This was wild, it was dark, creepy, mysterious, odd, weird, unsettling at times. It was so many feels. 


A. G. Slatter has another book in her fascinating odd world 'All the Murmuring Bones'. In this novel we see the end of the O'Malley clan, once the power tyrants of Breakwater, their numbers dwindle with each generation and poverty has hit this once wealthy family. The old tales say that might of the clan came from an ancient pact with the Mers of the ocean, one O'Malley child per generation marked as the heir and one given to the sea in return for safety for their ships and wealth for the family.  Raised by her grandparents Miren O'Malley isn't a true O'Malley but she is the last to be given the name. There are no others of pure full O'Malley blood, only off shoot cousins with claims of water'd down connections. At the death of her grandfather Miren discovers how true the old tales are and uncovers the lies she's been told her whole life. 


spoilers


I don't think I fully understood what I was getting myself into when I started reading this. This was gothic yes, but it was also just creepy and odd. It was way too slow of a start and Miren doesn't do much to make you like her or want to root for her. It was more of a hating everyone around her and not wanting them to win. Especially Aiden, he was a perfect horrid man depiction, hurting whoever he could just because he can and lording it over women. This was not a plot driven story, there was no grand purpose, except I guess surviving, it felt like Miren was attaching herself to anything she could at times. It also felt like 3 separate parts/acts. Where we have her time at Hob's Hallows, which is slow and has a quiet menace to everything. Then we have her fleeing and searching, which had a sense of urgency so it was a nice uptick in pace, but it also felt really aimless, despite her having a location she was headed to, a quest of sorts, it came across hap hazard and just odd at times, with weird little one off interactions that didnt feel at the time like they had any bearing on the story. Then the end living at her parents house, it always felt off, which I think was noticeable for her that she felt like something was off. But once again the pacing slowed and felt sluggish at times and even more aimless, she had arrived at her destination but her parents weren't there, now what? 

Despite all that I ended up really liking Miren's character. She wasn't special in any way, other than being the first born of her generation. She wants ever described as overly beautiful or incredibly clever. she was just a girl. I actually loved most of all all the little tales and stories, not sure why but give me just about any book and pepper it with folklore/cultural tales that give world building and lay foundation for the storyline and I usually fall in love. Add in the fact that none of these were happy fairy tales, that everything was dark and dreary. Then you had Miren trying to figure out how much she should believe these tales, how much is a true story and how much is made up? What is fact or fiction about her family. It really upped the eeriness of the story. 

I'm not sure about reading other Slatter books, theres already so many I have on my tbr but if anyone were to tell me I should read one Im definitely not turning it down.