Ballad of the Bone Road

by A.C. Wise

Port Astor is a city of secrets. Once home to the Hollow Queen and her court, the fae have been driven out by industrialists and religious leaders. But just below the surface, their legacy remains in traceries of hidden roads, strange apparitions and spectral hauntings.

Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, clearing out Port Astor's ghosts and devouring its demons. Both have their own Bellefeather shares her body with a demon, Belezial; Brix has trapped the ghost of his fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go.

When Brix is asked to investigate an apparent haunting at the prestigious Peony Hotel, he comes across a young couple tangled up in one of the city's most infamous stories. They have summoned the ghost of Jimmy Valentine, tragic movie star and supposed favorite of the Hollow Queen herself. Meanwhile, Bellefeather is called back to her childhood home by her estranged sister, whose preacher husband Clarence has gotten a young woman from his congregation pregnant. But when Bellefeather arrives, she realizes whatever has taken over Clarence and his 'flock' is more sinister than faith, and Ava's is no normal pregnancy.

The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And the Hollow Queen won't give up her kingdom so easily.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Adult, Fiction, Gothic, Ghosts, Urban Fantasy

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 27, 2026

About the author

A.C. Wise's fiction has appeared in publications such as Uncanny, Shimmer, and Tor.com, among other places. She had two collections published with Lethe Press, and a novella published by Broken Eye Books. Her debut novel, Wendy, Darling, is out from Titan Books n June 2021, and a new collection, The Ghost Sequences, is forthcoming from Undertow Books in October 2021. Her work has won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, as well as being a two-time Nebula finalist, a two-time Sunburst finalist, an Aurora finalist, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. In addition to her fiction, she contributes review columns to the Book Smugglers and Apex Magazine, and has been a finalist for the Ignyte Award in the Critics category.

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via Titan Books.

Ballad of the Bone Road is a dark, gothic read for fans of the paranormal.
Bellefeather (Belle) and Brix are partners of a paranormal investigators business and take on cases of the unusual and haunted.
When they receive a case at the prestigious Peony Hotel where a whole room has disappeared, the pair know its just the case they want. But Belles demon Belezial (whom she shares her body with) is more than reluctant to go into the hotel - he's petrified. As Belle grapples with protecting them and what could scare them so much, her estranged sister turns up on her doorstep in the middle of the night with a strange tale of her own.
I loved the uniqueness and quirky nature of this book and although it took me a while to wrap my head around as it did read like it was a sequel to another book, I thoroughly enjoyed it once I got my teeth into it.
The two main characters have their own trauma and personal struggles to deal with and face along with the two separate cases they get divided on that draw together towards the end of the book. I'd love to read more of these characters as there is a potential there to expand this into a series.

[Zana]

DNF @ 24%

I love Gothic fiction for its dark and dreary atmosphere and its morally gray characters. I expect to bask in the utterly depressing setting and feel a sense of heaviness as I work my way through the novel.

But this book wasn't it. This felt like I was reading any other paranormal urban fantasy novel with ghosts and demons. The worldbuilding mentioned the Gilded Age mixed with an urban fantasy US setting. There was a thorough description of a haunted hotel.

But that was about it. I was not immersed at all. I felt nothing. Gothic vibes where???

The characters, both in the past and present, were very blah. Their introductions felt like I was watching the pilot of a network or Netflix TV show that'll get cancelled after one season. This isn't HBO Max, that's for sure.

Minus the sex scenes, this was very YA dressed up as adult. Not my favorite. I expect my adult reads to be a lot more deeper and this felt very surface level.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for this arc.

[Svea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything about the premise of Ballad of the Bone Road was intriguing to me. A pair of paranormal investigators, one can't let go of his dead fiancee's ghost, the other has an actual demon inside of her, investigating the return of a dead movie star and a very possibly paranormal cult pregnancy - I mean, yes please. Also, the cover is absolutely delicious.

