All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter || Gripping Dark Fairy Tale

Posted March 17, 2021 by Sammie in adult, blog tour, book review, dark fantasy, fairy tale, fantasy, five stars, gothic, horror, lore, mystery / 13 Comments

All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter || Gripping Dark Fairy Tale

All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter || Gripping Dark Fairy Tale

All the Murmuring Bones

by A.G. Slatter
Also by this author: The Briar Book of the Dead
Published by: Titan Books on March 9, 2021
Genres: Adult, Gothic, Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Rating:One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

Long ago Miren O'Malley's family prospered due to a deal struck with the Mer: safety for their ships in return for a child of each generation. But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline. Miren's grandmother is determined to restore their glory, even at the price of Miren's freedom.

A spellbinding tale of dark family secrets, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea; of strong women and the men who seek to control them.

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Perfect for readers who want:

  • A Gothic, atmosphere story with a world that will give you chills.
  • All sorts of dark creatures from lore.
  • Strong females determined to make their own way in life.
  • Dark family secrets that need to be uncovered.
  • Writing that is gorgeous and evocative.
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Listen. The moment I realized the title was “All the Murmuring Bones” and read that this book was about mermaids, I knew this had me. That’s some A-grade puns right there, and I’m not even sure it was intentionally, but I am here for it. Besides, who could resist a dark, gothic fairy tale about mermaids? Uh, not me, I can tell you that.

All The Murmuring Bones is a gripping dark fairy tale not for the faint of heart. It builds a world that’s beguiling and easy to get lost in, with a mystery that’ll have you eagerly turning pages until the end. It’s Gothic writing at its finest!

All the Murmuring Bones is written in a very descriptive, atmospheric style very characteristic of Gothic works that took me a minute to get used to. It’s been a while since I’ve read a really good Gothic book, so I had to get used to that style again. By the second chapter, though, I was absolutely hooked and couldn’t put it down! I love Slatter’s writing style so much and will for sure be checking out some of her other work and keeping an eye out for more from her! I ended up breezing through this book in a day, and my brother-in-law was so curious about me binge-reading this thing, plus the few details about the world I told him, that he immediately stole it when I had finished.

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All the Murmuring Bones is set in a world that is dark and brutal and unforgiving, and I couldn’t be more in love with it.

This place is not for the faint of heart, guys. It’s a world that will look vaguely similar to the 1400s, but with magic. It’s right as the Church is gaining power, clashing with all the magic that exists and has existed. The patriarchy has firmly taken hold, grinding the matriarchs into submission. It’s not good, guys. And yet … I love it? It’s just so dark and fraught with tension. It keeps you guessing what will be the next thing that comes up. Assassins? Murder water horses? All manner of things which are supposedly dead but also somehow alive-ish and deadly?

Sometimes a bloated figure rises from swaying grass, greying with dark green veins trailing just beneath the skin to carry dead blood. Not ghosts, no, heavier than that, still bodily things: corpsewights. Those who’ve found no rest. Normally they reside in graveyards and lay traps of the unwary, Maura said, but these…they drowned; they washed ashore and woke though they shouldn’t have. They don’t wander, they stay close to where they roused for their minds no longer work as they should — lucky, for what might they do if they could find their way home to terrify the ones who loved them in life? The god-hounds say they’ve no soul left, but what else might animate them if not that?

The leading family, the O’Malleys, have generations of secrets. The deadly sort. The sort people will gladly kill in order to keep.

The secrets in this book are absolutely delicious. Talk about family drama and tension! Everyone has an ulterior motive. No one can be trusted. I suppose that’s to be expected of a family that made a deal with the Mer that involves sacrificing one child each generation. The more this book goes on, the deadlier (and honestly, more delicious) the O’Malley secrets become, as Miren digs down to their depths and uncovers truths that were hidden for a reason.

It isn’t really just the O’Malleys, though. All the Murmuring Bones is filled with dangerous secrets—some which are unraveled by the end and some which are not, making them all the more mysterious. Trust me, this book has plenty of surprises in store for unsuspecting readers! (Which you shouldn’t be, of course, because I already told you, trust no one!)

There’s an old woman, though, with plans and plots of long gestation; and there’s the sea, which will have her due, come hell or high water; and there are secrets and lies which never stay buried forever.

Despite living in a patriarchy, the women in this book are strong, resourceful, and taking absolutely no crap from the men in their lives. I cannot begin to stress how much I loved this!

From the very start, the matriarch of the family, Aoife O’Malley, is portrayed as a very strong woman. As the story unravels, it becomes a bit clearer the sort of things that have shaped her, the things she’s had to do, and it changes the way not only the main character, Miren, sees her but likely what the reader will think of her. I think it’s really interesting how Aoife starts as the model of a strong woman, but the narrative shifts to focus on Miren’s strength instead, which is markedly different than her grandmothers (and thank goodness for that!).

