I received this in ARC form, and I have a rule of not reviewing ARCs unless I can confidently give an honest review.

This was easily one of the very best books I read this year! I've been finding it hard to fit reading in lately, with my own book coming out soon, but this book was impossible for me to NOT keep reading. I finished it in two nights (and honestly, could have finished it in one, but I had to be strict on myself about homework. Sigh.)

This book didn't stand still. It's always racing ahead with a high stakes plot, has characters I really adored and cared about, pulled off anti-hero beautifully (I mean, part of me kind of felt the MC had some of her downfalls coming because the things she's happy to do *really* goes against my own morals. But, for me, that just made some of the twists and turns more satisfying, and I like myself a well-done unlikable character). I didn't see any of the twists coming, either, so I found the reveals really satisfying.

The writing style was also something I really admired. It had the ability to be descriptive and engaging, without going off into purple prose. Purple prose in a high-action, plot focussed book is a real pet peeve of mine, so I was thrilled Rebecca didn't go there. I thought the pacing was just perfect.

This book is not for the squeamish. To give you a barometer, my tolerance for gore is in the realm of "I watched the whole SAW franchise, but I often closed my eyes and made loud noises to block it out". I found the gore in this one entertaining, and definitely not too much! To each their own. Judge for yourself. I'd definitely recommend picking this one up, though.

Quick Summary:

Set in a fascinating urban fantasy world where every possible supernatural you can think of exists. With each new creature discovered the demand for black market organs rises. Our main character Nita was raised in a household where dissecting and packaging dead supernaturals is an every day occurrence. With a not so great home life Nita has found reprieve in the calming structure of dissecting bodies. While in her lab all her problems fade away, but then her mother brings a live supernatural home for dissection. Faced with a moral dilemma she cannot so easily forget Nita will have to decide what lines she isnt willing to cross to please her mother.

My Thoughts:

Nita is a flawed character, but one I still came to really enjoy and appreciate. Its no surprise she turned out the way she did with a derranged mother like hers, but she was brave and resourceful when she needed to be. As for the other characters, we get to spend a bit of time with another female prisoner. I would have liked some type of friendship, but I totally understand why Nita doesnt make friends easily. The other character we get to meet is a supernatural guard. I was worried I wasnt going to enjoy their relationship, but by the end the author had me sold. I really liked the similarites between the two and how messed up they were.

I wish we had more of the main characters physical description. I still have no idea what she looks like. I know her father is from Chile, but most of the information was vague. Nita has grown up all over the world. In this novel we get to explore some of Peru and a bit of the Amazon River which was exciting. I loved the huge variety of supernatural creatures and the black market setting. The addiction themes also added another great layer to the story. The more I think about this book the more I fall in love with it. Lots of books claim to be dark while this one actually fufills that claim. .

The plot went in a direction I wasnt expecting. I enjoyed how the plot focused on some shady stuff like dissecting and selling organs. Despite not being biggest fan of captive plot lines I still found myself flying through this book. It has a gripping pace and easy writing. I also found "she let out the breath she didnt know she was holding" a bunch of times. Since Ive seen people talking about how cliche that line is every time I see it in a book it takes me out of the story. Its not a big deal, but I thought Id mention it. The cliff hanger at the end is making me want to read sequel as soon as possible.

Looking for an original, dark, refreshing YA read? You've found you're next book. This one is unlike anything I've ever read before. The protagonist is morally-questionable. The whole cast of characters is dark. The world-building is outstanding. Things do get a bit gory. If you're looking for a great read for Halloween, check this one out asap!

Not Even Bones wasn't exactly what I expected, at all. I had anticipated dark and lots of subterfuge and murder. While all of things can accurately describe the book I just expected in to be with a higher intensity. The pacing for Not Even Bones was slow, as soon as things were just getting interesting the book was over.

I struggled to connect with Nita, our main character. She was likened to a villain and someone that people would hate. I didn't hate her and I didn't love her, I honestly didn't connect and feel anything for her, although this could because she had been isolated socially most of her life and I wasn't supposed to be able to connect with her.

