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61st out of 146 books
—
122 voters
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth
The dead and the monstrous will not leave Kyle Murchison Booth alone, for an unwilling foray into necromancy has made him sensitive to-and attractive to-the creatures who roam the darkness of his once-safe world. Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . . .
Paperback, 253 pages
Published
October 23rd 2007
by Prime Books
(first published June 1st 2007)
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Admirers of M.R. James will discover much to dote on in this collection of linked short stories revolving around a museum archivist specializing in rare manuscripts, who has the unenviable misfortune of routinely confronting the bizarre and the not-so-natural. Sarah Monette has crafted and polished 10 pieces of gothic horror that harken back to the classic "bump in the night" tales of the 19th Century.
Eschewing gore in favor of atmosphere, Monette creates visions of intelligent, nuanced dread. S...more
Eschewing gore in favor of atmosphere, Monette creates visions of intelligent, nuanced dread. S...more
My god, this was a good book to read on Hallowe'en. Almost too good, in fact. I finished reading it in daylight, but the atmosphere it created was with me well into the evening.
Kyle Murchison Booth is a museum archivist, bookish, erudite, awkward, and painfully shy. After a reluctant experiment with necromancy, in the collection's first story, "Bringing Helena Back", he finds that he has opened the door to the world of the supernatural, beginning a series of encounters which will bring him into...more
Kyle Murchison Booth is a museum archivist, bookish, erudite, awkward, and painfully shy. After a reluctant experiment with necromancy, in the collection's first story, "Bringing Helena Back", he finds that he has opened the door to the world of the supernatural, beginning a series of encounters which will bring him into...more
2 likes · like · see review
May 27, 2008
Jam
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people that like creepy horror.
Shelves:
genuinelyinteresting
Sarah Monette is a thinky writer and this definitely plays to that strength. In the introduction, Monette says that she wanted to write something with the feel of M. R. James and Lovecraft, but that acknwoldged things that are conspicuously absent in James and Lovecraft's works - things like strong women and sexuality.
And she succeeded remarkably well, to the point where I almost don't want to mention it because when I'm reading it, I don't have to think about it. It's a good thing, when you're...more
And she succeeded remarkably well, to the point where I almost don't want to mention it because when I'm reading it, I don't have to think about it. It's a good thing, when you're...more
You know, the more I think about this book, the more I really love it. As stated elsewhere, it's a a series of interlocking short stories in the life of Kyle Murchison Booth. It's set in some historically nebulous time in the years after WW2, but the protagonist is so NOT grounded in the physical world that the lack of a detailed setting works very well. The things he pays attention to are exquisitely detailed, and I love that because specific detail ought to reflect what the pov character cares...more
Nov 06, 2008
Peter
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those who like Lovecraft and/or mostly genteel horror
A nice little collection of melancholy stories about a curator in a strange museum in an unnamed Eastern US city who, after an ill-considered act of necromancy, becomes a little too attractive to the dead. (This is assuming that anyone can engage in a well-considered act of necromancy or be insufficiently attractive to the dead....) Anyway, the stories are loosely connected tales of unhappy goings-on with a supernatural twist; they are told in a voice nicely balanced between Lovecraftian hyperbo...more
Perhaps I've grown up in a culture that has desensitized me to horror, but the stories in the book, while intriguing and interesting, did little to terrify me. Perhaps, had I read them with a only 25-watt bulb lit on one of those oppressively hot and humid summer nights when even the crickets and the lightning bugs are loathe to do anything, I would have been more disturbed. Perhaps if I weren't such a fan of the sci-fi section at the library (mostly by dint of its being the smallest section), I...more
1 like · like · see review
All the stories work well and only once was I confused at the end of the story about what had happened ("The Wall of Clouds"). I had intended to stagger my reading of this collection because I thought it would be too one-note and my enjoyment would pale. However, such was not the case. I couldn't stop reading (what was Booth going to run into next and how was he going to handle it?), and each story says something different about the human and sometimes inhuman condition. If your tastes run to pa...more
I think this will be one of the rare books that improves as it sits in memory. It's a collection of short stories that follows a progression, a character development and graceful reveal with no info dumps, no clunky "this is why I'm the way I am."
Kyle Murchison Booth is the kind of damaged and endearing Sarah Monette excels at. Through the stories, he progressed from helplessly watching eventually to acting and having an effect on the results. At the same time, his history comes out in these gli...more
Kyle Murchison Booth is the kind of damaged and endearing Sarah Monette excels at. Through the stories, he progressed from helplessly watching eventually to acting and having an effect on the results. At the same time, his history comes out in these gli...more
Discard at once the author's notion that she is retooling Lovecraft and M.R. James: in terms of imaginative reach there's little here that would have strained Mrs. Riddell, and there's no sign of James's startlingly unexpected imagery. It's easier to imagine Monette's pastiches as the work of a solid, second-tier Edwardian craftsman of the Weird.
