My fellow horror fans - queer historical horror fans in particular - gather around! We’ve got a real treat waiting for us right here. I’ll be genuinely shocked if this book doesn’t end up among my top five reads of 2026 😳
And yet again, I can’t talk much about it because WOAH is everything a potential spoiler! This is a ride you want to take as blindly as possible, trust me.

The Melpomene tragedy began in 1852 when the ship embarked on the polar exploration of the Nunavut territory, in hopes of finding the lost Sir John Franklin expedition. Melpomene herself carried a crew of nearly fifty men. By the end, after a slew of events, only five survivors remained, rescued in 1854 and brought home to England.
Now, in 1860, a newsman Harry Lambert hungers for the real story of what happened to the men, after one of them was just hanged for a terrible crime. And where better to get the answers than Sidney Blakely, another survivor who now curiously holds seances, claiming he’s able to communicate with ghosts?
Harry Lambert wants nothing more than the truth he’s sure was hidden from the public.
He might just get exactly what he wished for.

What follows is a brutal tale of survival in ruthless conditions, ghosts and lost souls, and toxic codependence that will make your head spin and your heart pound. And let me tell you, this freaking book takes the concept of unreliable narrator to a new level!

The horror here lies mostly in the complete isolation of a lost ship trapped in the icy waters for months on end. Isolation not only from civilization, but warmth and light as well. Knowing the chances of survival are thinning with every creak of the ice hugging the ship. Watching the fellow crewmates either lose their minds one at a time, or accept there might just be something else prowling around, hungry yet unseen.

And I know some of you perked up like meerkats at the mention of “queer” but stand down for a bit - yes, it’s very queer. No, there isn’t romance. It’s tragic, shocking, devastating, utterly brilliant, but for the love of god don’t go in looking for a budding romantic relationship. You would end up either simply disappointed... or a bit traumatized.

Well, now I don’t know what to do with myself. I finished this book yesterday late at night, sacrificing sleep because there’s NO WAY I was gonna put it down for the last wild 20 percent, and I still feel shell-shocked and trapped inside the story.
I’m sat. Sat and ready for more by Dorian Ravenscroft, because they have my full trust with this masterpiece.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this arc.

“Actus me invito factus non est meus actus”

An incredibly stunning debut that transports you to the Arctic, The White North Has Thy Bones is an exquisitely written queer historical horror that you will devour! So much love and care has gone into the crafting of this story to fully immerse the reader in the isolation, the chill, the survival and the horror of a polar expedition in 1852.

London 1860, with a fascination with the survivors and the disaster of the HMS Melpomene - newspaper reporter Harry Lambert sets out to interview the remaining living crew of Melpomene after one of the few survivors is hanged for a horrendous crime.
Harry desires to know the full story, whatever that might take. Even toying with the idea that perhaps more came back from the arctic than just the surviving crew.

I fully encourage you to chuck on some ambience and immerse yourself in the beautifully crafted story that will chill you in more ways than one.
Absolutely blown away and prepare to never hear me shut up about this one! I will be recommending this to ANYONE and EVERYONE who will listen!

This was INCREDIBLE. The doomed gay polar expedition novel you didn't know was missing from your life. Full of haunting descriptions, unreliable narrators, horrible characters, and meat. Incredible. 10/10. New favourite. I need to go back and reread it. Immediately pre-ordered a copy. Might go and buy some pear drops, too.

The plot itself is gripping and tense in a way that made it impossible to put the book down. I could imagine the scenes so vividly. But what elevates it is the characters. Characters you love to hate, balanced with characters you are rooting for. Characters who are the worst but feel so, so, so human (but, like, are really the worst). Characters you are hoping will persevere even when you know their fates from the beginning of the novel.