I actually did enjoy our other main character, Kovit. He is a zannie, a monster that eats people's pain. I love the violence and menace his character portrayed. He had interesting morals for such a "monster". He kept me engaged in the story when Nita left me with something to be desired.

Overall I enjoyed the plot and concept of Not Even Bones, I just wish it would have sped up, because it was a tad redundant at times. I will read the next book in the series as I need to know what happens, and I hope that I feel more for Nita in the next book, I'm hoping for heart pounding moments.

This book is brilliant and really stands out within YA: it's dark, gruesome, gripping, and not afraid to be weird and messed up. The worldbuilding is brilliant and nuanced, and the characters are all so flawed and complex - no black-and-white heroes or villains here. And that ending! I am dying for the next one.

DNF at 50%.

This was really good in the beginning. I loved the concept. So different, and one of the more unique ideas I’ve read in a while.

But it took a nosedive around 35% or so. Once Nita got kidnapped/caught, I began to lose interest. I think it could’ve stayed on the track of greatness, but it just went odd. I don’t want to spoil much, but I found it weird (read: stupid) when she got loose that she’d head back into the lion’s den instead of coming up with ANY other way to escape.

Also, I was expecting monsters and instead they were just extraordinary people? Or at least from how I interpreted the vague descriptions. Which, again, was pretty crazy considering I’d made it to 50% and still hadn’t seen many types of monsters. Or had them described either. Named, yes. But that does nothing. The world wasn’t very well detailed either. Yes, it’s modern day...but have the “monsters” always been a part of life, or???

So I’m disappointed. I was expecting to really love this.

This book is fresh, dark, exciting with a morally questionable protagonist. I'm not sure what to say, because this book is so unusual and gory, but beautiful at the same time. Not Even Bones is a bloody breakout (pun intended) and if you're not into reading about gore, blood, dissection, torture, race, stay away. But if any of those things appeal to you, combined with epic world building and supernatural beings this is the book to read. Already cannot wait for book two to be released.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2018 and it did not disappoint me. I'm always a sucker for books about girls using their rage to save themselves, and this book delivered that, but it also packed a punch in its lesson on how no one is all good or all bad and how we all make excuses for the things we do in order to not be the villain in our own story. The ending was good and I hope it's setting up for a sequel!

Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” Until her mom brings home a live specimen and Nita decides she wants out; dissecting a scared teenage boy is a step too far. But when she decides to save her mother’s victim, she ends up sold in his place—because Nita herself isn’t exactly “human.” She has the ability to alter her biology, a talent that is priceless on the black market. Now on the other side of the bars, if she wants to escape, Nita must ask herself if she’s willing to become the worst kind of monster.

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer is a fantastic debut YA fantasy. I didn't know quite what to expect going into this aside from that blurb, but I'm glad I went in nearly blind. It was such a pleasant, refreshing, and unique surprise. Well, when I say that I mean it was intense and bloody and I totally need more. I loved that it's fast-paced and had me on the edge of my seat throughout - I wasn't sure at any point how exactly everything was going to work out. The cast of complex characters, regardless of their species, are fascinating to follow, especially Nita's journey. Her growth as a character is amazing to watch. While I could describe this gritty fantasy as a bit of a slasher story, it also works as an intriguing examination of what it means to be human or monster and how our choices reflect our humanity or lack thereof. Finally, I'd also like to mention the world-building - there isn't a lot in regards to why and how the world is the way it is, but it is still suitably dark and vivid.

Overall, Not Even Bones by Rebecca Shaeffer is a darkly unique debut YA fantasy with a dash of horror. While the world-building was a little underwhelming for me, it makes up for it with it's fabulous character development. You may like this novel if you enjoy Dexter, Stalking Jack the Ripper, and bloody and slightly deranged fantasy. I know I'll be back for the sequel and future projects from this author. Thanks again, NetGalley!

