The way that this book and Addie LaRue are both about the terrifying threshold between girlhood and womanhood, about yearning to escape womanhood as a prison, to slip through the predatory grasp of men and of time itself to wander the centuries free and unaccosted.

I liked this book. I did. The writing was beautiful. As promised, it was sapphic, and there were vampires. Not only that, its thematic punch is one that I find very personally resonant. What more can you ask for?

Why, then, am I struggling so much to solidify my feelings about this book?

Yes, it drags a bit through the middle and occasionally feels aimless and repetitive, but again: so does Addie LaRue. I think that this is definitely purposeful, evocative of immortality and the relentless grind of time. The problem is I did start to feel a bit disconnected from the story and the characters, and it never fully won me back over. I don’t think I quite like the way this book ends: it feels too easy, too anticlimactic, and it ultimately left me slightly unsatisfied with the arcs of basically all 3 characters. I think the events could have remained the same, but some minor tweaks in the way they were delivered would have left me with the appropriate bittersweet aftertaste.

Still, this was lovely and poignant, sexy, and gory, all in turns, and it’s a story that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who loved A Dowry of Blood or—of course—Addie Larue.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

V.E. Schwab's new adult fantasy "Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil" is a sweeping lesbian vampire novel that follows the lives of three women and what happens when they collide.

First off, I have got to say that Schwab's other adult novel "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" and I hated it. Like I was mad at the time it took to read it, I was mad at the lack of story, and I was mad at just how nothing really happens in it. But this one, this one. I really enjoyed it. The writing was just so engaging and I could not stop reading when I started. For one, I cared about all the women and their stories. Sabine, Lottie, and Alice were so interesting and such irritating characters. Them being so annoying and dumb and irritating was engaging and interesting because there was a narrative. I also just loved the concept here and I think Schwab did a way better job with the idea of immortality and the costs of it. I just felt this was so much more compelling.

I absolutely recommend this, especially if you found Addie Larue disappointing.

I was hoping to fall in love with this book, just like I did with Addie LaRue, but it never quite fully clicked for me. I liked it, but I also struggled a bit with getting it read. It just never fully captured my attention and I found it to be just too long and a little on the slow side pacing wise. The writing was excellent as always, so I think my lack of interest was more on me than the quality of the book. Character driven stories are just not my thing usually.

This is a sweeping fantasy that covers a lot of time periods as we follow the stories of these three women. I did appreciate the historical aspects of the story and enjoyed the descriptions of the different settings, especially the regency balls. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Boston and Harvard in the present day. I did struggle a bit with Alice’s flashback about her childhood though, they just sometimes didn’t seem to flow with the rest of the story.

I can’t say that I particularly liked the three women, but I did sympathize with them. Maria’s story was pretty tragic, and she is certainly a product of her time period when women basically had no rights. I had a little bit more sympathy for Charlotte, mostly because she had a lot of empathy for others and felt sorry for the ones she killed. Alice was my favorite and I totally got how she felt about being turned.

The story was a pretty straight forward look at these three women’s lives and how their circumstances shaped who they were. As I said though, there wasn’t much plot accept for looking at how their characters changed as they moved through their immortal lives, especially Maria’s and Charlotte’s. The pacing felt really slow to me because of this, and I had a hard time connecting to a story that felt a little on the repetitive side. The stories also took too long to come together, and I felt like Maria’s story took precedent over the other two. I did think the ending was a good one though.

I think I am in the minority on this, but again I don’t think it is the story’s fault. If you enjoy character driven stories with morally gray characters and toxic relationships then this is one you will probably like, especially if you are a fan of the author’s work.

V.E. Schwab's writing is always such a hit! In Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, we follow three POV's and timelines and the hurdles these women have to overcome as they learn to deal with some pretty dramatic changes to their lives. My biggest issue was unfortunately the beginning, it took me longer than I would have liked to really find myself gripped by the story.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor books for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Told over multiple timelines, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows three women who are thrown into vampirism, their rise to power, and the fall of their relationships. Over four centuries, their vampiric minds begin to rot, as well as their actions, spiraling them into dark thoughts and even darker deeds. What would you do to keep the one you love, even as you descent into madness?