Miren starts the book as not necessarily timid but stuck. She’s trapped in a family she longs to be free of with a grandmother she loves but doesn’t like. Over the course of the book, though, she really finds herself, and I can’t even begin to express how much I enjoyed this journey! Miren constantly surprised me—not because I thought she couldn’t do the things she does, but because I thought she wouldn’t. When her back’s against the wall, though, she’s strong and resourceful and conniving. Over and over, she thinks how like her grandmother she is, even though she’s really not, and it’s left up to the reader to make that distinction when she herself can’t.

Just hang on to whatever’s solid, Óisín would say, but it took me a long time to realise he meant I had to rely on myself: I was the only solid thing in that angry sea.

The narrative is interwoven with excerpts of what could easily be mini-Grimm fairy tales and riddled with creatures that would comfortably fit in anyone’s nightmares.

Obviously, I want them, because murder water horses sound cute and adorable and match my aesthetic. But for most people? These creatures are straight out of lore, but they’re likely to give you the creeps. I utterly adored the fact that you never know what you might run into next. The entire world is one big sense of foreboding where you’re just waiting for something to pop out of the darkness … or the water or the grass or anywhere, really. That’s what makes it fun!

Even better, the O’Malleys have their own little book similar to Grimm’s fairy tales. O’Malley fairy tales? They’re even better than Grimm’s because they’re 100% real and 1,000% irredeemably dark. All the Murmuring Bones is interspersed with these stories, and I think it’s a fantastic way to build the world! These are the stories Miren was taught as a child. These are her bedtime stories. So if you wonder what’s wrong with her that’s led to this point? Well, that should be a big red flag. These little stories were thrilling to read, and I’d actually love a companion novel to this that just focuses on that book of stories because YES.

‘She’ll burn, you know,’ the priest says. He’d not be saying that if Aidan were here, whether Aidan pretends to follow the god-hounds’ tenets or not. ‘Witch and whore, defiler of the laws of man and Church and God.’

‘Interesting, the order of your words,’ I say, then lean close so my breath reaches his face, and I hope it feels like a curse. ‘So will you, burn. I’ll see to it. I won’t even have to leave the comfort of my home. I’ll send a hex on the wings of a crow or in the belly of the next fish you eat. You’re well aware that witchcraft travels in the blood, fool priest.’
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About A.G. Slatter

Angela Slatter is the author of the supernatural crime novels from Jo Fletcher Books/Hachette International: Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as eight short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and A Feast of Sorrows: Stories. Vigil has been nominated for the Dublin Literary Award in 2018.

Her new gothic fantasy novels, All the Murmuring Bones and Morwood, will be published under the pen name A G Slatter by Titan Books in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

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Favorite Quotes

There were just so many quotes that I loved from this book, so I decided to add another section to share some quotes with you! Slatter’s writing is so gorgeous that I really wanted to showcase a few more things that stood out for me!

Grief is the black cat rubbing at your ankles, looking for attention‘ Grandma Aoife says, which is beautiful until she follows it with, ‘Kick it enough times and it goes away.
They keep telling us, all these god-hounds, that magic great and small has gone, yet that’s just wishful thinking on their part. They cannot burn every single woman, tempting though it might be.

And then this, my all-time favorite quote, which somehow manages to be utterly romantic to me and absolutely perfect in every way, because I am apparently just broken enough where this makes complete sense:

He says he loves me.

But I am wary of love.

Says he needs me.

And I am weary of need.

He is hurt when I don’t reply in kind; I’ve been finding he’s easily hurt. But he is gentle so I say to him something I hope he will one day understand.

‘I don’t need you,’ I say, ‘I want you. That should be enough. That should be better because it means I’ve made a choice.’
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Similar Books You Might Also Enjoy:

In The Night Wood     Into the Drowning Deep     The Year of the Witching


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Stay Fierce, Sammie

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13 responses to “All The Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter || Gripping Dark Fairy Tale

    • I’m sure you’ve finished it by now and I’m just behind, but I hope you ended up loving it! I definitely want more from her now. Her writing was just *chef’s kiss*

    • It’s not descriptively gory. There are definitely a couple of horror-y scenes that are a bit ick, but nothing that really turned me away (and I’m not a fan of gore myself). The book gives enough description to know when violence is happening without waxing poetic about how someone’s bleeding out or dismembered. xD It’s a nice balance for a horror book, in my opinion.

  1. Ooooh, this book sounds incredible! Dark fairytale vibes with powerful women and enthralling characters and MER CREATURES? I’m 110% here for it. I will most definitely be adding this to my TBR.
    And as always: amazing review, Sammie! Sometimes I just can’t tell if you have great luck in picking up all these fantastic sounding books or your reviews are all so beautifully crafted that all these books seem worthy of me running out the door with my wallet to the nearest bookstore 😆

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