The story is told through Harry Lambert, a newsman who is obsessed with the doomed Arctic voyage of the Melpomene. Harry has a Richard Papen quality to him, that gives the novel almost a Secret History-esque feel (...if The Secret History took place in 1850s/1860s London and involved survivors of an Arctic expedition instead of a Classical society at a New England arts university). Harry's desperation to insert himself in the narrative felt organic and compelling in its own right. And Harry's interviews with multiple surviving members of the expedition comprise the bulk of the story. It's in those accounts that we follow the two other POVs as the true events of the Melpomene disaster unfolds.

Oh and it's super gay. Capital 'Q' Queer. Messy gays. It's toxic yaoi at its finest. The 'oh-wow-I-hope-this-type-of-love-never-finds-me' kinda dynamics. Beautiful. Flawless. I ate it up.

I do not want to say anything that gives this story away, but if it wasn't obvious: 5 stars, thank you SO much to NetGalley and Raven Books for the ARC! I cannot wait to see what else Ravenscroft writes.

Wow. Just wow. I had to just sit and let this book absorb after finishing it. The story (stories) is (are) absolutely gripping. As soon as you think you have a handle on what is happening, there is a switchback that erases all of that! This book was an intense and chilling ride that will leaving you thinking.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Dark Matter by Michelle Paver and I am obsessed with stories set in that ethereal part of the world – the Arctic. I knew this book would be right up my street as soon as I read the premise. This is a chilling (no pun intended) and masterfully constructed debut by Dorian Ravenscroft.

The novel begins in a grim, atmospheric 1860 London. A crowd has gathered to witness the hanging of one of the five survivors from the HMS Melpomene, an Arctic exploration ship which surrendered to the pack ice of the Arctic while searching for the lost Franklin expedition. We very quickly learn that this man has brutally murdered his family, claiming that the act was done against his will.

Enter Harry Lambert, a deeply sceptical journalist obsessed with the Melpomene disaster. Harry is determined to find out what truly happened in the frozen wastes at the end of the Earth, and what drove one of the men to brutally murder his family once he had returned to England. This leads him to discover Sidney Blakely, another survivor and self-made leader of the expedition who has reinvented himself as a psychic medium – powers he claims were granted to him by the thin veil of the Arctic. Beside him is Lieutenant Taylor, another of the survivors and a conduit for the spirits brought forth by Blakely. As Harry finds himself dragged further and further into the mystery it becomes unclear which story is the reality – is it the supernatural tale or is it the tale of human monstrosity? Blakely’s tale is the standard heroic navy men enduring in a desolate place doing what they need to do to survive whereas Taylor’s tale tells of the ghosts of sailors lost to the frost, unspoken horrors of their encounters with the ghosts, meat obtained from mystery sources and huge beasts stalking the men across the ice.

The book switches between the Gothic atmosphere of Victorian London and the frozen isolation of the Arctic. I found myself glued to every page, getting further and further drawn in to Blakely’s and Taylor’s vastly different accounts of what happened once the Melpomene was lost to the ice.

The author’s prose oozes atmospheric tension – I found myself second guessing right up until the closing chapters of the book.
The book also does not pack its punches when it comes to the damage caused to the survivors – the men are utterly broken by the horrors they had to go through to survive the journey to safety. The men are bonded in ways no one could understand – the queer undertone is a breathtakingly different take on the romance of gothic horrors. Don’t expect to be championing any budding romances though – the relationships seem as damaged by the Arctic as everything else has been.

Overall, it is a haunting, original ghost story about complicated men who are ruined by the ice and by each other. Quite possibly one of my favourite books of the year and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC!

As usual when I absolutely love a book, I'm struggling to find things to say beyond repeating variations of "oh my gosh, amazing!" over and over again. I barely put this down, reading almost obsessively until I reached the end. The details and atmosphere of the polar landscape and the ship Melpomene are perfectly drawn here, and the interweaving web of narratives, motivations, and character interactions keep unfolding until everything you guessed was true is turned on it's head. 

