DNF @ 23% (or pg 60)
I really wanted to read this as a historical perspective on Jamestown and the Indigenous Peoples, but oh gosh, I just COULD NOT get past the FMC. I understand why it was written this way, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it 🤷‍♀️

I really thought this was going to be a great book. I love historical fiction, especially when horror is thrown into the mix, but this really just missed the mark for me. I understand why the book was written the way it was, but the writing was too choppy and disjointed, even though that was the point. Plot points were brought up and never went anywhere. I found it to be so slowly paced that it took me five days to read less than 300 pages. I was unimpressed with the way the Indigenous people were written in this book. The real horror is how people can become monsters when tragedy strikes. Idk…. This was very disappointing and I should have DNF’d it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I’m afraid to close my eyes. After reading To The Bone by Alena Bruzas, I can’t shake off the feelings of dread and discomfort. It’s a tough read with lots of content warnings including cannibalism, murder, racism, blood, gore, starvation, and violence related to colonialism. For this queer horror young adult historical fiction, I need an immediate palate cleanser. It was brutal, disturbing and dark. ARC was provided by Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Teen via NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

CONTENT WARNING: mental illness (suicidal ideation, trichotillomania), violence, rape, homophobia (historically accurate), racism/racist language (historically accurate), murder, cannibalism

To The Bone is a chilling story telling the true story of the earliest European colonizers on in Jamestown, Virginia during “The Starving Time” of 1609-1610. I initially was drawn in by the mesmerizing voice of Ellis, an indentured servant and the book’s narrator, and the promise of a lesbian relationship with her neighbor, the middle-class Jane Eddowes. Tangled in with Ellis and Jane’s budding relationship is the narrative of the slow failure of the colony through starvation, repeated interactions with local indigenous people, and the savagery of some high-ranking members of the colony.

I found this to be an accurate account of the Jamestown colony and early American colonialism, though some of Ellis’s thought patterns on the indigenous people and her sexual identity might feel a bit anachronistic. I did appreciate the author’s lengthy endnote and selection of sources used for research, which makes me feel that sharing a selection from the book with older students would make for an engaging addition to a social studies unit on the Jamestown colony. The fact that a number of characters were based on real people added to the feeling of authenticity and could make this valuable in a creative writing classroom as an example of how to integrate archaeological evidence into character-building for historical fiction.

4/5 stars

Historical fiction is always a good way to learn about a time period you might not have known otherwise. Now, I'm not American or I might be able to claim more knowledge, but I didn't know more than the very basics of British colonisation (mostly from Pocahontas, I'm ashamed to say, although I did know it's not very accurate, and from a TV show a few years ago called Jamestown. That series was set a few years later than this book, though.)

Ellis has come from England, indentured to one of the Jamestown colonists as his maid. She's hoping to gain her freedom and a piece of land. But as she learns more of Jamestown's secrets, she finds that things aren't as she was told.

This isn't a book you read for fun. It's grim. That's the whole point of it, it's as accurate as it can be with what's known now about Jamestown, but it is difficult to get through. Worth it, definitely, but don't pick it up looking for a light fun read.

I can't say that I enjoyed this, but I can say that I'm glad I read it, and I hope that more people read it, because I think it's one that needs to be read and talked about and just known about. Don't skip the author's note at the end.

Highly recommended.

Content warning; violence, (period accurate) racism and sexism, cannibalism. This is set during the Starving Time in Jamestown.

first of all read the tws i wasn’t prepared for the body horror in this book so if you’re sensitive to that i wouldn’t recommend this book👩🏻‍🦯

this was a quick read outside of my usual genre. i would’ve appreciated some more historical context throughout the book since i didn’t have much going into it. this book is told from the perspective of ellis—the writing is easy to understand and reflects ellis’ character well. the story itself is harrowing and dark 😭 i’m still not 100% what the purpose of telling this story is though, definitely read the author’s note at the end

thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Alena Bruzas presents To the Bone, a historical fiction in the era of the Jamestown Settlement of Colonial America. Readers follow fictional indentured servant Ellis as she navigates her experiences as a young colonist during the time period known as the Starving Years.

