“The Bone Orchard” by Sarah A. Mueller is a gothic, witchy, sci-fi/fantasy novel with a complex storyline and deeply disturbing undertones. The best way to describe this novel is like a funhouse of mirrors: full of deceit, lies, and manipulation. Where nothing is as it seems and everyone has something to hide, there is no telling what risks one will take to get what they want.

Charm is a prisoner, along with her four ghosts: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. Together, they run a whore house where the wealthiest of men will buy time with Charm’s ghosts. The only exception is on Tuesdays when the house shuts down and Charm belongs to the Emperor.

After many years of being a prisoner, Charm has the chance to earn her freedom, but it comes at a price she’s not quite sure she can pay. While her freedom—as well as her ghosts—is what she has always wanted, it will come at the cost of sacrificing herself and those she cares about. Which bodes the question: if she is left with nothing, has she truly won her freedom?

The gothic, witchy vibe is executed perfectly throughout the novel without feeling overdone or forced. The aesthetic lingers in the backdrop of all the drama and action taking place, a constant companion to the unfortunate circumstances Charm and her four ghosts undergo. The abuse they suffer is emotionally heavy and tough to read at times. (Which makes this a good time to point out there are some major content warnings to be aware of before picking up this novel.) There is also a brilliant play on the characters’ names that contrast and reflect their personalities in an incredibly unique way.

The only downside to this novel (for me) was that it was entirely too political for me to get into the story until the last 30% when the sci-fi/fantasy elements took over the story. I’m not a huge fan of politics and I felt a good portion of this novel focused on this topic and made it hard for me to enjoy it to the fullest extent I had hoped for. While there was a lot I could appreciate (such as Charm’s cunning nature and the fact she is a fierce female lead), I had a horrible time trying to care about Charm’s (political) goals. I don’t know if it was because there weren’t enough stakes (for the emperor’s people) for me to be fully invested or if there was something else that was missing that didn’t allow me to binge this read in a couple of sittings.

Though I wish I had enjoyed this story more, I still think it’s worth the 3.5 stars (rounded to 4) because there are so many brilliant and clever things happening in this novel that deserves recognition. If this is a novel that appeals to your gothic/witchy senses, I highly recommend picking it up and giving this story a shot. It’s a slow build, but 100% worth it in the end.

“The Bone Orchard” by Sarah A. Mueller is expected to be published on March 22nd, 2022 by Tor Books. Save the date, add it to your reading lists, and be sure to give this book a read when it hits shelves.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, (Tor Books) for providing me with a free e-arc of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion in this review.

I loved the premise of The Bone Orchard. The say Mueller portrayed disassociation after trauma, is not one that I have seen.

On the surface this book is a mystery that Charm needs to solve. Charm is the Madame of the Orchard House - a position she came to after her family was conquered and she was forced to be the mistress of the Emperor that was the reason for her family's downfall.
On his deathbed, the Emperor tasks Charm with finding which of his sons murdered - this is the ticket to her freedom.
Navigating high stakes politics, her past, the part of herself that she has buried, and the parts of her she brought out into the world to carry her burdens - Charm begins.

This book was so great. There is so much beneath the surface of the basic story - the role women play in politics, the resourcefulness that they needed to impart to survive and act in their best interest, the constant underestimation of men, and how people react to trauma.

What I wish was that the story was less muddled. I love when bits and pieces of pasts are revealed - but I felt like I was missing key information for so much of the story, that I was lost for a bit.

I wanted to love this book so badly. Unfortunately, after reading 20%, I found I was slogging my way through. The story didn't catch me--it felt like a book I'd read many times before, and while it has an unusual take, it wasn't enough for me to stay interested. DNF at 20%. Thank you Tor Books for the chance to read the book early in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Orchard is an ambitious and inventive novel about the lengths someone will go for self-preservation amidst extreme trauma.

While the main plot concerns a poisoned emperor and the subsequent whodunit - the real stars here are Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. These five “boneghosts” are richly drawn and complex characters who answer to Charm, our central protagonist. Their relationship to Charm is fascinating and evolves in unexpected ways throughout the course of the novel. And, once I could keep all of the characters straight, I really enjoyed the world Sara A. Mueller conjured up – even if sometimes it felt like the narrative could have been tighter. Bonus points for an outstanding cover!

This book was confusing at first, but by the end I loved it. I honestly wasn’t ready for it to end. I would have liked some more explanation and investigation into the world itself. I loved the characters and would read a sequel to this if there ever was one!