Now, to be fair, The White North Has Thy Bones is a book absolutely made for me. I love polar exploration stories, and have read many books on the subject, fiction and non-fiction; I've watched hundreds of YouTube videos and the number of times I've re-watched The Terror TV show is probably too high. I knew this was going to be one made for me, and oh boy, I was right. Ravenscroft is clearly a polar exploration aficionado, and he creates an amazing sense of the terrifying, bleak polar atmosphere. The world of the Melpomene and the crew's perilous walk across the High Arctic feels totally real, without ever getting bogged down in too much historical detail or description. 

The thing that really stands out here is the interlocking web of stories. All the survivors have their own story to tell, and how they fit together - or don't - becomes the heart of the novel. Finding out what really happened - and the real connection between the expedition and Harry, our main character - is the highlight of the book. How far can we trust any of these characters to tell us the truth, even the character in whose head we sit? This question rings through the book, and even at the end of the story, we aren't one hundred per cent sure. I loved the mystery, the unfolding of the story of the doomed voyage of the Melpomene, the questions surrounding what was real and what wasn't, and all the twists that totally shocked me!

The narrators are unreliable, but man, are they interesting. Every character in this story shines, coming alive on the page. Our MC, Harry, is a hard character to love - even like - but he feels totally alive and realistic. Fair warning: he's realistically classist, misogynistic, and is struggling with a lot of internalised homophobia, if that's not your thing. But I really liked the way Ravenscroft challenged and deconstructed these views within the story. The whole narrative is a searing critique of English classism, which I really enjoyed. As for the other characters, I feel like saying almost anything would be a spoiler, but the way they tell their stories and the things revealed about them are so interesting, I loved every minute!

This is the part where I would usually point out at least one gripe or nitpick... But I seriously can't think of one. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish, and now I know what's really going on, I feel like I need to go back and read it again with the benefit of hindsight and context! 

Basically, if you're a polar exploration girlie: run, don't walk. A true heir to The Terror indeed.

More horror needs to take a leaf out of Dorian Ravenscroft’s book and bring back old school exploration horror. This was CLASS. If you’ve got a Michelle Paver-shaped void in your life, this will more than fill it.

The story is told through Harry Lambert, a sceptical newsman who is sent a mystical evening by his editor in order to get a quote about the recent hanging of a survivor from the Arctic voyage of the Melpomene. He is dismissive of his hosts spiritual abilities and the claims that the thin veil of the Arctic have granted them extraordinary powers but he is drawn to the story of their survival and begins to interview Sidney Blakely, an apprentice carpenter on the ship and Tristan Taylor, third lieutenant onboard. The two tales he is told are poles apart and it is up to Harry to try and discover who is telling the truth.
The book switches between a gothic Victorian London and the frozen wasteland of the far north, where the Melpomene is searching for the wreckage of Franklin's 1845 expedition to find the North West passage. The descriptions of life on board ship and then on the ice when the ship is destroyed are brutal and it is no surprise that the men struggled to survive and the experience left them as wrecks of their former selves. Whether they returned damaged enough to murder, as is the case with one of them, is something Harry is struggling to find out.
The pacing is great, pushing the book forward. None of the characters are likeable, they are all damaged, but quite how much we don't discover until the end. However they all have depth and secrets that they hide from each other and from us, the reader. The relationships between them, both romantic and friendship are all skewered by the need to survive.
This is a raw, realistic story of man versus nature and man versus himself. With ghostly, gothic undertones and queer romance, it left me shocked, overwhelmed and sad it had ended.
An excellent read.
With thanks to the author, Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an early copy in return for an honest review.

I am obsessed with tales of the arctic. I find them absolutely fascinating. This I think has to be one of my favourites - it’s grisly, and it took turns that I did not expect - it left me shocked in places.

Absolutely loved every second of it!

My thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you'd like to read this review with the spoilers censored, make sure to view it on Goodreads (@thereadingfrogg) or Storygraph (@the_reading_frog).
Thank you to Dorian Ravenscroft, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) | Raven Books (UK) & NetGalley for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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Rating: 5/5 ⭐
Re-readability: Yes, it would be a different experience
A list of uncensored CWs is included at the end of this review.
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"A violent shiver derails his thoughts. He’s been shivering for days, despite the summer heat. He’s always cold now, down to his marrow. Sometimes he dreams he’s filled with ice, his veins frozen straits and sounds."


Representation
╰┈➤ Queer characters and dynamics
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Multiple gay/queer MCs
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ (Past) MLM dynamic(s)
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Unspecified, but one main character dresses somewhat gender non conforming
╰┈➤ Disability
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ MC with digit amputation, "he's missing the tips of his three longest fingers"
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ SC with leg amputation
╰┈➤ Mental health
‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✴︎ Though nothing is explicitly stated, multiple (main) characters deal with symptoms that mirror (view spoiler) and (view spoiler). There are also recurring thoughts of (view spoiler)and (view spoiler).


Themes
Accountability, active vs passive behaviour, blame-shifting, bodily autonomy/agency or the lack thereof, commodification/exploitation of tragedy and trauma, control, denial of the self, ego/hubris, grief, hopelessness, isolation, money, optics, poverty, power imbalanced dynamics, rank-based hierarchy vs actual social hierarchy, regret, responsibility, sensationalism, survival vs morality, the intrigue of mystery and mystique, the power of a name, truth.


Tropes/What to expect
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Interview with a vampire X Arctic expedition gone wrong
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ 3 POVs
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ The past haunts the narrative
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ A hunt for the truth
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Morally ???? characters
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ Queer MCs
‎ ‎ ‎ ❥ EXTREME BONE-CHILLING COLD