This story is fictional, but is heavily based in truth and incorporates stories of real people at the time. Ellis is fictional. A good portion of the other characters and their actions are not, though Bruzas does take some artistic liberties in fictionalizing them. I am a reader who has been to the Historic Triangle many times and the Voorhees Archaearium at Jamestown Settlement is among my favorite museums.

Bruzas truly paid homage to the stories of these people as well as being respectful of the fact that she, and the vast majority of Americans including myself, are settlers on stolen land.

I respect Bruzas' writing. I hope it will bring more interest in the history within the young adult demographic. That being said, this historical fiction, while based in fact, has much in common with the horror genre. There is much suffering of a wide variety of types. Starvation, abuse, miscarriage, use of abortifacients, cannibalism, and more. This book is not pleasant to read. It is not intended to be. It is not a joyous or entertaining experience. As such, I am struggling to rate it. I feel the need to round up because I think Bruzas accomplished her goal well with this book.

I hope this novel finds its way to the right audience as I truly appreciate Bruzas' efforts with To the Bone.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book. This book has my whole heart. I absolutely adored this! From the incredible characters, to the plot, to falling in love with everything so quickly- I couldn’t put this down. I highly recommend this! It really just sucks you in and makes you never want to leave. In my opinion, those are the best books and I couldn't get enough.

To the Bone by Alena Bruzas is an enthralling story of survival and horror that forcefully overturns the mythos of the American settler.
An enjoyable and dark YA historical fiction novel.
A well written story that I couldn’t put down once I started.
The writing captured my attention and kept me glued to the pages.
They were right this book will stay with you, forever.

Writing took me out of the story almost immediately. I’m sure there’s a purpose, but it’s frustrating. And I’m not sure how I feel about this being by a white woman about indigenous trauma.

This is a hard one to review because the subject matter is so intense. Moreso, as a Virginian, I find myself hating the atrocities that came from this ordeal and how preventable it was. However, I found myself wishing there was more to Ellis' story. Though I think it would make a fantastic A24 film given how erie and atmospheric it is. There's a lot that happens and not a whole lot as well. Which makes for a slice-of-life feeling to this story that leaves me wanting more but knowing that Ellis would have an abrupt life much like the ending to the book.

3 stars
——————

This story tale follows Ellis Folk during the starving time in Jamestown, fictionalizing the true events.

This was a really interesting read to me, having ancestors who lived in Jamestown during this time. It was a little dark, definitely dabbled in horror slightly, but featured a cute sapphic romance between Ellis and Jane. The writing was immersive and wonderfully written, if not grotesque at times. I was sucked into the story easily and enjoyed the bulk of it. There was definitely some pacing issues, as the events are a bit lacking with the length. This would have been a really good full length novel, expanding on the events and the time period to encapsulate the true feelings of this time. It would have been a good way to enhance the characters and show them better and truer. Our characters, while interesting, are stunted by the length of the novel.

Please note that this book contains unlisted trigger warnings, so read with caution.

Ellis Folk, alone after her mother and sister die of the plague and her remaining sister gets a job in a big house in London, becomes an indentured servant in 1609 to get herself to the New World where she is hoping to locate her father. In Jamestown, she is part of the household of Henry Collins and his pregnant wife. Master Collins is harsh with Ellis. She works hard to care for the house (even helping to build it) and his ailing wife. She is whipped when he believes she disobeys and when she consorts with the friend she loves, Jane Eddowes.

The Natives, or Country People, as Ellis thinks of them, are not friendly. They do not want the settlers there because they've been taken advantage of repeatedly by the group. In Jamestown, food stores dwindle and as people begin dying of starvation, Ellis becomes as disheartened as the rest. Henry Collins though, seems to continue to stay healthy. Ellis suspects how but her suspicions are proven true when he kills his wife and cannibalizes her body. Based on true events, he was then put to death by the remaining people of the town.

