The Sins on Their Bones

• Author: Laura R. Samotin
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: May 7, 2024
• Publisher: Random House Canada

Thank you to NetGalley, Wunderkind PR, and Sydney McKay for sending me a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: intimate partner violence and sexual abuse (from POV of both victim and abuser), PTSD, anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, POV character with mention of childhood sexual abuse (off-page), gore, drug use 

Set in a Jewish folklore-inspired reimagining of 19th century Eastern Europe, this queer dark fantasy debut pits two estranged husbands and a daring spymaster on opposite sides of a civil war. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, C.S. Pacat, Ava Reid, and Katherine Arden.

Dimitri Alexeyev used to be the Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Now, he is merely a broken man, languishing in exile after losing a devastating civil war instigated by his estranged husband, Alexey Balakin. In hiding with what remains of his court, Dimitri and his spymaster, Vasily Sokolov, engineer a dangerous ruse. Vasily will sneak into Alexey’s court under a false identity to gather information, paving the way for the usurper’s downfall, while Dimitri finds a way to kill him for good.

But stopping Alexey is not so easy as plotting to kill a normal man. Through a perversion of the Ludayzim religion that he terms the Holy Science, Alexey has died and resurrected himself in an immortal, indestructible body—and now claims he is guided by the voice of God Himself. Able to summon forth creatures from the realm of dreams, he seeks to build an army, turning Novo-Svitsevo into the greatest empire that history has ever seen.

Dimitri is determined not to let Alexey corrupt his country, but saving Novo-Svitsevo and its people will mean forfeiting the soul of the husband he can’t bring himself to forsake—or the spymaster he’s come to love.

I was so hyped when I heard about this book. For me, finding out about an upcoming queer, Jewish-themed fantasy is like showing a cat that you’ve got catnip. It’s just a matter of time until I need to have it. And let me tell you — Sydney McKay came through big time, sending me a hard copy of the ARC just as I got approved for an e-ARC through NetGalley. 

First of all, I want to talk about the Jewish representation, since it is Jewish American Heritage Month. I’ve always lived under Christian hegemony. Granted, it’s in a place where there is a significant Jewish population, and there’s a sense of peaceful coexistence the majority of the time, but this book really gave me an understanding of what things might look like in a world where Christian influence was absent. The overwhelmingly Jewish representation in this book was wonderful and so welcome. 

Simple things like seeing a rabbi when getting married or needing guidance were slipped into the story or going to shul (Yiddish for synagogue), and more complicated things, such as aspects of Ashkenazi Jewish folklore and mysticism are woven into the plot of the story. In this heavily Russian-inspired fantasy, locations that we don’t even always connect with Christianity, like St. Petersburg, are swapped to names like Rav-Mikhailburg. It took me a minute to make the connection, but it was so cleverly done that my mind was blown when I finally realized. (For readers who aren’t familiar with the tern, Rav is a Hebrew word that refers to a rabbi that has been specially trained to provide guidance about Halacha, or Jewish law.) This makes sense, because we don’t have saints.

Speaking of making changes to the world, I always love when an author has free rein to create an entirely new world from their own imagination, and chooses to make it queer-centric rather than heteronormative. I mean, if you’re writing about a Jewish tzar, anything is possible, right? In this story, all three POV characters are gay, and there is other LGBTQ representation as well in the side characters, and being queer is just accepted as a normal part of life, the way it should be. People have enough to worry about, we don’t need unnecessary divisions to hate each other along.

Now the good stuff—the story itself. It starts at a place that seemed counterintuitive to me as a series reader, but lends itself well to a standalone novel. The story begins with Dimitri and the remaining members of his court in exile after the loss of a civil war started by his estranged husband, the new Tzar of Novo-Svitsevo. Dimitri is struggling with grief over not just the loss of the war and being Tzar, but also the estrangement of his husband, Alexey. Dimitri’s loyal spymaster, Vasily, hatches a plan to infiltrate Alexey’s court to gather information so they can take him down. But it’s complicated by the fact that Alexey has perverted religious principles, calling it the Holy Science, and recreated himself into something immortal and indestructible.

My biggest issue with the book is where it started. It picks up after the civil war has already ended and the dust has settled, although it sounds like things would be quite intriguing during the civil war, and even everything leading up to it. The way that all of these characters interact with each other, as well as having a tzar usurped by his own husband could make for a really good story, especially with the dynamic that exists between Dimitri and Alexey. Instead, we get little bits of information dropped throughout the story, but it never quite felt like I got the entire picture of what had occurred.

The relationships were where this book really excelled. It features a range of personality types and relationship dynamics, and revolves around trauma in toxic relationships and how that plays out for individuals. What made this book stand out was the way that it didn’t just offer the perspective of the person who has experienced trauma in the toxic relationship, but it also offered two additional perspectives—one from the other half of the toxic relationship who is responsible for the trauma, and one from someone outside the relationship who has been trying to help his friend in any way possible. It made for interesting reading, although it was painful at times. There are multiple explicit sex scenes in the book, and one in particular was quite disturbing in how violent it was; despite being between two consenting adults, it sounded almost like a sexual assault, except that it wasn’t. The story also pays special attention to how our past deeds can deeply haunt us, effectively writing our sins on our bones.

Overall, this was such a great book, but I do strongly urge readers to be mindful of the trigger warnings. This is a really dark story, and like so many Jewish stories, involves a lot of pain, but characters who are able to find joy amidst the pain. Characters in the story rely on the people around them for emotional support, to help them cope with and manage their trauma, and to untangle what they’re culpable for and what to stop blaming themselves for. This is evident in the epigraph of the story, which says (in the uncorrected ARC version) “To all those who have lost a throne and think that it’s their fault.” But the story was fantastic and the characters were the kind that I’m able to connect with, and the feeling of seeing my own culture show up casually on the pages of a book made me feel incredibly seen. This is a book I can eagerly recommend to anyone who is able to handle the content warning, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Samotin’s work in the future.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase through my links. You can purchase this book through Amazon by clicking the image below.