All the Murmuring Bones was an instant favourite. This is a truly spellbinding book that kept me up way too late into the night. The author's rich prose slowly drew me in until I was so immersed into the story that I completely lost all sense of time and space. It had been a long while since I was so absolutely and utterly sucked into a book!

I was definitely reminded of Naomi Novik's and Katherine Arden's books, two authors who wrote some of my favourite fantasy novels - and a rare instance of a blurb actually making a connection I agreed with. This book takes its time, so might not appeal to people looking for a fast-paced read, but it just worked for me. I really connected with the author's style and I ended up enjoying even the detours. I loved how the O'Malley's traditional stories were woven in throughout the book: while for the most part they weren't fully adding to the plot, they gave extra depth and insight into the family's history and traditions.

The gothic atmosphere and folkloristic elements (such as mer-folk, selkies, ghosts, and so many more) worked beautifully together to create a dark and intricate world. The world-building does take a bit of a back seat in favour of character development, but I didn't mind too much since I usually prefer the latter anyway. I do love a good family secret, and this book was chock-full of them! I was kept being surprised, and even though I had suspected where a few of the plot lines would end up, the way they were developed was still incredibly satisfying.

Character-wise, the book mostly relies on Miren to carry the whole thing. And she's entirely up to the task! I didn't immediately love Miren and found her too passive and bland for my liking, but her top-notch development quickly made her one of my new favourites. By the end, I fully admired Miren's strength of character and spirit, unbroken despite all the pain she suffered in life, and her quick wit. She was constantly undermined and underestimated by all those around her, and yet despite that she persevered in forging her own path.

Overall, this was an extremely pleasant surprise, completely exceeding my expectations, and a book I can see myself gushing about for a long time yet! Might be particularly appreciated by lovers of dark folklore and fairy tales, strong character development and just enough magic.

CW: this book contains mentions of abuse, violence (including against children), murder and incest.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )

This is the first novel I’ve read by this author, although I’ve previously enjoyed a couple of her short pieces. It strikes me as a coming of age/finding yourself adventure with folklore(ish) elements. I enjoyed the short tales scattered throughout and felt they went well with the overall atmosphere.

I didn’t love the first person, present tense narration, especially as the tense sometimes jumped around (and not in an artistic/appealing way). I preferred the latter part of the story (dealing with a mystery) to the earlier aspects of escaping an unwelcome situation. Although we spend the entire book in Miren’s point of view, her character didn’t make a strong impression on me, and she felt rather distant. Maybe it was more that she didn’t seem much (internally) changed at the end vs the beginning.

Enjoyable fantasy with touches of the grotesque

This novel is about as gothic as you'd want it to be, but also with mermaids. Set in fantasy country whose mythical creatures are mainly drawn from British and Irish folklore, it's about a young girl on an adventure in search of her parents and her family's secrets. What I liked: The plucky heroine with agency and a whole-hearted embrace of gothic tropes. What I didn't like: Like most novels these days, it's a bit too long and could use some editing. The language becomes too flowery in parts and thus can come across as artificial. The plot is meandering and draws from so many sources that it seems all over the place. And I guess every book has to be in present tense these days. Overall, an entertaining story with perhaps more appeal for young adult audiences. ( )

This book was tough for me. The idea of a book about merfolk and sacrificing children to remain prosperous was completely fascinating. I wanted so much to read that story. This story was more about a girl taking a backseat in her life until forced to act. I just could not like the main character. I was also super disappointed that the reviews kept calling this haunting and gothic, when it was just a smattering of references to fairy tale creatures and cryptids.

This book had very little plot, if any at all. It was super annoying to sit around waiting for the story to start...especially when it never did. While I can enjoy a character driven story, the characters in this one didn't appeal to me.

The other issues for me are the length and the language. The book was suuuuper slow. It wasn't slow in the way that some stories are, where they're building up to action -- it meandered about constantly with no rhyme or reason. The language/writing is also a little wonky and disjointed. I had to reread somethings to make sense of them a few times. ( )

This was a lovely and evocative fantasy with elements of horror, folk tales, mystery, and feminism, along with strong gothic vibes and a historical fiction feel. The narrative is straight-forwardly told through the main character's voice, though the timeline of the tale meanders a bit through time as she unravels the mystery behind her family history. I do wish there there had been more explanation of the Mer, and their interactions with the people, and how their magics worked. The writing was beautiful throughout. ( )