I hesitate to even call this a review, since it's much more of an explanation why this book isn't for me than a comprehensive look at what could have been better. Let me just start with a huge disclaimer: I only read the first two chapters of this book.

That's way less of a chance than I usually give a book, and certainly a lot less than I typically give a book for review. But since the opening lines, I just got a bad feeling while reading this.

The story focuses on Nita, a Latina girl who essentially helps her mother dissect demons and sell their body parts on the internet. Except these supernatural creatures come in human form, so Nita's dissections are much more gruesome to imagine.

I'm really not a person to shy away from blood in a book, and the descriptions in Not Even Bones (at least in the beginning) aren't nearly as graphic as the ones you might read in Stalking Jack the Ripper or crossover fantasy novels. What really turned me off of this book was the callous and almost comical disregard for human (or I guess, not-so-human) life.

The story starts with Nina's mother bringing home a living boy for dissection, but she oh-so-nonchalantly goes into detail about all the different organs and limbs they need to harvest while he's still alive. It was just...too much for me. Truly, the idea of cutting up a live boy is awful. I can deal with human abuse or violence when it's written in a reverent or very purposeful manner, but there almost seemed be a layer of sardonic irony behind all the gore in this book. I think some people may get a kick out of it, especially if you're someone that likes cheesy horror movies, since this seemed to run in a Halloween-y vein.

Trigger Warnings for Blood/Gore/Dismemberment:
"Her mother tapped her finger to her chin. 'The only problem is, his pieces need to be fresh - well, as fresh as we can get them. So we'll sell all the extremities first, as they're ordered. He should be able to survive without those, and we can bottle the blood when we remove them and sell it as well. We'll do the internal organs and such later, once we've spread the word. Shouldn't take long.'"

This story is also the type where the main character learns how morally wrong they were and eventually corrects whatever offensive behavior or belief they had, but not before the reader has to witness such atrocities a few times. I do think these kinds of stories are important, but more often than not I find myself disliking them. So even if it weren't for the weird gore, I don't think this book would be for me.

After reading two chapters where all I wanted was to simultaneously crawl out of my own skin and clench my eyes shut, I didn't see a point in continuing. There are too many books and not nearly enough time to read ones that don't grab me from the start. I think if you enjoy kitschy humor or exaggerated gore/violence, you might like this book.

A Girl and Her Science Lab

In Not Even Bones, Nita has spent her whole life working with her parents, who hunt and kill ‘supernatural’ types in order to sell their body parts on the black market. It’s a job she’s had for a goodly portion of her life, and she’s found many mental tricks and justifications in order to reconcile the things she does with her personal morals. But one day, her mother brings home a living supernatural and asks Nita to perform a vivisection, which even Nita can’t justify to herself. She helps the boy escape, and quickly after that finds herself kidnapped and sent to a black market herself.

Nita has to figure out how to escape her new prison, and she befriends one of her captors to get it done. Together Nita and (boy) must figure out how to best the people who run the black market town while still deeply mistrusting each other.

The Characters and Their Mores Made This Book
Every single character in this book is both morally compromised and deeply interesting to me. I loved the various ways that they all interplayed with each other, the nuances in their interactions that only revealed themselves as the novel went on. Granted, those nuances aren’t healthy most of the time, but each time I thought something was ‘fucked up just for the sake of it,’ further reading would prove me…well, only half right.

Nita herself really carries this novel, and I loved the way her mind worked. I loved seeing her float back and forth when it came to her morals, seeing her struggle with what she knew was right, what she had to do, and what she wanted to do. I don’t know that I would necessarily classify her as a ‘bad’ or villainous character, though. It’s pretty clear that lot of her decisions are made out of necessity, either because of the circumstances she was raised in or her need for escape/survival. In a different set of circumstances, but relative to everything going on in this books she’s downright normal. The only thing slightly ‘fucked up’ about her is her love of dissection, but it’s presented so clinically and naturally in her narration that I found myself completely unbothered and even kind of enthused by it. (She’s just a scientist! It’s fine! Really! I’m not fucked up myself, I swear.)

