Book Review: All the Murmuring Bones by Angela Slatter

🌱Overview:

~ Host of creepy-sounding beings that are beautifully described and experienced

~ Slow burn that transforms into a proper adventure

~ The world building is superb (you actually get a sense of movement into new areas)

~ Some passion and off-scene seggs (very basic)

~ Solid motivations for the behaviour of characters

🌱 Why it works:

The world is so friggin compelling! After you pass the first stage, which doesn’t seem like it will really take you anywhere, the world opens up and we go on an adventure. Once you get into the sway of the story, the read becomes seamless and somewhat otherworldly. I loved the feeling it gave… a sense of creepy wonder. 

🌱 Connections:

▪️This book reminds me most of House of Salt and Sorrows (HSS) by Erin A. Craig. In both we have families that are bound by the sea and suffer mysterious deaths. The reader knows that there is a greater overriding mystery but it takes a while for us to find all the answers.

Where All the Murmuring Bones (AMB) pulls ahead is with the world building, detailing of some eerie tales AND the strength of the lead character. While I was constantly frustrated by Annaleigh, I found myself applauding Merin and rooting for her success. She had many difficult decisions to make, but she actually THINKS her way through them and makes decisions I can’t fault. 

The world in HSS is eerie and small. We are constricted to a tiny village and then a tiny island where the house of the family stands. In AMB the world starts off much the same, but it expands beautifully and with it the eeriness travels with us. We learn about and from them and we interact with them. It’s very seductively written. 

🌱 Themes:

~ Family / Family Ties

~ Secrets and Lies

~ Betrayal 

~ Murder and Death

~ Mythology and Truth

~ Stories we are told

🌱 Audience:

~ Mature YA

~ Adult

~ (TW: Murder, Incest, Mention of abuse, Cruelty)

🌱 The Meh:

▪️ A slow beginning that doesn’t QUITE seem to be going anywhere

(There is a lot of stage setting that takes up a good part of the first few chapters. I was petrified that I’d once again be stuck in a weird decaying home for hundreds of pages (COUGHS at House of Salt and Sorrows)

▪️ This belief that having sex is a form of ‘rebellion’ as opposed to something for you, a small pleasure you take as your own

(I was nettled by this because while the first sexual experience in the book can be construed as that, there is no need for the second to be about anything but pleasure 🙄💁. It gives the wrong impression in my opinion).

▪️ Young pregnancies (🙄 just something that irritates me in YA fantasy books)

(So tired of children being the only reason women seem to be given for their motivations. It’s almost like they have no self pride and honour. No innate will to live and thrive for themselves… If a child isn’t there it’s almost like we should just assume she’d commit suicide and give up. SHE IS ENOUGH DAMMIT! She NEEDS nothing else! 🙄) 

🌱 Verdict:

~ ✨Read it if you enjoy dark, creepy and eerie