"Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil" by V.E. Schwab is a captivating and haunting novel that delves into the complexities of love, loss, and the blurring lines between life and death.

V.E. Schwab does it again- I loved this one! The plot was incredible- I loved the characters and their story! Highly recommend!!

Wow! It was a slow burn to start and see how the story would all come together but I was pleased. Perfect for readers who love a good vampire book - definitely a lot of parts that reminded me of early Anne Rice.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil was a beautifully woven tale. I have always loved VE Schwab’s writing abby this book definitely appeals for fans of Addie LaRue or those who like a very character focused book that doesn’t have too much of an overarching plot. The concept of this book intrigued me and I loved the exploration of what it meant for each of the three women to be a vampire. My favorite part of this book was the idea that for most of time, women longed to be vampires as a way to free themselves from the life that was forced on them by society and men. How tragic and stunning, and of a course an equally tragic ending.

What a beautiful story. When the author described the story on social media I was in from the start. It was a bit of a slow start, but then I couldn't stop. I'd love a follow up - will there be another? If so I will be waiting in line!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Tor for an advanced copy of this title for an unbiased review.

This is my first foray into Schwab's work outside of her Darker Shades of Magic Series.

Upon picking the title up, I had no idea this would be a vampire story - I was drawn to the 'different women in different times all telling one story' idea.

I have to say that I was quite pleased with her worldbuilding here (specifically in terms of how vampirism works in this world). She did a great job in making her vamps stand out against a whole subgenre of bloodsuckers.

I do not think that it would be controversial to think of Anne Rice as the godmother of historical vampire fiction. Schawb does a great job of telling a tale that spans half a millenium, but she is no Anne Rice in this sense. In fact, I felt there was more variation in the locations of the book than the time periods- if you were to have this title set as a globetrotting romp, but within a few decades rather than 500 years...I do not think much would have been lost here.

Nevertheless, Schwab does an excellent job of not only enticing us with the sexy-times that vampirism brings, but also moves us emotionally when we are forced to face its consequences.

Thank you so much to Tor Books for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

I truly have no idea how to write a coherent review for such a masterpiece as this. I'm not sure I've even fully processed this book yet and I finished it days ago. This is a book that will subvert all your ideas of good and evil, all your societal ideas of femininity and even feminine rage itself. You'll start the book in one place in both your head and your heart and you'll end up in an entirely new realm by the end of it.

This was such a beautifully written book that I can't even describe the ways its beauty shines through. I feel as though so much is subtly placed that you will only realize it once all the strings have been tied together. It's the kind of book that truly keeps you learning and growing with the characters until the very last page. The kind of book where not a single word is placed without need. The kind of book that will keep you thinking far beyond its pages.

I feel as though I can't say much more without ruining the authentic experience that I had with this book, and that's truly the beauty of a book like this. It's going to make you feel. It's going to make you ache. Most importantly, it's going to make you live.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil was a pleasant surprise for me. I am a librarian so I am familiar with V.E. Schwab, yet I do not read fantasy at all. There was little to no info on Amazon (or anywhere else) regarding this book but it was a hefty book and that's what I was looking for.
This novel is told in alternating voices/timelines and that is a favorite for me. Always a winner.
Alice, a Boston college student from the UK, meets a young woman who intrigues and attracts her. Little does she know that her 'life' will be forever altered by that one passionate night together.
Maria, a young woman from the 1500s is married off to a man who turns out to be a brute. She meets and is attracted to a woman named Sabine, a hypnotic beauty who runs an apothecary - mainly after dark...
Maria is dawn to her again and again and when they share a passionate interlude, her life is forever altered as well.
Lottie, a young girl from 1800s London, sent to her aunt's to learn some culture and hopefully unlearn her attraction to her (female) best friend, meets a woman who she is physically and emotionally drawn to and her life is forever changed.
This is a violent, romantic, sometimes chilling novel about vampires, women's rights, family dynamics and how to learn to live a different life than you had thought would be your future.
How these women's lives interacts is at turns unexpected and surprising.
No spoilers here but suffice it to say that for a reader who NEVER reads fantasy or anything remotely resembling that genre, I was transfixed from the start.
Highly recommend.

Bury My Bones in the Dark is an atmospheric and haunting novel that beautifully weaves together themes of loss, resilience, and the enduring ties of family. The author’s prose is evocative, painting vivid imagery that immerses the reader in the story’s dark, mysterious world. The characters are complex and deeply human, and their struggles resonate long after you’ve closed the book.

That said, while the story is compelling, I found it to be overly long. Certain sections, though well-written, felt unnecessarily drawn out, which occasionally slowed the narrative’s momentum.

I love Schwab, and Addie Larue is one of my favorites. I want to love this story, but it was too long. The first 40% was incredibly slow and boring. The last 20-30% were good but the conclusion I actually
Would babe liked more exposition.

