Firstly, dark content warning obviously. You’re probably already aware of what you’re getting into when you purchase this book, but please make sure you’re in a good headspace before tackling this masterpiece. This is a heavy read.

Honestly I tend to stray away from darker books because I am a good vibe reader, but I was very intrigued by the blurb and I felt like I had to try this one out. I am so glad I did. This was a well written and very nuanced book. I read it all in one sitting, that’s how good I found it.

The relationships in this book were very dynamic. The relationship between Alexey and Dimitri? CHILLS. Vasily and Dimitri? Soooo heartwarming and it kept me going. The found family vibes? OBSESSED. The side characters I lived for.

The first half of the book was hard for me to get through at first, but it wasn’t any fault of the author or writing, I’m just a little sensitive and it was very angsty. The portrayal of Dimitri and just how much he was suffering was written very realistically and I just wanted to wrap him up in my arms and tell him everything was going to be okay. Thank god for his found family. I’m glad they were able to pick him up by the bootstraps and get him to keep on keeping on.

The plot was very well written and engaging to me. As a plot girlie, I was very satisfied. The action sequences were fun, and that climax? Whew…I was on the edge of my SEAT. The cliffhanger? IM FERAL, I NEED THE NEXT BOOK SOON.

Overall, this was a knockout for me and I’m glad I pushed myself to read it. I would have missed out on an amazing read had I let my reservations stop me from checking this out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Canada for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Sins on Their Bones had absolutely fascinating characters and I really enjoyed the multiple POVs that we get. I love getting to be on both sides of a conflict and get into the head of the ‘bad guy’ to really understand their motives. Alexey was such a great villain, I was both captivated by his POV but also angered at his thoughts and actions (which made for great reading). Vasily and Dimitri were also great characters, they were really tested in the story and showed so much resilience. It is not a light story, and it’s definitely worth reading the CWs if you are concerned, it is a story of violence and resilience. Themes such as abusive relationships and trauma are explored throughout the story.

I really enjoyed the world building that Samotin created. I felt like I was transported into post war Novo-Svitsevo. I enjoyed that she drew inspiration from her Jewish heritage and experiences (the authors note is such an interesting read at the end, don’t skip it!). The pacing was also excellent, I found myself unable to put it down so I read it in two sittings despite the emotionally heavy content.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m really interested to see where the sequel in this duology goes plot wise. It felt like it could have been a standalone right until the end but I am really interested in finding out what comes next in this story. I have so many questions!

Thank you @netgalley & @penguinrandomca for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Sins on Their Bones is out on May 7th! If you’re looking for your next queer normative fantasy, let it be this one!

⭐4/5 stars⭐

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin is a multi-POV Queer Ashkenazi Jewish dark fantasy about moving on from toxic relationships and finding a partner who loves and respects you rather than wanting to control you. Dimitri was the Tzar of Noto-Svitsevo before his estranged husband, Alexey, took the throne from him. After a civil war that leaves Dimitri with only a few people from his court, he runs from Alexey and makes a plan with Vasily, his spymaster and lover, to invade Alexey’s court and bring the immortal down.

Laura R. Samotin doesn’t pull any punches when depicting Alexey’s obsession with Dimitri, his desire for control, and how far Alexey is willing to go to get Dimitri back. Alexey even takes Dimitri’s half-brother, Ivan, who looks remarkably like Dimitri, as his lover. When we’re inside Alexey’s head, we can see just how dangerous Alexey is and how much he doesn’t view Dimitri as his own person or as a partner no matter what he tells himself. He ‘molded’ Dimitri, he crossed Dimitri’s boundaries to make him how Alexey wanted him to be, and Alexey cannot let go.

The romance between Vasily and Dimitri is vastly different from the relationship between Alexey and Ivan and Alexey and Dimitri. Vasily doesn’t want to own or control or dominate Dimitri, but instead wants to love him exactly how he is. By the time the novel starts, Dimitri has had time to examine his marriage with Alexey and knows Alexey is not only bad for him but is bad for Ivan as well, but a part of him does still love Alexey. This was so realistic and really showed how complex abusive relationships can be because that love from the beginning of a relationship doesn’t just automatically go away once you realize someone is hurting you.

The worldbuilding is strongly rooted in Eastern European and Jewish traditions and folklore. There’s a bit of an Anastasia vibe with Dimitri’s story as the only surviving member of the royal family and him being on the run, but it’s not a retelling so much as a very loose reimagining. Samotin does include additional readings for people if they are interested in the ideas presented in the work and I love it when authors provide avenues that they trust and they think are useful to help their readers continue learning about real world experiences, cultures, and religions presented in fantasy.