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What I liked/loved
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ I love an unhinged opener. Dropping us readers into the middle of a public hanging of one of the HMS Melpomene survivors was such a smart move. I was instantly invested and intrigued. This prologue alone convinced me that I would probably love this book. (Spoiler alert! I was absolutely right)
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ This book has such a unique premise.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ We follow Harry, a journalist trying to uncover what truly happened on the mysterious and infamous HMS Melpomene. An Arctic exploration ship that never got to sail home. Besides hopefully making some good money, Harry has some personal motivations that bring him to Sidney Blakely. As the survivor-turned-medium invites Harry to his home to tell his story, Harry starts to realise he might be getting more than he bargained for.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ For years, the survivors have been tight-lipped about the traumatic events they went through, and slowly, through Harry's interviews with them, we get to understand why.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I absolutely loved this premise and the format it was presented in. Sometimes I get frustrated by POV switches and potential cliffhangers, but in this case I was happy with whoever's story I got to read. It constantly kept me on edge without diminishing its enjoyability.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ What stood out to me is how this book reminds us that these stories are actively being told through interviews, yet each time seamlessly slips into the time frame being discussed. It reads like a POV taking place in the present. This was masterfully done and transported me alongside them to those horrid years of the Melpomene tragedy.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ The prose is descriptive, poetic without feeling pretentious, and manages to highlight small details that become hard-hitting and devastating in the context of their sentences. Those additions do a lot of work in building a deep understanding and care for the characters depicted. It made them feel like real people. I found myself in awe of the creative and heart-aching ways show-don't-tell was utilised.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The writing style also does a great job with recurring symbolism, motifs and imagery that support the narrative and paint very vivid pictures.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ What might've blown me away the most is how the writing style translated the horrifying reality of being exposed to the extreme elements of the Arctic, which I will expand on in the next section.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ The Setting. This story takes place around the midpoint of the 19th century, following Melepomene on its expedition North.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Never have I ever truly understood how absolutely horrifying the freezing cold is until this read. On an objective level, I understood it, but reading this book was like actually being there.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Much like the small details mentioned before that really emphasised the characters' realism, it did the same for the setting. The complete isolation, desperation, hopelessness, and the literal body horror the setting can inflict were terrifying to read about, even more so because of how they were described.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Ever thought about fresh, bleeding wounds letting off steam when met with icy air? How about your own sweat freezing painfully on your face, or perhaps your tears? Ever considered the possibility of skin bursting open from the razor-sharp winds? Ever feared your nose might freeze to your pillow even when wrapped in layers upon layers upon layers? Well, I hadn't either, but I sure am thinking about it now!
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The Arctic can be a brutal monster and doesn't give a damn if you try to reason with it, and I love how Dorian highlighted that with their writing style.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Don't even get me started on scurvy. Childhood me was right to fear it.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Another aspect where this book shines is with its characters. I was interested in every one of them.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ They all have distinct voices, and thus the POVs feel different from each other.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ The main characters are super complex and layered. My opinion of them was ever-changing. Even now, a few days after finishing it and letting it marinate, I still can't form a solid opinion on some of them.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Everything is nuanced, context matters, people have their reasons, and even though certain acts are unforgivable, the world just isn't that black and white. Morality is a convoluted concept, not definable by one universal truth, made even more complex in the brutal context of survival. That being said, be prepared for characters who are at their best morally grey, and at their worst fully morally corrupted black holes.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ The character dynamics are just as interesting and layered. Often, a heavy, tangible tension could be felt between varied duos or groups. Whether this tension is positive, negative, or a secret third thing you'll have to find out for yourself. What I can tell you is that they were always fascinating.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ What added even more to this tension was the huge contrast between Harry and Sidney when it came to (displays of) wealth and their way of carrying themselves.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The way in which the characters were different/opposites or similar to each other felt very poetic.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ The environment/setting (aka the extremely cold Arctic) and Melpomene are just as much main characters as the actual people are. Treating them as such enhanced their presence.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ I loved the paranormal, mystic, and spiritual elements.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Tense and mysterious, a page-turner till the end!
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This book truly held me in its clutches and still hasn't let go. Those who saw my updates on this read know that I went a little insane and went full detective mode. I took lots of notes, went back to certain passages and spammed my friend Teru's DMs every half hour or so with madman-sounding theories and emotional reactions. I genuinely put everything on hold to finish this book.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Take this as my warning to clear your schedule once you start reading the last 25%. I promise you, you do NOT want to be interrupted when reading that last quarter.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Extremely immersive! I'm not exaggerating when I say I had some bodily reactions to this book. I was sick to my stomach, heartbroken, devastated, had an elevated heart rate, ruined the cozy cuddling vibes with my cats by being stressed and loud about it, and even cried. And yes, all of this is a good thing when it comes to the quality of a book, in my opinion.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ It surprised me! As stated before, I like being a little detective and tend to see plotpoints/reveals coming from a mile away, which is why it's worth mentioning that this book caught me entirely off guard multiple times! I was shocked, bamboozled, flabbergasted and at some point had to stare at the wall a little before continuing. I believe this says a lot about Dorian as a writer and how talented and unique they are.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ White North provided discourse on...
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ The commodification and (financial) exploitation of trauma/tragedy. The ethics of it, as well as the nuances that make it hard to fully condemn it. I won't go into it much further (even though there is a whole essay on it sitting in my notes), but this is an aspect I highly enjoyed and am still thinking about.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ How groups behave and organise themselves in hopeless situations, and how rank does or doesn't weigh in on these decisions. It adds a sociological aspect to this read.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Hubris/ego and how those aspects not only shape one's own fate, but those of others as well.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Greed, imperialism and colonisation. Though not a huge plot point, the racism against an indigenous population while simultaneously taking from their land and adapting their ideas/costums to conquer that land to stamp their name on it more efficiently/safely is horrifying yet realistic. I'm really glad this was addressed and elaborated on in the author's note.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ (Bodily) autonomy or the lack thereof, as well as agency, control, and power (imbalances).
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ What it really means to be a survivor. Explored in a way that isn't afraid to highlight the less-than-rosy parts or what comes after.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ The comfort of dissociation, desensitisation, and distancing from awful situations.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ When warmth (in both its meanings) is a rarity, it's coveted and desperately held onto all the more.
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ✵ Who gets to write history?
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ Nobody was as shocked as I was when I realised this is a debut. I'd never have guessed that, since Dorian's work reads like that of a seasoned author.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ It has such a big rereadable quality. Which is why I plan to reread this with my pre-ordered physical copy at some point!
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ I loved the ending. Believably realistic yet still poetic.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✧ It's staying with me. I never needed this much time to let a book marinate before writing my review, or struggled this much with putting into words WHY I loved it so much. Though this review might be a bit more convoluted than my other ones, I hope it still convinces you to pick up this amazing book!


