This book was a knife to the heart. Each word felt like a blade worked to split open my skin, and carve me into sobbing, unrecognizable pieces. But then, weaving through the agony, this book would occasionally feel like a gentle caress. A warm kiss overtop old scars, and a healing salve to soothe the new.

The prose within The Sins on Their Bones is utterly beautiful. I found myself setting the book down often, and needing to take a small break merely to digest and bask in the glory of what I had just read. The characters are stunning, the world building is magnificent, and the story it tells is so beautifully heartbreaking. It will tear you to pieces, but knit you back together within the very same breath. I'll be carrying this with me for the years to come.

The Sins on Their Bones mainly focuses on love, loss, trauma, friendship, and family.

Very short summary: Dimitri and his gang reclaiming the throne from Dimitri's undead ex-husband in a world inspired by Jewish folklore and culture. A lot of hurt and some comfort.

I just love books with flawed characters and messy relationships. It makes everything so much more interesting.

I truly enjoyed the found family dynamic. It was a fully queer set, and they were so domestic with each other. I find it rare to come across characters so vulnerable. Dimitri was a very intriguing one. Vasilij, however, I did not care for him. Or whatever he and Dimitri had going on.

It was definitely a character-driven book. There wasn't a lot of detailed complex worldbuilding, I wish we'd seen more, as I'm a sucker for big worlds. The characters were mostly either at home, in a carriage or the palace.

I don't feel like this needs a sequel. It would've been a good standalone had it ended without the last chapter. However, in my opinion, not having an entire book preceding this one or even a prequel novella rather than all the flashbacks and memories is a missed opportunity. Yes, Alexey is not a good character, but I think it would've been interesting to see his corruption arc unfold.

This is being marketed as a romantasy, it is not. Detailed content warnings shared by the author:
• Heavy discussion of and explicit on-page depiction of spousal abuse and domestic violence (please note that TSTB features the POV of both the victim and the abuser—those readers who would struggle with the juxtaposition of these two internal monologues should take special care)
• Features a POV character with PTSD, anxiety, and depression
• Discussion of self-medication with alcohol
• Features a POV character who experienced past childhood sexual abuse by a relative
Graphic sexual intercourse (all scenes take place between consenting adults)
• Gore
• Desecration of a corpse
• One scene of experimentation on an unwilling prisoner ending in their death, off-page descriptions of this happening multiple times
• Battlefield descriptions (off-page, in the context of PTSD flashbacks), discussion of conscription of soldiers
• Very brief mention of rape and child abuse in the context of war, occurring off-page
• Explicit drug use

The Sins on Their Bones is a dark fantasy novel that blends elements of Shadow and Bone with Fullmetal Alchemist, infused with Jewish mysticism and exploration of sexual trauma. Set in a post-war world, the story follows Dimitri, a self-exiled Tsar grieving the loss of his husband Alexey, who has become the acting Tsar hungry for power. Vasily, Dimitri's friend, aims to take down Alexey and provide Dimitri with the happiness he deserves, but it requires a risky plan. The novel delves deep into the effects of trauma and abuse, weaving a tale of resilience amidst darkness.

While the narrative is rich with intricate backstories and complex characters, it could benefit from a slower reveal of past events to enhance intrigue and pacing. Despite its graphic depictions of violence and sexual abuse, the story offers vivid commentary on trauma and sacrifice. Though challenging, the book is ultimately rewarding for those able to handle its intense themes.

Readers will appreciate its exploration of Jewish mysticism, its deeply flawed yet compelling characters, and its profound themes of love, agency, and forgiveness. With its immersive world-building and compelling narrative, The Sins on Their Bones is a gripping and thought-provoking read.

This book will break your heart. It was so beautiful, and there's so much to love about it. It's rooted in Jewish culture, mysticism, and folklore, it's queer, and it's dark. The character development and depth was phenomenal. This book did such a great job of feeling rooted in a world that felt real, while weaving in fantasy elements that were intriguing.

The more I read, the more this book drew me in. It was captivating and I loved it from start to finish. If you want a book that will emotionally shatter you, this is it. Just check the trigger warnings.

This book wasn't for me, but that's not the fault of the writing. Personally I found it slow paced and I didn't get sucked in or drawn to the characters. Plot-wise it was original and the vulnerability of the characters was refreshing, I just wasn't interested.