Very unique book that is beautifully written. The plot was interesting from the start and as were the characters.

This was an interesting read with a very, very well executed concept whose story was unfortunately not quite as strong. Ultimately I felt a little too out to sea with regard to the world building and though the characters are incredibly well developed even if they don't have a great deal of "screen time" there are so many of them that it was often hard to keep track.

The idea of Charm, a woman who created literal, physical representations of her shattered psyche rediscovering her whole self is a great concept for the beginning of a story but I wanted to know a lot more about where Charm came from, what that trauma looked like, what occurred to bring her to where we find her at the books beginning. Instead we come in so far into the story already that there really isn't time to adequately explain anything and still tell the story happening in the present. I don't know enough about her relationship with Prince Luther, or about Prince Luther himself to really care about the outcome of that relationship. Honestly I couldn't keep the princes straight. I never got to see any of Charm's relationship with the emperor so her devotion to him doesn't make a ton of sense given what we're told he's done to her.

I checked multiple times to see if this was the second or even third book in a series because it felt like so much was missing.

Judging on concept and writing alone this is an excellent first novel. But I needed a stronger story to bolster this really great idea.

The Bone Orchard is a great book, a wonderful story, and a pretty twisty mystery with psychics, political intrigue, and powerful characters that all add up to something pretty special. Lady Charm runs a high-end and exclusive pleasure house for the nobility, well-to-do, and royal family known as Orchard House. Her emperor commands her on his deathbed to figure out who betrayed him and to not let that person ever sit on his throne, a command Charm is unable to refuse. Political machinations, backstabbing, mystery and self-discovery and dissolution become Charm's constant companions as she attempts to fulfil her final command and win her freedom.

I burnt the midnight oil (unwisely, I might add) multiple days in a row to finish this book because I was always grasping for that next revelation or for the move in Charm's plots to pay off or blow up in her face. There is so much creativity and interesting movement in the novel, characters feel fully developed, and I never once regretted my decision to keep with the story even if some moments were very dark and honestly upsetting to read about. The book never lingers overlong on these instances, and does not exploit them in a way that felt demeaning or disrespectful, but there is definitely no flinching when it comes to addressing how a pleasure house visited by an imperial household might need to conduct itself in the face of that kind of unrestrained power.

Sara A. Mueller’s The Bone Orchard is an imaginative fantasy with ornate prose that will appeal to a certain type of reader.

Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. The first few paragraphs hooked me—I loved the gruesome imagery of the bone orchard. The author lost me, though, as soon as Charm (jeez, what a name), turned out to be not only a witch/necromancer (cool), but also (for some reason) a madame/sex worker. When I got a description of Charm as pale and having her hair dyed socially unacceptable colors, I realized, yep, this is not the book for me. The elaborate prose is a veneer for that kind of juvenile sentiment over and over again.

Readers who like Seanan McGuire’s work will probably enjoy this book.

I read this one sitting, I couldn’t put it down. Will be recommending this for readers who love Gideon the Ninth and The Priory of the Orange Tree.

4.5 stars

The Bone Orchard follows Mistress Charm, a favoured courtsean of the emperor and mistress of the brothel Orchard House. When the emperor dies under mysterious circumstances his dying request to Charm is for her to investigate his murder as he suspects one of his sons is responsible. Charm, along with her team of courtseans (Pain, Pride, Justice, Desire and Shame) set out to find out what happened to the emperor and at the same time are pulled into trying to save the empire from the dangers of mad and ambitious princes.

I don't know what I was expecting when I requested this book, but safe to say it blew all my expectations out of the water! This book felt so different from your typical fantasy mystery whilst still having a lot of comforting and familiar elements. I'm not sure I've ever read a book before where the main character is in charge of a brothel but Charm was such a nuanced and compelling main character that this is something I would love to see a lot more of! I also really loved the subtle theme of the power women in traditonally very ostracised roles can wield using their wiles and how they are constantly underestimated but use this to their advantage running throughout the book.

I loved the atmosphere of the book - there is a lot of necromancy and bone magic (which I always love) and the prose of the book is very haunting and descriptive. I'm also not sure if this is a debut but if it is the writing is absolutely stunning and very confident for a debut author!

The politics and mystery reminded me a lot of The Councillor by EJ Beaton (which I love that book so this is a very good thing). Throughout the book we slowly unravel Charm as a character and how events have lead to where they are now, as well as underlying conspiracies throughout the empire involving various nobles and the princes (such as hidden heirs, backstabbings and secret idenities). I really liked the underhanded politics of the book and how Charm gets herself into the centre of events and subtly manipulates them without ever outwardly seeming to hold power.