What I didn't like/felt lacklustre about
‎ ‎ ‎ ✦ I think this is fully a me-issue but still wanted to mention it so you'll be prepared for this read. I felt a teensy bit overloaded with info and character names at the start, but I'm a notorious note taker, so all was well in the end. I recommend doing the same if you're a reader who struggles to remember names.
‎ ‎ ‎ ✦ Literally nothing else. This was so good, and I fear I'll never get over it.


Conclusion/Notes
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This was the easiest 5 stars of my life. I do, however, need someone to sedate me now because I'm in absolute shambles... The fact that it took me over 6 days to write my review says A LOT. I can say without a doubt this book will haunt me as much as the Arctic expedition haunted our MCs.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ What a horrid, raw, realistic, hard-hitting story about humanity, hubris, survival, morality and the ugly, often unspoken aspects of survival and what comes after. Not only did we get a story about battling the unforgiving freezing cold, but it also provided something deeply personal and intimate.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ It offers intriguing, imperfect characters who make horrible/questionable yet nuanced and at times understandable choices that readers will probably have some polarising opinions on. Which makes this a perfect read for a book club, as it highlights complex topics that could spark intriguing discussions.

‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ I genuinely don't know how to properly talk about or hype up this book without spoilers, which is why I don't think any review can really do it justice. Nonetheless, I hope that my immense love for this book came across and convinces you to check it out! It's simply an amazing read you should experience for yourself.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Dorian Ravenscroft, you are a new insta-buy author for me, and I can't wait to find out about whatever future projects you are cooking up!

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The White North Has Thy Bones is set to release on 22 October, 2026. Make sure to add it to your TBR and/or pre-order it. Follow @dravenscroftwrites on Instagram as well to keep up to date with their projects.


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"The dead desire to speak, just as fiercely as the living. Perhaps more so, for the dead have far more regrets than we do."
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Content warnings
CW: I'd advise skipping them for the optimal reading experience, but if you have specific triggers or concerns, hmu.
Explicit | Blood, cannibalism, death/murder, gore, injury description, manipulation, toxic/abusive relationship, violence
Moderate | Fade-to-black sex scene, frostbite, gun violence, (internalised) homophobia and repression/denial, sexist thoughts, starvation, suicide, symptoms that mirror dissociation
Mild | Alcohol and morphine use, amputation, animal death, criminalisation of sodomy, death by hanging, lashings, racism against native/inuit people, use and abuse of opium

An interestingly chilly tale that melds polar exploration with spiritualism- I enjoyed it a lot, especially taking it as being at least partly in dialogue with The Terror (both tv show and book). In fact, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some Terror fic in Ravenscroft’s back catalogue.

I especially liked the playing with narrative and how spiritualism and interest in the arctic were paralleled. I also very much enjoyed the descriptions of life stranded on the Melpomene- and what came after.

10/10 would gnaw on again.

A few chapters into this chilling gothic horror, I was convinced I’d read it before. Rather than ruining the experience, it made it even better; because I knew how the story would end, I could see how cleverly the author presented and twisted reality along the way.