But if the horrors to be found here are somewhat unambitious, they are laid out intelligently in well-told narratives. "Wait for Me" is particularly goo...more
But if the horrors to be found here are somewhat unambitious, they are laid out intelligently in well-told narratives. "Wait for Me" is particularly goo...more
The Bone Key, a series of interconnected short stories, features Kyle Murchison Booth, a shy, introverted museum archivist, who seems to attract the supernatural. He is peculiar and socially inept. Booth’s family background is most unusual family. His parents died under unusual conditions and was reared by his father's business partner, a cruel man with a cruel wife who treated with derision and abuse. He seems to finds himself regularly in the midst of the disturbing eerie experiences and stran...more
Oh, I loved this. I was expecting to get bored and restless at some point, but this engaged me all throughout, probably because it was held together by a very endearing protagonist. I haven't read M.R. James or Lovecraft (except Cthulhu), and I generally stay away from the genre, but I liked the subtle horror and loose connectedness of the stories and the prose in general. (Also if you're looking for LGBTQ fiction, this qualifies.)
The first few stories aren't actually that great, but mostly fun...more
The first few stories aren't actually that great, but mostly fun...more
I'm not sure what to make of The Bone Key. The other works I've read by Monette, I really enjoyed. Her language is typically so rich. Her characters fascinating. I suppose it comes down to having higher expectations. In her introduction she mentions wanting to do something in the vein of Lovecraft and M.R. James (whom I've not read very much of), and I do think she captures the same sort of slow creep to horror. But the horror wasn't particularly horrific. It's not even an issue of gore as anyon...more
Normally, I'm not a fan of short-story compilations, but this was an exception. I absolutely LOVED almost every story in this short story collection!
Couple of reasons why I think I enjoyed this so much:
1) All the various stories in the book were linked through a single character who appears in each story in a more or less prominant role - Kyle Murchison Booth. Booth is a socially inept, but brilliant curator and rare book and puzzle/mystery expert at the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum, where he...more
Couple of reasons why I think I enjoyed this so much:
1) All the various stories in the book were linked through a single character who appears in each story in a more or less prominant role - Kyle Murchison Booth. Booth is a socially inept, but brilliant curator and rare book and puzzle/mystery expert at the Samuel Mather Parrington Museum, where he...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
What a gorgeous, well-written ride this was. The creep factor is high, but it's not gory. This is the type of book that makes you check in the corners of empty rooms and dive for the covers when the lights go out. This is the type of book that lingers long after you've finished.
Sarah Monette has crafted something extraordinary here. A series of short stories all revolving around Kyle Murchison Booth and his brushes with the paranormal, Booth isn't your typical hero-type. He's quiet, he doesn't l...more
Sarah Monette has crafted something extraordinary here. A series of short stories all revolving around Kyle Murchison Booth and his brushes with the paranormal, Booth isn't your typical hero-type. He's quiet, he doesn't l...more
In her introduction to the collection Monette speaks of her inspiration being the works of M. R. James and H. P. Lovecraft. Well, I never heard of James, but Lovecraft’s reputation is for blood-curdling horror of the sort than makes you decide sleep is overrated and you’ll just sit here with the light on all night, thank you very much. So I made sure my light bulbs were fresh before I sat down to read. What I missed was the next sentence, where she described her stories as “old-fashioned ghost s...more
Kyle Murchison Booth is a love. He's one of those introverts who has been stepped on so badly all throughout his life that he stutters when he speaks, and sinks into deep dark woe! when subjected to such trials such as, say, Having Dinner with People.
I first encountered him in an audio reading of "White Charles", and after just listening to his dialogue with all the precisely enunicated ellipses points, I knew that he was my kind of fictional character.
Booth (no one calls him Kyle) is the kind...more
I first encountered him in an audio reading of "White Charles", and after just listening to his dialogue with all the precisely enunicated ellipses points, I knew that he was my kind of fictional character.
Booth (no one calls him Kyle) is the kind...more
I'm not a fan of horror at all, but I heard a podcast interview with the author and was intrigued, partly by the supernatural yet non-gory nature of the story fragment the author read, and partly (well, largely) by the painfully shy turn-of-the-20th-century protagonist who seems to draw supernatural events to himself in the course of his work as an archivist.
I bought the book in March, read it, and have been rereading it ever since.
The author said her intention was to write truly frightening ho...more
I bought the book in March, read it, and have been rereading it ever since.
The author said her intention was to write truly frightening ho...more
I ranked this 5 stars not because I felt that any of the stories within this collection was perfect. I don't, and I probably would have ranked any individual story within the collection a 3 or a 4. Maybe a 4.5. Though many of the stories did things I wish more stories would do, particularly with regards to the way Monette explored subtle nuances of a character motivation that other writers might overlook.
No, the real reason I ranked this a 5 was because these ten sometimes-imperfect but always c...more
No, the real reason I ranked this a 5 was because these ten sometimes-imperfect but always c...more
So these stories follow Kyle Murchison Booth, a highly introverted archivist who's been haunted by spirits, wraiths, and all a manner of otherworldly horrors ever since he helped his friend raise his wife from the dead. Basically it's Lovecraft if he cared about crafting actual characters! :D So you know, some great stuff there. I'm starting to think I vastly prefer Monette's short stories to her novels, like no offence to the Labyrinth quartet or those wolf bonding books but Kyle Murchison is a...more
The Bone Key was okay, but I couldn't escape the feeling that I'd read all the stories before. It felt as though the author was new to writing horror and had to get all the basic tropes out of her system before she could move on to inventing new twists. I don't know whether that's true of Monette--she wrote some splendidly horrific moments in Melusine--but it was the lingering impression I was left with.
