it’s really hard to rate this book.

schwab’s intricate character work, layered relationship dynamics, the fresh yet classic take on vampire lore, and the ability to bring so many different settings to life — all of it was done beautifully. i felt completely immersed, and i love their writing style so much.

but after a while, i couldn’t help feeling a little bored, which makes me sad to admit because i don’t get bored easily. the pacing felt very slow for about 70% of the book, and the ending didn’t feel quite rewarding enough. it wasn’t until the final section that the plot started to feel like it had real direction. i don’t mind character driven stories at all, but i need a bit more plot running alongside to stay fully engaged. some parts of the first half felt unnecessarily drawn out, and the use of the three POVs felt slightly uneven at times.

that said, i honestly think i read this at the wrong time. i’d just come out of a huge reading slump, and i have a feeling i would’ve appreciated this story more if i’d been in a better reading flow. despite my mixed feelings, it’s still a beautifully written exploration of power, hunger, and what it means to be a woman. there’s a lot to admire in that. so, i don’t have it in me to rate this lower than 4 stars.

thanks pan macmillian and netgalley for the e-ARC.

A dreamy and obsessive sapphic vampire tale - my favourite read of the year so far, no contest!

This is the story of three women, three vampires throughout history. But under that, this is a story about cycles of violence and toxic relationships, about the expectations and practices society uses to cage women, about grief, love, loss.

The prose is rich, syrupy and sharp in turn, with phrasing that often took my breath away. The characters are vibrant, their lives will break your heart. This story is also so unabashedly queer. It's everything I hoped it would be, frankly.

If you like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, if you like Interview with the Vampire, pick this one up!

I really had high expectations this and there was moments where I loved the. I mean toxic lesbian vampires?? Yess please, but I just struggled staying interested which lasted throughout the entire book. The writing was beautiful and the characters were so complex and interesting but I just couldn’t follow the plot and I feel like I just forced myself to read this the majority of the time and it took so long. I feel like this is kind of a marmite situation. It will either reallllly works for you or it doesn’t and unfortunately it just didn’t for me

This review is for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab which releases in the UK on the 10th June! Thanks so much to Netgalley and Tor for giving me an eArc and physical copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

All I heard was that this story was toxic lesbian vampires written by V.E. Schwab… so you know I signed up IMMEDIATELY.

I love Schwabs writing style, and this to me felt like a blend of Addie with the feeling of timelessness as well as the jumps between past and present, and a splash of Vicious with all the violence and toxic emotions (or lack of). It does start pretty slow, but is also pretty steady throughout the whole book. So much happens throughout the story, especially when we get to see the past of the older vampires, it does keep you well enthralled!

The characters were also super well written, with most being angsty and angry and full of hatred for the world and the circumstances it has left them in. Some scenes were a little overwritten with a little too much prose for me, but it did also flow well with the story so it didn’t feel too out of place. I did empathise with Alice, especially towards the end when she realises that she was just used, and her death was for nothing. I also really liked the memories we see from her, where we also get to see why she feels so lost.

The ending was a little anticlimactic and mostly the reason I’m only giving this a four star. After like 93% of buildup, and for it to end that way… it was a little disappointing and was hoping for something a little better. As it also had taken so long to get to that point as well, it just fell a little flat for me and didn’t really fit with the rest of the book.

However overall, I did love this book and would 100% recommend this to any vampire lovers out there. Especially if you love the toxic, violent and angsty ones.

Schwab has, once again, knocked it out of the park.

This twist on the familiar vampire story, told through the shifting perspective of time and the women raised within, was haunting and poetic and brought into sharp new relief.

I loved watching how a singularity affected each of the character's differently, how their circumstances shaped them each to face it uniquely, armed with their own set of tragedies and horrors, and the reality of what it is to be AFAB in a world defined by men.

Do you want sapphic vampires, stories about toxic exes, and female rage and revenge spanning across 500 years? Then look no further!

“Bury Our Bones in The Midnight Soil” follows three women from three different time periods: Sabine (1532), Charlotte (1837) and Alice (2019). We see the harsh lives some of our FMCs face in their current eras, the ultimate tipping points, the coming to terms with their new existences as creatures of the night, and the eventual convergence of all their stories. It’s a horror book that doesn’t feel too horrific (FMC’s eating habits and topic matter aside), and it leans more heavily in the historical fiction camp for me.