In the end, I wasn't completely enamoured with the way this cool premise unfolds throughout the story. I quite liked both protagonists, Brix and Belleweather, and I liked the way their personal traumas are integral to the story. Belleweather especially hit me hard, her past is gutwrenchingly sad and horrible. I definitely enjoyed her more than Brix, but honestly, neither of them are really that memorable in the end. The writing is solid and it's a generally fast-paced story that you can easily breeze through on a relaxed weekend or so, and I liked the overall vibes of a town once inhabited by the fae and still full of ghosts and demons just waiting to enter our plane. I liked the concept of the Bone Road and the ghosts, especially. I was really intrigued by the mysteries presented to us at first, too.
Sadly, I didn't find the plot all too interesting after a while, and that's mostly because I felt like there was just too much happening. It felt convoluted at a certain point. Add to that some weird sex scenes that could have been cool I'm sure but felt mostly disrupting (especially the ones between Belle and her demon) as well as some rather choppy relationship development on a whole. For example, one of the two mysteries surrounds the deceased movie star Jimmy Valentine whose ghost gets summoned by a horny couple of youngsters staying in the most haunted hotel in town. He's probably the most interesting and tragic character in the whole book and the one I genuinely loved, but this entire plotline and later developments hinges on a love story between him and those two young people, especially the woman, that simply didn't feel believable because all we actually saw of them was the lust and the intrigue, not any kind of emotional connection. Which sadly meant that the way Leonie, the woman, later acts just didn't feel organic because all we got was a tell, don't show of her feelings.
The Big Bad was also barely explored at all so I wasn't interested in her downfall.
On a more personal note, our pair of investigators barely work together and mostly have their separate storylines, which I simply didn't expect and wasn't a fan of.

So in conclusion, I really liked the premise, the themes and the vibes, there are some great ideas and Jimmy Valentine deserves to LIVE alright. But the rest of the book, the characters, the relationships, the plots just didn't work for me. I'm sure it will find its fans though!

Many thanks to and Netgalley for the arc!

[greta · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5/5

this book wasn't at all what i was expecting. my first time reading a book by this author and it wasn't the best time. 🫣

the character i loved following the most was definitely brix. i thought he had the most thought provoking inner monologues and battles. the love story between him and abigail was quite melancholic, i enjoyed it.
i liked following the others' perspectives at the beginning, but from 35-40% of the book till the end, i was quite bored unfortunately... they didn't really stand out for me.

the writing style wasn't really engaging as well, i read the book fast, but i was definitely not hooked or finding myself dying to pick it up.
also the amount of times the word 'luv' was mentioned. 😭

the whole plot with the hollow queen wasn't really well played out. it only appeared almost at the end of the book, but for the most part it felt like a build up for something, and then it just happened to be quite underwhelming... i didn't really care for it.
i enjoyed the beginning of the story when we were kinda trying to figure out what was going on still, but the more i read, the more i didn't care anymore.
the ending was just okay, i didn't mind it, but i wanted some sort of plot twists or something intriguing to happen at least, but i got none of that.

i personally can't recommend reading this, it just wasn't really my cup of tea.

[Jamedi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally on JamReads

Ballad of the Bone Road is a standalone dark fantasy novel written by A.C. Wise, published by Titan Books. A mysterious spectral story articulated around the fascinating city of Port Astor, playing with a setting where magical beings are gone from memory, but still remnants are haunting the place; in that setting is where our two characters run an agency dealing with the supernatural being.

Bellefeather (Belle) and Brix are partners in taking cases of the paranormal business, about the unusual and the haunted. When they receive a case at the prestigious Peony Hotel where a whole room has disappeared, they know this is the case they were looking for; however, Belle's demon Belezial (they share a body with Belle), is reluctant to enter, so she decides to take another lane of investigation, to understand what's making Belezial so scared. While Brix continues investigating the mystery behind the hotel and how it is related to the ghost of Jimmy Valentine, Belle's estranged sister calls her back home. But there's more behind the call, as preacher Clarence and his flock are under the influence of something more sinister than faith; a new proof that the fae are still reluctant to leave Port Astor.

Brix and Belle are two sides of the same coin: both are carrying in their own way with grief and demons; at the end, this is a book about how difficult is to let things go, and the main characters are the best example of it. The author does a marvelous job of fleshing out these characters, making us care for their struggles and suffer when they are in danger.

