Lesbian vampires slay (quite literally). I really had a fun time with this book! I read it in mostly one sitting. What’s really impressive to me is how much I liked all three of the main characters and relatively equally. Usually there is a standout or someone falls short but I loved Sabine, Lottie, and Alice. Loses one star because it was a little slow placed at times but I didn’t mind.

I was a huge fan of V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (and much of her other work as well) and so was excited to see her new book, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, was seemingly a bit similar. Unfortunately, while the writing on a sentence level remains strong, and there’s a lot of strong elements, I ended up somewhat disappointed with the tale. Some inevitable minor spoilers follow, but nothing more than appears on the page of a number of booksellers, though not all)

The novel covers a wide swathe of time via its three narrators. We first meet Maria in the 1500s, jump to Alice in 2019, briefly meet the third narrator, Lottie/Charlotte in the same year and then, an extensive time later, we meet her more fully in the 1800s. This being (and here is the first minor spoiler so stop here if you want to know absolutely nothing about this book) a vampire novel, all three women are turned and thus Maria and Alice are able to move through the centuries after their births and be co-existent with Alice, allowing their stories to converge.

While this is a vampire novel, you might not know that early on, as Maria’s first few hundred pages reads more like a well-done historical novel. At first, it seems as if Maria may be your stereotypical 16th century woman — powerless as she moves through a man’s world, especially when she arrives home one day to find she is to be wed to an older, albeit wealthy, man. But there is a hidden side to Maria:

She is many things — stubborn, cunning, selfish — but she has never been a fool. She knows that she was born in this body. She knows it comes with certain rules … But she is not meant for common paths … If she must walk a woman’s road, then it will take her somewhere new.

This seemingly surprise marriage proposal was orchestrated by Maria, and it’s the beginning of a pattern we will see in her many years: an adamant sense of independence, a strong tendency toward manipulation, and a viewpoint that views (most) other people with disdain and indifference. She is a predator above all else, one whose hunger is never seemingly sated. Alice, meanwhile, could hardly be more different: burdened by a slowly revealed backstory of some sort of trauma or grief, wracked by anxiety and lack of self-esteem, and aching for a fresh start. And finally there is Charlotte, desperate for love, particularly after she is sent away from home after her brother witnesses her kiss her friend and first love Jocelyn. Her desperation leaves her vulnerable to a lengthy toxic relationship, and while she is able to escape, her good-heartedness means she feels she cannot love or turn anyone else.

Though relationships play a major role and drive much of the action, this is not a romance novel. The relationships as noted are often toxic, tainted in possessiveness and selfishness. It’s a horror novel not just in the graphic violence done by some of the vampires but in the emotional violence done in the relationships. It also presents society itself as a horror setting, the violence in it being done to women’s autonomy, a theme we see throughout, whether it’s Maria in an arranged marriage, Charlotte being peremptorily shipped off by her brother who rules her life more than she does, or Alice noting how women cannot walk the streets without being accosted (or worse) or at a minimum, the fear of it.

I liked the fact that Schwab gives Maria power to somewhat (not totally) evade those strictures but then shows her going down the darkest of paths with that power. She is a woman angered by the restrictions put upon her and Schwab lets her enact that anger down through the centuries in appalling fashion. And we see that to a lesser extent with the others as well. And of course, along with the theme of women’s power or lack of it, with all three characters being gay, it’s easy enough to read hiding one’s true self as a vampire as an analogy to queerness and what that burying of oneself might reverberate. And the way some people recoil from queers just as they would from a vampire. As Schwab makes overt when one character spits out to Alice, “I’m not a dyke.” And then

Alice remembers the first time a boy called her that … the sting of it like a slap … Alice feels her face go hot again, but this time it isn’t shame. It’s rage. Rage, at all the Hannahs of the world, convince the worst thing a girl like Alice can feel is want, and this particular Hannah, for looking at Alice and seeing a monster, just not the one she thinks.

That rage is one of the positives, if one can call it that, in the novel — that the women and queer characters are allowed to be angry, as well as evil, messy, violent. In other words, they’re given the same freedom to be completely awful as male/straight characters often are.

As for the reasons I was disappointed in the book. One is that it felt its entire length and more. It bogged down in places and felt like it could have been cut. In a related note, Alice’s back story, which is lengthy and doled out a little at a time only to end in a place that seemed utterly predictable (I had in fact predicted it sometime earlier), felt like it contributed little to the story. Had the entire storyline been cut I wouldn’t have missed it, and I think the streamlining would have benefitted the other plots, as well as perhaps given the ending a bit more time to breathe and develop. I’m guessing had Alice’s backstory been cut, I’d have given this a strong 4. As it is, I’ll stick to the three and a half stars and a qualified recommendation.