It’s dark, poetic, and so compelling that you have to keep reading. Well done, V.E. Schwab!

[This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion]

4.5 ⭐️ V.E. Schwab is a master at character study. This story follows the intertwining lives of three women over the span of centuries. It follows each of their journeys as they navigate being a vampire, what it means to live forever, to lose one's humanity, and the control (or lack of) that they have in the face of desire and hunger. What would you do if you suddenly had eternity at your fingertips, but as a monster? Can you hold onto your humanity, and still remain good, or do you let yourself go to your new self? This story tackles the big questions through the eyes of three toxic lesbian vampires. It's beautifully written, and I imagine will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for the arc!

This is everything you want it to be. Mysterious vampires getting up to mysterious things. At some points the pacing was a bit clunky and felt like it would have benefitted from a little more time spent on it, however, I enjoyed the book enough to look past this.

"Bury my bones in the midnight soil, plant them shallow but water them deep, and in my place will grow a feral rose, soft red petals hiding sharp white teeth."

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a haunting exploration of immortality, desire, and identity. Set across three distinct periods, 16th century Santo Domingo, 19th century London and 21st century Boston. We follow the intertwining lives of three very different queer women across these centuries. Maria is an fierce, independent woman fighting for autonomy in a world made for men. Charlotte, a young woman who wears her heart on her sleeve fights for queer love against societal constraints. Alice tries to find her place in the world while coming to terms with grief. Their stories, and consequences, are intricately connected through a shared, toxic bond that transcends time and place.

This is a slow-paced, character-driven novel that moves between different time periods, gradually revealing the lives of its protagonists and the threads that bind them. The women at the centre of the story are richly layered and morally ambiguous, their immortality offering a lens through which to examine how time shapes identity. A central theme of hunger runs through the narrative—not just the physical need for sustenance, but a deeper, more urgent craving for life, love and, above all, freedom.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the eARC to review.

I have very much enjoyed this author's other works, and several of them I have read numerous times but when hearing the subject matter of her latest I did approach with some trepidation. I have a very, very low tolerance for gore, and discussions of the inner workings of the human body, and one can imagine that a book about vampires might be one to contain all of this in spades. Sadly, I was right and sadly, I just can't continue with this book to its completion at this time. However, due to Schwab's masterful writing, the most intriguing plot and some of the most toxic (read fabulous) characters I've ever had the pleasure of meeting I did make it half way and can confidently give it 4 stars, secure in the knowledge that for many people this will be their book of the year!

Note to publisher - Thank you so much for allowing me to read this early, and I apologise that I wasn't able to finish it at this time. I hope that I will one day so I won't post this review elsewhere in case in the future I can post one on actually finishing it. I will be hand selling it though as I think it will very much be a lot of people's cup of tea (but a bit too much throat munching for me!)

3.5 Stars

I went into this knowing almost nothing about it, and am not 100% sure how I feel about it! it was a slow-burn (maybe too slow in places!?), gothic vampire story full of poetic storytelling and queer longing. I can't get past a feeling of it being more focused on setting the right tone, rather than developing the plot, but it did keep me reading. Not what I expected, but I’m glad I read it... I think!

I had this on pre-order, so when I saw it on netgalley I was thrilled! Wow! It did not disappoint.
I loved the way we see 3 different ladies lives, and how they merged together to come to the present. So beautifully written and poetic.
I do hope a sequel comes, to see where Alice continues on.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I find V.E. Schwab to be a marmite author for me, I either absolutely love them or I really don't. Unfortunately even with all the beautiful writing in this book it was just not one that i enjoyed. Will it stop me reading her next book - absolutely not! I would never say don't read it, give it a try it may be for you, the writing is top tier as always.

I may try again in the future. I just could not connect to the main characters and the writing style.

I went in that book having no idea what to expect. I’d read the blurb but it didn’t really say much about the book, but « lesbian vampires » sounds right up my alley.

The stories of these three women, across centuries, intersected in such a captivating way. Each character has a story to tell, and as you read you just know there is more and more coming and you can’t wait to see it unfold.

