For anyone unaware, Mira Grant is Seanan McGuire’s pseudonym, and if you’ve followed my reviews any length of time, you’ll know I adore Seanan McGuire and have 5-starred everything I’ve ever read by her. This was my first read of hers under the Mira moniker, though, and as I’ve heard the writing styles vary between the names, I was only hopeful that I’d love it just as much as everything else.

Thankfully, I was not disappointed in the slightest—this novella is an excellent read that I couldn’t put down and had to read in one quick sitting because it pulled me in so quickly. As always, I loved the writing style as a whole; while I recognized some differences between it and her Seanan McGuire “voice”, I also saw a lot of similarities that had me feeling right at home from the first chapter.

I also found the plot fascinating and relevant; despite the fact that it’s a sci-fi/horror crossover, it definitely struck me as the sort of thing we could see happen right here in our own world, which is a terrifying thought. I found that she did an excellent job of giving us enough medical information to really be engaging and complex, without ever beating the reader over the head with terminology or making the text dry and slow.

Finally, the characters are enjoyable (and diverse), and while they don’t always do the right things, their motives are never hard to recognize or relate to—aside from the twist ending, which I won’t spoil for you, but I’ll say that I thought it was executed brilliantly.

I think the only complaint I have is that there’s not quite enough of anything here. It’s a wonderful read, but it absolutely feels like it should be a prequel novella, not the full story (knowing Mira’s track record, though—looking at you, Rolling in the Deep—I’m definitely crossing my fingers for a follow-up!).

Overall, while I wanted a little more from the story, I was pleased with Kingdom of Needle and Bone and am so glad that I had the opportunity to read this. I pre-ordered the Subterranean Press hardback months ago, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to review this early, and now I am definitely pleased that I know I have one of those limited copies on its way to me later this month, because this is definitely a story I will happily revisit in the future.

I recommend this to any fans of Mira Grant’s/Seanan McGuire’s writing and anyone who enjoys character-driven sci-fi/horror crossovers that focus on medical epidemics. I do not recommend this book for anyone belonging to the anti-vaxxer movement, because… well, you will probably find yourself offended.

Content warnings for child death, epidemics, murder

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Subterranean Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Dr. Isabella Gauley's neice, Lisa Morris, was patient zero. Morris's Disease, named after the girl who started it all, kills anyone who comes in contact with the person who has the disease. It spreads rapidly and the bodies begin to pile up quickly.
This fast-paced dystopian novella was so good, yet so horrifyingly realistic, that I read it in one sitting. With the way things are today, you could see something like this actually happening.. If you are a fan of sci-fi or thrillers, then I think you would enjoy this quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As many of you know, I *adore* Seanan McGuire. Seriously, she's one of my top favorite authors and I will read anything she puts out under that name. What you might not know is that she also writes under the name Mira Grant, and puts out sci-fi and techno thriller/horror type books. Under her Mira brand, she's been hit or miss for me. I love the short novellas she puts out from Subterranean Press (like this one!) and the "mermaid books" are great. I didn't particularly care for Feed, but I do plan on reading more of the series and seeing if it was just me at the time.

One thing that makes Mira's works so much harder for me is how REALISTIC they are. They are backed with meticulous scientific information. AND THEY SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone is deep. It's rough. It's scary - less because of the outbreaks, which *are* scary, and more because of what led to them... fear, ignorance, and the power of the stupidity en masse.

I don't want to spoil anything, and this is a shortie at 128 or so pages. But if you're prepared to see some of the nasty side of humanity, you can pick this up. If you're prepared to see some of the better sides as well, this book has that covered too. Because if there's one thing Seanan/Mira excels at, it's showing ALL sides of humanity's light and darkness in glorious detail.