Schwab writes such an atmospheric tale, you fall head first into every storyline in this novel. I loved the inclusion of vampires and how moody the writing was. Another great read from VE Schwab.

What an absolute masterpiece! I'm not usually a vampire girlie, but I devoured every drop of this book like I was the one chasing that heartbeat. I loved the way it was written, told through multiple perspectives and timelines that all collide at the end, yet narrated so immersively. The characters were incredibly well written and fully realized from the very beginning, yet somehow still had room to grow, and descend into darkness.

Schwab crafted such a strong female lead in Sabine from her composed demeanor, to her intelligence, and brutally honest in how she sees and experiences the world. I loved everything about her, even as she unraveled. I found myself rooting for her throughout, despite her becoming the anti-hero.

Schwab’s writing is exquisite, the world so vivid, the characters so alive. I was completely drawn in and physically couldn’t put the book down.

there is just something schwab's writing that i just cannot get enough of. the feelings you get from reading bones (much like addie) pulls you in -- the emotions sit with you and imbed themselves into your very being. its poetic and haunting. the slowness of it did allow for more of a meaningful connection to the characters, there was a lot of build up. maria, charlotte and alice all had a story that needed to be told and this explores so many different facets of life -- love, pain, anger, rage, longing, loss.

the pacing was a little off for me, it did take me a little bit to get into it and actually want to pick it up and keep reading but once i did, i loved it!

I’ve read several books by V.E. Schwab, and trust her to provide an intriguing story with a resolution and interesting worldbuilding and character arcs. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil delivers all of those essential ingredients in an intriguing story that spans centuries and follows the lives of multiple vampires.

It was interesting to follow their journeys and see how the characters changed throughout the course of the book. I found myself wondering what I’d do if I woke up and found out I’d been robbed of the future I thought I’d have. There are no easy answers, and each vampire in the story copes in their own ways.

Although some become power hungry and use their new strengths to satisfy their desires.

One of the most interesting things about this book is that the author changed the last few lines of the book after the advance review copies were released. Since I had an advanced review copy from the publisher via Netgalley, I’d read that version. When the book came out, I checked my finished copy and read the new ending.

I’ve sat with the ending for a long time, comparing the original and the final last lines. For me, it was interesting, because those few lines have a significant impact on the tone and the inference of what’s to come for that character. The original version suggested a character focused on surviving in their current situation. The final version hinted at a character who was already changing, and may become like her predecessors. It’s an incredible example of how just a few words can have such a significant impact on the storytelling.

I did find what I’d call the second fifth of the book to be a little slow, but things really picked up pace after the midpoint and I enjoyed the book overall. There are many memorable characters, and some moments that had me teary. I do recommend this book for those who enjoy vampire stories and like stories with multiple perspectives.

Obsessed! Schwab’s prose is gorgeous. The “toxic lesbian vampires” held me captive from start to end.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a character-driven book, and Schwab has composed an enthralling tale featuring multilayered women who are alluring, haunted, and dynamic.

I listened to a sample of the audiobook early, and I held off on finishing my early digital copy until post-publication because the audio was that good!

The narrators are fantastic! Julia Whelan stuns as usual. It was my first time listening to Katie Leung, and I absolutely loved her accent and narration of Alice’s perspective!

As a longtime fan of VE Schwab, I can say with certainty that she is the queen of novel concepts. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is just the latest in her lengthy catalog. Not to sound too on the nose, but it's like this book was compelling me to keep reading, from its sharp prose to its complex menagerie of characters and timelines, I couldn't stop reading until I had consumed every last drop. This book feels closer to Addie LaRue than her other books--similar bargains, slightly different devil--so new fans of VE Schwab are sure to enjoy this one as much as the diehards.

PROBLEMATIC. LESBIAN. VAMPIRES. Put that together with VE Schwab's beautiful, enchanting writing, and you have my favourite book of the year by far.

The queerness of this book really shines though, not just in that the characters are in lesbian relationships, but their ways of thinking about each other, their places in the world, and their cutting thoughts about the "norm" of their places and times feels deeply authentic. Maria/Sabine's earlier chapters really shone for me this way, where she's able to articulate sapphic desires without having the modern words for them, and her revulsion of the expectation to be a wife, a mother, a piece of window dressing. Every time she did something "evil" I felt myself shout YES, because it often feels like a perfect revenge dream that countless queer women have had.