In all honesty, the structure of the book makes it difficult not to compare each of the three women against each other, as the story go and some chapters are more interesting than others. But the way they merged, in the end, was fascinating. Some of it expected, some of it being revealed as the pages are turned, until you realise how easily you’ve been led to get right there.

In the beginning, I really enjoyed Maria’s chapters. Her fierceness and her anger are relatable, and her exploration of her newfound freedom in vampire form and her wandering across Europe were some of my favorites parts. In comparison, Alice’s chapters felt a bit less interesting, as her character is more naive. There was too much dissociating for my taste, with back and forth between her present and her past, which adds up to the back and forth between characters already and just prevented me from really getting into her story.

I did really love how we got introduced to Lottie’s character, only for her to disappear immediately, and for us to start looking for her. At every turn of page I wondered if this was the moment where we’d see her again, and how they would all finally connect.

I enjoyed all the three women’s perspectives, but I liked Lottie and Maria’s strong voices the most, and having such a long period of time of seeing them both evolve definitely made their characters have so much depth and strong voices.

My favourite book of the year so far???

This was my second V E Schwab book after addie and I have adored them both. It’s really telling me I need to get into more of her work.

This book was a masterpiece, the multi pov and different timelines worked incredibly well and felt like they flowed effortlessly.

This was at its core an exploration of freedom, love, grief and change. I was hooked.

Sabine was one of the most compelling characters and I just wanted to read more and more about her. The way patterns formed with time, the question of what does freedom cost?

If you love vampires and morally grey characters, then this is the book for you!

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this arc ✨🥀🦴

Have you ever discovered a book and instantly thought “yup, this one was made for me?” That’s exactly how I felt when I heard that one of my favourite authors ever was writing a book with the tag line toxic lesbian vampires.

Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows three women, Sabine, Charlotte, and Alice. Each of them represent a different sort of vampire, a different blend of monster and human, and we follow them throughout their own lives and as their stories begin to intertwine.

At its core, this is a book about hunger, about longing, love, loss, and death, and I absolutely devoured it. It was so atmospheric and immersive, and I absolutely loved V’s take on the vampire lore.

Our three central characters were so incredibly fascinating to read about. They were so messy and morally grey but also so engaging and I really enjoyed getting to know each of them. I also loved how unapologetically lesbian this book is, and I loved reading about all of the relationships between these women, in all of their toxicity and messiness.

Unsurprisingly, the writing of this book was just simply stunning. If you enjoyed Addie LaRue I think you’ll definitely like this one - not only are there some nods to Addie, it also has the same character-driven, beautiful style of writing but honestly to me it felt like a step up in terms of writing. Every single page was gorgeous and the passion that V. E. Schwab put into this book is so apparent.

I honestly think this might be my favourite V. E. Schwab book ever and I am so excited for it to come out so everyone can sink their teeth into it and love it just as much as I did.

Actual rating 4.5.

I finally read my first V E Schwab, and I loved it! This is such a rich, compelling novel set across centuries and travelling across the world. Whilst some of the themes feel familiar (a controlling, dangerous partner for one), applying them to lesbian vampires certainly adds a different twist! It’s dark and gruesome at times, but beautifully told and captivating.

I had to DNF this at 58%.

I really feel like A LOT of this could have been cut, especially the Alice memories. I just didn’t connect to the characters and didn’t see the point of this book.

Thank you @netgalley @panmacmillan for arc copy of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

It’s easy to approach a book with high expectations, but even easier to be let down. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil not only met my expectations it exceeded them. This book is mesmerising, the characters deeply real, and the story is one you can’t help but get lost in.

This story blends elements of modern gothic with light horror, exploring themes of love, loss, and loneliness in a way that feels both delicate and raw. While the plot may not rely on action packed moments, it’s the characters who drive the story, making every page feel intimate and alive. Starting with Maria’s perspective, Schwab sets a historical stage before gradually unfolding the supernatural, creating an atmosphere both eerie and familiar.

Though vampires are a classic element of dark fantasy, Schwab’s approach is entirely fresh and original Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil isn’t a retelling, but a completely new, stunningly crafted narrative

This book isn’t about grand battles or saving the world, it’s about something much deeper. It’s a raw, poetic journey into the heart of human connection, one that leaves you feeling understood and profoundly moved. Thank you really enjoyed reading this.