The novel is structured into two seemingly disjointed storylines that end up converging together in a kinda chaotic way: it is impactful when it happens, so I recommend just trust the process. The setting is definitely one of my favourite aspects of the book, how it blends together the Gilded Age atmosphere with the uncanniness of those magic remains; all paired with an almost lyrical prose that suits well the themes of this book.

Ballad of the Bone Road is a great novel, one that you will love if you are into paranormal themes and wish to read a quirky but still compelling character duo; a really enjoyable standalone novel by A.C. Wise!

[Suki J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A promising premise involving paranormal investigators trying to keep a city safe from spectres, and the potential for gothic goodness, unfortunately failed to capture me.
I wasn't invested in our characters, and for some reason ghost fae were involved, although I couldn't really work out why that was necessary.
I found the ending to be fairly satisfying, but it was a shame I had to read all those pages to get to it!

[Nadine-Sue Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark fantasy that takes you on an interesting journey.

I liked the idea of the haunted hotel- not a new concept but has endless possibilities - and the addition of The Hollow Queen separates it from a traditional haunting.

Virgil is out of his depth but eager to please. Love can be destructive whether you mean it to be or not. We see that appears in a number of ways in this story. What he starts reignites something close to Belle's heart and she's pulled into a situation she's all to familiar with.

Brix is an interesting character and you can understand his rule breaking although you expect him to know better particularly as we know actions have consequences. He is best placed to help Virgil and the support he provides ultimately helps them both.

Brix and Belle make a good team- a little unconventional but interesting and fun. They've got very different back stories but it doesn't make a difference to their friendship or support they provide each other.

This is quite interesting as love restricts as much as it sets free in this. There's darkness in this love story love and the light, whilst appealing, is a danger rather than something positive.

[Angus F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road immediately caught my attention with its stunning cover and dark/mysterious vibe. I’ve been on a big vampire book kick lately, and while there aren’t any vampires here (😞), it still gave me that same moody, gothic energy I loveeeee

A.C. Wise’s writing is incredibly lyrical and vivid. Sometimes wildly imaginative in a way that made the world feel dreamlike and strange (or like maybe you are on a bunch of acid). Port Astor is full of ghosts, fae echoes, and haunted corners, and while I would have loved to learn a bit more about its history, the atmosphere was compelling and rich

Brix and Bellefeather make for an intriguing duo, both carrying their own grief and demons (literally and figuratively). Much of the story explores what it means to hold on when you should let go, and Wise handles those emotional beats totally beautifully. Though the pair spend much of the book apart and the two storylines can feel a little chaotic when they merge, I appreciated how distinct and layered each thread felt.

One thing I wish is that this was turning into a series. I love the idea of a paranormal duo who conquers the town of Port Astor together, but with this being a standalone, I feel the want for more! I am left with a slight void..

Overall this was an eerie and emotional and gorgeously written story that will linger with me. I’d definitely recommend it!

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful, magical book! I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

A hotel is always a wonderful setting for a spectral story but this book just went to a whole other level with the setting. It was magnificent.

This takes place in a fascinating city called Port Astor. It feels reminiscent of art deco New York with some Hollywood noir elements. There is magic and there are ghosts. The city is sitting at a point in history where magical beings are largely gone from recent memory. However there are remnants. We have two people who run an agency that deals with supernatural occurrences. Very private investigator, but with ghosts. It works so well.

Our investigators are looking into strange happenings at a hotel. A disappearing room, a manager who ignores it to preserve appearances, and things that feel very wrong. What they encounter is beyond anything they’ve seen before.

Our characters both have baggage and this motivates them and influences their decisions. It brings dangerous consequences. It makes them feel so fleshed out too.

I was fascinated by this story. It’s magical, spectral, dark at times with the most astonishingly captivating setting

[The Blog Without a Face · Rating 3 out of 5]

BWAF Score: 7/10

TL;DR: A doom-tender, weird-lyrical horror-fantasy road (and hotel) story where fae bargains, grief, and hunger-light imagery fuse into something mythic without getting lost in vibes. It lands because it actually moves, keeps its hauntings emotional, and makes “letting the dead go” feel like a knife you have to pick up yourself, on purpose.

