Name: The Bone Houses
Rating: 4.03 (150 reviews)
ISBN: 9781549129889

Emily Lloyd-Jones

Moira Quirk

Library Edition

The Bone Houses

Minnie Mazuera

"Pain doesn't make a person weak or strong," she said. "Pain just-is. It's not a purifier, it's part of living."

Elena M.

Death’s something of a frightening thing to most people. They like a bit of distance between them and eternity.

She knew how things died. And in her darkest moments, she feared she did not know how to live.

This was the truth of the forest—it was life and death in equal measure. Brimming with acorns and berries, yet beneath the fallen leaves were the bodies of animals that had not survived.

The living had a tendency to make promises they could not keep.

If I come across a problem, I take my axe to it. Or bury it. I’m good at burying things.

Part of him wondered if he liked maps because they were a reassurance. A promise that he would never again be without a path.

“Pain doesn’t make a person weak or strong,” she said. “Pain just—is. It’s not a purifier, it’s part of living.”

“Yes,” she answered. “I grew up thinking monsters could be slain.” “Ah,” he said. “And I grew up thinking people were the monsters.”

Home was taste and smell and sensation. It was not a place.

The anticipation of the loss hurts nearly as much as the loss itself. You find yourself trying to hold on to every detail, because you’ll never have them again.

To love someone was to lose them. Whether it was to illness or injury or the passage of time. It was a risk, to love someone. To do so with the full knowledge that they’d leave someday. Then to let go of them, when they did.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Sky in the Deep in this bewitching, historical horror novel, perfect for fans of Holly Black and V.E. Schwab. Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead. The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good? Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the deeply-buried truths about themselves. Equal parts classic horror novel and original fairytale, The Bone Houses will have you spellbound from the very first page.

Linara K.S

did not grasp my attention. The Mc was nothing special and the main love interest was a bore. It was a DNF for me.

Sarah Sammis

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones reads like a decades later sequel to The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander but re-contextualized within a recognizable and knowable Welsh landscape. Rather than use the Afro-Caribbean term zombie, Lloyd-Jones uses a descriptive English compound noun: bone house to describe the corpses who rise from their graves and wander out from the forest near the abandoned mine.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Sky in the Deep in this bewitching historical horror novel, perfect for fans of Holly Black and V.E. Schwab. Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead. The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good? Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the deeply-buried truths about themselves. Equal parts classic horror novel and original fairy tale, The Bone Houses will have you spellbound from the very first page. An instant IndieBound bestseller!

Michaela Hudson

I wouldn't call it a horror even though the setting was clearly very eerie and somber. The plot-twists were also not quite as surprising as I thought BUT this writing is what I miss in YA books these days and I really dig the protagonists' chemistry (no pun intended). Ryn and Ellis were both really decent characters that I would like to see more of in other books.

This was such a pleasant surprise! Picked this up totally randomly and I've been having bad luck with those recently, but this was great. A dark, quiet, Welsh-inspired fairytale. I don't think I felt convinced by the horror the book says it is (and it had a tendency to overuse em dashes for suspense) but it was a simple but compelling adventure quest with a couple I actually really liked and dark atmospheric moments. It's been a long time since I read a fantasy with stakes this small--it's very personal and it's basically just her family stake--and it worked really well. I liked that it didn't let itself spiral into huge implications with the magic, it really felt like a personal quest and a myth in the making. I did predict the twist very early on, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of it.

Rich with Welsh folklore, The Bone Houses has lovable characters with fierce hearts, demisexual rep and chronic pain rep, and a mystery that unfolds like a beautiful tapestry. Now I’m desperate to read all of Lloyd-Jones’s backlist. Highly recommend the audiobook, read by Moira Quirk (aka Gideon the Ninth narrator).

Liz Griffin

Rich with Welsh folklore, The Bone Houses has lovable characters with fierce hearts, demisexual rep and chronic pain rep, and a mystery that unfolds like a beautiful tapestry. Now I’m desperate to read all of Lloyd-Jones’s backlist. Highly recommend the audiobook, read by Moira Quirk (aka Gideon the Ninth narrator).



