Review: The Lure of Their Graves, by Laura R. Samotin

Dimitri Abramovich may have won back the throne of Novo-Svitsevo, but even after defeating his former husband, the usurper Alexey Balakin, he seems no closer to securing lasting peace for his people. Enemies are closing in on all sides, and pressure is mounting for Dimitri to play the one card he has left in a bid for stability—offering his hand in marriage for a second time.
But Dimitri is still healing from the tragedies of the war, his return to the throne, and Alexey's years of torment. Vasily Sokolov is the only person with whom he feels safe, and giving up the comfort of their budding relationship feels unfathomable, even if it's the only way to sever the alliances being formed among the countries surrounding Novo-Svitsevo. So as Dimitri and Vasily reckon with political treachery, the lasting consequences of Dimitri's resurrection, and the sinister legacy of Alexey’s use of the Holy Science, they must also work to understand what it means to love each other even as they prepare to let each other go—which might prove the most difficult of all.

"Nothing of me is left in you. You have no claim to me."

Laura R. Samotin's The Lure of Their Graves is the epic conclusion to a poignant duology about surviving abuse (HERE you can find my review of the first installment in the series). After the first book's gut-wrenching finale, here is a tale about healing, something that takes a lot of time and a lot of false starts, especially when one is also faced with threats against the kingdom. This book is especially angsty, a feat after the already bleak first installment, and many chapters are tinged with despair, especially when it comes to the political marriage aspect.

Dimitri lives for his kingdom, and the agony of having to choose a spouse for the good of his kingdom, instead of following his heart and choosing Vasily, almost tears him apart. This is amplified by the fact that he can't envision a sexual relationship for its sake and the sake of the kingdom: he's described as asexual, possibly demisexual, and the marital bed would be a violation almost worse than what he survived during his first marriage. Vasily's chapters are just as painful, because he sees the choice in fronts of Dimitri and knows that he has to do what's best, but it kills him. Their encounters are mired with so much pain, and so much love, that one has to pace the reading or else be overwhelmed with emotion. And yet, it's such a hopeful book, and gentle, and kind. It's also very explicit in its descriptions of the sex scenes between Dimitri and Vasily.

The supporting cast is a delight, expanding on the core characters of the first book, Dimitri's found family, and adding Dimitri's suitors from other realms, and others. The suitors are vibrant characters, very different from each other, each of them with their own goals and needs, and we can't hate them, even though their mere presence is agony. On the other hand, we're once again subjected to Alexei's hateful POV, and he's just as skeevy and completely oblivious to the damage he caused as in the first book. His threat is one that has to be confronted too, but there will be help from an unlikely source, bringing to a close and to a satisfying ending another heartbreaking subplot from the first book.

The world-building, inspired by Jewish and Eastern European folklore, continues to be fascinating. It's not expanded upon, but what we already knew is enough to frame the story without weighing too much on the mental journey of the characters.

The Lure of Their Graves is a powerful conclusion.

✨ 4 stars

Review: The Sins on Their Bones, by Laura R. Samotin

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 an ordinary 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 demons, 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.

"If I die first, I'll tell you the secrets of heaven."

Laura R. Samotin's The Sins on Their Bones is an extraordinary tale of healing from trauma and finding your inner strength again after enduring an abusive relationship, a well-written dark fantasy story with Jewish accents and folklore and a Russian-inspired court, a tale of the supernatural that doesn't shy away from its horrors, even when it's creatures of good that are doing the violations. It's a quiet story, following the three POVs of the grief-stricken former Tzar, his loyal spymaster, and the man who abused the Tzar's heart, body, and empire.

The abuser's POV is truly unsettling; he's so enamored of his narrative, so disgustingly lacking in self-awareness, that it proves to be a challenging read. He's a perfect villain, not moustache-twirling but one who believes he's the hero of his own story when in truth, we see the depths of his depravity in stark vividness. The book is prefaced by trigger warnings, and one would do best to take heed of them; the upsetting material isn't just in his chapters, but is reminisced and witnessed in the other POVs as well. The spymaster, too, has a painful past, that he'll try to overcome while he helps the former tzar do the same. The tzar's POV is heartbreaking, for his love for his abuser, even though he's aware of the things he did, is still ever-present and drenched in agony, and he can't bring himself to find comfort as his kingdom is taken apart by a madman.

The supporting cast truly shines. Dimitri has friends, his inner court, well-rounded characters with inner lives, who love him and try to bring him back from the abyss (they enrich the queerness of the book, as one of them is nonbinary and another is aroace). The story starts after the war that broke the realm, and pieces of information are given here and there, to slowly paint the picture of what happened. Not everything is clear - how exactly Alexey turned to the Holy Science, for instance - but the atmosphere makes up for it. Another truly tragic character is Dimitri's half-brother, who bears the brunt of Alexey's twisted affections in the absence of the brother whom he resembles so much; his story was heartbreaking.

The magic system was intriguing, as were the glimpses of the supernatural and the way they were linked to Jewish folklore; we have demons and angels and the name of God. There are horror elements, in a sense, but the deepest horror is human depravity.

The book, despite no indication of this, seems to be part of a series given the epilogue, but I was expecting a standalone.

The Sins on Their Bones is a powerful tale.

✨ 4 stars