Humans can be many things. Saviors. Sinners. Hunters. Hunted. Monsters, or the divine. We are given ample opportunity to show our true colors during our lifetimes. Often our true colors are somewhere in the grey area as no one is any one thing. We are a collection of moments. Most writers often overlook the many faces of human nature. But great writers give a plurality to their characters. It may not be easy to understand who is good and evil without thinking about it, but isn't that real life? Mira Grant aka Seanan Mcguire is one of those great writers that celebrate the pluralism of morality in her characters, and this novella is an excellent example of this.

Dr. Izzy Gauley, the protagonist, is as morally gray as any character could be. She is distraught and caught in the guilt of her previous choices, and she must continually make ethically ambiguous decisions to further what she believes is the truly right thing. Those choices may or may not bring the entire proverbial glass house on top of herself. Much of the plot hinges on whether her choices in this story are wicked and self-serving or genuinely in the best interest of all are up to the reader. She is a good character. But, this is not surprising as Mira Grant tends to write real people.

Plot-wise, Grant has written a novella that is terrifying to a parent. What happens when herd immunity fails? The whole premise is based on a parent's worst nightmare, losing their children. Even worse is that it is through the parents own actions that global calamity happens. Although the delivery of the message regarding immunizations and the importance thereof is a bit ham-fisted at times, her point comes across. Vaccinations are essential and the backbone of a healthy society. What I liked about the plot is that it developed from, "How important immunizations are," to a discussion on bodily autonomy. Do we sacrifice bodily freedom for the sake of a healthy society? This argument is a very real and prescient argument that could play out in the courts in the next upcoming years.

I hope to see this turn into a full-fledged series. There is enough meat on the bones of this novella to expand the characters and plot into a great story very much in the vein of the "Newsflesh" series.
I am so glad the Mira Grant is such a prolific author. I enjoy her work often and repeatedly. She is one of the few authors that seem to be just as good on a reread as it was initially. I can't tell you how many times I have read Newsflesh and October Daye. If you have an opportunity to check out this novella, I dearly hope you do.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

This strange little tale is interesting, disturbing, and thought provoking. While I can't say it was my favorite of this author (also known as Seanan McGuire), whom I read quite often, it was compelling.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant offered a relevant, thought-provoking tale with bone-chilling realism. Despite being a novella, the tale was rich with detail and held me captive. Ms. Grant I need more....

Mira Grant has long been a favorite author of mine from zombies, parasites and mermaids she always delivers a tale that stays with me long after I've closed the book. She isn't afraid to address thought-provoking and relevant topics. In this story she tackles vaccinations. The tale that unfolds offers both sides of the equation while delivering a chilling possible outcome. A full review will post at Caffeinated Reviewer on December 31st and will be shared on all social media. A review will also cross post to Amazon and Goodreads. Thank you.

"Of such small moments are disasters made."
Friends, it pains me to say that this was just not the book for me. This is my first Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) read and while I absolutely adored the plot, unfortunately the writing style and narrative voice just did not work for me. This is definitely a case of right book, wrong reader.
"Many of them would continue to leave their homes even as they began feeling unwell. The virus would spread. The virus always spreads."
Lisa Morris is an 8 year old girl on vacation in Florida. She is starting to feel a little sick, but it is their last day and she doesn't want to miss out on going to the amusement park for one last time. By the time she gets home to California, she's very sick and thanks to trams, rides, and airplane rides -- so are hundreds of others. Lisa's Patient Zero of the Morris Disease outbreak and the first casualty. The world is forever changed.

The third person omniscient narrative style just didn't work for me here. The first 20% or so felt like a report, and even after the narrative voice kind of shifted to focus a bit on Dr. Izzy Gauley I never really connected with any of the characters. The novella is definitely plot driven, and the consequence of the narrative voice for me was that it was hard to care about the characters.
A world that had been willing to reject the efficacy of vaccines suddenly found itself on the verge of being forced to live without them, and it was not prepared."
I found the continual reminder of herd immunity and the issue of the anti-vaccine movement to be on the heavy handed side. Initially I was very interested in that as a starting point for this speculative fiction piece on potential outbreaks, but it was harped on so repetitively throughout the narrative that I became almost numb to it. It also seemed like an odd choice to me given the fact that the story is told in third-person omniscient: had it been a first-person narrative the repetition would have at least made a bit more sense to me (although I still would have been annoyed).

