The Sins on Their Bones follows Dimitri, who is in exile after losing a war between him and his ex husband, Alexey. He's lost his rule over the kingdom and he wants to do whatever he can to get it back since Alexey is evil but he still battles over his feelings of love for Alexey. When he learns that Alexey is amassing a new army, Dimitri's plans need to escalate.

The book started off interesting and it drew me in right away but after about 50 pages I realized I was a little bored. Samotin writes well and yet nothing seemed to be happening in the plot. Pretty much one plot happens over 400 pages. I never felt connected to the characters and no development really happens. It's not a bad book but it's just a little blah...it's also a little distracting how very similar it is to the Shadow and Bone series, particularly the Darkling's character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable dark fantasy. The Sins On Their Bones was beautifully written and had an intriguing story. I appreciated how this one was inspired by Jewish folklore especially since that’s not something I’ve come across much in other books. There was so much packed into this one making it a good read. If you are looking for a queer dark fantasy you may want to check this one out.

Heads up that this book does have content warnings and spice.

I started reading this book the moment I had it on my shelf just to get a taste of the introduction of the story, and I could not put it down the moment I started. PHEW I am a sucker for tortured romance and this delivered tenfold. The comparison to C.S. Pacat's writing was also excellently used, I immediately saw similarities in the writing style and - while this book absolutely stands on its own - I knew that similarity alone meant I would adore this book. It's the perfect blend of political fantasy and romance.

The characters had me in love right out the gate, they all have excellent personality and the use of multi POV to express those personalities was perfectly done. I knew Vasily would be my immediate favourite, but I was surprised by how much I loved Alexey's perspective. His layers and nuance had me so intrigued, I loved seeing the story from his angle.

I'm so pleasantly surprised by how hard I fell for this book, and I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for this author in the future.

5/5 ⭐

The Sins on Their Bones is the perfect book for me.

It’s not for every reader, but it feels as though Laura R. Samotin plucked the concept from an amalgam of all the things I treasure most. There’s something incredibly special about seeing fragments of your lived experience reimagined in fantasy, and this sense of familiarity made the already raw story feel deeply intimate to read. I truly can’t express how grateful I am to have been immersed in this intense, gritty, and deeply Jewish story.

Something that I want to address is the discomfort that some readers experienced from having to engage with Alexey’s perspective. I noticed several reviews flagging the inclusion of his perspective as too sympathetic or forgiving to an abuser, and I can’t help but feel that its role is misunderstood; To me, his chapters are not sympathetic, but are rather narrated unreliably by a character who sincerely believes his cruelty to be justified. It’s deeply disturbing to swallow his perspective, but its inclusion guides the reader to recognize how an abuser can repeatedly engage in such vile behaviour while convincing themselves it’s “out of love,” and why that can in turn cause their victims to feel so trapped even after the relationship is over.

Romantic and platonic relationships are equally beautifully written in this book. In particular, the fragile development of Dimitri’s connection with Vasily is perfectly heart wrenching. It’s not your “traditional” love story, as both men respectively grapple with their own recovery and must relearn giving & receiving affection. Because of this, I was truly invested in their gradual journey from something casual and uncertain to a deeply felt, loving intimacy. This depiction of how relationships can sometimes develop “backwards” from social convention as the result of trauma is truly appreciated.

If you are in the right place to engage with difficult material, enjoy political intrigue, and are captivated by folklore, I can’t recommend enough that you give this novel a chance. While the plot can be slow at the start, to me there is so much joy in simply spending time getting to know such lovingly crafted characters. I can only hope that we get to enjoy them again in future releases, and I’ll be putting Samotin front and center on my radar!

This novel will remain very close to my heart. Thank you, truly.

Side note:

One thing that always stands out to me in fantasies featuring LGBTQ+ characters is whether or not their presence is a normal, and even unremarkable part of society. It admittedly cracks me up when an author will feature an entire magic system in their work but draw the line for social acceptability at being gay, and I’m thankful that this isn’t the case in this book. I’m doubly grateful that this is an intentional decision described in the author’s notes, as well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this opportunity to read, rate and review this ARC which will be available May 7,2024!

I literally stayed for the queer rep. This is a Jewish inspired reimagining of Eastern Europe with a very heavy queer rep. It is a Golem inspired queer fantasy with Jewish undertones, espionage and betrayals everywhere.