But I was reading an advance review copy of a book that has yet to be published and my memory of reading it before was from some years ago. So either I’m going mad, by some magic of time travel I have read it before, or it’s very similar to books I’ve read previously - The Terror or Dark Matter perhaps, which touch on some of the same themes or historical facts. Although that wouldn’t explain how I knew the ending - unless of course the ghosts told me? Am I a reliable narrator?

The book tells of the 19th century HMS Melpomene and her crew, poorly led and ultimately icebound in their failed search for the missing Franklin polar expedition. The few crew members who survived and returned to London have a true horror story to tell. What evil did they face out there, and have they brought it back with them?

The story is told through the eyes of a journalist interviewing the survivors, slowing unspooling their tales and getting more and more drawn into their world and their story. But is all what it seems?

Who is who they say they are? Who did what they say they did? The cold, the hunger and the oppressive Arctic atmosphere create their own malevolence but is it the natural or the supernatural that’s the biggest danger?

A very engaging read. And certainly worth reading twice!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an advance review copy for this review which is my honest opinion.

Incredible book. This is the polar horror I’ve been waiting for since reading The Terror many years ago. Dorian Ravenscroft has created a queer historical fiction that is fantastically written, immaculately researched, and completely unputdownable. I can’t remember the last time I was so immersed in a story. I was thinking about this book constantly while I was reading it.

Set in London in 1860, the story takes place a couple of years after the tragic voyage of the HMS Melpomene, an Arctic exploration ship sent to find the lost Franklin expedition. The ship was lost, with only five crew members surviving. In the opening scene, one of them is hanged for a brutal murder he has no memory of committing. The story of the doomed ship and its crew fascinates Harry Lambert, a newspaperman desperate to uncover the truth about what happened in the white north. He tracks down two other surviving crew members, Sidney Blakely, now working as a spiritualist medium, and Lieutenant Taylor.

The plotting is excellent. Harry’s investigation in London is interwoven with the stories told by Blakely and Taylor, gradually revealing what happened during the expedition. Having two unreliable narrators recount the same events from their own perspectives works incredibly well and reminded me a little of Interview with the Vampire. Blakely and Taylor’s versions of the voyage differ drastically. One speaks mostly of heroism and survival, while the other tells a story of madness, ghosts, obsession and murder. As a reader, you’re never quite sure who’s telling the truth. By depicting the HMS Melpomene as it becomes trapped in the Arctic ice, Ravenscroft does a fantastic job of showing how the harsh conditions gradually strip the sailors of their health, strength, dignity. Yet, as in the best horror, the greatest threat doesn’t necessarily come from the environment or even the supernatural elements, but from the people themselves. As the story progresses, we discover how the events in the Arctic connect to the present day storyline in London. I gasped more than once at some of the revelations.

This book feels like a love letter to polar expeditions. The amount of research that has gone into it is impressive, and it’s clear that Dorian Ravenscroft is deeply fascinated by the subject. Anyone already interested in polar exploration will have a lot to enjoy here, but you don’t need any prior knowledge of the topic to appreciate it – the historical detail never feels like infodumping, and everything is woven naturally into the story. The vivid descriptions make it incredibly easy to imagine the brutal conditions of the white north.

Overall, an incredible debut and definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time, and I can’t recommend it enough.

The moment I heard polar horror, I was intrigued. It's such an interesting setting, and one I had rarely seen in horror. Combined with the unusual structure and unreliable narrators, it made for a very unique sort of book.

This book follows Victorian era journalist Harry Lambert. Harry is the bastard son of a very wealthy man, and he will not let you forget about it. He's stuck in this job his father arranged for him, but cannot count on monetary support of which he is resentful. He's extremely classist and desperately wants to be viewed as one of the upper class. All in all, this whole deal makes him insufferable. For the most part, I hated him. But he is an interesting enough character to follow.