I would recommend this to readers looking for Queer Jewish fantasy, fans of Anastasia retellings and reimaginings, and those looking for a fantasy exploring leaving toxic exes.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book early.
I was very excited to read this book based on the troupes, synopsis, and the beautiful cover art.
The first few pages did grasp my attention and was interesting; however; I struggled to connect with the characters/story and found myself skimming through the pages.
I wish we would have gotten more of a background to the events that occurred prior to this book. At times I felt lost.
I did DNF around the 30% mark as I felt lost to where I was and the lack of connection to the character/plot.
While I feel I am not the target audience for the story, I feel some readers may enjoy this debut novel. Congrats on the author on their debut novel, I’m excited to see how their career flourishes.

While I thought the premise of this book interesting, what I really wanted was the story of the rebellion. It started where I wanted the story to end. Like I wanted the story of how everything came apart. Not what we got instead. And there was almost too many characters.

This book was quite odd. I liked the writing and the story structure, but, as it often happens to me when reading multiple POVs, I wasn’t a fan of one of them, so I ended up skimming over some of those chapters. This story often got very gory and violent, and honestly, I thought it went on for too long. There was a whole lot of death and suffering. The worldbuilding felt kind of small though, so it was hard to care about all those hypothetical lives and the country the characters were trying to protect. Still, I think this book had a lot of quality, especially in the characters, and that it will be a sure 5 stars for a lot of people.

A story where the setting is the Jewish folklore where dark magic makes us immerse ourselves in a descriptive journey for the characters to make a great evolution.

A reading that presents us with an interwoven story that takes us to a the hard events that the characters go through.

The flashbacks immerse us to know better the whole picture of the protagonists, and in the present we focus on the points to lead to healing,plus the magic system is amazing.

It has been a good read even though dark fantasy is not very my type, it has been an experience that I enjoyed.

I recommend it if you don't mind this kind of setting.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

DNF around 15% due to accessibility issues with eARC format; the file would not work on my e-reader and the text in NetGalley Shelf app was way too small for me to read without difficulty. A Kindle format would have been appreciated here. What I did manage to read of the story was promising and I may pick this up after release.

The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin is a dark fantasy steeped in Jewish folklore

What I loved
- Unique magic
-well-done flashbacks
-excellent pacing
What didn't work for me?
A tad darker than I was prepared for going in please read trigger warnings on storygraph or provided by the publisher.
Who I recommend this title for

Dark fantasy lovers looking for a story that has a journey of healing and forgiveness at its core will find themselves at home in these pages.

Beautifully descriptive and evocative. Characters that come to life on the page as they struggle, grief, love, lose themslves and one another. Full of political intrigue, romance, folklore, and the best kind of world building.

The Sins on Their Bones was such a beautiful and heart breaking read. this book is inspired by Jewish folklore and i loved the way Laura weaved it into the story and world-building. it talks about abuse, trauma, and finding a way not only to forgive yourself but accepting forgiveness from others, it felt a lot like a healing journey. i would highly recommend checking the TWs before diving into this dark fantasy.
i really enjoyed Laura's writing style and found myself easily immersed in the story and i did enjoy the flashbacks and getting to learn more about the characters and the world itself as the magic system was so fascinating!
i am also a sucker for political intrigue and this definitely did not disappoint on that end and as much as i love my morally grey characters, i love how Laura made the villains just villains, and sometimes that's all you need because not everyone is redeemable.

this was such an emotional read and i found myself getting easily attached to the characters and the world that my heart ached for them at every turn.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC! CW: domestic and sexual violence, trauma, substance use, war.

This book had a really interesting concept, and I don't read or know much about Jewish lore so I was excited for that aspect. I thought it was important that the book showed an abusive relationship between two men, because this is not talked about much and men have unique experiences with DV. That said, I really wish that this part was own-voices and I thought the normalization of queerness in the book kind of prevented a deeper discussion of what that experience and healing means for a lot of people in real life. I also did not like the role of the "best friend" in repeating the sexual trauma of the MC because it was "what he needed." It just felt like trauma was a plot device.

Overall, the book felt repetitive and lacked depth in its characters, world-building and plot. It read like a sequel to a book that would have actually established deep relationships between the characters and relationships between the reader and the characters, but starting "in the aftermath" didn't work in this book in my opinion because the narration doesn't take the time to really show you why you should care. The first half of the book is just expository backstory and the political intrigue wasn't there for me. I didn't think there were enough visual details to feel engrossed in the actual plot whenever there was an actual scene written.

I also thought the relationships between a tsar and his political consort were very oddly intimate and tangled. It doesn't seem appropriate for the main relationship/emotions to be based on deep love and friendship with nothing else. The Jasmine Throne or Black Sun, for example, do a good job of exploring what love and friendships can look like in political alliances that are more nuanced and based on mutual respect and difficult choices--but this book seemed more like a group of teenage friends who we're supposed to believe are competent.

