Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: A Review

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is not the book I was expecting. After all the hype and descriptions circulating since the book’s publication in June of 2025, I was hoping for something more… active? However, after finishing the book, I must admit that it follows the slowly darkening Gothic drama of older, more classic vampire novels, even if it doesn’t follow all the lore. But Schwab addresses all the changes, keeping common lore in mind with every shift.

This book is about love and obsession, hunger and power, death and immortality, all stretched between three women caught in a death spiral.

It’s marketed as genre-bending, which is true, as it’s contemporary and historical, dramatic and thrilling. It’s a paradox of personalities living shadowy lives in vibrant settings and, through it all, chasing veins of dark desire. And hunger. Always hunger.

All Alice wants is to find the person who killed her and to make them pay. (Or, at the very least, explain.)

All Lottie wants is to live her life in love and peace, without someone dogging her steps and taking everything from her time after time.

All Sabine wants is Lottie and blood.

All of them are willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want, whether they’re ready to admit it or not.

The book alternates between Alice and Sabine for the majority of the story, following both Alice and Sabine through childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood, when both of them die around the age of twenty. They’re different in almost every way: Alice is shy where Sabine is bold, Alice is subtle neutrals where Sabine is vibrant colors, Alice is quiet and placating while Sabine is loud and demanding. Alice feels born to blend into the shadows and Sabine refuses to be anything but the captivating center of attention. And, lastly–most importantly–Alice is from the 21st century, Sabine from the 16th.

What do they have in common? Another young woman who never makes it past twenty: Charlotte, or “Lottie.”

Which is where the books starts: Alice meets Lottie at a party, and everything falls apart (or together).

I rate this book 4 stars because the writing is spectacular and gripping, the characters are compelling and relatable, and I will always love a descent into madness character arc.

The reason this book isn’t five stars is because it seemed too slow for what I wanted from the book. In the end, that’s exactly the kind of story it needs to be.

It’s not that nothing happens, because there’s actually a lot that happens. But I think since it’s not told completely sequentially, and it’s broken up between perspectives, the book seems slower. And maybe it’s because I’ve been reading more action-focused books recently, and that was an expectation I accidentally brought with me into the reading.

A couple notes:

1) This book has a few (non-spicy) sex scenes. I’d say it’s kind of half-open door: you know what’s happening but you don’t see a lot.

2) Trigger warnings include death, child death, graphic violence, mass violence, stalking, sexual assault, emotional abuse, manipulation, grief, and anxiety.

This book was an incredible read, and I do recommend taking the time to read all 533 pages (or as many hours as the audio book is long). I promise it’s worth it, even if you only resonate with the beautiful writing.