All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Angela Slatter happens to be one of my favorite dark fantasy authors. So careful, so lyrical, and absolutely brutal when the occasion requires it. And it DOES require it here.

I'm used to peculiar girls and peculiar women doing small things to help others, little magics, great injustices performed on them. This is Angela Slatter, after all. A full long life in the Bitterwood series usually means a bitter existence. But there's also the revenge to think of, and I loved the revenge.

This new book of hers takes it easy and slow, building on an old family and a decaying lineage with a dark secret. Very gothic, and later, quite mythical. Merfolk, mystery, kelpies, curses, and blood.

I'll be honest. I loved her short stories and novellas a bit more than this longer tale, but it has all the feel of the other stories with a rather more extended feel. But what it gives up on carefully crafted emotions and situations, it does gain on plot.

This is definitely one of the classier novels of the type.

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