I dug it. Did it take me forever to read it? Yes. It is a very wordy story with a lot of build up and tension

This was dark and imaginative and had me so stressed at times I felt like I was reading with my fingers over my eyes to help waylay the panic.

The characters and themes and story being explored are incredible and the setting and story is so well done.

I felt like it was all at once rushed at times and too slow at others. I wanted more time with everyone to understand their dynamic.

I’ll definitely be reading the next while I sus through my feelings for this one.

What a fantastic book! It was everything and more I ever wanted from fantasy. I'm emotionally drained after reading it; it shattered my heart from the beginning and gradually put it back together as I read on.
Drawing inspiration from Jewish folklore and Russian history, this dark fantasy novel focuses on the former Tsar of Novo-Svitsevo named Dimitri, who lost not only his kingdom but also his love in a devastating civil war against his estranged husband, Alexey. Dimitri is portrayed as a broken, tragic figure who still harbors love for a man who has used and abused him for years. His suffering is witnessed by his former spymaster, Vasily, who is determined to bring Alexey down at any cost, even risking his own life.

The novel is highly character-driven, with the psychological complexity of each of the three point of view characters adding depth to the narrative. The author has perfectly captured the nature of grief and the complexity of trauma, making her characters' vulnerability their greatest narrative asset. I would not have loved this book half as much without the way the emotional state of the characters and the tension between them was portrayed.

Beyond the characters, the world depicted in the book, especially the civil war with its religious background, is utterly fascinating. The author's incorporation of various Jewish traditions is evident, and these themes contribute to the creation of a compelling magic system. I also appreciated the normalization of queerness in this universe; it was refreshing not to encounter homophobia in a story already fraught with so much trauma.

The book is also exceptionally well written, which is crucial given its exploration of such difficult themes. It reminded me a bit of the Shadow and Bone, although much more adult and darker in tone.

Overall, it was a fantastic read, and I would recommend it to anyone seeking an emotionally devastating yet satisfying experience. However, I strongly advise checking trigger warnings beforehand, as certain elements may be distressing to readers with a history of trauma or abuse.

This book made me think of Shadow and Bone but darker and gay.

I love the fact that we had three POV, one for Dimitri, one for Alexei which surprise me and one for Vasily.

In the beginning the story of Dimitri made me sad because he lost the love of his life in the battle of power for the throne and I just thought Alexei choose it instead of the love he had for his husband but it’s way more complicated that than. I loved to see his evolution, the darker he got in the plot. Check the trigger warning about that.

The inspiration of the Jewish and Russian myth was really interesting, it was dark and heavy themed but with some fresh air in the middle with the romance. The world building, the magic, the monsters everything was really well done and kept me on my toes during the entire book.

There’s some heavy subjects such as grief, abuse, trauma, loss and healing which made the story and the characters so much real and meaningful. It was heartbreaking to read what happened because and during the war, especially for Dimitri.

To resume it’s dark, heartbreaking, romantic and dramatic story with great elements of fantasy and amazing characters

I should have realised my relationship with this book was doomed the moment I read this travesty

<It’s not as if he’s going to be able to cut a transport deal to the east with the Urushkins without getting his balls handed back to him on a silver platter with a side of caviar.”

Dimitri blinked to clear the visions from his mind of what he and Alexey had done with caviar.>

halfway through the opening chapter.

CAVIAR IS NOT SEXY. I DO NOT WANT MENTAL IMAGES OF WHAT THESE TWO MIGHT HAVE BEEN DOING WITH CAVIAR IN A SEXUAL CONTEXT. STOP IT. WHY. WHY WOULD YOU EVEN GO THERE. WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU.

YES I AM KINK-SHAMING YOU. BITE ME AND SHUT UP.

(In complete fairness, this isn’t indicative of Samotin’s skill, or lack thereof, with sex scenes, because the sex scenes are actually perfectly fine. I just feel like there’s something about this caviar thing that proves this writer has a fundamental misunderstanding of what the reader is going to find sexy and/or funny, because seriously – caviar??? Imagine that on your skin! GROSS.)

Dimitri has a lot of reasons to angst, but his complete lack of hope or anything like it makes for pretty miserable reading, and didn’t give me a lot to empathise with. You are, arguably, a Tsar; you don’t get to give up, because you have a responsibility to your people to get them out of the mess you left them in. Alternatively, if you are going to give up, then fucking give up and don’t let your people – the ones who escaped with you into exile – risk themselves in working to get you back your throne.

Pick a lane and commit to it!

