I received an ARC of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 stars: ★★★☆☆

"You claim what you can endure from your once-life and burn the rest."

All the Murmuring Bones begins as a tale of a family whose powers began with a bargain that ties them to the sea and its mer people. The bargain itself is left mostly a mystery to the reader and main character, Miren, but involves sacrificing a child of each generation to the sea in order to ensure the family's continued wealth and success. But when fewer and fewer children are born, and the tithe can no longer be paid for some time, the family is left destitute, and only Miren and her cunning grandmother survive. This leaves Miren, young and unwed, vulnerable, and enemies begin to circle what little remains of the family's power, though most do not know its price. Miren must fight to free herself from her family's dark past, or drown in it.

This book reminds me of a combination between [b:Mexican Gothic|53152636|Mexican Gothic|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636._SY75_.jpg|73647361] and [b:The Hazel Wood|34275232|The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)|Melissa Albert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500549460l/34275232._SY75_.jpg|53292100]. While it feels like it's being sold as a mermaid-heavy fantasy (and that is, I'll admit, what I expected it to be), it is actually a gothic mystery in which a young heroine seeks to uncover the secrets of her family. There is death, murder, violence, strange magics, and plenty of magical creatures like those of Katherine Arden's [b:The Bear and the Nightingale|25489134|The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, #1)|Katherine Arden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611440212l/25489134._SX50_.jpg|45268929]. The presence of merpeople, while consistent, is also relatively rare and only becomes a major plot point in the final few chapters.

Okay, now for the structure. This was slow at times, and I didn't like very many of the characters. I also think it needed a little more editing- some plot points could have been cut out entirely (random magical encounters surely helped to set the fantasy scene, but I also wish they were used a bit more meaningfully), while more character development and background would probably have been useful (Miren is so clever, and her ability to learn by observation is mentioned here and there, but she still seemed a little too street-smart for having been raised in a mansion). This was a nice read, but I was a bit disappointed by what it was actually about (not merpeople), and I had to convince myself to keep reading for most of the first half.

I also want to say that I did love the fact that this was not bogged down by any romance, and that in fact, there was little to no romance at all. THANK YOU.

Anyway, that is all I will say about that because I don't want to spoil anything, but I want readers to know because merpeople have been so trendy lately- you will get some mer-lore, but not an entire book about them. What you will get is a story of a young girl escaping the fate chosen for her who then gets swept up into a murder/magical mystery, told via a winding, creative, if not a little long-winded (but still well-written) gothic fantasy that is more gothic than fantasy.

I wanted to like this book. I really liked the premise of it. Mermaids, the sea, magic, families fortunes tied to ancient tales and traditions …. However the story was more centered about a girl who’s in an abusive situation and then falls into another abusive situation. The stories of the origination of the O’Malleys and their traditions were quite good but other than that it was quite boring.

Miren escapes an abusive engagement and an abusive family home and then ends up at a place where there’s more abuse. Just a regular story.

Also why did her mother choose her father? What was so amazing about him? Yes the story mentions he didn’t have any qualities but still what made a woman like that choose him?
Also why did Aidan Fitzpatrick kill Aoife? I mean it was to further the plot but the reasoning was obscure. I need a proper reasoning even if it was for the plot.

This book was so boring. DNF

This book's concept was cool but wasn't very well-executed. The world-building started off strongly but started to fray when Mirin left her hometown. The random relationship that was half-heartedly tossed in there also just felt weird.

4.5 stars