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A review by tearthyflesh
The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin
Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.
If I could rate this book, which I can't as I DNF'd it, I would give it 2/5 ⭐️s.
I really wanted to like this book, and I feel bad that I just didn't get on with it. The blurb sounded really interesting. However, this book wasn't for me.
The biggest issue I had with this book was the amount of telling. We are constantly told how characters feel, or why they are doing things. Two of the three main point of view characters mostly seem robust enough in construction that this doesn't feel necessary. A shame, because the exploration of trauma and relationships otherwise really rung true. There are moments where Dimitri's anguish and suffering are shown through his actions, but that's then ruined by the sheer amount of telling. It was especially frustrating when something was told to us, and then shown right after it.
I thought it was interesting to have part of the book told from the abuser villain's perspective. I liked parts of his chapters - for example, his creation of the Holy Science as the new, state-approved version of the Jewish-inspired religion the cast follows. In fact, 'Holy Science' as a phrase in the blurb was what drew me to the book. I was intrigued as to what it meant. However, Alexey felt like such a cartoonish villain at points, especially his prediction for wearing all black. He literally says, "you dare defy me?" at one point, which felt very... Saturday morning cartoon villain-esque. Perhaps the odd chapter from his perspective would have been fine, but having one third of the book from Alexey's point of view often felt like rehashing the ground of "look how evil he is". Yes, we know. We've seen what his abuse and cruelty have done to Dimitri and to his country as a whole. He felt like a composite of other hot, sexy villain characters at times.
The pace was very slow, and reading this book felt like a slog. I don't think this was helped by the story starting after the war, after the characters had escaped their homeland. It was doubly not helped by being told what the characters experienced and how they feel about it. I found myself wishing that the book had been set during all the action, and that this was a sequel.
The dialogue was usually fine, but between the characters in Dimitri's court, it often ended up sounding either too meaningful, too well-articulated (like the type to be screenshotted or photographed to be shown out of context as something deep and true), or endless snarkiness and sex jokes. This, combined with the poor writing, made the book feel like it was intended for a younger audience. I often found myself assuming the characters were all in their late teens, which they aren't.
I guess the sex scenes were okay. I don't read books for the sex scenes, generally, but I like how they were used to explore Dimitri's trauma. It was actually quite surprising to see that some reviewers didn't understand why he was fantasising about and longing for his abuser. Sometimes brains and feelings just work that way. It's sad, and I think the novel got that across fine. Either way, I think I would have preferred fewer full sex scenes in the long run. It works to establish Dimitri's unhealthy way of dealing with his trauma and to explore the aftermath of his sexual abuse and grooming at the hands of his ex-husband, but it felt repetitive in the long run.
In terms of what else I liked, I did like the scene where the court visit the evil library and the man who cares for it, just because something was finally happening. Though again, it felt cartoonish, which was a shame. Speaking to an angel to ask for a blessing while coked up as part of the ritual was also a neat idea! I liked that. More of that kind of stuff, please. The parts which were based on Jewish religious traditions were generally interesting; I would have liked to have seen more of that earlier in the novel. By the time the bigger chunks of that aspect of the novel came around, I was already fed up with the book and found it harder to engage, despite my interest being piqued.
Overall, this book felt disappointing. I really wanted to like it. Perhaps I will try to finish it at some point, but right now, I'm just fed up with it. I don't read a whole lot of fantasy at the moment, and it was a shame to be let down by this one when it could have driven me to dive back into the genre again.
I really wanted to like this book, and I feel bad that I just didn't get on with it. The blurb sounded really interesting. However, this book wasn't for me.
The biggest issue I had with this book was the amount of telling. We are constantly told how characters feel, or why they are doing things. Two of the three main point of view characters mostly seem robust enough in construction that this doesn't feel necessary. A shame, because the exploration of trauma and relationships otherwise really rung true. There are moments where Dimitri's anguish and suffering are shown through his actions, but that's then ruined by the sheer amount of telling. It was especially frustrating when something was told to us, and then shown right after it.
I thought it was interesting to have part of the book told from the abuser villain's perspective. I liked parts of his chapters - for example, his creation of the Holy Science as the new, state-approved version of the Jewish-inspired religion the cast follows. In fact, 'Holy Science' as a phrase in the blurb was what drew me to the book. I was intrigued as to what it meant. However, Alexey felt like such a cartoonish villain at points, especially his prediction for wearing all black. He literally says, "you dare defy me?" at one point, which felt very... Saturday morning cartoon villain-esque. Perhaps the odd chapter from his perspective would have been fine, but having one third of the book from Alexey's point of view often felt like rehashing the ground of "look how evil he is". Yes, we know. We've seen what his abuse and cruelty have done to Dimitri and to his country as a whole. He felt like a composite of other hot, sexy villain characters at times.
The pace was very slow, and reading this book felt like a slog. I don't think this was helped by the story starting after the war, after the characters had escaped their homeland. It was doubly not helped by being told what the characters experienced and how they feel about it. I found myself wishing that the book had been set during all the action, and that this was a sequel.
The dialogue was usually fine, but between the characters in Dimitri's court, it often ended up sounding either too meaningful, too well-articulated (like the type to be screenshotted or photographed to be shown out of context as something deep and true), or endless snarkiness and sex jokes. This, combined with the poor writing, made the book feel like it was intended for a younger audience. I often found myself assuming the characters were all in their late teens, which they aren't.
I guess the sex scenes were okay. I don't read books for the sex scenes, generally, but I like how they were used to explore Dimitri's trauma. It was actually quite surprising to see that some reviewers didn't understand why he was fantasising about and longing for his abuser. Sometimes brains and feelings just work that way. It's sad, and I think the novel got that across fine. Either way, I think I would have preferred fewer full sex scenes in the long run. It works to establish Dimitri's unhealthy way of dealing with his trauma and to explore the aftermath of his sexual abuse and grooming at the hands of his ex-husband, but it felt repetitive in the long run.
In terms of what else I liked, I did like the scene where the court visit the evil library and the man who cares for it, just because something was finally happening. Though again, it felt cartoonish, which was a shame. Speaking to an angel to ask for a blessing while coked up as part of the ritual was also a neat idea! I liked that. More of that kind of stuff, please. The parts which were based on Jewish religious traditions were generally interesting; I would have liked to have seen more of that earlier in the novel. By the time the bigger chunks of that aspect of the novel came around, I was already fed up with the book and found it harder to engage, despite my interest being piqued.
Overall, this book felt disappointing. I really wanted to like it. Perhaps I will try to finish it at some point, but right now, I'm just fed up with it. I don't read a whole lot of fantasy at the moment, and it was a shame to be let down by this one when it could have driven me to dive back into the genre again.