Then we have the villain, Alexey, Dimitri’s ex-husband, who wants to rule the imperial court through fear, but also by example re being forward-thinking and demonstrating that he is The Most Modern And Smartest. He leans into them thinking he’s some kind of demon by dressing in all-black, but hates superstition and is vaguely offended they think he’s a demon. But lets the nobles get away with wearing anti-demon talismans, even though a) superstition and b) if they think he’s a demon, then their wearing these talismans is hugely rude and arguably a kind of treason.

Forget the court, it feels a lot more like Samotin can’t decide whether or not he’s a demon. Once again: pick a take/approach and commit to it, for crying out loud.

Then we have the third PoV character, the Tsar-in-exile’s vaunted spymaster, who genuinely thinks this

<Vasily just wished he’d never seen Alexey in person. It was hard to reconcile knowing Alexey was evil with thinking that he was insufferably handsome.>

You’re a SPY. A SPY. How can it possibly be difficult for you to accept that handsome people are evil? Shouldn’t you of all people know that appearances are meaningless? What with being a SPY? An honest-to-gods SPYMASTER, in fact?

So basically, all three of our main characters are pretty poorly-written, imo, being weak, contradictory, and idiotic to varying degrees.

The main issue, though, is just that I find the writing really basic and blunt. The language level and sentence structure and so on are really simplistic, and therefore boring, no matter how interesting the plot and themes might be. Word choice and phrasing are both so dull – I want prose that’s complex, that engages me, that I’m not editing in my head as I read to make it sound more sophisticated and polished. It kind of feels like, having created an interestingly complicated story, Samotin was worried about us being able to follow it all and dumbed down the writing to make it easier on us.

There’s also an awful lot of info-dumping, which, I get that Samotin chose to set the story after the big war and therefore has to find a way to tell us all about it, but – that was a choice that was made, and you’re responsible for the effects of that choice. Find a better way to get us all this information than dropping it on us like lead weights.

Hard DNF. There’s the bones (hah) of a really great story here, but I absolutely cannot stand the execution of it.

Wasn't aware the kindle version wasn't available for download. I will update my rating once it becomes available and I'm able to read the arc. Apologies for the temporary placer review.

This was an absolutely stellar read. Initially the blurb had captured me early on and set high expectations and I was absolutely not disappointed.

The plot is an engaging one. It is dark, with introspection from each of our PoV characters. Especially Dimitri, it is so hard not to fall into the trap of melancholy with him. His emotional pain is palpable and difficult to read, and if that is what Samotin is going for then it is expertly written. I felt for Dimitri, and I cared for Vasily… and I even found myself feeling surprise emotions for Alexey.

I found myself on the edge of my seat for the majority of this book. It really dragged me into the story and I just didn’t want to leave (sadly real life had other plans!) But the writing itself is top notch, the prose is flowery and beautifully crafted, though not so overdone that I grew weary of it.

Characterisation is incredible throughout. Each character is so vividly described through their mannerisms and speech that they flew off the pages and into my imagination and take root in my very soul for the duration of the book (and probably for a long time after).

I adore the use of diminutive nomenclature. It took all of two seconds to work out who people were referring to in speech, and after that it was so easy to sink into the book and enjoy the very realistic naming conventions used. And I know very little of Jewish culture but I understand elements of this book have taken inspiration from there - I really enjoyed the lore of this world, it was explained well but also left me wanting to know more.

The use of gender is another thing so fluidly done. We have he/she/they used for various characters with absolutely no fanfare. The reader just accepts it as fact and moves on, with none of this long-winded prose about people using pronouns. Same applies to sexual orientation. It just is. Very well executed.

All in? Loved it. I will be buying a copy of this book when it is released… because I’m all about supporting authors and wow I can see myself picking this book up again for a re-read. Loved it.