Teeeeeesha

A grave digger and A lost mapmaker become allies to find a way to stop the magic that does not let the dead stay buried. A tale of the lost, the loved, family and oh zombies. And a dead bone goat.

Aishling

3.5/5 stars

3 stars for the plot
4 stars for Ryn, Ellis and the goat 
(5 stars for the narrator)

Jacalyn Boggs

Took a little bit for me to get in to this book, but in the end I liked it. I really liked the message it gave and would recommend it. This isn't your typical zombie story and I liked the airs of magical mystery.

Anna Troughton 

I found this book to be a very spectacular atmospheric read with loveable characters. My only critique is that I found the plot slightly predictable, apart from this it was an enjoyable read!

"When risen corpses called 'bone houses' threaten Ryn's village because of a decades-old curse, she teams up with a mapmaker named Ellis to solve the mystery of the curse and destroy the bone houses forever"--

Ashlee

I really liked the story and the setting and so much about this book. But for some reason it really didn’t hook me. It took me ages to get through it and I put it down with only 50 pages left because I just didn’t feel a need to find out what happens. I’m glad I did finally get around to it and I did enjoy finishing it but it’s probably not one I’ll reread or one that will stick with me.

Shay Henrion

This was a pretty good book! Sort of creepy, sort of fantasy. My one complaint is it felt kind of short? And therefore a little bit rushed? I think, however, that stems from my typically reading trilogies or series, where the world building and character development can be more built up because there just more story. And the token love story doesn’t feel quiiiite so rushed. But at any rate, this was a really creative story and I LOVED Ryn, she was a badass.

Livia

Meghan M

Although it started out very slow and took a second to get through the beginning, the ending made up for it! The actual journey in this story was a very enjoyable one to read for sure. Also, hands down, my favorite character... was the goat :)

Spooky and sweet, one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.

Charlie Winchester 

Jessika Rucker

The Bone Houses reminds me of The Walking Dead meets The Black Cauldron, but a less gory. From the very first page, there was so much going on! I'm not usually a zombie person, but holy cow, this book had me captivated! I lost track of time reading this book! I missed a meal and almost forgot to sleep while reading this book! The book was full of twists and turns, and oh how I loved them! Emily Lloyd-Jones Did a wonderful writing these books that actually becomes a movie in your head! I forgot I was even reading at times. This book was just amazing, and I can't stop praising it! More on this book to come on my blog!

Book Frisson

Okay so I’m finally reviewing this because I couldn’t really decide on a rating. Since the description and detail is so vivid and beautiful, I’m giving it 3 stars but it was interesting and worth it but it just wasn’t really for me.

Leah Patton

Maegan Kennedy

Arc provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you. 

	A gravedigger, a mapmaker, and a goat set out on a quest to find the truth about the living dead, where they will have to face forgotten magic and the buried truths about themselves.

	This story was so incredibly good! It reads just like a fairy-tale that is not unlike a Grimms Brothers tale. It was eerie and haunted, and twisted, but still had the magic a traditional fairy-tale would have. This book is written so beautifully, almost like prose, and I loved every minute of it.

	The characters were amazing and were developed very well. Ryn, the gravedigger, lives with her younger brother and sister in the village of Colbren. Her character was great! She was fierce and brave, but also stubborn and big-hearted. Ellis, the mapmaker, struggles to find his way across the country, where he stumbles upon the town of Colbren. He can never find his way, but is still such a gentleman, and is so sweet and innocent. The Bone Houses were creepy and had a zombie-esque to them. Even they were given a great backstory, and I was surprised to see their development throughout the story. And finally, my favourite character of the whole story: Goat. Goat is Ryn’s younger sister’s pet and is loving to her family and protects them at every chance. She embarks on the quest with Ryn and Ellis and helps them learn along the way.

	The romance was fantastic. There was so much action that in the first bit of the story, romance wasn’t needed, but there was still a bit of slow-burn romance. Nothing happened until about 85% of the way through the book, but when it did happen, I was here for it! 

	Overall, this story is written beautifully, and I wish there was more to the story! I can’t wait to get my hands on a finished copy come September!

