Bone Houses Audiobook Review

This audiobook has such a fairytale before bed vibe, and since fall is coming, this is a great way to get into a spooky mood. The narrator, Moira Quirk is fabulous and did such a great job with the voices, pacing, and I can’t get over her voice. She has a British accent and that’s already more than you need to know in order to go out and get yourself this audiobook wherever you get audiobooks from. However, I will tell you more about this audiobook because I adored it and I’m kind like that.

The concept of this book is beautiful and eerie which I loved. I’m a zombie kind of girl, so this really interested me. This wasn’t a textbook zombie book though. This was a fairy tale of death and magic. Yes the dead rises, but in a magical way and less of a brain virus way if you get what I mean.

I think this would be a fun book to read, however I think it definitely has a component that would be missing if you don’t hear the story, so keep that in mind. It made me miss doing storytelling for competitive speech, because this was the kind of story I would have loved to watch someone perform. I mean it’s hours long, so it would need to be shortened, but overall, a super engaging story.

I felt that this book returned to the unlikely hero trope that original fairytales have such as with “Tom Thumb.” I loved following a mapmaker and a gravedigger venture into a forest of magic to save the town.

Rin and Ellis are two sweet and strong characters who I found really engaging and fun to listen to. I am always a sucker for a tomboy and a sweet/shy boy who compliment each other.

Also, author Samantha Shannon just had a tweet about how gentle male love interests are underrated, and I TOTALLY agree. If you haven’t noticed, I love when the male love interest is a kind and patient compliment to a fierce and hot headed girl. It soothes my hot-headed girl soul. If you want to read her Twitter thread on it I’ll link it here.

Overall, this is a fabulous standalone novel. It’s a great fairytale style story that brings in enough horror to make it different, but not too much that is loses the whimsical atmosphere of a story with magic and a happy ever after.