Overall the narrative style of this book was not for me, but I really enjoyed the overall plot and twist at the end. In talking with Destiny, I have learned that the narrative style is the author's stylistic choice, so I definitely would recommend this novella to fans of Mira Grant.

REPRESENTATION: lgbtiap+ (gay side characters), the world is effortlessly racially diverse
CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS: death, grief, loss of a loved one

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an eARC via NetGalley for review. Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof and may change upon publication.

This is a anti vax medical horror novella. Mira Grant does great stories that use science as a jumping off point. In this book a new deadly version of measles breaks out and it pits people against one another bout vaccinations. The new version is a mutation that is fairly deadly, and people are very worried. No one is claiming responsibility for it and six months later a deadly version of whooping cough races around the world. The family of the first victim is the focus of the story and the family is split between pro and anti-vaccination. On the pro side is a doctor and a pharmacist, the anti-side is the bio mother who gave up her child to allow her pharmacist sister to raise her as her own. Dr Isabella Gauley gets word from pharmacist friends of Brooke in Canada that the people that survive exposure have a mutated immune system that will no longer allow current vaccinations to work. She decides to take matters in her own hands and reach out to people that can help her keep a segment of the population clean from the disease as the CDC and others work on a cure.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

I am officially blown away. This little novella was amazing in both its detail and capacity for evoking emotions. I am absolutely stunned, and as a medical professional I am HARD to impress with books of this subject matter. Usually I find myself rolling my eyes so hard they hurt when reading books with doctors or nurses as the main characters, but not so with Kingdom of Needle and Bone!

While this is, technically, a science fiction/apocalyptic novel, it felt so close to what could or might happen that I found my heart pounding in my chest, my throat constricting with pain for the loss experienced by the characters. It is just close enough to the truth to be a truly uncomfortable read, and that makes it powerful. I loved Dr. Isabel, who truly cares about people and does everything in her power to help them, but who is also coldly logical to the very, very bitter end. How far is too far, to protect the ones we love? To protect the world? Somehow even in these few pages, Mira Grant manages to explore the age old question - do we act based on the greater good, or for the good of the few closest to us? Which makes us a monster?

I only wish this novella had been a full length book. I was not ready to leave any of the characters behind, I wanted more of their stories.

Review will be posted at the link given below on 31 December 2018.

I recently finished Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire's Into the Drowning Deep and loved it. Killer mermaids, LGBTQ+ representation, disability representation, STEM representation, women scientists—what more could a reader want?! So when I saw this novella on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it.

I never knew horror fiction was something I could enjoy until I started reading Grant/McGuire. Now I'm hooked. Kingdom of Needle and Bone couldn't have been released at a more appropriate time too. With the number of children not being vaccinated by their parents/doctors, and the number of children (and immunocompromised adults) coming down with preventable diseases because of this (diseases like that polio-like illness—acute flaccid myelitis [AFM]—that the news and the CDC have been discussing every day lately), a story such as Kingdom of Needle and Bone is all too real.

Like Into the Drowning Deep, everything about the science in Kingdom of Needle and Bone is based in reality. Grant has clearly done her research. I know this is fiction, but if you're an anti-vaxxer, you should read this book. Sometimes, fictional stories are needed to change people's minds; sometimes fiction can help snap someone back to reality.

I think my only complaint about this novella is the length. I want more! It is a novella, of course, but I want a series of novellas. I want a full-length novel that takes place in the future, after the events of this novella, or perhaps even before.

Then again, this novella was almost enough, given that the story isn't really about a catastrophic disease; it's really about the Morris sisters and their relationship.