Written for a teen audience, this book of historical fiction will grab their attention and give them a different view of history.

Recommended for school libraries and all those who enjoy historical fiction.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and author for sending me an advanced copy of To the Bone, out September 10, 2024.

This book follows Ellis as she ventures to James Fort in the year 1609. Arriving with a group of European settlers, we follow Ellis into the brutal history of what colonizers faced in times of famine and the yearning to own land that was never theirs. More importantly, we follow the beginnings of what colonizers did to the indigenous people who first lived in America.

This was such an interesting read as someone who doesn’t often read historical fiction. Alena Bruzas’s writing captured me in her previous novel, so I had high hopes for this book by her. It did not disappoint. Her tone and style and prose is right up my alley and something special in regard to new authors I’ve recently read from.

The way I felt empathetic (but not sympathetic) to the colonizer characters while also being reminded that they were not innocent was a great feat of the author to be able to pull off an accurate portrayal of historical events. Ellis herself didn’t have a choice in leaving her home to work for a family on new land. She was a great character to be in the pov of.

Another aspect to the book that sweetened it was the relationship Ellis found in Jane. Not only was this historical fiction, but it also has sapphic rep. I enjoyed all of the characters very much.

The book was deep while keeping the page count short and I felt it was even better for not beating around the bush with the storyline.

Trigger warnings because there are many: colonialism, death, hangings, physical domestic abuse, servant punishment, abortion, fetus death, cannibalism, animal death, self-harm

A tale told from the perspective of Ellis, an indentured servant trying to survive the new world in the Virginia Colony with the couple she serves. This coming of age story is fraught with hunger, friendship, backbreaking work, budding love and hardship. The writing itself is fine, I just couldn’t get invested in the characters enough to continue.

To the Bone is a dark, dark historical fiction novel. Did I mention that it was dark? If you're looking for cheery fare, look elsewhere. But as I have always been endlessly fascinated with this time period, I devoured this one. It takes place during "The Starving Time" at Jamestown in 1609, and I have really always felt such a curiosity at those early, pre-Mayflower era colonists, especially their thought process. The records are few and far between, and always from the perspective of the white colonizer, of course, so to read a book (even a fictional one!) from the point of view of a young girl was quite thought provoking.
At first, I found the writing to be very simplistic, but as I read on, it absolutely made sense- someone of Ellis's age and place in society would be fairly uneducated, and frankly, not known much about the world around her at all. Add to it that she was kept quite sequestered by the crappy dude who held her indenture, and you can see why she'd feel a bit pedestrian. She wanted more, though. It was clear she had some deep feelings for her friend Jane, and not just friendship feelings, though it was hard for Ellis to articulate. She also had hope that she could find her father, who came to the continent years before Ellis herself made the journey.

But things took a turn when people started starving and getting sick, and when winter kicked in. Add to it, her indenturer's wife is pregnant, and has spent the entire pregnancy very ill- both physically and mentally, adding to the toll on the house. And when you think things can't get a ton worse, they manage. Like I said, this is a bleak one. But even though it most definitely is somber, I was glad to have read it. If you have read it, I have a question, but it's very spoilery so please only look if you have read it! (view spoiler)

A sidenote, this book is not directly about the wrongness of colonialism in general (though perhaps you can argue that it is indirectly- after all, their decisions absolutely had consequences, at least in this story), but the author does discuss it in her author's note. We don't see a lot of interaction between indigenous people and the intruders, but a young indentured woman wouldn't have had much opportunity to, either. There are some subtle nods, but Ellis is, by definition of her station, kept quite in the dark.

Bottom Line: Dark, but also very fascinating and readable.