I already talked about how great Charm was as a character but she truly carried the book for me. She is so different from your typical protagonist but so fascinating to follow and her strength, courage and resilience are such a pleasure to read about. Additionally I really loved the slow unveiling of learning more about her character and the many nuances that make her up as the book progressed. Another character stand out to me was Pain, one of Charm's courteseans and how compassionate she is whilst carring a lot of burdens for others as well as her desire to stand on her own and make a life for herself made her incredibly interesting to follow. Honestly the character work in this book is god tier.

This book has a very interesting element to the story which I'm not entirely sure how to describe without spoiling things because I think it is best to discover as you go but it brings up a very interesting conversation about response to trauma and the lengths we go to defend ourselves. I got really emotional towards the end seeing how much both Charm and Pain grow throughout the book and growing to accept and love all parts of themselves.

I also really loved the side romances, they are a very small part of the story bu I was surprisingly invested haha.

My only criticism is the book did take me a little while to get into but I read about 80% of the book in like 2 days because I could not put it down!!

Overall a fantastic new book that I would highly reccomend (especially if you are getting tired of the same old fantasy books) featuring lots of politics and a slowly unravelling mystery, compelling characters, emotional growth and discussion around trauma and how we respond to it.

This fascinating unique concept definitely blew my freaking mind! I cannot compare this book with the other examples because I couldn’t find any book that has resemblances with this original concept!

Political, historical, twisty, dark fantasy with sweet romance: just give me this book and leave me alone! This is so much promising than I expected!

It also discusses so many sensitive issues realistically including sex workers, abuse, rape. If you like dark fantasy reads with well developed characters, breathtaking world building, mind bending mystery: this is the best fit for your needs!

Here’s quick summary of the nerve bending, surprisingly outstanding plot:

Charm represents the last line of conquered necromantic workers, confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House. But are those trees children of Charm or are they different parts of her split personality?As you may see each personalities are like different personalities grown as bone trees instead of sharing the same body, each of them represents their own life purpose including Shame, Pride, Pain, Justice, Desire.

Well, Charm is definitely complex, surprising character who is lost, madam, whore, witch but also a warrior, doing everything she can to survive!

As a madam, Charm works hard to conduct her salon business, having powerful clients from high places including the Emperor. Now she’s summoned to the Emperor’s deathbed as his loyal mistress. He needs her help to find which bastard son poisoned him in exchange her freedom.

Two mysteries intercepted in this book: one of them is searching for the culprit of the emperor’s death and the other one is focused on mystery about bone trees’ dark past, shared secrets. Reuniting the memories of different personalities was like gathering different pieces of puzzle to see the whole picture. It was quiet smart, moving, enigmatic.

I added extra star for the mystery’s brilliant unfolding! This is epic ending I truly needed!

I certainly recommend this extra creative, ultra intelligent book that inspired me a lot!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor /Forge Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Charm is a witch and a madam whose life is not her own. The Emperor, one of Charm's clients, summons her to his deathbed only to reveal that one of his four sociopathic sons is responsible for his death. If Charm can figure out the mystery she will finally earn her freedom.

I found the book quite dense, but in all honesty that was my own fault after wading into this political, speculative fantasy very out of practice. It took me around a quarter of the way through to finally start vibing. It's Addictive but not a book you can rush. It is to be savoured as it's both extremely intelligent and politics heavy. A lot to get your head around without stopping here and there for a break.

I found it quite difficult to connect with our MC, Charm. While she was mysterious and strong, she was a bit too unknowable. I much preferred Pain. I thought Pain's chapters were far more compelling as she connects with the world outside of Orchid House. Perhaps it was because Pain's chapters felt personal while Charm's felt more politics heavy.
In general I really appreciated that all of the characters felt very lived in and real beyond the boundaries of our point of view characters.
I have to put it out there that I would die for more Major Nathair and their story.


The story itself is insanely original. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what other novels I could compare it too and came up with nothing. There really is nothing like it.
It evokes a beautiful sense of place. I'm not a particularly visual person when I read but I could see this world so clearly.
The romance was so sweet. As a fan of romance in fantasy I really wish we saw more of it. It was adorable.
I do wish the story could have included a little bit of humour as it might have added a nice levity. A few more layers, perhaps.