Not my usual type of read but I was decently happy with the story. It's got some heavy themes but the plot was good and made me rather emotional. There's a sense of forlorn nostalgia that permeates throughout that makes you long for a time you've never been in.

This was a bit too much for me. I love a good dark book, but it was too much.

That and the publisher made it so I couldn't read on my kindle. I struggle to read on my phone or laptop, so this format was really inaccessible and part of why I was unable to finish the book was because of this.

I was so excited for The Sins on Their Bones and my expectations were absolutely smashed through. Talk about a book which is the epitome of "all my enemies started off friends". It's about a person we love, who used to know us so well, who has this power to wound us, and who hurt us, wrapped up possession and toxicity in bows. The versions of us, of each other, that are gone. And these character dynamics ripped my soul out.

MESSY AND TOXIC RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS GALORE. I loved it. All the character vibes were immaculate. The POVs of all three main characters were really fun. At first, the pacing was a little slow when it came to the plot, but I easily fell in love with all of the characters and the vibes were perfect. Some themes got a bit repetitive, but honestly I was so 10000% committed and here for the entire ride.

When things ramped up, I simply could not put the book down. Can't wait to see what Samotin does next!

Sorry for anyone who loved this but this one is a 2.5 stars for me.

I am going to start this off by saying that I think that for people who this works for, it’ll be a great read. It’s dark, atmospheric and has an intriguing magic system. The actual writing skill in this book I think is good and the characters and found family vibes are well executed. Unfortunately, the core romantic relationships and dynamics were just so wildly and drastically off the mark for me and my tastes that I found myself not enjoying it.

I’ve seen some people struggle with the fact that this book essentially starts in the aftermath of the big war and Dimitri being usurped as Tzar and you don’t see it first hand. I actually didn’t mind this aspect that much. It was an interesting reading experience that provided a new spin on an otherwise not uncommon premise.

There’s been come comments that liken this to ‘Shadow and Bone’ but much darker and I can see where that comes from. Alexey does give some pretty serious Darkling vibes.







This starts to get a little spoilery but is mostly unveiled in the first 15-20% or so.

Where my issues and preferences come into my reading experience is in the core interpersonal relationships. You see the history of Alexey and Dimitri marrying initially for political reasons and then falling in love for real and the devastating emotional fall out following Alexeys betrayal and subsequent war.

Honestly, the focus was so heavily on how heart broken and still hung up on each other they were (throughout literally the whole book) that I thought the story was going to be about some sort of redemption and reconciliation arc (would have totally read and loved that story direction) and was shocked when I started to realise that it wasn’t the case at all. Things started going off the rails for me when (whilst still obviously dealing with being in love with the other) Alexey is carrying on a secret affair with Dimitri’s bastard half brother (whilst noting their physical similarities) and Dimitri is having a relationship with his friend and spy master, who’s chemistry I didn’t understand or really care for all that much (because it commences and is established before the book starts). I understand that it wasn’t on page infidelity, and really speaks to the complicated nature of toxic relationships, but I couldn’t escape that vibe and it left a bad taste for me. For someone who doesn’t care for love triangles, the love square was just not it. I’ve joked for ages that I hate love triangles cause I always pick the wrong option and this one continues to be no exception lol.

I am disappointed, cause when I first read about this I was anticipating this release and jumped on it when I had the chance. I do really think that there can be value here for the right person. That person is just not me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an opportunity to read and review this book.

This was an interesting reading experience. It's quite unique in its setting and the writing is beautiful. The characters are also very fleshed out for a short-ish book. However, the plot is oddly circular. At the end I felt like we ended up in the exact same place as we had started, so I was left feeling a bit disappointed.

I would absolutely read more from this author!

Dimitri was Tsar of Novo-Svitsevo but his husband, Alexey, led a coup against him and now he is in exile. Dimitri’s spy-master, Vasily, searches for a way to reinstate Dimitri as Tsar, but Alexey has used Holy Science to make himself immortal.

The book was a bit slow paced to start but got better as it went along. The quasi Russian world was interesting and I liked the way the author made being LGBTQ a normal, unquestioned thing in their society. I also liked the way she incorporated Jewish folklore and traditions into the story.

At first I had trouble connecting with the characters, but in the end I grew to care about Dimitri and Vasily and their relationship. Their path to happiness is filled with past trauma and the author does not sugar coat the darkness.

I found Alexey a bit of a one-note villain and did not enjoy the sections from his point of view. The author attempted to give him more of a backstory to explain his actions, but in the end, he was just pure evil that needed to be defeated.

This was a unique and interesting story. The world building was done well. I’d be interested to read more from the author.

This book is very well-written and the dark topics are handled with care. However, for me they're just a bit much. I don't think this one will be something I can finish, but that doesn't mean it isn't good! Definitely check the triggers before going in (they're all on the author's website, which I really appreciate)