I believe getting advance review copies is a great privilege, hence why I always make a point of reading them through to the end before leaving a review.
In this case, however, I must make an exception. Despite being one of my most anticipated releases of the year, <i>The Sins on Their Bones</i> turned out to be so excruciatingly boring that I simply could not bring myself to finish it.

To begin with, I feel like the story started in the wrong place. The characters kept referencing past events that marked both their personal lives and the history of their country, but because we don’t actually <i>see</i> these events unfolding or these characters bonding, it’s hard to get invested in them. Even though the stakes are literally as high as they get, we are given no reason to care about the fate of this world or the people in it. This felt like reading the sequel to a first novel that doesn’t exist.

Which brings me to my second problem: the pacing. In the two hundred pages I read, pretty much nothing happened. Characters did little but sit around moping, talking about their past, and revisiting their trauma. Alexey, the villain we’re supposed to root against, was the only one driving the plot forward and therefore the only compelling character out of the whole cast. Call me cold hearted, but I can’t bring myself to be interested in a protagonist who does nothing but sulk, drink, and have rebound sex with his equally bland best friend.

Speaking of which, what’s with all the gratuitous sex in this book? I usually don’t mind explicit scenes, but here they felt excessive and repetitive to the point that I started skimming them. We don’t need to read about the same characters having the same dysfunctional sex over and over again to understand they’re messy and tortured—we got the point the first time around. It almost feels like the author chose to throw in some random smut to compensate for the slow, uneventful plot; unfortunately, I found the romance (and the characters’ relationships in general) just as dry as the plot itself. The two main leads had no chemistry whatsoever and I simply couldn’t figure out what they saw in each other besides physical attraction.

The one thing that managed to hold my interest was the mythology. I love folklore and mysticism and enjoyed reading about this re-interpretation of Ashkenazi religious traditions. However, the lore alone wasn’t enough for me to push through the book.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Canada for this e-ARC.</i>

I received a free ARC of this book and here's my honest review.

CW: domestic violence, abusive relationship, manipulation, trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief, alcohol, drugs, mentioned child abuse, graphic sexual content, gore, death, injury detail

The author told me that if I like pain, I'll love this book and she was right. This was very painful and I loved every page.
I love the world building, the plot was good and I really love the characters. I cried and I'm very much looking forward to the next book. I don't know what else to tell you, I have no notes.

Be aware if you want to read this check the CW! Because this deals with a lot of heavy topics, especially the domestic abuse (It features the POV of victim and abuser).

Thank you NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is a multi POV of an attempt to stop the Tzars ex husbands attempt of destruction and wrecking havoc upon its people.

Ok so the positive of this book is that the foundation and premise of this book is wonderful! It is a great idea to do a book based off of Jewish mythology and Russian monarchy!
The characters seem to try to be dynamic and the world is expansive!

Now the negative,
To begin, tell me why book goes at a SNAILS PACE? I hate to be negative but honestly nothing happened for the first ~200 pages! Now some people will say that it takes that long to develop the world, the characters, etc. But I believe even if you are world building or introducing the characters there still needs to be something that drives the plot.
Also, the world is expansive but I felt confused multiple times throughout the book because it seemed like the author just infodumped like “Hey this country over here who is our trading mate…” and that’s it? Like I feel that even though nothing happened in the first 200 pages I believe that the world should have been explained more thoroughly.
Last negative- Tell me one good reason why I couldn’t read this on my kindle?! I understand it’s my fault for not recognizing I couldn’t read it on my kindle but I sincerely believe that I would have enjoyed this book tenfold if I didn’t have to suffer through it on my phone.


So all in all, I believe this book has an extremely strong foundation but what’s built upon the foundation is shaky. I don’t want to judge too harshly because it’s this authors debut and I believe to a certain audience this book would be great! However I am not that audience.

When I received the notification about this book, I knew I was uniquely interested in reading it. I studied Judaism in graduate school ending with achieving my Masters in Second Temple Judaism. This book is so richly coated in the Ashkenazi traditions that I felt as though I was reading something familiar and known to me. The author did a fantastic job of blending real traditions and the ones written for the book in a way that was engaging.
The characters are pretty well fleshed out and the author goes a decent way to make sure we understand the extent to which the characters have been damaged by their pasts. The story shows that while we have our traumas and things we have experienced, it doesn't make us any less valuable. The "bad guy" in the book gets detailed chapters as well so we get the unique perspective of seeing what caused him to behave in the way he did. I can't say I see very many books that do this as well as this one did.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was the amount of gore in the book. Now there wasn't much but it was graphic when it was included so be aware of that as I honestly went into this one blind. There is also a fairly detailed relationship of abuse including sexual, So be aware of these warnings if they are something you don't typically read.
In closing, this is a very well-written book, full of tradition and culture. I greatly appreciated the author's notes at the end of the book along with the additional reading which I will be checking out.