First, Bruzas's prose is spare and lovely, reflective of the stark and brutal circumstances of her main characters. She has clearly done a boatload of research on Jamestown and the Starving Time—subjects I had very little previous knowledge of—and feels very strongly about her subject. And she does a commendable job weaving a multilayered tale of survival in the face of terrible circumstances, both without and within: her teenage protagonist, Ellis, is faced with the harshness of life at James Fort as the clock slowly runs out on their food supply and winter draws nearer, while also trapping her in an abusive household, where the man to whom she is indentured, Master Collins, beats both Ellis and his pregnant wife. Ellis's responses to her circumstances are as heartbreaking as they are realistically and sensitively rendered, and her longing to be loved by Master Collins—to be, in some ways, a surrogate daughter, having lost most of her family prior to the start of the book—even as she loathes him for his cruelty is especially multifaceted. I also enjoyed the inclusion of a queer relationship between Ellis and her best friend Jane, portrayed in a way that makes sense for the time period (queer people have always existed), as well as the close bond between Ellis, Jane, and their friend Rowan. The way these three lonely people in an unfamiliar land were able to rely on one another for companionship and strength was very beautiful. Additionally, Bruzas should be commended for the work she has done to tell what is, at its core, a tale of colonization (and the beginning of four hundred years of genocide against the indigenous people of North America) sensitively and unflinchingly. At no point is the colonists' presence ever made to feel justified—even Ellis, in her internal dialogue, contemplates the wrongness of their being there, the wrongness of their actions against the Indigenous people—and extensive information on reparative justice initiatives, such as Land Back, is provided in the footnote of the book.

What prevents this from being a really great read for me is that very little actually happens. It started to drag at around the same time the Starving Time really settled in, which narratively makes sense—what is there to do, in the bitter cold of an early North American winter, but huddle in bed and starve?—but the passages and passages of misery got repetitive and reading started to feel like a chore. I would also caution anyone who does not have a strong stomach to heed the trigger warning about cannibalism: while this particular act is not depicted gratuitously, the horror of it is not shied away from, either. I found myself more disturbed than I'd anticipated. The bleakness got to me, as well; given that this is YA, I kept waiting for the hopeful silver lining to appear, and it never really did.

This book is odd but I think it has an audience, and I learned a lot about a period of American history that I couldn't have told you much about. Bruzas has written a very, very smart book that I'd encourage fans of historical fiction to give a try.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for an early copy of this book! This was enjoyable, but a tough read at times. I struggled to connect with the characters and storyline. I appreciated that this was a short book and didn’t drag on in pacing. Overall I enjoyed this, but historical fiction may not be the genre for me.

This books writing was hard for me. It took me out of the story almost as soon as it started. This book is dark, realistic, and heartbreaking. What Ellis goes through is very realistic to the lived experiences of the settlers in the new land. If you’re looking for a book that doesn’t sugar coat their lives. This is the one for you. As for everything else in the book it was just a personal miss for me. The writing style was disjointed and rough to read. It took me out of the story multiple times and made it hard for me to get back into it. I truly feel bad for Ellis, but their lived experience of feeling that they are being punished for being who they are is a very honest historical view. May I hope that we can only make people feel more comfortable being who they are today without making them feel like Ellis.
Thank you to Penguin Group Penguin Yount Readers Group, Rocky Pond Books, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and PRH Audio for advanced copies.

To The Bone is an intense, thought-provoking look into early colonial settlements in the United States. Ellis, a young indentured servant arrives to James Fort with hopes and dreams. She falls in love with a fellow settler, Jane and must navigate not only the new world, but also her sinful feelings. As the seasons change, the relationships with the Indigenous people of the land becomes more and more tense. Ellis must surve not only the abusive man she is in service too, but the hunger forced on to the settlement. This riveting book forces you to not only contemplate the truth behind the colonization of a land that was not ours, and the horror of survival as a sapphic woman in the world of the 1600s.

This historical fiction does use the word “savages” to describe the Indigenous people, from the persepctive of colonizers. While I am not a fan of the use of this word, the author explains at the end of the book the use of the historical accurate term.

Content warnings: Cannibalism, murder, domestic abuse, racial slurs, racism, voilence related to colonialism, pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, child death, body horror, blood, gore, starvation, food-witholding.