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

All the Murmuring Bones

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.

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.

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?

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!)

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.

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.

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!

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:

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