Rating: 4/5
Spice: 2/5

Tropes:
Multiple POV
Multiple Timelines
Paranormal Romance

Triggers:
Relationship Manipulation
Murder
Blood Play

My Thoughts:
I really loved this book and much like everything else written by V.E. Schwab, it is beautifully written. Sabine and Charlotte's love story had me enthralled, and this is written so well, that the author had me rooting for them, until I didn't. The darkness and revenge between two of the characters had me on the edge of my seat and begging for more of their completely toxic relationship. I do think the Alice storyline slowed the pace of the book some and I didnt feel as connected to her as I did the other characters. I found myself speeding through her chapters to get back to the other timelines.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, or "you either die after a normal human lifespan, or live for centuries, which is long enough to become the toxic ex you were originally running from." Schwab wasn't kidding when she touted this book as TOXIC LESBIAN VAMPIRES. It was precisely that, and didn't disappoint.

I really enjoyed Schwab's interpretation of the vampire mythos, and Maria, Charlotte and Alice were fun characters to follow, with very different values and attitudes.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab has been one of my most anticipated book releases of 2025, and it did not disappoint. This book took me away and transported me to a new place and time, right out of my reading slump.

The book follows three women living during three different timelines, each struggling to find their story and prove their worth. As their stories overlap, catastrophe ensues, shaping and redefining their very existences. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a dark, fantastical story about toxic lesbian vampires and the world that tries to keep them down.

It’s been a while since I read anything by V.E. Schwab, and oh, how I missed their writing style. Reading this book was like an experience. I couldn’t wait to dive in each time I picked it up and marveled at how well it was written. The words flowed off the page in a beautiful and poetic way that kept me coming back for more.

The pace is a bit slower early on, but the plot is so intriguing that it still propelled me forward. And of course, I couldn’t help but binge the last third of the book so I could find out what happened.

If you’re a fan of dark, fantastical reads, this book is for you. It’s sure to take you away and give you chills. I loved it.

Highly recommend!

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil hits shelves on June 10, 2025!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Absolute perfection. I've been following Schwab's writing of this book and she describes it best: toxic lesbian vampires full of feminine rage. It made me cry, it made me laugh, it made me both so angry and so hopeful.

Here's the thing: Sapphic vampire novels are having a Moment. And I love it. However, not all Sapphic Vampire Novels are created equally. And I have adored Schwab's writing for years and years, but this one just fell flat for me. Maria's story is compelling and beautiful and I could have more of her narrative for ages. And I did really like Charlotte and how genuine, heartfelt and open she was. But Alice was downright unlikeable. I had no interest in her story. She seemed to have little interest in it herself, just kind of drifting from plot point to plot point, happening upon events by chance. And when we leave Maria's story for good, we pivot to Charlotte instead to fill in the remaining backstory. And her efforts to explain the situation to Alice feel awkward and clunky, Alice is rightly angry about where she has wound up, and Charlotte's attempt to finish the rest of the story feel exactly like an author trying to tell the rest of what happens to their characters before the final showdown. And so the climactic confrontation, when it comes, feels utterly insignificant. Because we have spent pages upon pages rehashing the history of two of these characters, coming to care for and understand both of them, and in the end it comes down to Alice. Who I can only think to compare to weak tea that has not been steeped long enough.
I feel like I was strung along getting a beautiful history for 500 pages all for it to come down to 60 pages of nothingness at the end.

The violently messy relationships of three toxic lesbian vampires across five hundred years and five hundred pages. But is the patriarchy the real monster?

“Bury my bones in the midnight soil. Plant them shallow and water them deep. And in my place will grow a feral rose.”

This book is told from the perspectives of María in 1532, Charlotte in 1827, and Alice in a much more familiar 2019. All three are swept away from their mundane lives by equally enigmatic women, and find themselves with no pulse, an unquenchable thirst, and remarkably less patience with the ways of men. Three feral roses with rather sharp thorns.