Of course, there’s plenty of other villains to pick from, some of whom have complex or mysterious motivations, and some of whom are just plain villains but at least really fun ones.

The Value of Small-Scale World-Building
Not Even Bones is a great example of what I like to call small-scale worldbuilding. It’s an alternate reality where there’s a variety of supernatural creatures on this earth, all of whom have special abilities but look completely human from the outside. Their body parts also have unique qualities when ingested, hence the thriving black market for them. For instance, unicorn bones are a highly addictive, hallucinogenic drug. Creepy and awesome.

Now, we don’t really get a lot of information about this alternate version of reality. There’s mention of an international agency (ala INTERPOL) that’s set up to monitor and/or protect these people, but the only details we get are those relevant to Nita, her family’s business, and the black market she finds herself in. Similarly, the only location we learn much about is this tiny, purpose-built town in a jungle that provides the black market with a literal, physical market. We know nothing else about the world or how supernaturals affect it.

And…cool. I love it. We don’t need to learn anything else. There are times when threadbare worldbuilding is a detriment to a novel, but those times are usually when the novel is epic in its theme but the world doesn’t keep pace. Not Even Bones is almost claustrophobic with its plot, intentionally so, and therefore the scope of the worldbuilding fits it perfectly. But of course, it’s also perfect due to the fact that all of the details we get feel like they’re part of a larger whole, like once we learn more everything will still fit together. It’s delivered naturally and no part of what we know contradicts another part. It’s really beautifully done, I think.

Some Random Other Cool Things

I love the way Nita’s self-healing/self-changing powers are described and the way she uses them within the limitations presented. I especially loved that her powers are also connected to her scientific interest, that the more she learned about biology the more she was able to understand and control her own biology. It was a very nice touch.
I was nervous about the introduction of a romantic angle, considering all the fuckedupness and quasi-villainous morals going on, but it didn’t end up being a strong focus of the story. It was done with a delicate touch and was mostly just laying groundwork, to the point that I think I could really get into it if the romance was a bigger feature in later books.
THAT ENDING. Okay, I should just leave that comment as is, but still. GOOD EXAMPLE OF A CLIFFHANGER AND ALSO THANKS, I HATE IT, but for all the right reasons.


My Thoughts Overall
I loved this book and thought it handled a lot of hard-to-do meta concepts really well, and I want to snuggle the main character and protect her forever but seeing her get into fucked up shit is too much fun. Sorry, Nita.

Will I read this author again? You betcha
Will I continue this series? Can’t wait for it!

More Reviews for Not Even Bones
It Starts At Midnight - Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer: Delightfully Disturbing
The Winged Pen - Recommended: NOT EVEN BONES by Rebecca Schaeffer
The Bookish Actress - Dexter Meets This Savage Song, aka Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

Note: I received this copy from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. The price of the book and its origin in no way affected my stated opinions.

I truly wish I loved this book more! I feel like the description was made for me. Anything that’s compared to Dexter gets my vote. But this was such a huge disappointment for me. As the synopsis says, Nita dissects bodies of “unnaturals” for her mother to sell on the black market. But after a betrayal, she becomes a victim herself; locked away in a cell and tortured.

To be honest this book gave me major Hostel vibes. There are characters that feel a high from inflicting pain on others, and some take pleasure in dismembering and eating people. Y’all, I’m usually a huge fan of serial-killer-thrillers but the graphic nature of these torture scenes felt really weird. Like some of it felt really pointless and just dragged the story on and on…

And once the story is set in motion, everything just kept going around in circles. I felt there was zero resolution, a lack of world building and character development, and Nita was such an idiot.

However, here is my biggest praise for this book: There is a Thai main character. If you know me then you’ll know that I am Thai, and I have NEVER read a single YA book where there is a Thai character. So I was literally jumping for joy and tweeting about it when I was introduced to Kovit. Not only is he Thai but he also tells us the creepy story about the krasue, a Thai folk tale involving a female monster that’s nothing more than a floating disembodied head with its spine and intestines still attached. Yes, that’s right, MY OWN GRANDMOTHER used to tell me that a krasue would come take me away if I didn’t fall asleep right away. HOW are you supposed to sleep after knowing about THAT THING!?