Other reviewer's mentioned being shocked by the twist at the end, but I sort of had it mostly pegged-down from the beginning. It is alluded to, a little bit, early on, and it was so much more juicy than the twist in Into the Drowning Deep, given that it related more to human nature than something in nature itself.

Super timely and well-reasoned. The events that caused everything to happen were laid out cleanly and quickly, so the action could begin (important in a novella!) I can't wait to see what else happens in this universe!

I LOVE Mira Grant (AND Seanan McGuire) and find her productivity astonishing - not just for sheer volume, which is impressive and entails multiple series from different author voices concurrently, but also for the consistently solid and varied quality of her titles. This woman publishes half a dozen books a year, minimum, under her various writing personas, and nearly each one hits it out of the park... I just love her writing style - no matter what name/intensity level she is writing under, the stories and characters are always complex, well thought out, and utterly original. This latest is no exception...

It's a post-apocalyptic tale of a slightly different kind in that the world is not yet destroyed, but hovering on the verge of being so. And the apocalypse is, once again, of our own making. This time the issue is immunity - specifically herd immunity, and how it is being decimated by anti-vaccination fanatics. In a tale both timely and timeless, Grant uses her singular gift to present an entirely plausible and horrifyingly real vision of the world we may well find ourselves in if we continue to allow non-science (no coincidence that sounds so similar to "nonsense" in my mind) to chip away at the worldwide protection that vaccines provide all of us.

The characters are flawed and fraught with quirks and foibles, as is typical for Grant/McGuire. As with all of Grant's heroines, there's a dark side to protecting the people you love - I get that and love the way it renders her characters so human (even when they're not). The plot is fast-paced and full of windy, twisty intersections that keep you furiously flipping pages until the bitter end. I found the ending a little oblique - and I'm still not sure if that's a compliment or complaint. Things came to a head and then the book ended in a "resolution" that didn't exactly, really, totally resolve or explain anything but left lingering, niggling doubts and questions in my head in a way that I'm still sorting through. Maybe that's the point - and if so, brava. Even if it's not, it made me think beyond the end of the book, and that's a success in itself.

There's potential for more here, and I for one would be delighted to see it. The future is highly uncertain in Dr. Izzy's world and there are myriad opportunities to take that uncertainty and expand upon it as well as nudge it in new, tangential, directions. But the book also reads as a full and complete story, and I enjoyed it for that as well. Given Grant's productivity, and proclivity, I wouldn't be surprised if we were able to revisit the post-Morris's Disease world - and hopefully learn a few more valuable lessons whilst there...

Clearly something this author has been itching to write for a while. A novella that uses a theoretical pandemic to go deep into immunology and herd immunity and is a very angry cautionary tale about the antivax movement, while also giving us a hell of a protagonist in Izzy. The side effects of the disease were a great unexpected twist, as were the people that the vaccination movement ended up getting in bed with politically, as was the lengths that Izzy was willing to go to. Short, haunting, and definitely one that’s going to stay with me a while. Side note: Subterranean really needs to work on formatting their digital ARCs, it’s mildly frustrating.

"We never think about what our choices are going to mean for the lives of the ones we love," said Izzy. "We only think about what they're going to mean for us. If we're lucky, we're not the only ones who have to live with them.

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate.... that is the question!

This book started out STRONG for me. Patient zero, Lisa Morris is an eight-year-old girl on vacation with her family. She wakes up one day not feeling well, but it is the last day at the amusement park and she wants to have fun, so she doesn't say anything. She's eight, she wants to have fun, who can blame her? But unfortunately, she had a virus and "the virus always spreads." Dr. Isabella Gauley is a pediatrician and Lisa's aunt. When her sister brings a very sick, Lisa to see her sister it becomes evident, that this is not your run of the mill virus- it's a deadly one.