V. E. Schwab never misses, and this toxic lesbian vampire novel is truly one of her best yet!

There are not a lot of books that can confidently depict an abusive lesbian relationship, while exploring elements of female rage and power, but this does just that. I think it will be empowering and healing for any queer woman who has ever gone through something similar but has only ever seen these relationships explored through a heterosexual lens. Moreover, despite their flaws, these characters are impossible not to root for. They're sexy, they're powerful, they're a little unhinged, and even when you question their actions, you understand them deeply.

This is the perfect combination of Addie LaRue and Vicious, and I will be talking about it for a long time.

Listen, when VE Schwab colloquially called this book Toxic Lesbian Vampires, I wasn't actually expecting it to be as absolutely SPOT ON as it was. The way she weaved together the three narratives was remniscent of previous books, and still it was fresh. Knowing that this was born in her mind from the barren spot where Addie came from, really gave creedence to the spooky and otherworldly vibes abutted to the real world.

I would love to interview her on my podcast for this book, not only because I love her writing, but because she is a master of her craft wrapped in a humble exterior.

She’s done it again! How incredible! And how does she do it?!?!?! The people are going to EAT THIS UP! It makes me happy that this book is given to us.


She’s a Queen and she’s truly done it again.

✨ R E V I E W ✨

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by VE Schwab
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ .5

Thank you so much to @torbooks for the extremely anticipated e-ARC!

VE Schwab has done it again! Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil very much has similar feels to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Though it feels quite slow in the beginning, once the pieces begin to fall into place, the story is so riveting and atmospheric.

Schwab wrote on @goodreads, “After Addie, I swore I’d never put so much of my actual self into a book, and then I went and did this. Stripped down to my heart and bones and built a novel out of it. Everything I loved and everything I wanted and everything I feared.”

I read this after finishing the book and can honestly say I felt this as I read it. I know I said to myself at some point, “This feels DEEPLY personal.” Schwab literally paints the page with so much feeling that you can damn near taste it. Smell it. Feel it in every possible way.

And the sapphic-ness all around. CHEF’S. KISS. It’s like the sapphic sort-of-romantic-but-also-not-at-all tragedy I didn’t know I needed. But I feel like I’m getting borderline spoiler-y here, so let me stop while I’m ahead.

Aside from being beautifully sapphic, the overarching story of what it means to be a woman and literally seeing womanhood evolve over the centuries is amazing. I already see a re-read in my future.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil publishes 6/10 and will be the perfect pride month read, unless you choose to save it for October. 👀

This is a story about women, about coming out, about being yourself, and about women taking power for themselves. Beautifully written with wonderful feminist themes, but I never really felt attached to the story. From what I read about V.E. Schwab in interviews, I can see her in this book and how her experiences shaped this story. I do not want my 3 star rating to belittle her experiences or the experiences that other women have gone through. However, I just felt like I've read this story before and the lack of balance between the three women's stories bothered me. I wanted more from Alice the most because her story interested me the most. Overall, I would recommend this book to people, but it just wasn't a love. This will be a book people talk about for a long time.

What a different (in a great way) read. Not at all what I was expecting and I was truly horrified by most of it. But days later I’m still thinking of this book and also did not guess the ending correctly (I accurately guess endings of most books so this was a really pleasant surprise). Highly recommend

Three different female vampires, three different time periods, one cohesive storyline. Something about the way V.E. Schwab writes makes me feel whimsical. Even if the book is about bloodshed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys V.E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo. The subject matter is dark but corresponds so accurately to the struggle that women had and have in society that you find yourself saying "good for her" when they commit their dark deeds. I don't want to ruin the story, but I was hooked from the first page and didn't want it to end. I hope the next readers are too.
If I had a small constructive criticism to make it would be that the ending did not have enough backstory to it. What exactly made one person triumph over the other? But other than that, chef's kiss. I savored it!

How do I even express how much I loved this book?! I was lured by the promise of toxic lesbian vampires and I was given it and so much more. What a beautiful, sexy, sad story.

First off, thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this!

Secondly, this is my eighth V E Schwab title and it hit just like the others. This one is for my vampire friends, for the ones who support women's rights and women's wrongs, and the readers who yearn for unlikeable characters.

BIBITMS follows three young women on their journeys in the midnight soil (aka vampirism) and the way they each handle the unwieldy powers of immortality. Maria was a force to be reckoned with and I never felt like I got enough of her story. Lottie was a soft heart with sharp teeth & made me sit and think about the world for a moment. And Alice...Alice just kinda hurt my heart. The whole novel hurt me in various ways and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

This novel showcases the entire spectrum of human emotions and morality, and the way different people in our lives change us, for the better and the worse. No spoilers, but my flabbers were gasted. MULTIPLE times.

As I neared the end of this one, I thought it was a solid 4 stars, maybe a 4.5. And then the ending happened. And it rocketed up to 5 stars because THAT blew me away. No spoilers, but I support women's rights and women's wrongs

Superb, immersive writing. I loved the character development and the alternating stories. Even though the book is long, I feel like you never get bored. There's a lot of story packed in there.