Sheila

A charming read that bizarrely happens to feature skeletal zombies! Both the writing and the setting were ethereal and gentle, which is a bit at odds with the central conflict of 
  skeletons rising from the ground and attacking people
 but I loved the Welsh flavour and the story overall! Also features some romance and a realistic depiction of life with chronic pain.

Cassidy

This book was GREAT; I’d probably give it 4.5 stars, though, if that was possible. The premise revolves around a gravedigger and a nobleman (sort of) trying to break a curse that is causing the dead to come back to life and attack people. Ryn is a wonderful, strong heroine and Ellis is the sweetest. I personally fell in love with the bone goat (it’s hard not to, and the bone goat definitely deserved better, I hate to say it). It was short and it would’ve been cool to dive a bit more into the creatures and to make the journey a bit more realistically long (they traveled from the town, through a forest and an abandoned mine, through the mountains, across a lake, etc strikingly fast), but overall I enjoyed. Would say the romance is slow burn and definitely not the main part of the book. It might’ve benefitted from a bit more fleshing out, but is cute nonetheless.

Tegan Anderson

This is another book that I’ve fallen completely in love with due to it hitting so many of my niche interests. A tough gravedigger girl, a soft mapmaker boy who can never find his way, and their undead goat adventure through mountains and folklore to face the curse of risen corpses and long-hidden truths about themselves. It’s a story about folktales and magic and family and undead corpses.

First love: the setting. This book is set in a village within a forest where the people have let history die because they no longer believe in magic. The Welsh influences and folklore was the perfect choice for a horror/influenced novel as I’ve grown up near Wales and hearing about all the ghost hauntings and supernatural sightings and other assorted spooky stuff. It was wonderfully atmospheric: the remains of a once glorious kingdom, a small village haunted by the past, and decades-old curses lingering within the woods.

Second love: the folklore. I’ve had a fixation with local folklore since working on a uni project this year, and this book appealed to that niche interest. And Welsh folklore, too! I loved reading about tales that are already so close to my heart and I love that it’s getting well-done representation. I didn’t expect to love a story that is about (in summary) zombies so much. The author did such a wonderful job of showing them through the perspective of myths and legends, and also removed a lot of the horror element, creating something that felt like it could’ve held a role in a fairytale rather than a nightmare. And it’s exciting to see how well urban tales and folklore mix with the horror genre.

Third love: the characters. Ryn and Ellis complement each other well. Ryn is straightforward and stubborn and confident and so fiercely loyal to her siblings. She’s described as fearless, a girl who will chase death into the mountains with only an axe, and I love her for that. Ellis is sometimes overshadowed in action scenes as he’s not exactly a powerful character, but he has a strong emotional side, and his loneliness and loyalty and suffering do not make him weak. One small thing about this book that meant a lot to me is that Ellis has chronic pain in his shoulder, and it doesn’t disappear by the end of the book as some injuries tend to do in fantasy. The author talks about the toll it has on his body throughout the journey and, as someone with chronic pain, it’s wonderful to see a character who lives with it and can still have adventures.

I originally rated this book a full five stars (mostly due to it hitting my niche interests), but I lowered my rating to four stars after some thought. I found the last hundred pages or so a bit repetitive and predictable and more focused on the romance elements. But I am still very in love with the book. I’m looking forward to Emily Lloyd-Jones’ next book (The Drowned Woods) and I can see her becoming one of my favourite authors.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)

Sophia De La Garza

4 stars
This book was interesting. I don’t normally enjoy zombie/zombie-based stories, however this one was good. I think the main thing I loved was the historical setting and the lore of the bone houses that made the book more atmospheric. My one downside was I didn’t care much for the characters thus making this book 4 stars, instead of a higher rating.

Toni Turner

Cooper Sivara

Really strong central metaphor. I liked the incorporation of myth and fairy tale, and the horror elements were well done. Parts of it moved a bit too quickly - I feel Ike bigger moments needed more time to breath. It accomplished a lot of what it was trying to do.

The Bone Houses Library Edition

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