5 star read for me. This story is fantastic, the characters are chefs kiss. Loved the story line so much.

2.25 stars
Hate to say it, but I found this book to be terribly disappointing. I'm aware that there's a large extent to which the issues I had with this book are likely just things that didn't work for me personally more than being true flaws with the book, but I'm still finding myself wanting to play plot doctor with this as I try to identify why it didn't work for me.

There are two main things that I thought this book did really well. First off, I thought the characters in this book themselves were excellent, and they were the main thing that had me at all invested in the story. There are some really wholesome found family dynamics between Dimitri and his court, and seeing the moments of them caring for and supporting one another was really enjoyable. The way they were all so in-tune to one another to sense what they needed, and seeing their comfortable platonic physical affection made me really happy, and was easily my favorite part of the book. While the side characters didn't get a ton of development, I thought the main three POV characters were all well-fleshed out, complex, and layered. (Granted, I think that this element could have been even stronger if we had been able to see these relationships form, rather than being dropped in with all of them already established, but I'll get into that more later.)

This book also had some really excellent representation. This is a queer-normative world, and you are hard-pressed to find a straight character anywhere in this book. We got to see characters be casually queer and bi and aroace and non-binary, while also making sure that these characters weren't solely defined by their queerness. The author's note also said that a lot of the fantasy elements were inspired by Jewish legends and mythology, so while I didn't have the background knowledge to pick up on those elements myself, I think it's still a great thing to see more of in fantasy.

I think by far the biggest thing I struggled with came down to the book's overall structure, and the pacing issues that resulted from it. Right from the start of this book, we are thrown into the story a couple months past the aftermath of an attack and coup, and we're watching as the former Tzar and his court lick their wounds and work through their respective traumas as a result of this. However, rather than opting for more of a dual-timeline narrative structure, as is more common with a set up like this, the entirety of the book proceeds from there, with only occasional paraphrasing and the even more rare flashback serving to catch us up on everything that happened.

I felt like the issue with this structure was that, because we were only getting what essentially amounted to second-hand accounts of this world-shifting event (and everything that lead up to it), these moments did not carry the emotional gravitas that I think they were intended to. It essentially became a problem of telling rather than showing, because we don't get to see for ourselves how the characters were thinking and feeling and struggling in those impactful moments, but only how it has affected them afterwards. While we understand exactly how much these characters are reeling after everything they've been through, it felt like the book spent all its time just trying to convince us of that via repetition rather than through immersion. I think that if this book had done a more dual-timeline approach— letting us live through the coup ourselves and see the transformation — it would have helped make everything feel as dire and world-shifting as the characters are telling us it is.

I also think there's a degree to which I would have been more invested in the plot if information hadn't been revealed as quickly as it was. We're basically told within the first few chapters everything noteworthy about Alexey's corruption, betrayal, and abuse. I'm not advocating for this to take the form of domestic abuse being a plot twist (looking at you [author:Colleen Hoover|5430144]), but I think that had the other elements been concealed so we had been left wondering longer what happened to cause the estrangement between Alexey and Dimitri, it might have made me more invested in continuing to see what happened.

Obviously, how the author decides to pace her story is her own choice, but I think that the way it was done here ultimately lead to a lot of the issues I had with the pacing. The plot beats of this book are structured as though this book is trying to be a political fantasy, but there is simply no clever politicking to be found. So much of the page time in this book is spent listening to characters talk about making plans and doing things, but it takes about 2/3 of the book for anyone to start actually acting on them. Instead, we spent most of our time watching Alexey rub his hands manically as he plotted his evil schemes, while our heroes sat at home wringing theirs and occasionally reading books to find ways of magicking up solutions to their problems.