Okay, but seriously, I really did like Kovit a lot. He was the type of unapologetic, morally grey character I like in a horror/fantasy stories. I just wasn’t a fan of Nita or, really, the entire plot. But major props to Rebecca Schaeffer for including such diverse characters!

Another thing is that I didn’t realize this was going to be a series (this is entirely my fault.) Imagine my dismay when I reached the 90% mark to discover literally nothing has happened and NOTHING was resolved. Oh, you want any sort of resolution and answers? Gotta wait for the next book. Which I do not plant to read. Bummer.

I’m sorry I didn’t love this more, and I hope my negativity didn’t ruin this for you. If you’re okay with gore/torture scenes then this may be a good read for Halloween. I just wish the story had more depth and world building to it, and overall it needed way more things to happen to keep the story moving forward to justify a sequel.

Holy fluffers this was bloody fantastic. Welcome to the dark side of YA. If you are looking for morally ambiguous characters look no further. This book is filled with them. The book follows our protagonist Nita who lives in world where supernatural beings exist and live amongst humans and generally look exactly like us. Her mother carves out a living hunting and killing the supernatural being and has Nita dissect and harvest the body parts to sell on the dark web. By a turn of events Nita is now being sold herself into the black market of illegal supernatural harvesting.

Nita is definitely a morally gray character she is the epitome of an antihero. She doesn't put her own life above others and will cheat, lie and backstab to ensure her own survival. Which you don't see in YA these days. As so many seem to take the high road and help everyone they see. I'm not saying she`s a complete monster she does have lines she will not cross like killing someone. The book highlights personal morals and not societies morals, as in what an individual will draw the line not where society puts the line. I also really enjoyed the setting which takes place in Peru and has a majority POC cast of characters. The love interest is also well developed and there is no instant attraction here. The book also doesn't shy away from how dark it can be it just gets darker and I am so glad the author did that in the teen section I believe teens can handle this. The twists that just kept happening kept the pace steady and engaging and I didn't see one of those twists coming and I am still in awe. <Spoiler> this does have a cliff hanger which I was not expecting as I thought this book could be read as a standalone grr..

Overall this is a disturbing piece of a gem that questions ethics, morals and touches on the supremely dark side of human nature or lack there of. And recommend it to anyone looking for morally gray characters and doesn't mind a bit of blood and mutilation in there urban paranormal reads. Cannot recommend this enough.

4 stars

I am mad. That ending!!! I need the next book now.

This was surprisingly such an enjoyable read. None of these characters were likeable, this was a mish mash of all the bad characters trying to get out of an even worse predicament. And somehow you get hooked to see if/how they do it. If anyone knows me, knows I always root for the goodie goodies and then most honorable people but this book really swayed me to the dark side.

The story follows Nita, a cold calculating scientist, who dissects unnaturals (supernatural creatures) that her hitman mother brings in to sell to the black market for their body parts. Nita gets surprised one day when her mother brings her a live unnatural and tells Nita to cut him up. The rest of the story are consequences of how she chooses to react to her mother's demands.

I am docking a full star because I felt like this story was a prologue of a much larger story. There were sections in the middle that seemed out of place and dragged on a bit. I wish there was more plot overall but it just seemed like there is so much more that we need to find out about in this story-that's why the ending was torturous. We met such interesting characters and were introduced to such cool concepts but it didn't feel fleshed out. I am sure there is way more to come in future books but the wait is going to kill me.

Overall, read this for a supernatural Dexter-meets-My Savage Song escape story and if you are looking for a strong characters who are very morally questionable.