We see the most of María through the years, learning how to be a vampire without any form of instruction, and constantly reinventing herself as she travels across the world and the centuries. Some of her victims deserve it. Some. Alice at least has the benefit of already knowing what a vampire is from pop culture, as well as having ready access to the internet, but even she is entirely unprepared for what is happening to her.

As the reader, we become increasingly complicit in the crimes of our vampire trio, urging them on at first, until we realise perhaps too late that things are getting a bit out of hand. Even Alice, who is the closest to still being a good person here, is still ripping out throats with gay abandon. So, varying degrees of villainy all round, but they are always entertaining. Eventually, the stories begin to overlap, and there is a very satisfying payoff for all the backstory.

This is a wonderfully written modern take on the vampire genre, and along with “Hungerstone” by Kat Dunn, we’re definitely having a great year for sapphic exsanguination.

Highly recommended for all blood types!

I really enjoyed the premise and overall idea of this book, but the pacing and narrative was repetitive and went on far too long.

Genuinely love this book so much! As a fan of Interview with the Vampire, this book felt like a sapphic version of the classic Anne Rice series. We have hot vampires being toxic to one another, what more can anyone ask for?! On a different note, I did find myself struggling to actually get into the story, the first 17% of the story was kinda meh, BUT it picks up drastically and the rest of the book definitely makes up for that lag. Each character was really well through out, they all had different nuances that really show us how different they really are when described from other characters POV’s. Overall a really great book that I highly recommend!!!

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab.

I absolutely loved this one. The intertwining narratives following three female leads and all the different time periods was so entertaining. I especially loved the development of each character, and really enjoyed seeing the effects that such a long, long existence can have on the mind.

I've never been disappointed by a Schwab book, and this one was no exception to that rule. I've been trying to go slowly through her back catalogue so I don't run out too quickly, but I'm almost done with them all, which is devastating. I'll have to start *gasp* WAITING for the new releases.

Anywho, highly recommended. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

Oh this ate (literally 🤭) thank you so much to Tor for the eARC of my FAVORITE author’s newest release!!

This is the love child of my favorite VE Schwab books with sapphic vampires, it’s like this was literally made for me!! It has the methodical approach of Addie LaRue, taking us through time and characters as we watch women come to terms with their queerness, the patriarchy, and their vampirism. But it also carries the raw violence of Vicious as we see centuries of slaughter and a descent into madness that can only be described as horrific and tragic (Victoria wasn’t kidding when they said that this was toxic lesbian vampires, again madeeee for meeee).

One thing that really worked was how the vampires were relatively “lore” accurate so we didn’t need to have a lot of mechanics explained and this allowed us, as readers, to steep ourselves in the characters. You could just FEEL the feminine rage radiating off the page. The women (especially our historic two) get to find a sense of vengeance in their violence against others. They literally are HUNGRY. Not just for blood, but for brutal justice. We also have the time to explore each character’s connection to their own brand of queerness and how they were perceived and treated in each time period. I still can’t get over how unapologetically this was with that theme.

This book was 500+ pages and I wanted even more. I want to erase my brain and reread it immediately. It was achingly intimate, violent, and poetic. You feel the characters bleed into each page and each other. I was dangerously enthralled from the moment I began. VE Schwab is someone I truly believe will be studied for their character work and storytelling.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I anticipated. The vibes and concept were really intriguing and enjoyed the writing style, but it was far too long and drawn out considering how little actually happened. It became a big of a drag by the end and I was ready for it to be over.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Books, and Tor Publishing Group for this advanced copy! You can pick up Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil on June 10, 2025.

V.E. Schwab will never not write a gorgeous book. The prose in Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil was decadent yet sharp, creating an impressive atmosphere and tension. I loved Schwab's approach to vampires (specifically how they're never referred to by that name, but as "feral roses" planted in the midnight soil). And if you want messy, interpersonal relationships between lesbians played out for over 500 pages, this is 100% your book.

However, I think the story could have been a decent chunk shorter, or maybe with some more modern-day action interspersed with our two flashback POVs. As it was, I struggled through the POV of our modern-day protagonist, Alice, and found myself wanting to skip through her sections just to get back to Maria and Lottie. Their stories both captured me, and both characters demonstrated tremendous growth (or perhaps decay?) over time.

