Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book by one of my favorite authors. This in no way reflects in my review.

Actual review: 4.5/5 stars

I probably shouldn't have read this novella right before/during my infusion, but it was a perfect timing. The story is short - 128 pages - and primarily felt like a set up for a larger world. Anti-vaccination is no joke, and it is going to cause some serious issues to herd immunizations at some point. Will it be a Morris disease that takes so much of the world population, while leaving those who are left unable to take care of themselves?

Really, this book is documentation with a small narrative weaved through out. It appears to be similar to how her Mermaid book was set up - <I> Into the Drowning Deep. </i> I do hope it leads to a serious or a full novel. Either way, I'm terrified even more so of what our bodies and the viruses are going to do, as I sit wiping mine out.

It's not a zombie story, nor is it a full dystopian novella. It's the middle of an epidemic and what happens to those still alive having to make touch decisions.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone belongs in the tradition of epidemic thrillers, always a favorite of mine for their medical neepery. In this story, a measles-like a virus (“Morris’s Disease”) results in a loss of immunity to all pathogens. Besides the illness itself, with its fever, rashes, and so forth, the patient’s immune system loses the ability to “remember” being exposed to any other infection. Therefore no immunization to any disease gives protection. The mortality rate from this disease is very high, but worse yet is that the survivors are left without the ability to fight off future infections of any type. The only way they can survive is by complete quarantine, which figures prominently in the story.

The story begins with journalistic descriptions of Patient Zero, her fatal illness, and the spread of the disease, which is highly contagious and easily spread by contact with inanimate objects such as door knobs. A more personal view of the unfolding catastrophe comes through the point of view of that child's aunt, Dr. Isabelle Gauley, a physician who later devises a strategy to save humankind from the epidemic. Some medical thrillers jump from one point of view to the next, showing the many different and varied experiences as characters either succumb to whatever plague has arisen or take part in finding a solution. By focusing on just one character who has a personal relationship to the first victim and who also has complicated relationships with other members of her family, Grant skillfully sets up the surprising twist at the end. Cataclysmic historical events — like the Black Plague of the 14th Century CE — affect multitudes but can be emotionally remote unless dramatized through the lives of individual characters. Grant achieves both the world-changing nature of a pandemic and the intimate journey and ultimate personal responsibility of a small set of characters.

One of the most interesting aspect of this story, a biting social commentary on public issues today, is the question of personal bodily autonomy. Widespread refusal to vaccinate children lowers herd immunity to the point that communicable diseases easily spread. We see that today in unprotected populations with outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles, whooping cough, and polio. Faced with a high mortality rate from highly infectious Morris's Disease, public health authorities in Kingdom of Needle and Bone mandate immunization with rare medical exceptions. That raises the question about which principle takes precedence: the individual right of self-determination or the health and the very lives of the community, especially those who are immunocompromised and cannot be vaccinated. The central character, Dr. Gauley, argues:

“There are always going to be people who insist that vaccination is a personal choice, and that if we take that choice away, we must necessarily take other choices away — that the right to refuse a vaccine is the same as the right to refuse to donate a kidney, or the right to say that no one else is allowed to use your body as a life support system without your full and knowing consent.”

Following the principle of unintended consequences, pro-vaccination public health officials find themselves unwillingly allied with anti-abortion forces who see both as a violation of bodily autonomy. But where does personal liberty end and survival of the human species prevail?

This thoughtful medical thriller adds a nuanced moral perspective without bashing the reader over the head with any particular viewpoint, and while engaging the reader in a fast-paced, absorbing read.

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything about it.

This is wonderfully creepy and also a little unfortunately plausible with the anti-vaccination movement, which just makes it that much creepier. The twist at the end felt like it was coming, but was still so good anyways. I'd love to see a sequel to this or at least another novella set in this world.

A chilling and very necessary novella speculating about the possible repercussions of the incredibly dangerous anti-vaxxing movement.

We get a pretty significant bomb dropped at the end of the book which had me super excited, only to feel almost immediately let down when the book came to an abrupt ending almost immediately afterward without a satisfactory explanation of the aforementioned bombshell. Otherwise, no complaints.