Not to say it's not a good read. Kyle Murchison Booth is the book's greatest strength, a prof...more
Not to say it's not a good read. Kyle Murchison Booth is the book's greatest strength, a prof...more
A collection of short stories loosely centered around introverted museum archivist Kyle Murchison Booth. The stories could best be categorized as haunting, cerebral, necromantic mysteries. They are old-fashioned horror stories in the style of H. P. Lovecraft, where much of the horror is insinuated rather than blatantly or graphically described. The stories are subtle, stylishly understated and disturbing.
In some stories I wished that quite not so much had been held back in the name of understat...more
In some stories I wished that quite not so much had been held back in the name of understat...more
This collection of 10 necromantic mystery stories featuring introverted museum archivist Kyle Murchison Booth.
Noteworthy selections include 'Elegy for a Demon Lover,' which chronicles Booth's entanglement with a seductive otherworldly entity who teaches him about 'pleasure and pain and the shadowed places in-between.'
In the brilliantly Lovecraftian 'Bringing Helena Back,' Booth agrees to help an old college friend bring his wife back from the dead, with horrifying results.
Booth also investiga...more
Noteworthy selections include 'Elegy for a Demon Lover,' which chronicles Booth's entanglement with a seductive otherworldly entity who teaches him about 'pleasure and pain and the shadowed places in-between.'
In the brilliantly Lovecraftian 'Bringing Helena Back,' Booth agrees to help an old college friend bring his wife back from the dead, with horrifying results.
Booth also investiga...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is a slim volume of interconnected tales feature Kyle Murchison Booth, an introverted and reclusive museum archivist with an uncomfortable affinity with the dead. The style is vaguely Lovecraftian: quietly dark stories following Booth's encounters with horrors-unseen, hauntings, and other chilling, supernatural nastiness.
Booth's character and voice may not work for everyone - he is a man far more comfortable with paper than people - but it is consistent and the stories creepily successful....more
Booth's character and voice may not work for everyone - he is a man far more comfortable with paper than people - but it is consistent and the stories creepily successful....more
You couldn't possibly think of a more unlikely hero than Booth. Yet the stammering and introverted museum curator is the perfect protagonist in these ten short stories. The stories tie into one another perfectly, and let you watch the growth and development of the main character. The smooth prose of the author are contrasted by Booth's poor attempts at speech. Monette creates a surreal world whose supernatural presence in the book is real enough to make your heart beat a bit faster the next time...more
I was introduced to Sarah Monette through her Melusine series. This book was very different, being a series of connected short stories about the same main character, but still had the easy-to-follow, engaging and yet well-crafted style of her other works. Not exceptionally remarkable, but very pleasing, and slightly creepy when read by flashlight at midnight.
The Bone Key is a collection of short stories by Sarah Monette, all focused on the supernatural trials of the socially awkward Kyle Murchison Booth. Set in 1930s America, the stories carry with them a tense, near claustrophobic energy with them, much to the stylings of Lovecraft, but offering up a character with much more complexity and depth than many of the original Lovecraft tales failed to give.
The first story of the collection opens the unnatural world up to both the reader and the protago...more
The first story of the collection opens the unnatural world up to both the reader and the protago...more
The Bone Key is actually a series of short stories, all about Kyle Murchison Booth (nobody calls him Kyle) and his encounters with the paranormal. He traces them back to a necromantic rite he foolishly helped a friend perform, which seems to have made him more receptive to strange things.
In her introduction, Sarah Monette says she was inspired by M. R. James and Lovecraft. It shows, mostly in the atmosphere. I was not at all surprised to discover that she had a story published in the anthology L...more
In her introduction, Sarah Monette says she was inspired by M. R. James and Lovecraft. It shows, mostly in the atmosphere. I was not at all surprised to discover that she had a story published in the anthology L...more
Let me start by pointing out that I'm already a huge fan of Sarah Monette. I love everything I've ever read by her. I suppose that could make me biased towards her works, but I'd actually like to think that it only makes me more harshly demanding. Afterall, if I've rated most of her other works 5 stars this one has A LOT to live up to.
But oh look - ANOTHER 5 Star Rating. She's done it again! damn I love this woman.
Kyle Murchison Booth is a quiet, shy, reserved man; an insomniac with very little...more
But oh look - ANOTHER 5 Star Rating. She's done it again! damn I love this woman.
Kyle Murchison Booth is a quiet, shy, reserved man; an insomniac with very little...more
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I was born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the secret cities of the Manhattan Project. I studied English and Classics in college, and have gone on to get my M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature. My novels are published by Ace Books; I also have a collaboration with Elizabeth Bear, A Companion to Wolves, from Tor. My short stories have appeared in lots of different places, including Lady...more
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May 31, 2012 08:25am
A life lesson. Take the good, ptui on the bad...more
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