampire with super strength/speed offers the option of breaking free from society’s norms.
I only have so much time to read novels, with sci fi and epic fantasy being my favorite genres, so literary urban fantasy about toxic lesbian vampires was a bit outside of my normal scope. It’s good to broaden one’s horizons, they say.
Overall, I found Schwab’s writing quality to be great. Solid prose, a shocking inciting incident that caught me off guard, a fresh angle on a villain, clear settings and actions never left me confused or distracted, etc.
The story itself was hit or miss for me, though. At 500+ pages, I found it a bit slow. Out of the three point-of-view characters, I could connect well with one of them, but not really the other two. I liked several of the supporting characters, especially a couple of the men were my favorite characters actually, which I think is a testament to Schwab’s writing quality.
I’d definitely read more of Schwab’s novels in the future since I enjoyed her writing style, even though this particular plot didn’t exactly resonate with me.
7.5/10
