Wake The Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne

*Spoiler free*

The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away. After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s terrifying legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doomed.

Just from this title, I knew I wanted to read this book. I didn’t even need to know much else. I knew it would be about something dark and sinister rising from the earth, and a girl who is trying to stop the devil from coming after her like it did her mother. That’s basically all I needed to know to know that I wanted to read this book. Trigger warnings: mental and physical abuse, violence, suicide, blood

This book was WEIRD, and I mean that as a huge compliment. It’s the kind of weird that blooms in your veins, makes it’s home under your skin. It’s the kind of weird that haunts, and it’s a book that is so, so good.

This book embraces everything that it is. It’s bizarre and twisted and horrifying and it completely leans into that. And honestly it’s what I love about it.

Honestly everything I loved about this book I loved because it was weird. The writing, the magic, the characters, the plot, everything was downright weird. I know I’m saying that a lot, but it’s true. The magic, it’s intense and biting and comes in waves. The characters, there emotions are bright swells that seem to spill over the hills. The plot is something that sweeps through the book, a darkness that lurks in the seems until it infects everything around it. The emotions are complicated and thorny, so much pain and hurt between them all, but also so much love. All of this ties together into something that is sharp, but lovely, and very, very weird.

The writing was also something that I really loved. It’s twisty in a way, seeming to stretch and pull everything in different ways, seeing how things move. It gives the book a roundedness to it, makes it seem like every corner is explored. It felt very cool, and I really, really liked it.

This book isn’t about ghosts, but it felt very haunting. It’s about something waking up once again. And it’s hungry. It’s horrifying, and full of death, but also a type of life too. There’s a lot of bones and a girl trying to pull magic so protect those she loves. It won’t be a book for everyone, but I really, really loved it. It’s packed with so much feeling, about friends trying to hold onto each other and keep each other safe, and trying to fight off what is coming to get them. It’s so, so good.

Wake The Bones comes out July 12, 2022! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy in the meantime!