This is a short book, but the Author covers a lot in the minimal pages she has. I found after a strong beginning which had me feeling for Lisa and her family, the middle lagged a little. There are those for vaccines, those against, those trying to study the survivors of the virus, and those who lost their family members. There are some family issues going on as well in this book and I wondered what is this all for and then *BAM* that twist at the end, I did not see coming. Oh Baby! I am pretty sure there is going to be another book in this series. I'm pretty sure this is the prequel and I know that I will be reading the next book if said book does in fact come out.

So why 3 stars? BTW- 3 stars means I liked it. The book began brilliantly and ended with a shocking twist. But the middle, at times, left me feeling underwhelmed. I liked some of the characters, but I did not feel for them as I did little Lisa at the beginning of the book. Having said that, I think this book(series?) is going places. Grant left me wanting more with that twist. I love when a book leaves me with my mouth hanging open.

A solid read that I hope is going to result in a full-fledged novel with the continuation of this story.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Wha wha what?!? This novella about a global outbreak and what would happen when the world's population vaccination levels dips too low is very scary, since it could really happen. And the end! I actually exclaimed out loud and re-read this as soon as I was finished.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book by one of my favorite authors. This in no way reflects in my review.

Actual review: 4.5/5 stars

I probably shouldn't have read this novella right before/during my infusion, but it was a perfect timing. The story is short - 128 pages - and primarily felt like a set up for a larger world. Anti-vaccination is no joke, and it is going to cause some serious issues to herd immunizations at some point. Will it be a Morris disease that takes so much of the world population, while leaving those who are left unable to take care of themselves?

Really, this book is documentation with a small narrative weaved through out. It appears to be similar to how her Mermaid book was set up - <I> Into the Drowning Deep. </i> I do hope it leads to a serious or a full novel. Either way, I'm terrified even more so of what our bodies and the viruses are going to do, as I sit wiping mine out.

It's not a zombie story, nor is it a full dystopian novella. It's the middle of an epidemic and what happens to those still alive having to make touch decisions.

Kingdom of Needle and Bone belongs in the tradition of epidemic thrillers, always a favorite of mine for their medical neepery. In this story, a measles-like a virus (“Morris’s Disease”) results in a loss of immunity to all pathogens. Besides the illness itself, with its fever, rashes, and so forth, the patient’s immune system loses the ability to “remember” being exposed to any other infection. Therefore no immunization to any disease gives protection. The mortality rate from this disease is very high, but worse yet is that the survivors are left without the ability to fight off future infections of any type. The only way they can survive is by complete quarantine, which figures prominently in the story.

The story begins with journalistic descriptions of Patient Zero, her fatal illness, and the spread of the disease, which is highly contagious and easily spread by contact with inanimate objects such as door knobs. A more personal view of the unfolding catastrophe comes through the point of view of that child's aunt, Dr. Isabelle Gauley, a physician who later devises a strategy to save humankind from the epidemic. Some medical thrillers jump from one point of view to the next, showing the many different and varied experiences as characters either succumb to whatever plague has arisen or take part in finding a solution. By focusing on just one character who has a personal relationship to the first victim and who also has complicated relationships with other members of her family, Grant skillfully sets up the surprising twist at the end. Cataclysmic historical events — like the Black Plague of the 14th Century CE — affect multitudes but can be emotionally remote unless dramatized through the lives of individual characters. Grant achieves both the world-changing nature of a pandemic and the intimate journey and ultimate personal responsibility of a small set of characters.

One of the most interesting aspect of this story, a biting social commentary on public issues today, is the question of personal bodily autonomy. Widespread refusal to vaccinate children lowers herd immunity to the point that communicable diseases easily spread. We see that today in unprotected populations with outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles, whooping cough, and polio. Faced with a high mortality rate from highly infectious Morris's Disease, public health authorities in Kingdom of Needle and Bone mandate immunization with rare medical exceptions. That raises the question about which principle takes precedence: the individual right of self-determination or the health and the very lives of the community, especially those who are immunocompromised and cannot be vaccinated. The central character, Dr. Gauley, argues:

“There are always going to be people who insist that vaccination is a personal choice, and that if we take that choice away, we must necessarily take other choices away — that the right to refuse a vaccine is the same as the right to refuse to donate a kidney, or the right to say that no one else is allowed to use your body as a life support system without your full and knowing consent.”

