A beautiful and poetic story from the wonderful David Almond.

I loved the setting, and found it so atmospheric. I secretly hoped for it to twist in a spooky Wicker-Man-ish way, but this isn't the genre, and I was very satified by the descriptions of beautiful nature and how we are all so intertwined with it, and owe our lives to nature.

This is David Almond at his best. Emotional, moving and exciting with the hint of the supernatural drawing you through a beautifully realised world.

I received this book from NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Group in exchange for an honest review. I have given Bone Music by David Almond three out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have now read two books by David Almond and can easily say that his writing is so poetic and whimsical, I really like the flow and style . However, I tend to get a little too caught up and carried away with his style that I find myself having to re-read certain parts of the book because I didn’t take in the last page or two prior.

David Almond’s writing is definitely my favourite part when reading his books, I remember pointing this out when I read his book called: The Colour of the Sun. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel a connection with any of his characters in this book and I find that’s always a key part of enjoying a book which is why I have only given this book three stars.

This was a fast, magical read which I enjoyed devouring on a cosy Sunday and hope that whoever picks this book up enjoys it too.

City girl Sylvia is transplanted from Newcastle to the wilds of Northumberland to a small, tight-knit community and no WiFi. She feels a compelling connection to local boy, Gabriel and together they explore the forest and how they are connected to nature and the deep past.

A beautiful, haunting story that touches your soul.

As ever, remarkable, lyrical writing that brings both the characters and the world around them to life. I've not enjoyed many of Almond's recent books as much as his earlier work but this was a wonderful read. Sylvia's character was well drawn as were the others, and her self discovery in the wilds of Kielder were vivid. Music is woven through the story as is our need to reconnect both with the natural world around us but also our ancient past and it all comes together with her renewed confidence and hope for the power of youth to transform their futures.

Sylvia and her mum has moved into wild Northumberland from Newcastle and she feels so lost.

A night she hears some strange music and needs to work out where is comes from.

Sylvia meets Gabriel who introduces her to the world around her and how the past can affect the present. Sylvia is drawn in to the past and reconnects and discovers who she is.

A thoughtful book looking at how we can interact with nature and how the past and present is conntected.

Bone Music is a gentle book that examines the relationship that we have with nature. Given the 'opportunity' to be removed from the connectiveness of her everyday life, Sylvia gradually begins to appreciate the beauty of the natural world around her, eventually experiencing a belonging to the greater environment. Very much in response to the environmental messaging of activists like Greta Thunberg, Almond delicately exposes his narrator to a different way of being remote from the demands of friends, WIFI and social activities. Sylvia grows in confidence as she experiences a new found strength from the supporting wilderness that bolsters her for a return to the bustle of her city reality. Bone Music is a quick read but the imagery, sense of place and echoes of past generations will linger softly like the melody of the bone flute.

Sylvia Carr moves with her mother from Newcastle for a break in a small village in the fells. At first she is resentful and bored and frustrated that she can’t get a decent mobile signal to talk to her friends. Then she meets attractive local boy Gabriel who takes her to a music evening at the local pub.

So far, so normal. But you don’t read a book by David Almond expecting normal. You read for the sense that what seems to be reality may not be all that is there, for the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up when a hand slips into Sylvia’s on the fells in the dark. You read for lyrical prose that sweeps you out into the Northumberland countryside at night and for swirling stone patterns that connect with the past.

There is a gentle start to a romance with Gabriel but their main interest is creating a musical instrument from a hollow bone using Stone Age tools.

Through bone and stone, fell and forest and the music they draw out of her, Sylvia connects on a far deeper level with the world and the people of the past. When she returns to the city she feels alive in a new way, braver and ready to take on her part in changing the world.

I hope young people like Sylvia can do that, and that books like this will encourage them to make their own journeys of discovery. Bone Music is beautiful, poetic and full of joy, a book to stir thought and action.

David Almond has such a way with words and continues to cast all kinds of spells on this new book. So touching, do easy and a good comfort read.

David Almond’s latest YA fiction Bone Music is immediate and atmospheric. Set on the fells of Northumberland, it is brimming with folk tradition, community and the sprawling openness of the land. Sylvia Carr finds herself in this barely populated place when her mum decides they need a break from the city. Sylvia doesn’t want to be there – she’s very clear about that – away from her friends, her life and even any decent phone signal. But with time, the archaic wonder of this natural place begins to seep into her bones, and on the subject of bones, did you know it was possible to make music from the hollow bone of an animal? Sylvia discovers this amongst many of nature’s other gifts, with the help of local boy, Gabriel who also makes her brief visit a little more appealing.