The relationships in this book are PEAK. No, they aren't perfectly compatible and non-problematic. They're toxic and posessive and dark, and I absolutely ate it up. The friction and addictive quality of Maria/Sabine and Charlotte, especially, was so so compelling. We could really feel how Charlotte was enchanted by Sabine's confidence and otherwordly quality, and the punch-drunk feeling of being the centre of someone that beautiful's attention. Being the centre of Sabine's world carries her for decades, and Schwab really makes us FEEL why. I'd also have been enchanted by the darkly alluring Sabine the same way, I fear.

As it always does, Schwab's writing REALLY shines. In Bury Our Bones, especially, it has a really otherworldly quality to it in Maria's chapters that place us in the past--then it sharpens for Alice's pieces, shooting us right to the present. It made shifting between times really easy to follow, which is often a challenge in multiple-POV books where the author's style is so distinct that we can't tell which character we're folllwing.

Easily a 5-star read, and easily my favourite Schwab book to date. Lesbian friends make lesbian friends read "Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil."

A quick disclaimer before diving in: I’m not much of a vampire fan. I’ve occasionally enjoyed books that explore them in unique ways, but I tend to lose interest quickly regarding the “figuring out the rules” phase of vampirehood. That trope has been done so many times, and I felt frustrated the first time it appeared in this book, only to then watch two more characters go through the exact same discovery process. The shock at not being able to go out in the sun, the horror of craving blood - it’s not compelling anymore on its own. If authors want to revisit this, they need to offer something more to keep it fresh: rich character development, beautiful and poetic prose, or a strong thematic integration. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel this novel delivered any of those things effectively enough to justify revisiting the trope not once, but three times.

Maria, one of the protagonists, is deeply unlikeable, and not in a fun, complex way. She’s painted as “not like other girls,” red-haired and beautiful, bristling at gender roles in ways that feel clichéd rather than compelling. I briefly hoped that her queerness might add some interesting dimension, but my hope faded quickly. She ended up as a bundle of tired tropes rather than a fully realized character, and was insufferable, to boot.

Alice, on the other hand, I found genuinely intriguing. Her backstory was layered, her personality distinctive, and her circumstances compelling. I loved her chapters and found myself gritting my teeth through Maria’s, just waiting to get back to Alice’s perspective. In the first half of the novel, the POVs felt reasonably balanced, but in the second half, we’re introduced to yet another character, Charlotte, and we suddenly spend an inordinate amount of time on her and Sabine’s story, while Alice is largely sidelined.

Now, I don’t mind multiple POVs or timelines in theory. When done well, they can create a rich tapestry of narrative. But in this case, it didn’t feel well-balanced or well-handled. Charlotte eventually became interesting too, but her story was told in such painstaking detail, starting from her teenage years all the way through her life, that it felt unnecessary and out of proportion with the rest of the book. If she had been the sole protagonist, or if we had opened with her story and skipped Maria’s altogether, maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me. But introducing her so far in and then sidelining another character to accommodate her backstory felt frustrating. Of course, I was especially annoyed because Alice was the character I connected with most, so others might not find it as bothersome if they gravitate toward a different protagonist, but for me, it felt uneven and unnecessarily so.

The writing style didn’t help either. It’s emotionally distant and dense with similes and metaphors, many of which felt clunky or oddly phrased. That lack of emotional resonance made it harder to connect with the book’s presumed themes of losing your humanity, grief, and cycles of abuse. The style created a barrier to the very feelings the story seemed to want to explore.

One of my biggest issues, though, was how repetitive and overlong the book felt. Not only are we made to watch three different characters go through the same adjustment to vampirism, but there are also smaller repeated details that just felt unnecessary. For instance, both Maria and Alice have moments where they see sisters but can’t remember who is who - an oddly specific repetition that felt extraneous the first time and baffling the second. Then there are the frequent references to Orpheus. If these had formed an extended metaphor or tied into the story in a meaningful way, I might have appreciated them. But instead, they felt more like filler, repeated without purpose, as if Schwab forgot she’d already used that comparison.

And of course, there’s the classic “corset makes you pale and unable to breathe” moment. Naturally.

Overall, I found this novel too long and repetitive, with little payoff in terms of theme, plot, prose, or emotional impact. It felt like pure vibes (and the vibes were minimal at best, sadly), with the exception of Alice’s story, which was the one bright spot. I think I would’ve enjoyed the book far more if it had focused entirely on Alice, with brief glimpses into vignettes of the other characters’ lives as they intersected with hers. But that’s not the story we got.