2.6

This is the 7th work by this author that I’ve read and as much as I wanted to like it, I had a hard time getting into it. The biggest issue to me is that throughout much of it, the book reads more like an angry op-ed piece than a novella. The language gets very heavy-handed, preachy, and condescending to the point it sounded more like the author was just talking to me rather than that I was reading in-world dialogue. I am a bit sympathetic with that tendency given the subject matter. The anti-vaxxer movement is dangerous even in very small numbers and this book is just one thought experiment illustrating why that’s the case. As well, it’s a very frustrating movement to deal with given the shoddy grounds and willful ignorance it’s based on. Granted, “giving the other side a fair portrayal” is not the point of this book and I don't really expect that, especially given how hard it would be to achieve, But the way so much of this book is written, I doubt it would change any anti-vaxxer’s mind given how condescending it comes off. If that conversion’s not the point of the painstakingly drawn out explanations, I’m not sure what is.

All that said, the preachiness wouldn’t be a huge deal if it were more occasional. I could get over that even if those parts were a little boring. But given the short length of the novella format, this issue also gets in the way of there even being much book left to enjoy. The plot is very brief and has few actual plot points to it. When I thought about how little actually happens in the book, I was kind of surprised it took even the short two hours it took to read. The scenes that are there are often rushed. Much of the progression is achieved through sweeping summaries. Given the brevity and scarcity of actual in-scene storytelling, the characterization is left flimsy given the little time and attention allowed each character. I had some trouble remembering who was who because the story felt like it was taking a backseat to the grandstanding. This weakened some of the points in the story that had the potential to be much more powerful.

There were definitely some good aspects to this book. The plot that was there ended up being pretty cool with some nice twists that could’ve been even better if I’d had more time with the characters. Despite the preachiness, the characters, even the “good guys,” still manage to show more gray morality from time to time and some of the bigger character moments that did get screentime were pretty strong. With more subtlety and nuance, I think the themes could’ve been illustrated much better, but they are there and they are very important. I suppose one benefit of the preachiness is that the information is fairly clear and approachable. I imagine if you really are in the dark on this issue, this book could be helpful in explaining some of the big issues in this area, despite it being a work of fiction. In the end, there was still just too much that got in the way for me to enjoy this one that much. If you’re interested in a book exploring the medical horror of potential fallout from the anti-vaccination movement, you might enjoy this one. But for the most part, I’d say skip it. Mira Grant has several other books you’d probably enjoy more. After all, my biggest disappointment is that I know she can do a lot better.

I was provided an advanced copy by NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own.

Typically, I love everything by Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire. Her works have always tempted me down a road I never thought I would ever want to go down. Which made this piece of work one of the more disappointing for me. While I loved the premise I felt like this book was left wanting due to just how short it is. If it had been a little longer I would have felt like everything was flesh outed enough for my liking. Still, considering how much she writes a year I am amazed by just how amazing in quality this story is.

“That’s the thing about monsters, Angie,” said Izzy, lowering the gun. “It takes one to know one.”

Oh My God Mira Grant!

You gave me chills and they’re multiplying. But I’m smiling through my palpitations because this story was an outstanding medical doomsday drama with a hopeful ending.

And a twist the black heart of me enjoyed!

Thanks again Karen, there’s a reason I have shelf named after you!

Short enough that it doesn’t have the problem with repeated phrases that has started to bother me in Grant’s writing, but characteristically uses quotes from in-universe documents to introduce everything in rather heavy-handed ways. This is consistent with the heavy-handed nature of the story itself, which is about an outbreak of a variant of measles that doesn’t just wipe your immune system (did you know that catching regular measles often also removes prior immunities to other diseases? That’s some freaky shit) but prevents it from learning new immunities in the future—meaning that a huge percentage of the world is permanently immunocompromised. Vaccinate your kids (and get your flu shot), people, but this story is skippable except for hardcore Grant fans.

I know I know, I read this one waaaaay early, but I love this author so much and also it's Sci-Fi September [at least for me] so I figured I would just go for it. This book definitely has more in common with her older works like Parasitology and Newsflesh than her newer stuff. Grant's popular books have always been categorized by their creepy but incredibly plausible medical horror and there is pretty much nothing more believable in this day and age than anti-vaxxers bringing about some kind of super-disease apocalypse.