The writing pulls you in with ease – brief sentences that immediately place you within the action that carries us along at a nice canter. It expertly captures the sights and the sounds, painting the world Sylvia inhabits – the mysterious boys seeking to befriend her, the vast empty landscape waiting to be embraced, the natural beauty and freedom, and Sylvia, in the midst of it all, slowly coming around to the idea that perhaps she’s not trapped here, she’s free.

It is full of mystery and there is some beautiful sentiment at play – about nature, time and the imprint of former communities upon the land. It begins with such potential, although I’m not sure this potential is fully realised. It felt very situational, with a sense that some wonderful stories could play out in this setting, but what we see is Sylvia interacting and warming to the land, even having some quite surreal experiences, but ultimately it lacks the sense of a building plot and climax. Even Sylvia’s character arc didn’t quite sit right for me.

However, I tried really hard to appreciate this short novel for what it did offer – we don’t always need our reading to be fast-paced and dramatic. So to reiterate, this is a really intriguing, easy read. It’s delicate like the hollow bone of the title, the setting really comes alive on the page and the writing is immediate, at times lyrical. It’s really lovely to see and feel the rugged fells and the northern landscape unfurl. The folk tradition is really strong – it reminded me of the folk song/story ‘Cruel Sister’ with all its talk of bone instruments.

I’m not the target audience although I do wonder if the characters will successfully capture its YA audience. I hope it does because the novel offers some lovely exploration of what it is to connect with the old – the ancient and natural, the mistakes and lessons – to strengthen ourselves. And how this strength, combined with the hope and possibility of youth, can be a powerful thing. That’s a wonderful concept to explore.

Overall, this is a short, easy read with a beautiful message.

I really loved this. It was so lyrical, beautiful, and captured the magic of nature and the wonder of children. It was definitely a breath of fresh air from other stories I have read and I really liked the central focus of the novel. Normally shorter books aren’t for me as I don’t feel that they are developed enough, however, that was not the case with this one. Everything that was written felt right and it also managed to discuss difficult topics without it seeming as if they had only been brushed upon. It was so atmospheric and I too felt like I was escaping away from the city to a serene forest environment.

I really did enjoy so many aspects of this story and I could see myself picking it up again in the future. I would say that the plot wasn’t as dramatic as it could have been - I think there could have been a few more things to pick up the storyline. However, it was a fast, fun read that was such an escape from the real world and I would definitely recommend it.

This is a beautiful book. It follows teenage Sylvia as she moves from her busy life in Newcastle (involving protests - of the environmental kind) and further away from her war photographer father. At first when she reaches the countryside all she can think of a dodgy mobile phone connection and missing her friends. She finds the village very alien ,until she is dragged into the community by young Colin and then meets his brother Gabriel and starts to integrate into the village. What is the strange music that she hears at night? What is the meaning of the spiral carvings on the stones, what is it really like in the forest that she at first can only relate to fairytales?

She then becomes intimately connected, through the "bone music" to the forest and its deep past , connecting to Nature/ the environment in a wholly different way.
Like all Almond books there is a lyricism and an extraordinary power to the writing. He really is a special author who transcends categorisation.. This is the sort of book which lives on long in the imagination.

David Almond is a well-known author who's written Skellig. Having read his previous work, I expected more from his new book 'Bone Music'.

Synopsis: Sylvia, on holiday with her mum just outside of Newcastle, is unhappy with her mum's remote location of choice. Trying to keep her social standing with her peers at a distance, Sylvia feels lonely and out of sorts. Yet, something beckons her in the woods that surrounds this town. Join Sylvia, as she discovers herself, with a little help from her new friend Gabriel.

Similar to the author's previous works, the book is very descriptive and provides a lot of detail on the nature around Northumberland. Unfortunately, the writing style feels short, abrupt and does not flow well. The novel does have a good initial poetic grasp, but quickly devolves into a patchy work, I think my main gripe is that although the book makes a solid effort to make reference to ancient forces, customs and connections to wilderness, it does so without much depth. Sylvia's reflections feel authentic and this is a shining moment for the novel, but the incessant use of the word 'bliddy' detracts considering the character's age.

The Verdict: Despite my best efforts to persevere, I only managed to force myself to read 40% of this book. I really wanted to like this novel; however, the substance fell short and it just did not hold my attention. I'm not sure many of my students would enjoy this book, so I'd be hesitant to recommend it.