I didn’t hate reading it, but I was often bored, frustrated, and rolling my eyes. It felt like a huge missed opportunity. I know this review sounds harsh, but it felt like hundreds of pages of padding around the core of a story with real potential, and that’s always the most frustrating kind of read.

At the moment, I’m sitting around 2.5 stars, rounded up. I might adjust that depending on how I feel as I sit with it longer. I have loved some of V. E. Schwab’s previous work, so I imagine my extremely high expectations were part of why this felt so disappointing. It does seem that others have enjoyed this far more than I did, and I’m glad for them!

Representation: lesbian MCs, gay and bisexual secondary characters, secondary characters of colour.

Trigger/Content Warnings:
Loss of Parents
Animal Cruelty
Animal Death
Sexual Assault
Murder
Blood
Blood Drinking
Internalized Homophobia/Lesbophobia
Emotional Abuse
Suicide

A bit conflicted on my full feelings BUT here are my immediate thoughts.

First off, I think this could have been a wee bit shorter. The pacing, specifically midway through, was a big hurdle for me to get over. However, I should note I was on a bit of a deadline to finish.

Another thing I noticed is that there was more time spent in a certain timeline/POV than I thought there should have been while not enough in another and the realization of how it was coming together took so long that it made the ending feel incredibly rushed for me.

I also feel like despite the page count, you are more so getting vignettes throughout the lives of two of these characters (especially one of them). One of them was a clear standout which is good for me as someone who enjoyed that POV most, but I could see the opposite happening for other readers & it leaving you longing for more connection to the others.

On a positive note, the writing was fantastic, as expected from Schwab. I was completely sucked in early on with Maria’s story & I enjoyed the love/hate experience you got with these characters. By the end, I felt completely different about certain characters than I did early on.

For anyone thinking about picking this one up I’d say: this is a very character-driven book and given its length may read on the slower side. However, I do believe this is a book that’s meant to be savored - a small bite in the evening as opposed to being sucked dry. 🧛‍♀️

Perfect for fans of Dowry of Blood who were left wanting more or those looking to spend centuries of time dissecting the web that twines a group of toxic lesbian vampires together.

I heard “new V.E. Schwab” and I was sold. I heard “toxic lesbian vampires” and I was giddy. BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL is the vampire story I’ve been craving for years—delicious, dark, achingly beautiful, and full of feminine rage.

The novel follows three women across multiple centuries as they grapple with their longing for freedom, identity, and the brutal cost of immortality. A slow collision of lives and timelines, bound by blood and soaked in violence. Schwab holds nothing back, exploring the tension of predator vs. prey and what it truly means to live forever.

Schwab’s prose flows like liquid gold—shimmering and electric and almost too beautiful to take in. The kind of writing that gives you goosebumps and slips through your mind like silk. This story is full of angst and yearning and rage so powerful I could taste it, and the images she conjured were so vivid, I still get flashes in my mind and have to remind myself they’re from a book, not a movie or TV show.

I never wanted this story to end, but I closed this book with a hand to my chest and a sigh on my lips. Thank you @veschwab for altering my brain chemistry with every single book you write. Cheers to another triumph.

“Bury our bones in the midnight soil. Plant them shallow and water them deep. And in my place will grow a feral rose. Soft petals hiding sharp white teeth.”

FEELS LIKE: Sitting by fire, sipping rich red wine, warmth spreading through your chest as your lover’s breath ghosts across your neck and their teeth graze your skin.
READ IF YOU LIKE: toxic lesbian vampires, multiple POV, multiple timeline, morally grey characters, revenge stories, female rage, yearning, angst

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
4.5 ⭐️

so turns out I DO like books that have historical fiction aspects to them- as long as they include vampires 🤪

this book had me so intrigued by chapter 1.
Dual timelines, multiple POVs, the stories of 3 women all from different times and how they intersect- and vampires!!!!

I love V.E.’s writing so much- it’s so soothing to me. And the audiobook?? absolutely incredible.

thank you to netgalley and tor books for the arc! it was so good I had to go buy a copy for myself 🫶🏼

I LOVED this. I am not usually a huge vampire girlie, but I was intrigued by the description and hooked from the first page. I started flying through this after the first 200 or so pages. The writing is gorgeous, and the vampires are fun and terrible. I have never been one for the romance of eternal life, so I loved the idea of them rotting from within and following them over the span of their lifetimes, watching them lose their humanity bit by bit. Ugh, and each of their perspectives on it like Sabine’s relief when she stops caring vs Charlotte’s fear that she might lose what makes her her without even realizing it (and boy does she). More books need to just let women be fucked up and gay fr. 5 stars because the way the characters approached death and life and the poem (bury my bones in the midnight soil, plant them shallow…) are gonna stick with me for a long time.