I also didn't feel like the magic system leant all that much to the story, outside of it setting the stakes for Alexey's power. According to the author's note, a lot of the magic and myths in the book were inspired by the author's own Jewish culture, which I think is great, and I love seeing authors incorporate their heritage into their books. However, the way it was applied in this book largely felt like it only existed for the sake of plot convenience when the protagonists wouldn't have had any other way to solve a particular problem. I have no problem with soft magic systems generally — I think they can often be super compelling and a great way to round out the world — but I think that you have to see those systems in use for purposes other than just resolving particular conflicts in order to feel like it's a full part of the world. I can recognize why it wouldn't make sense in the context of the story if these characters were just running around using magic all the time, but I think there were other scenarios in which it could have been used to make it a more well-incporated system.

While the romance in the book that we're supposed to root for is not intended to be at the forefront of the story, I wasn't exactly sold on the elements of it that we did get. While I thought the characters worked well together and were a good fit for one another, I never felt like the intensity of their emotions was exactly earned by the end.

The other thing I found odd with this book was the sheer number of on-page sex scenes we got between an abuser and their victim(s). Granted, the way these scenes were actually written in and of themselves, I didn't get the sense that they were intended to titillate, but rather were present to illustrate the power imbalances and mindset of said abuser. However, it does still leave me wondering what the intention was of having multiple, descriptive scenes like these in the book. It seemed like it had made its point about the abuse after the first one, and could have communicated the same information via paraphrases or implications when needed, and not made us sit through multiple occurrences of someone being manipulated.

Despite my critiques, I do hope this book finds its readers and the people who will enjoy it. While I obviously had my issues with the structure and the pacing, the writing itself was enjoyable, and I think the concept had a lot of potential. I recognized pretty early on that I wasn't vibing with this book, and probably would have DNF'd if it hadn't been an ARC, so I realize that a lot of my issues are on me for choosing to finish a book I knew I wasn't enjoying. I can't exactly say that by the end I feel this book was worth me finishing it, but, if nothing else, I can appreciate it being an exercise in determining what things I do and don't enjoy.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an arc. I love Samotin’s beautiful writing, the vibe indeed reminds me of a blend of Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows and King of Scars. So if you love Bardugo, slow pacing and sexy gay romance this book is for you. But it does get repetitive at times.

I really enjoyed this book. We start off with our characters in hiding post war, and are given more details about what has happened as we go along in our current story.

I loved the three viewpoints we got and felt each character had a distinct voice. We got to really understand each characters motivations and struggles on how to go forward. Having a villain POV was also really unique and gave us good insight into the ways he convinces himself he is in the right. I found his POV very interesting and was excited to see how it progressed as we went along. Dimitri, Vasily and gang were all trying to come together and find a way forward through a horrible loss in the war. Their POVs really tugged on the heartstrings and they had a lot of mental hurdles to overcome.

My main issue with the book is that it really felt like book 2 in a 3 book series. Without any spoilers I would really love a book about the initial war. Our characters all start with pre-established relationships which is fine, but I feel like we picked up in the middle and we never got to know our side characters as much as was advertised with the 'found family' vibes. Even the start of Dimiti and Vasily's friendship would have been really nice to see to really get that progression in their relationship. While I ended up really loving the book I can see why some people might be frustrated with this way of telling the story.

This was such an enrapturing tale. While very little happens-plotwise, there is so much worldbuilding and atmosphere-setting happening on every page that I never felt bored. And the plot itself was interesting and makes sense to be a slow-build (in fact, if it wasn't a slow build I don't think it would have been nearly as impactful).

As far as if you're questioning if you'd like to read this I found myself comparing this to two books throughout the novel: Shadow and Bone and Mockingjay. Shadow and Bone in the worldbuilding/fantasy elements. It felt a lot like getting to watch what might have happened when the Darkling first came to power, especially with all the talks of heresy and 'the holy science.' Mockingjay in that you get a first-hand look at a main character coping with years of trauma (physical, emotional and mental), healing from it in a way that felt realistic and not being shamed by their peers for being traumatized.

4.5 stars Insert keysmash here it was so good. Everyone's comparing this to Shadow and Bone, probably because that's the perfect comparison for world, vibes, and even the characters. The Sins on Their Bones is more character-driven and more Jewish, both of which appealed to me as well.