Bone Music, David Almond

The premise of this story is beautiful - a city teen, on a break out of the city to her mother’s childhood Northumberland home experiences a ‘rewilding’, coming to appreciate the rhythms and magic of nature and developing a profound awareness of the fluidity and continuity of life on this planet. I so wanted to love it - in parts, I did - but there was a jarring oddness about the whole story that massively stemmed its potential.
I didn’t feel connected to the main characters or their situation and Sylvia, the teen protagonist at the heart of the tale, lacked any depth at all. Some of her thoughts and actions didn’t sit with the skeletal character frame offered, making her journey shallow and unconvincing.
Equally, the setting fell short, which was a huge misfortune as this really did feel pivotal to the rewilding narrative. In parts, having failed to offer enough description for setting or character, the narrative then became overly descriptive, with weird and lengthy ‘spiritual’ experiences being relayed. They may have worked within a more secure narrative structure, but the whole tale ended up being weirdly distorted and truncated - both the introductory and ending elements offered not nearly enough to draw out what should have been a rich and evocative tale and message. I was just…. disappointed.
Oh, and the use of ‘bliddy’. What the bliddy heck was the bliddy author thinking when they bliddy used the word bliddy fifty thousand bliddy times in the first few bliddy chapters? She’s a teen - she either swears or she doesn’t. And this excessive use of bliddy added nothing to character or narrative, it just irritated and distracted from the already weak opening, making it feel like someone who’d never met a teen was trying to be one.
I feel mean tearing at the book like this, but to see a narrative which should have been beyond delightful and completely in my area of interest be so poorly executed is frustrating to say the least. I’d like to say that perhaps the younger readers for whom it is intended would be more forgiving, but I’m not convinced. Sorry.

Bone Music is a jam-packed story in an unbelievable 208 pages. Sylvia's parents are having problems, so her mam decides they need a break from the city while her dad is abroad. Village life seems pretty quiet compared to the bustle of Newcastle, but the lack of a TV, Wi-Fi or a reliable mobile signal all contribute to the sense of tranquility that wraps around them. Sylvia makes new friends, explores the forest and begins to rewild herself as she connects to a girl very much like herself but who lived there many generations before. Bone Music is a delightful, gentle read, packed with fascinating minor characters like Andreas and Gabriel who help build the sense of otherness in this wild remote place.

David Almond’s writing never fails to move me. I am transported back to the Northumberland fells - along with Sylvia who has reluctantly accompanied her Mother who wanted to get away from the worries over her job. Away from friends, with no phone signal, Sylvia feels the different lifestyle to her busy city life. But she slowly becomes immersed in the landscape and its people. “It’s no good rewilding the world if we don’t rewild ourselves” and Sylvia does just that.
Meeting Andreas, a 95 year old ex prisoner of war who was equally drawn to the environment, he now explores the earth to uncover flints from thousands of years ago.
Sylvia also meets Gabriel, her own age, who plays music on a bone flute. Together they ramble over the countryside and discover a decaying buzzard from which they extract the wing and then a bone for Sylvia to make into an instrument.
Almond always connects nature and man and with music thrown in, this book is perfect to demonstrate that the past has a lot to teach us and that there is hope and the young can change and save the planet.

"It's no good rewilding the world , if we do not rewild ourselves."
Sylvia has been brought from her city home in Newcastle to the vast, never-ending landscapes and skies of rural Northumberland for a break. She feels cut off, isolated and, in a strange way, enclosed by the depth of seemingly endless darkness that first night.

She then meets enigmatic Gabriel, who shows her the countryside and links to the past. Their walks and talks enable Sylvia to look within herself and within the landscape for connections to the past, her past, the past of the landscape and nature. This is deepened by her making of an ancient musical instrument from the wing bone of a buzzard.

Sylvia is concerned about humans and the destruction they bring to the planet. By embracing her surroundings, the history, the music and the people, by letting herself get lost in them, she finds her true self as well as hope and light, which gives her a deep, deep sense of belonging and courage to fight for the future.

David Almond is a master wordsmith, painting stunning images in the reader's head. His prose is poetic, lyrical. It evokes the infinite landscape and skies of Northumberland, the musicality of nature and the wilderness through time.

As I read this, I could not help but reference the words and images of The Dam (2019, David Almond, illustrated by Levi Pinfold), which has the same modern/ancient, music/ghostly themes. The flooded village is later mentioned in Bone Music, the lake now part of the natural, ever changing but constant landscape.

The themes of humans verses the environment, ancient verses modern, light versus dark, destruction versus creation are deep. Sylvia's journey to Northumberland and inside herself provide hope, light and music that will strengthen and heal.

Whilst Sylvia is the main character, for me the landscape and music are the unconventional stars of this story.

The cover design, by David Litchfield, is hauntingly beautiful. It encapsulated so much of the meaning in this story.