But that brings me to my second gripe: the pacing at the end of this book. I loved Charlotte's story so much, but it was a huge chunk of the last 2/3 of the book, and I think it would have benefited from being spread out like Alice and Maria's were. We don't even see Maria's perspective in the final third of the book, which is a shame, because I would have loved to see what went on inside her head after she fully gave into her bloodlust and madness. We only ever view her worst years through Charlotte and Alice's lenses.

Overall, this book explores the messy and complicated relationships we live and fight and die for over the years, and if you love character-driven stories, you'll likely eat this one up.

TL;DR:
I really had fun with this historical, sapphic, violent vampire story. (4.5 stars on StoryGraph)

Summary:
Following three women from different points in time -- 1500s, 1800s, and 2019. Sapphic, vampiric spiral into madness. We are seeing the story of how the 3 women's lives intertwine & how vampires are involved in each of their stories.

Ideal Reader:
Anyone who likes vampire stories with some tweaked vampire lore, following queer characters (sapphic, in this case) and enjoys historical fiction.

Writing:
The writing was solid, sufficient, serviceable. Nothing extraordinary for my personal tastes as far as the use of language.

Characters:
The character development was solid here. One character in particular we get to see a lot more of her story, and see her personality and behaviors change over time and it was fascinating to me. We're kind of watching a slow descent into madness.

One of the characters we follow for a lot less time (in her life) and in the first half of the book her chapters were less interesting to me, but even in the short time we see her, we end up with quite a bit of character growth and by the end I really enjoyed her.

One of the women learns how to wield her looks and male desire to get what she wants, and she feels empowered from this, until she learns that in a patriarchal world there is only so far a woman can wield that "power" -- it's a false power when it comes down to it, is essentially what she learns.

Plot/Pacing:
I thought the pacing was pretty solid, though the first half did take me quite a bit longer. Once we got to around 60% and things were picking up, I finished the book in about a day. And THE ENDING?!?!?!? I thoroughly loved how it ended. I think it was pleasantly surprising.

Themes/Content Warnings:
I think there were themes of love, abuse, obsession... definitely themes of freedom and personal agency, but also of power and how it can corrupt. And just loneliness and how that affects mental health...

Memorable Quotes/Standout Moments:
"Her husband laughs, a barking sound with all the softness of an ax. She will learn, in time, how well he wields it, how efficiently it cuts."

When a timeline spans centuries and features multiple characters at its core, keeping the reader invested can be a challenge—but my attention never wavered with Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil. I rooted for every character, flaws and all, and by the end, I found myself wishing for a hundred more pages. V.E. Schwab’s gift for character development shines on every page. She captures emotions that are nearly impossible to articulate, yet I found pieces of myself in each character. It’s the best vampire read since Twilight.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eArc!

I loved Addie LaRue. I've other V.E. Schwab books. I feel like I had high expectations for when starting this novel, because what could go wrong? Vampires, set across timelines, and a great author sounds like a sure bet. Nope.
The pacing felt off kilter and while the stories blended well at the very end, the beginning was disjointed. The middle dragged on, with nothing truly going on. It did wrap up nicely, an attribute to quality writing.
I did not feel any connection with the characters, wishing they had more depth to them. They didn't make me feel anything other than annoyance. Each and every character was so incredibly toxic, I found no redeeming qualities to them. While I will probably be in the minority of people, this novel felt like it was a "safe" wanna-be sapphic vampire rip off.

The story of three young women throughout history who wanted freedom from the expectations of their lives. That freedom comes at a cost and not all of them are willing to pay it. Spurred on by revenge/hunger, love/desire, and simply rage at not being given a choice, the three women pursue their goals.

I loved this take on tragic and toxic lesbian vampires. The writing is beautiful and the journey through complex emotions and archetypes for each of the three women was enjoyable. I do think it could have been either a little faster or potentially a little shorter, but I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a dark atmosphere and morally grey characters.