I really liked the overall concept of this book and also found all the characters to be incredibly real and 3-dimensional [even if most of them were not necessarily likable while making hard choices, but I think that adds to the realistic nature of the whole thing]. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because it did seem to me like it could have been a little bit longer. The ending came up pretty abruptly [and it took me a minute to understand some things revealed towards the end] and made the whole thing seem a bit like a prequel to a longer story. It still stands alone pretty decently, but I think that she could easily continue with another book.

“No one wanted to consider the fact that we might, in the end, have done this to ourselves.”

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Subterranean Press. Trigger warnings: severe illness, death, child death.

Lisa Morris is patient zero for a deadly new strain of measles that vaccines can’t hold out against. Not only does it cause waves of death all over the world, it cripples the immune systems of those who survive, rendering vaccines for measles and other long-conquered diseases such as mumps and whooping cough ineffective. In a last ditch effort to save humanity, Lisa’s aunt, Dr. Isabella Gauley, tries to quarantine healthy survivors on an island funded by wealthy donors, but it won’t erase her guilt.

I’ll follow Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire just about anywhere she wants to take me in her fiction, but Kingdom of Needle & Bone isn’t one of her best. Horror has a long-standing role in providing political and social commentary, but there comes a point where the agenda overwhelms the storytelling. This novel is almost all agenda in a pro-vaccine crusade, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I’d like to give a copy to every anti-vaccine parent out there who puts the rest of the world at risk with their poorly researched choices. (Don’t @ me until you’ve read this book.) However, the novel isn’t strong on plot or character, and I know Grant is skilled enough to send a message while still telling a good story (see the Newsflesh trilogy for more). That just isn’t the case here.

The characters are surprisingly flat for a Grant novel, as she manages to flesh out characters in far fewer pages in the Wayward Children novellas. The main character, Dr. Gauley, is more or less a cardboard cutout of a doctor who’s willing to be ruthless if it means saving lives. There are some interesting dynamics with her two sisters, one who lost a daughter and the other who never met a cause for activism she couldn’t drive into the ground, but the relationships don’t get enough page time to feel complex. The scant details of the minor characters have already faded, but the characters aren’t the point of the novel. They’re vehicles to deliver the message and little more. The plot is more straightforward than I was expecting, and rather than follow the characters closely through the setup of the island quarantine, it’s streamlined quite a bit to get to its point. There’s a lot more exposition than action. The end has a plot twist, but in order to be truly shocking, we need a better understanding of the characters and what they might plausibly do under extreme circumstances, so it’s a lukewarm surprise at best.

The novel is strong in a few areas. While the scientific explanations can be a little overwhelming, it’s mainly because it doesn’t have the plot/character to balance them out. In a longer, more-developed novel, I think they would have been fine. Grant’s science is always well-researched, accessible to the novice, and terrifyingly plausible; I’m now frightened by what I know about “herd immunity.” The debate over whether vaccines should be mandatory or an issue of bodily autonomy are well-described, though the novel makes no pretense about being unbiased. If you’re looking for a short, gruesome, and scarily accurate fable about why vaccines are a necessary evil, look no further.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

The Kingdom of Needle and Bone was a fantastic novella. I really enjoyed the premise and the look into the morals and ethics behind medicine. The protagonist, Dr. Gauley, is complex and intriguing, something you don't always see in female characters.
My only complaint is that because of the novella's length there were plot points and characters that weren't given as much focus or backstory, so I didn't feel as attached or invested in it/them. The story also read like a precursor to the real story, which seemed to just start at the end, so I am hoping for a second part.
Other than that I did really enjoy this novella and Mira Grant's writing, which is startling real and makes it all the more scary.

This is the first book I have read by Mira Grant although I am from familiar with her other writings under the name Seanan MaGuire. I understood that Grant’s books leaned toward horror which is not a genre that I typically read, however I was intrigued by the description of a viral epidemic and how it disrupted, first Canada, and then the greater world in several waves of massive loss of life.
This is a fairly short book and I will try to avoid spoilers. The main character and her sisters suffer a loss in the very beginning of the story. The dynamics between the three sisters is complex and they are enmeshed both emotionally and politically. Seemingly at the center of the conflict is the question of bodily autonomy versus required vaccinations, yet a different underlying issue is foreshadowed and leads to a horrific twist at the end.
I found the characters well drawn and was glad I took a chance and tried a Mira Grant story. Thank you NetGalley!

Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) is one of those authors whose work I will always read, regardless of topic. "Kingdom of Needle and Bone" is another solid horror novella, one that I actually found far more disturbing then "Rolling in the Deep" since this one feels eerily plausible.

"Kingdom" starts out with the outbreak of a new and deadly form of measles, one that spreads all the more quickly due to the growing rate of unvaccinated people. The first confirmed victim is the eight year old niece of our protagonist, Dr. Isabella Gauley. What Dr. Gauley does in her efforts to save as many as possible, and her reasons for doing it, inform the rest of the story.

I actually had a tough time making it through this book. Not because there's anything wrong with the writing or story, but because the descriptions of dead and dying children were hard to deal with (this is a problem that has popped up more and more since my son was born. Amazing how much worse things like this read when your brain has a face to put on everything). Parents of young children might want to be prepared for this before reading.

"Kingdom of Needle and Bone" presents a good story, but there are some details that feel a bit thin and glossed over, mostly due to the length of the book. I wouldn't be surprised if readers clamor for a sequel once this is out. This is another good horror novella from Mira Grant, just be aware if you think you might be bothered reading about the scarily plausible pandemic.

Short read but very enjoyable! The horror of this world was that it could really happen. I’m really hoping Mira Grant decides to expand this into a novel. I would really love to know more!

I was super excited when the blurb for this came out because I am a big Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant fan, and the subject of the book sounded right up my alley. Crazy disease that knocks out a bunch of the world? I'm in!

The book started off exciting- you're immediately introduced to poor patient zero- Lisa, the niece of the protagonist of the book. However, she quickly dies before you can get too attached. The book largely felt like a prequel to the Real Book. I felt a bit detached as I was reading and didn't connect or wasn't made to care for the characters enough to feel fully invested in the story. The story felt cursory and not detailed/rich enough. There was a hint of an interesting backstory, but as soon as it got more intriguing, the book ended, and the backstory wasn't explored.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I love speculative fiction. I love it when things have a political slant that I agree with. I love geeky, well-researched scifi. Mira Grant is amazing at all of these things. And although I like short books, I really wish this one had been longer. There is more to this story and I really want to hear it! I absolutely loved this crazy, scary spin on what could happen in the future if this anti-vax movement is allowed to gain any more traction. It's what makes books like these so terrifying, because they feel real. Mira Grant is SO good at this, to the point where even her FEED series sounded like it was only a few years in the making. So good. So short. Loved it.

A chilling indictment of the antivax movement, built on a fairly realistic sci-fi tale of what could happen if antivaxxers are allowed to continue their ignorant proselytizing. The writing is impactful, and the length is just about right for the story being told, although the ending feels rushed and a few extra pages of character work would have helped give a better understanding of certain characters' actions and motivations. 4.5 stars, rounding up. It's a great novella.

I absolutely adore everything Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire writes, but this...THIS, was amazing! I think it may be my favorite of her Mira Grant titles. In Kingdom of Needle and Bone, she takes on the anti-vax community and boy, how does she take them down!

This novella, much like Final Girls and Rolling in the Deep before it (go check those out!), packs a huge emotional punch in a small package. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say, Kingdom of Needle and Bone is definitely one to preorder - and fast, since according to SubPress, there are not many left.

Get vaccinated, dipshits! This was a terrifying read, because it is so very plausible. I have no tolerance for scientifically illiterate hillbillies or religious zealots refusing to vaccinate their kids and now we have diseases like measles and whooping cough coming back that haven't been seen in years. So yeah, the scenario in this slim book is not out of the realm of possibility. It was a fast read and utterly absorbing and terrifying.

This book is terrifying because it's actually a possibility, and it made me so angry! Get vaccinated!!! It's a fast read and one you won't soon forget.


Thank you NetGalley and publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!