What I liked:
- villain POV! Normally I hate it but Alexey was so interesting
- the exploration of trauma was impactful without being overwhelming. Like I felt the ick, but didn't want to throw up.
- the side characters were all super interesting. Ladushka was of course my favorite, but they all felt real.
- the writing was absolutely beautiful

What I didn't like:
= Dimitri reminded me of Alina Starkov
- the sex scenes felt so unnecessary. We got enough understanding of the impacts of sexual abuse from the rest of the book, and I didn't need to read all the details.
- the world was literally just Ravka from the Grishaverse, complete with the religious fanaticism and magic vs science tension

3.5 stars rounded up.

There was a lot I enjoyed. I loved the Jewish folklore, religion and culture infusing the worldbuilding. There’s a lot of space given to the ‘villain-cam’ point of view, and it added to the dark, gritty atmosphere. The romance had a sweet ‘realising what you had all along’ vibe that gave a lift in the otherwise heavy subject matter (although I didn’t feel like it had quite enough… meat? Weight? To really be satisfying). The book has some interesting things to say about ptsd and the aftermath of abusive relationships, and about healing in community with others.

But there was also quite a bit that brought it down for me. The pacing was a bit out of balance, especially in the first half — there wasn’t enough plot to flesh it out satisfactorily — and then the climax builds very quickly in comparison. Not all of the three POVs held their weight and justified their presence throughout the book. There was the most PAINFULLY laboured introductions of a side character’s sexuality I’ve ever read, and frankly as an ace person, I would rather no rep than that, thanks. And the sex scenes fall into an extremely irritating fanfic habit which is probably too explicit to put in a Goodreads review, so all I’ll say is that I wish authors would talk to a real, actual gay man before writing anal sex because that ‘prep’ is not necessary. (Especially not basically every time. It got SO repetitive.)

eh . . . i don’t know. i’m not too into fantasy, so perhaps that’s on me; however, i do think the story was a little wacky and that the characters weren’t as fleshed out as they should.

I enjoyed the characters and overall plot of this story, but I found that the pacing was really a struggle for me. At times the story seemed to move so slowly that I had a hard time starting engaged.

Thank you to NeGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, and Laura R. Samotin for an advanced copy of The Sins on Their Bones in exchange for an honest review.

I first requested this book because the summary reminded me of the Grishaverse created by Leigh Bardugo (if it was heavily Jewish). I had high hopes for this book, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The world building and atmosphere is so well done. No detail is left out, nothing is too obscure or minute. The characters are all beautifully written, and have their own outlook on life and handle grief and loss and trauma differently from one another. In the opening chapter, the reader gets a feel for Dimitri’s found family, and how much they all care for one another. This immersion into the world of Novo-Svitsevo makes the heartbreak, trials, and tribulation the characters go through that much more intense. I will admit I cried several times while reading, some happy tears and some less happy. Another thing that I really loved about this book is that it’s centered around Jewish religion, folklore and culture, and Samotin includes a list of books for further reading if interested in learning more about these aspects.


My biggest issue with this book is the pacing. There were times where it felt never-ending yet nothing was truly happening. Pacing can really make or break the story, and I did have to fight the urge to DNF several times, just because the only thing happening was sex. On the flip side, the last 5-8 chapters have so much going on that, and I found myself having to reread passages because I didn’t catch certain details.


Overall: 3.5 stars, I would definitely recommend this to my friends (with the warning about pacing) and I’ll probably even buy a physical copy when it’s released because I did thoroughly enjoy The Sins on Their Bones. I hope to see more of these characters and definitely more of Laura R. Samotin’s writing.

The Sins on Their Bones follows Tzar Dmitri and his exiled companions. All of them have been forced to escape from Dmitri’s kingdom thanks to the coup staged by Dmitri’s estranged husband, who chose to dabble in forbidden magic in his quest for power and immortality. Now Dmitri, with the help of his friends, must find a way not only to heal his broken heart, but also his broken kingdom before his husband finds a way to destroy both for good.

The Sins on Their Bones is the kind of book where you will suffer with the characters, but in a way that you will absolutely enjoy 😂I definitely recommend reading the TW, because this is not a light book. Personally, I loved Laura’s world building and the way that she incorporated Judaism into the story. This book was also spicer than I thought it would be, which made for a pleasant surprise while reading. Vasya and Dima were the characters that I wanted to give hugs to through out, but Alexey made for an, at times at least, alluring villain. I was disgusted with him, but also felt sorry for him, almost despite myself. I think if you enjoyed the camaraderie of Six of Crows, are a sucker for a wounded protagonist, are looking for your next queer normative fantasy and/or love to see real world folklore in fantasy then this is a book for you!