Not Even Bones: 1 (Market of Monsters)

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Bond Villain Stupidity: Henry successfully captures Nita with no one around to save her or stop him or his 2 henchmen from killing her, he fully plans to kill her, she's tied up and defenseless, he and his 2 henchmen all have guns... and instead of killing her when he has the chance, he leaves her alive and lures Kovit to the location to teach him a lesson about Conflicting Loyalty. Dumbest. Move. Ever!

Diana is able to serve as this to some degree for Adair. He's about to throw Nita and Kovit out when the cops start looking for them and only changes his mind because Diana asks him to. Okay, I’ve enthused a lot about the worldbuilding and all that, but I really think what made this book for me was the character work. All these lead characters are so awful and I love them. This is one of those books where the leads toe the line between villain and hero. Also, if you don’t like villain leads, you should probably not read this. Lol. He even admits it. For second, the guy adores feeding on pain he caused. He loved being the evil one, the bad guy, the bad boy gone horribly astray. It's got a lot of dark characters, and basically nobody in this story is a completely good person. They've all led to one person or another's death, and it's really horrifying, when you actually think about it. But some murderers (or murderer adjacent people) are better than others, and that's who we end up rooting for throughout the novel.There wasn’t a lot that really bothered me? I mean, maybe a small thing here or there, but mostly that was the different supernaturals mentioned. They each had something that made them unique, and dropping stuff like that doesn’t help my confusion lmao. I loved that they were part of the world, though. Fair-Play Whodunnit: Nita concludes her mother is the one who sold her because only 3 people know about her powers — Nita herself, her, father, and her mother. An observant reader who's neither paralyzed with terror nor recovering from a strong sedative like she is could remind her that Fabricio saw her heal her arm during the struggle in her dissection room. A little. Let me explain, I was terrified of him when he was in his crazy killer persona, and perhaps he'll never own a space in the boyfriends list because my feelings for him are just too complicated to unwrap. However, his human side was adorable and incredibly full of life! He was a sweet being, with extreme flaws but beautiful countenance, and frankly, I saw the assurance of his humanity in some spare moments where the emotions were too hard to handle and someone had to break. He's complicated as a persona and even more disturbing as a human, bearing morals as his weakness. Ghouls feed off fresh human bodies. The condition is hereditary. There was a case where a family of Ghouls lived off fresh corpses without killing anyone. Because of this one case in the media, they are publically tolerated. The originated in the Middle east and are one of the oldest recorded species. In ancient sumerian texts they are called "gallu". Not Even Bones is ultimately a story about a girl coming to terms with her true self. Not what other people want her to be, not what she thinks she should be, but the raw, complicated human under all the social constructs and expectations forced onto her by both others and herself. She faces the vilest parts of humanity and then grasps it within herself for power. A big theme: morals are optional. They have no real binding power. If you make life-or-death choices expecting others will abide by the same principles you do...

You Must Be Cold: Darker than usual version — when they get on the subway in Toronto, Kovit gives Nita his sweater... not because she's cold, but to hide the blood all over her shirt from the struggle she just had with the (now dead) man who tried to strangle and kidnap her. Adair is a kelpie. It is implied he used to clean up bodies with Kovit for Matt when he got angry. He runs a pawn shop in Canada and allows Kovit and Anita to hide out in his attic in exchange for names of corrupted INHUP agents. It is revealed he bugged the atic to sell the information the two would talk about, though didn't try to use the information against them. Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Kovit's conditioned himself to enjoy torturing people, but he refuses to ever torture someone sexually. Beast and Beauty: Nita and Kovit, obviously, but Diana and Adair fit even better since kelpies are actually completely non-human-like fish-reptile-esque creatures. Diana even gets a moment where she stops Nita from shooting Adair and tells her he’s not the monster, she is. Unscaled Merfolk: There's Mirella, the shapeshifting human-dolphin, for one. Later, Nita sees a man in INHUP headquarters with eight octopus legs, whom she identifies as a ningyo (Japanese mermaid).Not What It Looks Like: It's clear that, when Henry discovers Kovit and Nita were living together in a room with only one bed, he instantly jumps to the conclusion they've been having sex. What I love most about these books is Schaeffer’s choice to craft characters who are unafraid to take charge of their rather shitty lives and make something out of it. They are not perfect and they are not saints, but they have substance. They do not apologise for standing up for themselves and they certainly do not care for manners. You will not find cookie cutter characters here with cliché traits and fake personalities. Each one is crafted with care and work seamlessly with this dark world.

When Nita first met Fabricio Tacunan at her home in Not Even Bones, she felt sympathy for him and did not want to dissect him because he was alive. (This is also the first time she does not want to dissect someone). This is shown when Monica asks her to cut Fabricio’s ear and Nita was hesitant to do so, eventually cutting her hand instead to escape from doing it. Some of Nita’s sympathy turns into care as shown when she fed him pizza to eat. The plot grabbed me from the start, the writing style is easy and fresh - both making for very easy book to read in a day or two.They’re going to put a fancy blurb up here soon, but I want you all to have the fun chaotic description a book like this truly deserves, so here’s how I would pitch it: Chaste Hero: Neither 17-year-old Nita nor 20-year-old Kovit have had any sort of significant physical interaction with people outside their "families," let alone sexual experience — slaving away for parents who only want to use you and stress the importance of keeping their secrets doesn’t leave much room for dating. I guess if I were to critique this, I would say that the writing is a bit… fanfictiony? I don’t know, man, it’s a debut and it happens. Did I care? Nope.