Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, a review
Written by our staff media reviewer, Mikayla
Basic Information:
Media type: Literature; Novel
Genre: Lit-Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Romance
Perspective: Third-Person; Multiple
Rating: 4.5 stars
Review:
To preface, I’ve read this book twice: once when I first got it, then three weeks later, aka now, just to have a sober second read where I could make a review off of it. This piece of literature sunk its teeth into me and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
And I’ve got to say, both times, I support women’s wrongs (fictionally)! I think it’s a wonderful thing that there are works of literature out there with women doing homicide and other horrendous deeds: mainly because I can sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy a good read, as opposed to seeing it on the TV and being flabbergasted.
This was a wonderful read with three different perspectives all sharing three commonalities: being women, becoming vampires, and wanting more from the world. Maria/ Sabine’s story is one of hunger, Charlotte’s is one of love, and Alice’s is one of rage. All of their perspectives are unique to each of their characters and never felt like it was written by the same individual, which was something I particularly enjoyed.
I also really loved the metaphors of vampires as opposed to outright saying they’re vampires- the whole “bury our bones in midnight soil” thing. The concepts of vampirism in this book were beautifully well done, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t typically enjoy vampire-esque novels.
There were a couple of things that did leave me feeling a bit underwhelmed at the end of both reads though.
For one, I really did try to get into Alice’s POV both times, but I always found myself trying to read or skim her parts faster. It’s still well-written, but I found there was some missed potential for her character. The tone in which grief and guilt were explored was well done, but I couldn’t emotionally connect with Alice’s POV, no matter how hard I tried. For that reason, I will not be doing a further analysis or breakdown on her character, simply because I feel like I don’t have enough material to go off of. I found her character to be written a lot more shallowly in terms of overarching plot compared to Sabine and Charlotte.
On that note, as much as I adore Sabine and Charlotte’s perspectives and how their stories intertwined, I find the plot to be rather slim. This is definitely a character-focused book over plot-focused, and Schwab’s done it excellently so: I still can’t help but wish we got just a little bit more plot connecting the three girls’ perspectives, not just two of theirs’. I also think there’s a few pacing issues with this book.
It took me a while to pick up this book originally: I read the first fifty pages, stopped, resumed it until I got to about the hundred page mark, then binged it all, but found myself losing some interest as we wrapped up the ending rather abruptly with Alice’s portions. At times, the novel was too fast. At others, it was too slow.
The book could have gone a bit harder on some parts, a little more raw and heavy on the sensual nature and intimacy of it all.
Last thing that I found a bit lacking: the ending. Why was there no further debate with Alice’s psyche as to her exacting revenge on Charlotte? I feel like there could have been more questioning if that was truly the right decision on her part. I don’t think the ending necessarily needs to be changed, but I think that it could have been less abrupt for certain.
That being said, I think the prose is absolutely stunning. The writing style alone deserves an automatic 4 stars. I’m definitely feeling a lot more inspired to do some writing of my own after picking up this book.
Character Analysis (Optional to include)
“Bury my bones in the midnight soil, plant them shallow and water them deep, and in my place will grow a feral rose, soft red petals hiding sharp white teeth.”
Maria/ Sabine’s story had me absolutely floored. To see her grow from a young lady who wanted more from the world, to one ravaging and devouring until she found that nothing was truly enough, to see her lose herself in the process and restrained by the very things that set her free: I was stunned, gagged even, various times.
I loved seeing her learn various lessons over the centuries, (only to, of course, lose the true meaning in the process). There’s nothing more I adore than seeing a character become a hero, only to fall as a villain.
With Hector and Renata, she learned what it meant to be someone’s world, that even if they went astray, they would always return to you and adore you. With Alessandro and Mateo, she learns what it means to have a lifelong companion, someone who you want to focus on only you.
Sabine goes and finds love with Charlotte, to turn her into what she is and have Charlotte adore her in her entirety, but Sabine loses herself in the process.
Sabine grows possessive and toxic to the point that she doesn’t want Charlotte to even be friends with anyone else and WOW. She really lost the plot there!!
She eventually takes it to a homicidal degree of murdering all of Charlotte’s escapades and later romances, until she realises she can just turn them into the same thing that she and Charlotte are: feral roses with white teeth, otherwise known as vampires. That makes Charlotte freak out even more.
The way that Sabine’s hunger is written, how it can never be satiated and that at the end of the day, that was her as a little girl known as Maria as well- absolutely gorgeous. It’s definitely a sobering reminder to maintain self-discipline and self-control, to do what is necessary at times only, not just what you want. To maintain that, or to lose yourself to the same things that gave you freedom in the first place.
“The hunger lives inside us all. To some it is an empty bucket. To others, a yawning pit. And yet, no matter how shallow or how deep it feels, here is a truth that will either drive you mad, or bring you peace.' He sits forward. 'There is no filling it. You will never be sated. It does not matter whether you drink a carafe or drain a city. The hunger will not ease.”
“Some people keep their heart tucked so deep, they hardly know it’s there. But you, you have always worn it like a second skin. Open to the world. You feel it all. The love and pain. The joy and hope and sorrow. It will make your life harder, but it will also make it beautiful.”
Charlotte has such a tender heart, a beautiful soul, but she still remains controlled and confined by society’s expectations for her and her livelihood. She goes on to befriend Sabine on the cusp of Victorian England, unaware of what she is.
Sabine teaches her how to hunger for more, to want more from the world, and Charlotte becomes freer in the process. This love is what sets Charlotte free, but ultimately becomes her downfall in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the parallels between these two characters; their uprising and downfalls.
Charlotte willingly wanted to be made a vampire by Sabine, to be further like her and to be further connected to her, but by seeking up immortality, she gave up all of her old life. She gave up the chance to have normal romance, not in the heteronormative sense: she gave up the chance to have romance with someone who didn’t own her.
Or so it seemed: when Charlotte eventually escapes Sabine and the toxicity of the relationship, I felt a small sense of relief, before putting together the pieces from Alice’s POV.
Unfortunately, Charlotte can’t live without receiving love from the world, but in doing so, she dooms multiple unsuspecting girls to the fate of also becoming a vampire.
I particularly loved looking into her psyche and seeing the quandary between becoming celibate and to live as a veritable nun, or seeking out what keeps her alive in this world, at the expense of dooming others to death or a life they never wanted.
It is this where Charlotte, no matter how much she tries to distinguish herself from her ex-lover, finds herself doing the same thing that Sabine does without guilt: feeding off of others’ livelihoods for her own.
I absolutely adored these parallels.
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