Following the principle of unintended consequences, pro-vaccination public health officials find themselves unwillingly allied with anti-abortion forces who see both as a violation of bodily autonomy. But where does personal liberty end and survival of the human species prevail?

This thoughtful medical thriller adds a nuanced moral perspective without bashing the reader over the head with any particular viewpoint, and while engaging the reader in a fast-paced, absorbing read.

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything about it.

This is wonderfully creepy and also a little unfortunately plausible with the anti-vaccination movement, which just makes it that much creepier. The twist at the end felt like it was coming, but was still so good anyways. I'd love to see a sequel to this or at least another novella set in this world.

A chilling and very necessary novella speculating about the possible repercussions of the incredibly dangerous anti-vaxxing movement.

We get a pretty significant bomb dropped at the end of the book which had me super excited, only to feel almost immediately let down when the book came to an abrupt ending almost immediately afterward without a satisfactory explanation of the aforementioned bombshell. Otherwise, no complaints.

2.6

This is the 7th work by this author that I’ve read and as much as I wanted to like it, I had a hard time getting into it. The biggest issue to me is that throughout much of it, the book reads more like an angry op-ed piece than a novella. The language gets very heavy-handed, preachy, and condescending to the point it sounded more like the author was just talking to me rather than that I was reading in-world dialogue. I am a bit sympathetic with that tendency given the subject matter. The anti-vaxxer movement is dangerous even in very small numbers and this book is just one thought experiment illustrating why that’s the case. As well, it’s a very frustrating movement to deal with given the shoddy grounds and willful ignorance it’s based on. Granted, “giving the other side a fair portrayal” is not the point of this book and I don't really expect that, especially given how hard it would be to achieve, But the way so much of this book is written, I doubt it would change any anti-vaxxer’s mind given how condescending it comes off. If that conversion’s not the point of the painstakingly drawn out explanations, I’m not sure what is.

All that said, the preachiness wouldn’t be a huge deal if it were more occasional. I could get over that even if those parts were a little boring. But given the short length of the novella format, this issue also gets in the way of there even being much book left to enjoy. The plot is very brief and has few actual plot points to it. When I thought about how little actually happens in the book, I was kind of surprised it took even the short two hours it took to read. The scenes that are there are often rushed. Much of the progression is achieved through sweeping summaries. Given the brevity and scarcity of actual in-scene storytelling, the characterization is left flimsy given the little time and attention allowed each character. I had some trouble remembering who was who because the story felt like it was taking a backseat to the grandstanding. This weakened some of the points in the story that had the potential to be much more powerful.

There were definitely some good aspects to this book. The plot that was there ended up being pretty cool with some nice twists that could’ve been even better if I’d had more time with the characters. Despite the preachiness, the characters, even the “good guys,” still manage to show more gray morality from time to time and some of the bigger character moments that did get screentime were pretty strong. With more subtlety and nuance, I think the themes could’ve been illustrated much better, but they are there and they are very important. I suppose one benefit of the preachiness is that the information is fairly clear and approachable. I imagine if you really are in the dark on this issue, this book could be helpful in explaining some of the big issues in this area, despite it being a work of fiction. In the end, there was still just too much that got in the way for me to enjoy this one that much. If you’re interested in a book exploring the medical horror of potential fallout from the anti-vaccination movement, you might enjoy this one. But for the most part, I’d say skip it. Mira Grant has several other books you’d probably enjoy more. After all, my biggest disappointment is that I know she can do a lot better.

I was provided an advanced copy by NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own.