In the present day, one of five survivors of an arctic tragedy murders his wife and brother quite brutally, and it seems like he cannot remember doing it. All he has to say is that an act done by him against his will is not his act, whatever he means by that. Harry has to write a little piece about this, and goes to one of the other survivors, Sidney Blakely to ask a few questions. But Harry has a particular interest in this tragedy. He's not satisfied just getting some comments from Blakely, he must know every gory detail of what happened back then, and how it relates to the current murder. Here, the commentary on true crime really shines. This is not Harry's story, but he will make it his by any means necessary. He is particularly intrigued by the implication of cannibalism. The story here really asks the question what right the public has to the tragedy of others, and if rehashing every last detail is an act of violence in of itself.

But Blakely agrees to tell Harry his tale, for the right price. He tells the version of the story fit for the public, leaving out any unsavory details and casting himself as the hero. He tells a tale of ghosts too, and claims he has been able to communicate with ghosts ever since he returned. In the current day, he works as a medium, assisted by fellow survivor Lieutanant Taylor, who just so happens to live with him. Blakely is cunning and manipulative, but he is also interesting. He grew up very poor, and Harry judges him harshly for his lower class, but Blakely's class resentment is something I found interesting about him, and one of the reasons I overall sympathize with him more than the others. He's definitely still not a great person, with a romance you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, but I ended up really liking him.

Blakely, however, is not the only one telling the tale of the tragedy. Lieutanant Taylor offers his own account of what happened, which is a much more gruesome version that isn't at all careful to preserve anyone's reputation. This version of the tale is also explicit about Taylor's and Blakely's not so healthy romance. Compared to Blakely, Taylor seems much more like a pathetic kicked puppy, but not all is as it seems in either tale.

I really liked how grounded in history the expedition is. While the Melpomene and his disaster never existed, they sailed to the arctic to search for another expedition that did really happen, and many ships were sent to look for this expedition. The arctic setting is very vivid and brutal, an environment these people really have no business being in.

For much of the tale, the story seemed pretty straightforward. I suspected because Taylor told the less socially acceptable version, his was closer to the truth, while Blakely kept to the version he can live with. But it was anything but. I will not spoil anything, but the twists really, really surprised me, and they were brilliantly done. It makes me want to reread the book to see if this time around I can pick up on all the hints.

This is a book full of queer characters who are all terrible, and you do need to be able to stomach that. Harry in particular I mostly disliked, and he was incredibly classist and misogynistic, and I ended up much preferring Blakely over him. But these men are certainly interesting. There's not much more I can say without spoiling everything, but it all was constructed very well to say something about how people consume tragedy, and in particular how the cannibalism was handled was really interesting and fit with this theme.

Would recommend it to people interested in the polar setting, true crime commentary and horrible queer main characters.

Whilst reading this book, when about 40% in, I went back and skimmed the first few chapters. A lot of characters, and settings. I found it easier to follow the alternating timelines when I did this.
This is an excellent story, and I’m stunned that it’s a debut novel.
A young, ambitious journalist, eager to make a name for himself, attends the hanging of a man convicted of a terrible double murder.
He is one of only 5 survivors of a doomed Arctic sea expedition. Two of the other survivors claim to be clairvoyant, and run seances, and our journalist’s editor sends him to one, in order to get some ‘background’ for his article.
This leads to a series of interviews with the two survivors, and it becomes clear that there is at least one unreliable narrator in this tale.
The description of life on board ship, trapped for months-years- in the Arctic ice, is superb. And as conditions worsen, and men start to die, the fear and tension is palpable. The narration switches between the two survivors recounting of the past and the journalist’s POV in the present.
The pace and tension ramp up rapidly towards the end, and whilst I had an inkling of one or two of the plot twists, the denouement definitely blind-sided me.
This is an atmospheric and gripping tale and well worth reading.

This book was atmospheric and twisted, asking questions about truth, colonialism and survival. A polar exploration horror perfect for fans of The Terror.