A. C. Wise has built a long-running career in speculative fiction that blends dark fantasy, horror, and fairy-tale logic, often with a focus on longing and the costs of myth. She’s written novels like Wendy, Darling and Hooked, and she’s also known for short fiction, including the collection The Ghost Sequences. She contributes criticism as well, including a regular review column for Apex Magazine, which shows up in how sharply she understands genre machinery and emotional payoff. Her work has earned major-genre recognition, including a Sunburst Award win and finalist runs for awards like Nebula and Bram Stoker. In other words, this is a writer doing what she does best: making the fantastical intimate, and making intimacy dangerous.

Port Astor is all glitter and shadow, a city where human highways cross old fae roads and the seams never quite healed. The Peony Hotel sits right on those seams, gorgeous, notorious, and hungry, a monument to glamour that still remembers how to bite. Reading this feels like stepping into its lobby: velvet lighting, bad decisions, and the creeping certainty that the building is listening. Wise makes the city feel lived-in and cursed at the same time, like you could get a cocktail and a prophecy in the same booth, and both would cost you.

Wise tells the story in close third person, rotating primarily through Brix, Bellefeather (Belle), and the two kids who light the fuse, Virgil and Leonie. The prose is lyrical but controlled, more spell than fog machine, and it stays tonally steady even when reality starts to stutter. The intimacy matters, because the book’s core horror is not “there are monsters.” It’s “wanting something hard enough turns you into one,” and you feel that wanting in the thoughts, the small rationalizations, the moments where a character knows better and steps forward anyway.

Virgil and Leonie, young and broke and trying to feel invincible for one weekend, splurge on a room at the Peony and decide to summon Jimmy Valentine, a long-dead movie star whose legend is welded to the city. Months later, paranormal investigators Brix and Belle are pulled in when a room on the Peony’s fourteenth floor seems to vanish, taking evidence and memory with it. Their investigation tangles with Jimmy’s impossible return and a fae presence that treats human longing like an open invitation.

The Peony is a thin place where borders buckle: corridors reorient, rooms refuse to stay themselves, and the hotel can briefly become other spaces entirely. Wise choreographs horror as escalation plus aftermath. The set pieces hit, but what really sticks is what they leave behind, the way characters carry residue on their skin and in their choices, how fear becomes habit and then becomes ritual. Even the investigative beats feel infected, like answers are bait and curiosity is a door you should not open.

Pacing is one of the book’s quiet flexes. The “Eight Months Ago” chapters do real work and each return to Virgil and Leonie loads more consequence into the present. The middle stays propulsive because reveals are attached to emotion: a missing room is not only a puzzle, it’s a threat to a person’s ability to grieve honestly. Reveal timing respects suspense too. You learn enough to worry, then you learn the worst possible version later, when it can actually hurt, and when the characters are already too deep to back out cleanly.

Brix is a great anchor: competent, tired, and wrecked in a way that reads lived-in rather than performative. His grief for Abby is not treated like a stylish scar. It is an active craving that keeps trying to turn love into a system, and Wise is admirably unflinching about the selfishness that can hide inside devotion. Belle is the perfect counterweight. She’s sharp, guarded, and carrying a demon named Belizial inside her, a relationship that reads like uneasy cohabitation with a weaponized part of yourself. Their partnership works because the dialogue sounds like two people who trust each other with ugly truths, but still know where to press to get a reaction.

Underneath the hauntings, the book is about desire as a moral weather system. Virgil wants to give Leonie a miracle, and to prove he can. Leonie wants wonder without paying the full bill. Brix wants Abby back, or failing that, wants to keep her close enough that letting go never becomes real. Belle wants control over the monster in her and the monster that once tried to own her. Over all of it hangs the Hollow Queen, a figure of hunger so pure it reads like a law of nature. The emotional core lands because the book doesn’t treat “let the dead go” as a platitude. It treats it as a brutal, daily choice, and sometimes as a kind of violence you do to yourself for the sake of living.

If you’re a frequent BWAF reader, you’ve come to know my distaste for fantasy, but this is a surprising exception. My only real caveat is density. The book loves liminal logic, and if you want hard rules and clean explanations, you might feel unmoored. If you like haunted glamor, fairy-tale cruelty, and horror that keeps asking what you would sacrifice for love, this is absolutely your bone road.