All in all I 100% believe there is market out there who are going to absolutely adore it, completely devour it and praise it until the end of time. I might just be a teensy bit too stupid to appreciate it as fully as someone else might.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for allowing me access to the ARC of Bone Orchard.

there were a lot of really dark themes explored in this book that I was concerned about from reading other reviews. However, they were delivered in such a way that it wasn't as triggering as I expected it to be. Overall I really enjoyed the storyline of this book and the characters. It was definitely engrossing and I kept reading because I wanted to know what would happen next.

There are a lot of books you can wax effusive about by saying that you stayed up too late, that you missed your subway stop, or that you forgot to adhere to some other daily tasks. I've done all of that and more for good books, but The Bone Orchard is the first book I read in the shower. Yes, that's right. I had to take a shower and I had to keep reading, so I assembled a makeshift stand out of shampoo bottles and shaving cream, and I propped up my ereader so that I could wash my hair and peer through the glass at the screen at the same time. That's how much I couldn't put this book down.

The Bone Orchard is a political thriller set in a magical empire, but more than that, it’s a compassionate but unflinching look at trauma. Let’s be clear, though: this isn’t grimdark. There is optimism here, but it’s hard-won optimism. So much grimdark revolves around people making self-serving decisions in bleak, hugely violent worlds. One of the hallmarks to me is that grimdark fantasy treats hope and goodness as naïve, if not outright pointless, and in no way is that the story Mueller is telling. There is goodness and hope in The Bone Orchard. There just isn’t much room for innocence.

Not much room for Shame either. Or Justice. But Desire does well enough, and Pride, and of course Pain. Mistress Charm couldn’t get very far without Pain.

These attributes are indeed parts of Charm/the Lady, but they are also semi-separate beings, “ghosts” who are separated from the core personality and distilled into bodies grown specifically for the purpose. The titular “bone orchard” is where Charm cultivates the strange trees that make her multiplicity possible. That she can separate herself is hardly an issue; Mueller is much more interested in why. What could drive a woman to become such a parliament of selves, peeling off such essential aspects and having them take up various positions in her brothel?

The visitors to Charm’s pleasure-house don’t find these name-titles strange. After all, Charm is a fixture of ____ society, her establishment the very finest not only in providing sexual services but in offering most physical indulgences. Fine food, alcohol, and company are all available to those who have the means and station to avail themselves—or, sometimes, just the station. Princes aren’t very good at paying their bills, and they’ve racked up quite the debt in not just money, but in pain and blood.

Charm is beset by the princes of the empire, each exquisitely terrible in his own way. But only one of them killed the emperor—at least, that’s what the emperor thinks. On his deathbed, he charges Charm to find which one of them killed him and bring them to justice. How, though? Charm cannot defy the emperor or his sons outright. Not only would that guarantee her death, she also has a mechanism implanted in her brain that forces her to obey the emperor even beyond his death. However, it also makes it possible for her to use her power without going mad.

Everything in The Bone Orchard is like this, a double-edged sword, the good with the bad. The virtue and the trauma of survival and the weight of pragmatism. Pragmatism is very heavy—you have to carry your consequences with you. You have to know that you are saving some but not others. You have to acknowledge how that breaks you into pieces, and then you have to keep going anyhow. Better, though, to do something than to argue incessantly for what should be done, if only it were an ideal world. Idealism is pointless not just without action, but also without effectiveness. You can die for a cause and change nothing. Far better, Mueller says, to compromise and get something than retain your ideals and help no one, not even yourself. It is right to flee if flight ensures your survival. It is right to accept comfort if it helps you keep going, even if that comfort comes from a person or place you don’t like.

The Bone Orchard comes down very harshly on absolutists. Moral purists and sadistic psychopaths share similar fates, their inflexibility ultimately their downfall. You can argue that the idealist Fergus’s actions inspired sympathy from the populace. But you could equally argue that Fergus’s uncompromising position forced Oram into an unbearable situation, one that caused him physical as well as moral torture. Only when he had sufficiently recovered from this dissonance could he live once again, or save anyone else.

Charm, too, may have a few lingering illusions about absolute good and absolute evil, but she is forced to relinquish them. They are the product of her youth and naivety, and Justice in the end does less for her than Pain. The simple ability to endure pain, to suffer and not give up, is the first lesson. The second is compromise. Better to bend than to break, says The Bone Orchard. And better to break and keep going than to give up.

