Road of Bones - Siberian Horror!
“Hundreds of thousands of frozen corpses lay beneath the Road of Bones. They were driving across potholed, rutted, icy graves – had been since they’d begun the trip – and there were hundreds of miles to go.”
Christopher Golden has already fully cemented himself as a horror champ, especially with my favorite sub-genre; eco horror. And with Road of Bones he’s done it again!
Friends and colleagues, Tieg and Prentiss, are in Siberia to scope out a possible new reality show. Tieg has had some good luck in the documentary world, but mostly bad luck. And one of the reasons Prentiss is on this trip, is because Tieg owes him a significant sum of money, which he hopes to return on this trip. They’re thinking something like Ice Road Truckers but more extreme because Siberia is one of the coldest and most desolate places on Earth.
The duo meets up with their guide, Kaskil, and are quickly charmed by the tiny towns alongside this harrowing highway and the people who live in this extreme weather. But when they arrive at their final destination, they find a town completely deserted, meals half eaten on the tables, lights on, doors open, but not a single human in sight. Things quickly derail.
mood board for Road of Bones, all images from weheartit.com
“Gift or curse, the only way to discover the truth about life was to live it.”
This is a short book, but one that is filled with all sorts of horror elements like reindeers walking on their hind legs, wolves that don’t leave pawprints, forest spirits, and the scariest of all, frostbite. (Trust me, I got frostbite on my cheeks and my toes when I was a little kid that still affects me every winter as an adult)
I don’t want to speak too much about the details because the story is so fast paced that there’s not too much to talk about with spoiling thigs. But here’s what I loved:
The setting – I knew little to nothing about Siberia and learning about this world and the true history behind the real life Road of Bones was absolutely chilling.
I love Tieg’s journey – we have real deeply moving character growth across the board in this book, but Tieg’s was the one that stayed with me after closing the book.
The ambience, the world building, the forest, the creatures – all of it was phenomenal. There’s some real haunting imagery in this story and Golden does a phenomenal job creating horror that will stick in your brain when you turn the lights out to go to sleep.
Overall, I really loved this little book and I’m thrilled to have read it. Road of Bones is now available everywhere books are sold! Perfect for fans of: eco horror, creepy forest animals, abandoned town mysteries, reality show filming gone wrong, body horror…go pick up a copy!
A big thank you to St. Martins Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