Read if “haunted hotel” is your love language, especially when the building is actively pissed you’re alive.

Skip if you want big jump-scare pacing over slow, elegant dread with emotional aftertaste.

[Linsey May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge Thanks to Titan books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I discovered AC Wise via the Peter Pan retellings, which I loved. More recently I read Out of the Drowning Deep, which was a little too abstract for me.

Ballad of the Bone Road is a dark fantasy which sits happily inbetween.

There is a lot happening in just over 300 pages - demonic possession, ghosts, spirits, fae, alternating timelines… all centred around an Overlook-esque haunted hotel which has a dark past filled with secrets.

I’d recommend this for anyone who enjoyed The Near Witch by VE Schwab or A Sorceress Come to Call by T.Kingfisher

[Kristie Kieffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road is a darkly atmospheric, immersive story that blends horror, mystery, and richly drawn characters into a haunting narrative. A.C. Wise’s writing is vivid and lyrical, creating a sense of place and mood that is both eerie and captivating.

The plot weaves suspense, danger, and human vulnerability in a way that keeps you engaged from start to finish. The characters are compelling and complex, their struggles and choices lending the story emotional depth amid the tension.

Fans of dark fiction, horror, and character-driven suspense will find Ballad of the Bone Road a gripping, memorable read that lingers long after the final page.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road is a golden-age-of Hollywood urban fantasy. Set in a country that is maybe 80% 1960s Los Angeles with a hint of the United Kingdom, in a world in which the fae walked, until they didn’t. It is a mix of styles and ideas that struggles to work, held together by a plot involving pair of flawed investigators and two different but related cases.
Belleweather and Sydney Brix are partners in some sort of investigation agency that clearly does not make money by charging its clients. The city they live in, Port Astor, is, presumably, supposed to be like Los Angeles in the 1960s. It also used to host the fae but for some reason, never really explained, the fae all picked up and left about forty years before and their access to the human world was blocked off using iron by wealthy industrialists. The pair are intrigued when someone comes to them claiming that a room at the famous Peony Hotel has disappeared. Before they can get to far into that investigation, Belleweather’s estranged sister Dee comes to town to ask for her help with her preacher husband who she fears is having an affair.
Belleweather and Brix have issues of their own. Brix is a ghost whispered with access to something called the Bone Road, which is where ghosts go when they depart this relam. But Brix has used his power to keep the ghost of his girlfriend in the world because he cannot stand to let her go. Meanwhile Belleweather plays host to a demon who lives within her flesh. Part of the reason she found herself running away from her fundamentalist family. The two jobs that they go on – the haunting at the hotel and the possibly possessed preacher - play directly into their issues, complicating the situation somewhat.
Ballad of the Bone Road is a little overstuffed and not everything about it makes a whole lot of sense. Wise draws on a range of different mystical traditions – the fae, the wild hunt, ghosts – but not in a way that is always coherent or at least well explained. She does not give a sense of what the world was like when the fae were there to allow readers to understand how it has changed. And her main antagonist seems to be fae but maybe not the same as those others.
Some of this does not really matter so long as reader’s buy into the premise. The characters are engaging, the setting is stylish and the plot barrels along, leaving little time to worry about trying to understand exactly what is going on and how it works (for example, who exactly is the Hollow Queen and what does she want? Why do some people have access to the Bone Road? Why does Brix seem to talk with a kind of British access and call everyone “luv”?). So while there is some enjoyment to be had with Ballad of the Bone Road, it does end up missing the mark.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy from Titan Books via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date January 27th, 2026.

The striking cover and intriguing paranormal investigator premise of this novel caught my eye. In Ballad of the Bone Road, paranormal investigators Brix and Belle run an agency for solving supernatural problems in a city where the fae have been banished. Just as they begin to investigate a haunted hotel, Belle is called away to help her estranged sister, who has been entangled in a new cult—and the two cases may be more closely linked than they think.