If your request to the reading picker was something like, "I'd like Grishaverse meets Winternight Trilogy only make it adult and LGBTQ+" ....this book (or perhaps series?) is not what you ordered, but if you decide to stay anyway, it may take you someplace so much richer and emotionally jarring. The book starts slow and drops the reader in the middle of the story, The beginnings, or the characters' histories, are told through flashbacks and memories slowly peeling away as scabs peel off when wounds heal. The tale is told in third person alternating three points of view, two protagonists and one antagonist. Perhaps, at the beginning, the antagonists perspective does not convey his villainy but then I doubt that most villains think of themselves that way. There are deep themes of abuse in this book and the author has an explicit content warning at the beginning that should be heeded as it most definitely is not for everyone, again this is not a fairytale retelling with a few morally grey characters. The themes of this book had me thinking more of a mashup of Jekyll & Hyde, Frankenstein, old vampire tales and a shade of lore that surrounded Rasputin and the last Tzars of Russia than any of the YA series set in Eastern Europe based on witchcraft myths. Admittedly, in the Russia of the Romanov dynasty, the Tzar was an abusive alcoholic and jews never made it above the rank of peasant...antisemitism and homophobia in that time and place are a marked difference from this story of a Jewish nobility with openly LGBTQ relationships. The narrative moves slowly, with a sort of melancholia at first but plot and pace pick up more in the second half of the book, and if this story continues to a sequel, as the ending suggests, I hope that the feel of the latter part of the book continues and I would be interested in returning to Novo-Svitsevo for more of their tale.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Wow. This was beyond perfect. Laura Samotin explores sexual trauma and resilience so thoroughly in The Sins on Their Bones, leaving me raw. Dimitri and Vasily were perfect narratives, their emotions and reactions very real. I loved having the antagonist perspective as well. On top of that, the writing was wonderful and the references to Jewish culture and tradition appreciated. I'll be thinking about this book for a very long time.

Come for the rich writing and Jewish folklore, get a little shaky because one of the POVs does not hold your attention. That's always the chance you take when you read a book with multiple POV characters, isn't it? In this case, two out of three isn't a bad ratio, but man, that last one is a doozy. Agreed with the others to mind the trigger warnings; this is a dark tale and there are a lot of references that may trouble people. I enjoyed this overall, but it absolutely plopped you into the middle of things and assumed the goings-on were interesting enough to keep you reading. It's slow-paced. Writing style reminds me more of CS Pacat than Bardugo, for what it's worth.

I LOVE this book. It's a grittier Six of Crows, with fascinating meditations on abusive relationships and a love based in undying loyalty. I love the way this is written and the world it creates- it’s not too heavy on world building, but in a way that felt really easily accessible. I highly recommend this one, but I would check the content warnings first, as there is a significant portion of the book told from the perspective of the abusive villain, which could be very triggering for some.

Told in the midst of a civil war, The Sins on Their Bones not only provides tense intrigue, court drama, and the kind of fantasy world you can get wrapped into, but expertly examines the aftermath of abusive relationships and domestic abuse. The loyalty and selflessness of genuine love takes the forefront here. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows looking for a little bit more grit and tension.

What a fantastic book! I loved everything about it: the worldbuilding steepd in Jewish mythology, the queer representation, and all our characters. It was fresh and original and I highly recommend this book.

Heartwrenching, deeply emotional, and full of brilliant detail. This is a story that will linger in my mind for many days to come.

I really wanted to like this book, but boy did I not. I think the first issue is that I am just way too much of an antimonarchist for it. There was a mention of anarchists having assassinated much of the royal family before the events of this book, and I found myself just wanting to know more about them and the reasons they had for doing that, but unfortunately that was not addressed at all. Another issue I had is just that I kind of hated all the characters in this book. I'm very glad to be done.

It took me a while to get into the book since we got thrown right into all the pain from the beginning. But the characters grew on me and so did the story. Hefty on the trigger warnings and darkness. The writing style was quite enjoyable!

I wanted to love this book, I really did. I was very excited to read this one, because it seemed to be a really unique concept. But unfortunately, it just did not do it for me. I DNF'ed at about 30%. That being said, I think that this is more of an issue with my taste/preferences or what I was in the mood for at the time that I was trying to read it, than with the book itself. So, if you're interested, give it a chance! I strongly suspect that I will be going back and trying again later, when I'm more in the mood for what this book brings to the table.

What exactly caused me to DNF?
- The pace was very slow through what I did read.
- I felt a bit lost in the world, even after reading about 30% of the book. It felt like there was something that I was missing, like maybe there was a prequel I didn't know about and should have read first (even though I am relatively certain there is not)
- Because I felt lost in the world, I also wasn't strongly affected by the characters, even though they are well written and complex.

The book explores some DARK themes, so I definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings (including DV/abusive relationships and alcohol abuse). I think that Samotin did an excellent job writing the experience of the characters' trauma from the war/their past experiences.

I don't want to say too much, because obviously I didn't finish the book, but I do think that if you're into dark fantasy that is heavy on the politics, this will probably be up your alley!