I love a dark book. Sometimes, books that are advertised as "dark" don't end up being such. Worry not, because Not Even Bones absolutely delivers on all promises of being messed up, while still managing to tell an intriguing story. I have seen some reviews that mention trigger warnings but... I wouldn't even know where to start, so I'll just say this: 'tis not for the squeamish among you. So why don't we talk about what I enjoyed about this one!

The aforementioned disturbing fuckery. Oh how I love a book that makes me wonder how an author can come up with such depravity! I mean, when a book starts with a teenager prepping for an autopsy on her kitchen table, you know you're in for some shenanigans. And it truly is just the tip of the iceberg!

How did I end up loving these characters with very questionable (if any) morality? I don't know, but I did. Nita was making all kinds of messed up choices based on self-preservation (or even, in the case of the dissections, pure morbid fascination), and sometimes she'd make me mad but then... nope. I liked her. I somehow liked a person who needs a scalpel in hand to relax. And then. Then I started to like one of the "bad" guys, and maybe I too am a terrible person, who can tell? In seriousness, I think that was kind of the point- that even though the main characters certainly aren't "good guys"... well, maybe there are no good guys. (You're welcome for sneaking that The 100 reference in.)

Not everyone is... strictly human. There are all kinds of hybrid creatures- human passing, for the most part, but with some sort of supernatural ability or quirk. And because humanity as a whole is pretty horrible, people will pay a ton of money for umm bits and pieces of said supernatural beings. Hence the whole "dissection and sales" portion of the book. Even more, a lot of the supernatural creatures are loathed- and not just the ones with violent tendencies. It certainly brings up the very relevant real world question: why are many people so intolerant of anyone who's "different"?

The story had me on the edge of my seat! I had no idea how this was going to turn out, really. I didn't know at the time that there would be a sequel, and I am so happy that there will be. The story is non-stop excitement, even in the calmer, more character-driven moments.

Speaking of character-driven moments, Nita (and even some of the other characters) went through some great development during the story. Nita was forced to do a whole lot of self-reflecting during the course of the book, and she had to come face to face with some things she might not have loved to acknowledge about herself. But she also found some strength and awareness she didn't know she had, too. The character growth was pretty fabulous.

Will I Read the Sequel: Oh yes yes definitely, I will take it now please and thank you. (Nevermind the fact that it's probably as yet unwritten.)

Bottom Line: So wonderfully, completely demented, yet somehow managing to make me care for the equally maladjusted characters, this book definitely lived up to its premise!

4.5 stars

This book is FANTASTIC! It’s fresh, it’s exciting, it’s got all the nitty gritty plus a morally questionable protagonist.

I loved reading it just for how different it is compared to traditional YA. It was darkly fascinating and was kind of like a train wreck you can’t help but watch. (Except that this book is the furthest thing from a train wreck.)

It’s got a lot of dark characters, and basically nobody in this story is a completely good person. They’ve all led to one person or another’s death, and it’s really horrifying, when you actually think about it. But some murderers (or murderer adjacent people) are better than others, and that’s who we end up rooting for throughout the novel.

I loved Nita’s character. Even though she’s not a great person (*cough*SHE DISSECTS MONSTERS FOR THE BLACK MARKET*cough*), I loved reading a protagonist who has a passion for science and is willing to question how far she’ll go. And her narration and how it incorporated healing the body and the specifics of clotting blood or sharpening vision or building muscles etc. was really cool and not at all like the much more awkward narration in Heart of Thorns where the narrator’s science talk was…less believable.

The sort of paranormal abilities monsters (flesh eating, organ eating, pain eating, self-healing, glowing, vampires, chupacabras, unicorns, and everything under the sun) have were cool to read about, but not overwhelming.

I mean, the world is built really well in my opinion, because you’re introduced to all sorts of monsters and knowledge about how the world works in the book, but it’s all integrated in a way that never feels like an infodump or just being thrust into a bunch of words that you don’t really know what they mean.

The monsters were just so interesting and I love how Schaeffer incorporated monsters from multiple cultures and also thought about how the world would react to monsters’ existence, and what she ended up doing made a lot of sense.