The Bone Orchard isn’t offering a blithe amnesty for the morally grey majority, though. It isn’t trying to celebrate the vast number of us who are doing our best and muddling through. No, it’s still working in the moral extremes, asking hard questions about power, privilege, and the kinds of choices you can’t take back. What are the consequences of empire, of armed forces, of inheritance? What is the nature, from root to fruit, of trauma?

Not since Melina Marchetta’s Lumatere Chronicles have I read such a thorough and unflinching examination of traumas both intimate and imperial. The Bone Orchard is interested in many of the same questions about sexual violence, political violence, and personal vs. collective responsibility. That means this is a book about complex trauma, and is necessarily intersectional on a personal level as well as in the political realm.

It may seem odd, but I think the best point of comparison for this book is actually Becky Chambers’s A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which epitomizes Hopepunk. The Bone Orchard is not Hopepunk, not at all. But they share a kind of fearlessness, a relentlessness that looks despair full in the face and says no. Chambers writes about the inherent good of consciousness; Mueller is writing about the inherent worth of survival. For both authors, living is sufficient. It does not mean we should not hope for more, but to live is the most urgently sacred act.

This book was extraordinarily cathartic for me, not least because it belongs so well in this age of pandemic. We have few good choices, we who want to protect ourselves and protect others. Finding a balance is hard enough, and finding a way to make things better is even harder. But Charm is a singularly (though maybe not singular) brave protagonist, and it is her fortitude that allows her to succeed as much as anything else. She is not perfectly clever. She is not perfectly good. She is not even perfectly herself—she is divided, literally and figuratively. Nevertheless, she endures. And I very much hope that like her, The Bone Orchard will likewise endure, because its lessons are deep and timeless.

I loved this book. SO much. the main character, Charm, OWNS my heart I'm inove with her. she's out here running a business, being a woman that everyone underestimates INCLUDING HERSELF wow it was so good. the duality of all the different parts of herself that she's fighting with and yet working with was fascinating. also love a woman willing to murder for vengeance. the world was really cool and the technology was awesome. would have loved to have seen more of the technology but overall, really good. every twist was perfection.

I don't even know how to quantify The Bone Orchard. It's a fantasy novel and the main characters(s) are like... You know how there was the popular theory that intense trauma produced split personality disorder? This is like that, except they live outside the main body in bodies grown from bone trees and they have names to signify their "purpose." There's Shame and Desire and Justice and Pain and Pride. And our main, Charm. And they all protect the Lady, who shares main body with Charm. And the main conflict is that Charm runs a salon type business and she's the consort to the emperor...until he's murdered. And he tasks her with finding out which of his sons murdered him and then to kill them. So we have this kind of mystery (and all his sons are trash), but then there's a secondary mystery of Charm and the other boneghosts' shared past, because the memories are split between them. And it unfurls slowly, and WOW, packs a punch. And the conclusion is so perfect. This is a story of survival and a promise of healing and UNF, MY FEELS. Also the worldbuilding is most excellent and it didn't take me long to find my feet (which is most appreciated).

My first favorite read of 2022!

Content warnings (off the top of my head, not a complete list): SA (off-page, some in reference to minors), assault, murder, torture (mostly off page), gore, body horror, poisoning, statutory r@pe (off page, historical)

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan/Tor for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

To start I want to warn all readers that this book does contain sensitive themes and content such as abuse, trauma, and sexual abuse.

This is a dark story that is full of twists and turns and morally grey characters, and once I started it I really couldn't put it down. I was instantly obsessed with finding out more about Charm and her ghosts. While there are a lot of dark themes covered in this book, it was always delivered in a matter-of-fact way that somewhat softened the blow and it never felt gratuitous. Overall, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy.

The Bone Orchard is an incredibly imaginative and complex world. The characters are beautifully illustrated and their personalities evolve as the story progresses and the mystery unfolds. This dark, gothic mystery is brilliantly written and kept me guessing through to the conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed The Bone Orchard.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Sara A. Mueller for the advanced copy of The Bone Orchard. #TheBoneOrchard #NetGalley.

What an outstanding dark fantasy novel this one was!

This book was just so much fun! Such an absolute magical and stunning story.
It took so many twists and turns, it really kept me on my toes and made me want to devour the story. Absolutely loved it.
Reading this book was such an immersive experience, as if the pages truly were enchanted and I was falling under a spell.
Sara A. Mueller's writing is gorgeous and I was swept away into this fantasy world where nothing is as it seems.
Her characters are beautifully drawn and I was instantly captivated by the plot.
One of my absolute favorites! And this gorgeous cover to boot.
Totally going on my shelves.

Tor Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.