All the Murmuring Bones

4 stars!!
i don't really have any coherent thoughts about this one but i loved the creepy(?) vibes. i suppose it's ~atmospheric~ (which i had always imagined i would love in a book, as i do for movies. but i was so sorely disapointed in the bone houses which was also touted for its atmosphere i thought the genre was a miss for me. happy to see that its not and that one just didn't do it for me) it wasn't too scary but i enjoyed how it was a little dark fairy-tale esque.
i am 100% here for merin and i think she was a great character. i really felt for her and i wanted to find out everything about her history and family as she did. the twists and turns kept me interested, but the ride was enjoyable too. i wasn't just skipping ahead dying to see where it would end because the various settings and minor characters were really interesting and felt whole.
the narrator had a great voice, and it really suited the setting. but i did find it a touch quick – whereas usually i'll speed up audiobooks a little i actually had to slow this to 0.95 to pay attention properly, but that may be saying more of my current brainstate than anything else.

there are a few things i wish were explained/visited a bit more deeply (the automaton, the queen, her parents, her grandmother etc) but it works in this kind of story. i don't feel dissatisfied or cheated because its kind of supposed to be a mystery?

i liked the casual drops at same sex relationships being typical in this world, i am just sad that merin didn't run off with a mer and/or automaton to live her (my) sapphic dreams.

fuck it 5 stars :)

You need to like dark fairytales for this.  It's a little slow to start, and Miren is kinda cold as a main character, but considering the “our family's success is literally built on sacrifice” background... well, why wouldn't that lead to some coldness or determination to find out what's really going on and resolve what to do about what you discover?
I've not read anything else from the author to know how this fits into the mentioned Sourdough/Bitterwood universe/world-building, but it's good as a standalone book.
Cover is so lovely and creepily appropriate, in hindsight.

4.5 stars
This started out as a bit of a wobbly read for me, but once I knew what tale I was in, I could really fall into it and enjoy it. There's so much cool stuff to discover, not least the connection to Slatter's brilliant (!) mosaic novels/short story collections. Which reminds me, I've been wanting to re-read those...