There were only a few things that I wasn’t so keen on, but I also feel like they’ll be addressed more in the sequel, because this is just book 1. Nita’s story is far from over, and there are still quite a few loose ends around (PLUS THAT CLIFFHANGER–OMG).

I guess I just wish Nita’s morals were explored a little more, but she also has character development to go through in the next book! Even though she did learn about drawing the line and deciding where her morals lie, I did feel like she could have just learned more and understood more.

And I just thought that the writing could have been more emotive and more horrifying for the reader–more shocking in a way. I mean, when you look at what’s happening–Nita being taken and sold on the black market, potentially for people to chop off her body parts and eat her–it’s a really really really scary situation.

I would be freaking my mind out if I was ever in a position like that, and so I thought the novel didn’t portray the horror of the situation quite accurately? It just felt like it was all well and good because that’s just how the world works.

But I also understand how this is basically all Nita has ever known, and writing the book in third person limited for Nita both made us fit into her POV of this not being that horrifying, and also just distanced us a little, because that’s what third person does.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and found it to be a fresh, gruesome tale that YA readers will love. I definitely recommend to fans of This Savage Song, although this novel remains very distinct in its own way. But also, monsterssss.

Everything about this book — from the cover to the tag line — seems like it’s for me. Sadly I was quite disappointed.

I liked Nita well enough. She didn’t come across as developed and I found it sort of hard to root for her {excluding the captivity part} because I wasn’t invested in her story. My favorite character was Kovit and I did like the interactions between him and Nita.

Plot wise, it was sort of meh. There isn’t any sort of world building or explanation for the hows and whys. The relationships were all very shallow and lacking background. I see that it’s not a stand alone, which is what I expected going in, but I don’t think that makes up for the lack of information.

Overall, it was an amazing idea with an intriguing ending, but the execution wasn’t for me. I’m not sure if I will be giving the next book a try.

**Huge thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing the arc free of charge**

*eARC kindly provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group via NetGalley*

I LIIIIIKED this! I'm always a fan of dark, fucked-up books with dark, fucked-up characters, especially if moral ambiguity is a huge part of the story. But I did get bored sometimes; it was SO slow, and there was quite a lot of repetition. If I had to hear how "Nita let out a breath" one more time, I was gonna lose it. haha. (Of course, I read an eARC, so I'm really hoping many of those lines or similar ones were cut out in the final version!). I did like her character, though, and the tentative friendship she formed with Kovit, a zannie who becomes her reluctant ally. And I liked the dissections (ha) of what it means to be a monster and how multifaceted everyone is. I can see why people are loving this book; it's definitely good. I just wasn't the biggest fan, though I'm interested in the sequel, especially after that ending!

Rating: 3.5 stars

Not for the faint of heart, this gritty, spine-chilling, intense, and violent read is for fans of thrillers such as Michael Crichton, Stephen King, and Dexter. Part of this well-written story were almost a little too much for me to read.

Nita lives for dissecting the “Unnaturals” so her mother could sell those parts in the black market. That is until the day her mother brings her a live boy to dissect. This causes her to question everything she ever believe about “Unnaturals.” Not Even Bones is one twisted book. No one in this book, including Nita, could be considered a "good" person. So anyone who is looking for likable characters, this book is not for you. However, if you are looking for a book which looks at the lines between "good" and "evil" then this book has plenty for you. While the characters are morally ambiguous you do understand why they act in the manner they do. Schaeffer builds a world where vampires, unicorns, zannies, etc. are real and there's nothing magical about any of them. This book classified as a "fantasy" or "urban fantasy" but "science fiction" may be a more accurate description as there are a lot of biological explanations of unnatural abilities and anatomy. Of course a book about dissection there is lots of blood, so this book is not for the squeamish. Alongside its examination of morality, this book also looks at the consequences of labeling people and it affects one's self-worth. Ultimately Not Even Bones are for those who are looking for a bloody twist on how the world deals with those who are considered different.