An absolutely beautifully written bok in classic Schwab form. I loved this dark story and the way it felt both gothic and contemporary.

Three women who bite their way out of the patriarchy.
V.E. Schwab’s lyrical and poetic prose never disappoint me. This narrative of showing how queer women cannot be put in a box and be made a stereotype– how they can have fulfilling lives, experience jealousy, rage, sorrow, yet also be head-strong, kind, and loving is a testament to her ambitious character work. Their identities as lesbians are the least interesting thing about them.

While I loved Maria’s and Charlotte’s pov, I found Alice’s to be lacking. It was far more difficult to connect with this character or feel sympathy for her but that’s what writing villainous characters is. They are not asking to be forgiven, but to simply be who they are, whatever that may be.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a dark and reflective type of fantasy. A historical and realistic fantasy that adds the magical to the mundane to spin an almost biographical story about three vampire women. It’s slower paced, building up steadily to the more exciting moments to add the oomph most of them deserve. Mixing in the stories of the two younger vampires to the older to build up to a climax that you maybe didn’t see coming.

The only real downside is there isn’t an overarching plot, outside of general survival and the passing of time, until around 60-70 percent of the way through. It’s a commitment to read about one woman’s centuries-long blood-soaked life until one of the women she’s wronged decides it’s time to turn the tables. But it’s an interesting type of vampire story, slower paced without constant violent conflict. Probably a great metaphor for the passage of time itself.

This latest fantasy novel from V.E. Schwab follows three women across time (Maria, 1532; Charlotte, 1827, and Alice, 2019) who don’t quite fit into the roles they’ve been born into. Maria is married off at a young age to a man who seeks to control her. Charlotte is caught in an indiscretion and is sent away to an aunt in London. Alice seeks to escape her family and attends college far away from everyone she knows. All three struggle and are offered a way out from a place they’d least likely suspect, and while the solution solves some problems, others are created in their stead. Not every character is likeable, but I enjoyed reading about them anyway. Schwab has a way with words, and this novel is so lyrical and moody. Great read!

VE Schwab, hun, I MISSED YOU 😭

I ordered this book as SOON as it was announced last summer and I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival ever since. After the beauty of Addie, I will read ANYTHING VE Schwab writes. ESPECIALLY ABOUT ABOUT VAMPIRES!!

I FUCKING LOVE VAMPIRE BOOKS!! ALERT THE MASSES!!!

What I find interesting about vampire stories is the COMPLEXITY of the metaphor(s) and the skill an author must have to pull it off. Vampirism, to me, represents a deep understanding and exploration of humanity and morality. I find these depictions to be FASCINATING to read (note: but not always to be romanticized). If you are triggered by toxic relationships and emotional abuse, head into this book with caution.

I loved this story SO MUCH because it held some elements of other favorites of mine. Read if you are a fan of:

✨ The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (obvi)
🥀 A Dowry of Blood by ST Gibson
🦂 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

This review runs long but one more note: I read the eARC and have been notified THAT THE ENDING IS DIFFERENT THAN THE PUBLISHED VERSION???? The change is small…but makes a HUGE difference (to me) and I’m not sure which I like more. Let’s discuss please 😈

Huge thanks to VE Schwab, Tor Books, and NetGalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor for the *free* ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is less a novel and more a spell. It's sharp, sapphic, and soaked in blood.

This is V.E. Schwab’s most unapologetically queer and viscerally personal novel yet.

Told across three timelines—María in 1530s Spain, Charlotte in 1820s England, and Alice in present-day Boston—this book explores what it means to live a life devoured by others, and what happens when women finally start to bite back. It’s a story about hunger—yes, the immortal kind, but also the kind born of being trapped in a world built by men: hunger for agency, for safety, for revenge, for love without caveats.

The prose is lyrical in that way Schwab fans will recognize immediately. At times, it reads more like a lament than a novel, but I loved it for that. It's a slow burn in every sense: the plot takes its time. Schwab doesn’t hold your hand; she lets you sit in the dark and wait for the teeth.

This is not a crowd-pleaser of a vampire book. There’s no camp here. No capes or fangs for shock value. Instead, Schwab gives us women clawing their way out of the roles they’ve been forced into, sometimes literally. It’s gothic, it's mythic, and deeply angry.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, bite-sized thrill, this might not be the book for you. But if you want something queer and gorgeously grim—a story that sinks its teeth into you and refuses to let go—then Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is exactly the kind of haunting you want.

It’s one of the best things Schwab has ever written. And I’ll be thinking about it for a long, long time.