I've read a novella by Wise (Out of the Drowning Deep), and I was willing to give her work another shot. Unfortunately, Ballad of the Bone Road, despite the excellent premise, did not click for me. There's a lot of good concepts floating around here. Belle is deeply traumatized by her abusive religious upbringing and has sheltered a demon in her own body since she was a child. Brix clings to the ghost of his dead wife against all his professional ethics as a paranormal investigator. Much of the action is set in a glamorous, haunted Belle Epoque hotel. But somehow none of this worked for me. Part of this is due to setting up a really good non-romantic buddy investigator duo and then separating them for ninety percent of the plot. But beyond that, the worldbuilding felt very thin. What appears on page is great, but I felt it didn't have real depth. Great worldbuilding is grounded by details that are referred to casually but left mostly in shadow. Here, setpieces like the hotel, the faded ghost of a rock star, the vengeful fae queen are illuminated, but everything else is left completely undefined.

Alas, this is not very useful as a review, since I can't quite put my finger on the reason for the slippery ungrabbiness of characters and plot. But since I had the same experience with Wise's previous novella, I'm not inclined to chalk it up to an off day. Ah well. I do appreciate not jamming in the obligatory m/f romance between the protagonists. But I wouldn't be inclined to pick up another book by Wise unless it had a very good premise.

[Shelflife · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows two paranormal investigators, Brix and Bellefeather, through their investigations of supernatural activity involving the dead musician and film star Jimmy Valantine at the luxurious Peony Hotel in the very very haunted Port Astor.

The worldbuilding was really mysterious. The story was set more or less present day but made lots of references to how the Fae once lived in Port Astor until ‘they all disappeared’.

The supernatural seems to be quite common knowledge in the world although not necessarily liked or accepted.

The main characters are described as experienced investigators with a lot of knowledge of the supernatural. Brix is a medium who can help ghosts move on and has protective tattoos and carries a bag of various ‘ghost hunting’ equipment with him while Bellefeather shares her body with a demon who was once enslaved by the Fae.

Despite this they get out of their depth almost immediately and their knowledge, skills and abilities are little help as the story progresses around them.

Despite this small critique, what stood out with Ballad of the Bone Road was the writing.

The description of the hauntings, the reality bending magic and how this affected the characters perceptions of what was real was incredible. Being able to portray a character fighting to hold their attention on something as supernatural forces try to make them forget and making it feel real to the reader is incredible talent.

The relationships were all so well imagined and written and seemed natural and believable despite the strangeness of the situations. Brix and his wife's ghost, where they both know he should let go but can’t, Bellefeather and her demon Belizial and their being drawn together by similar past traumas as well as Jimmy Valantine’s tragic romances with everyone else.

Individually the characters development was also so beautifully described. These wonderfully written character arcs and relationships were so well woven into the actual plot that even the ‘slower’ parts of the story were captivating.

A.C.Wise had an incredible imagination and talent to match. I really enjoyed this book.


Thank you TitanBooks for my proof copy

[Annette Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road by A.C. Wise initially caught my eye because of it's striking cover but the premise of paranormal investigators and a haunted hotel convinced me that this was a book I needed to read.
Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators in the city of Port Astor, once home to the courts of the Fae before they abandoned the city vanishing without trace. In the decades that have passed the city has tried to forget but now it seems that the Hollow Queen wants the city back, and this Fae queen is willing to put up a fight.
I really enjoyed the characters of Brix and Bellefeather, each of whom faced their own personal struggles. Brix is holding on to the ghost of his dead fiancee, unwilling to let her travel the bone road to what ever lies ahead, instead he has trapped her soul in the world of the living. Bellefeather shares her body with a demon, Belizial, whose trauma at the hands of the Fae court is matched only by Belle's own past religious trauma at the hands of her own family who abused her horribly in numerous exorcism attempts. For me these characters were the most interesting part of the book and I would have loved to spend more time learning about their individual stories and how they came to team up together. Instead the main focus of the plot is on the haunting of the glamorous Peony Hotel by the ghost of a former silver screen idol summoned by a young couple who find themselves out of their depth very quickly. While parts of this story were interesting, especially the possession elements , it did not hold my interest the way I had hoped, nor did the other major plotline that had cult like overtones so I found what should have been the climax of the book to be rather underwhelming.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Port Aster was once the seat of power for the beautifully brutal fae courts... before they seemingly up and left Port Aster 40 years ago... now Port Aster is a shell of what it used to be.... haunted by spirits and ghosts of the past.... haunted by its once colorful history...and these spirits want to take Port Aster for their own.

Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, finding themselves in the city to investigate these haunts, these spirits and ghosts of the past.... They both are all too familiar with these sorts of activities, as Brix has trapped the soul of his dead fiancée in the world of the living and Belle shares her body with a demon.

And when they meet a couple with a concerning connection to one of Port Aster's most infamous tales at the notoriously haunted Peony Hotel... they soon realize that this is not just any specter... nor is it any normal ghost.

The "ghost" of Jimmy Valentine is here for a reason....

For the fae never forget.

And they are coming back to take what is theirs back for the Hollow Queen.

This is a short, and yet none-the-less fantastical sort of read... that borders on the dark in a most beautiful sort of fashion. The idea behind Ballad of the Bone Road is deliciously haunting, and the premise is nothing short of flawless. However, while the world is beautifully made, and I adore the very many mystical and fantastical elements that are involved in Ballad of the Bone Road, there were a few grating flaws that I just didn't feel comfortable in giving this book a five-star rating no matter how amazing most of it is.

For one thing, while I usually am quite welcoming of multiple POVs, especially from main characters, I feel like these POVs could have most definitely had a bit more thought put into their execution... because this turned-out way clutzier than anything I've read in a bit...it's almost as if two novellas from the two characters were somewhat hodge-ploddingly mashed together with actions to be way too busy sometimes... another thing that I found intensely grating were the fact that the "spicier" side of things just sounded .. awkward at best and randomly inserted in at worst... to be honest I probably would've been fine without any spice at all.

Overall, though, this was still a deeply gothic, haunting, somewhat horrific novel that I quite enjoyed, and I hope that you too will delight in Ballad of the Bone Road as I have.
Thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for this copy to read in advanced, I am voluntarily leaving a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and the rest of my reviews can be found at: https://littlereapling.wixsite.com/fa....

[Kat (Katlovesbooks) Dietrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road by A.C. Wise is a fantasy novel about two paranormal investigators who look into strange happenings in a ghost-prone area.


I’d like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Titan Books, and the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.



I was pleasantly surprised.  I really enjoyed the book.  It was a fast and entertaining read.

The characters were really interesting, the good and the bad.  By showing both their strengths and their weaknesses, the author made them real.  Now, some of the characters had only evil on their minds, but we got to see the good side of  Belle, Brix, Dee,  Even Jimmy.  However. I felt the Hollow Queen was lacking.  I don't think her storyline was enough.  It was lacking substance, and her back-story felt weak.

The overall plot was good, and looked into the idea of "letting go", and how hard it can be to lose a loved one.  It also looked at families, and how two sisters who grew up in the same house, can have such different experiences and memories, yet expect the other to share their interests and goals.  I felt that both the look at grief and guilt was really well done.

I'll be surprised if this is not turned into a series.

Anyway, until next time .... 


For a more thorough review of this book and others (including the reason I chose to read/review this book, my own synopsis of the book, and its author information), please visit my blog: http://katlovesbooksblog.wordpress.com/

 

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC the following is my honest opinion*
The story follows Brix and Bellefeather, one man whose grief and skills with ghosts lead him to keep a tight grip on the spirit of his dead wife and a woman skilled in dealing with demons who harbours one such creature beneath her own skin. The two work together to solve mysteries of the supernatural in a world where magic disappeared decades ago. We follow them as they set out to solve the haunting of the Peony Hotel, the most famous hotel in the city of Port Astor and incidentally a place where the barrier between worlds is thin. One of the hotels rooms has mysteriously disappeared…
I felt myself immediately invested in both protaganists and their complicated relationship with the supernatural.
The book is beautifully written with well fleshed out characters and a plot that grips you from the start. We flit between the present with Brix and Bellefeather and eight months prior, giving us a glimpse of events that lead to the current turmoil. This keeps the pace fresh and exciting and never once did it feel boring or dragged out.
The world was beautifully crafted and it was easy to picture everything as I was reading along, it all felt rich and vibrant. It was a good mix of the real world and the supernatural.
If you’re someone who enjoys the supernatural and dark fantasies with fae then I would definitely recommend Ballad of the Bone Road.

[Clairiefaerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

Ballad of the bone road is my first big surprise of 2026. I LOVED it. Brix and Bellefeather have a kind of old Hollywood noir vibe to their partnership (or at least that’s how I pictured it) and while solving their mystery they have to contend with ghosts, demons, cults and extremely dark fae bargains. They are well equipped for that because he is a sort of ghost wrangler and she’s possessed by a powerful demon, it’s a good as it sounds!

I liked the central mystery, I was curious to see how the case of the missing hotel room was going to tie into what was going on with Clarence, Dee and Ava. This book had me completely hooked, I read it in a day.

Brix and Belle are both such interesting characters. They are both so damaged and Brix is tortured by guilt that he can’t let his wife Abbey moved on. I also found Belzial to be a really unique addition, I’d like to know more of their history before they joined with Belle.

The spice in this book was not in my comfort zone, particularly the interactions between Belzial and Belle and I kind of skipped it but I loved the mystery and dynamic of the central characters so much that this didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book, and these scenes never interfered with the plot.

Thank you to Titan books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ballad of the Bone Road is a hauntingly lyrical descent into a city where memory is fragile, ghosts are restless, and the fae are never truly gone. A.C. Wise conjures Port Astor with exquisite detail—a place where glamour and decay walk hand in hand, and every shadow holds a story.

At its heart are Brix and Bellefeather, paranormal investigators bound by grief, guilt, and the ghosts they carry—both literal and emotional. Their latest case at the Peony Hotel unravels not just a haunting, but a reckoning. The return of silver-screen idol Jimmy Valentine is more than spectral—it’s a thread that tugs at the very fabric of the city’s forgotten past.

Wise’s prose is rich and evocative, weaving themes of doomed love, desperate bargains, and the seductive pull of power. The Hollow Queen’s looming presence adds a mythic weight, reminding us that what is buried will always claw its way back.

For readers who crave dark fantasy with emotional depth, this is a tale that lingers—like perfume in an empty room, or a song half-remembered.

Thank you to AC Wise, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of a gritty, Gilded Age noir, set in a haunted hotel within a haunted city, is absolutely enchanting - “Back then, the Morgans and Rockefellers and Astors regularly rubbed elbows with the High Courts, and the fae still roamed the city streets freely.” - and the atmosphere that such a magical world evokes drew me in immediately.

Unfortunately, the glamour didn’t hold up for very long. Our central paranormal investigator duo, our two young lovebirds and their ghostly Valentine, and everything plot-wise further on began to feel more like a series of movie scenes cut together out of order than any real, progressive or developing storyline. It didn’t help that Brix and Bellefeather spent more time apart than together in the last two thirds or so, which made for a few too many threads for me, and that I felt more intrigued by their counterparts (of various flavors) Abby and Belizial than I did the investigators themselves. Something here just didn’t quite click for me the way I hoped that it would.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Titan for the chance to share my thoughts on this ARC!

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book but unfortunately not very memorable.

This is more of a detective novel but with some supernatural elements to it. The story follows two investigators who are hired to look into a haunting at a notorious hotel in the city. We also get some alternative POV chapters from the characters who caused the haunting too which provides insight into the events leading up to our MCs investigation. Their personal lives are heavily tangled in their investigation and much of the story focuses on each of them and their personal problems. I felt this could have been made to be less important than it was and more focus put on the supernatural elements and the fae disappearances.

I'm not sure if this is to be a standalone or not. I can see potential for other books being written as interconnected stories and I think I'd enjoy reading them if it focused more on world building and the history that we're told in this one.

[Mon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm disappointed because I thought this would be a cool Gothic horror story centred around the fae Hollow Queen and her court with two human (ish) paranormal investigators and maybe a demon or two.

Instead it's... well, I don't rightly know how to describe it. There isn't really a lot of exposition. Characters do stuff and events happen but it beats me why 🤷 You're basically just plunged in the middle of different timelines and characters and since you don't understand what's happening it's difficult to care.

I think it's supposed to be all allegorical, with a lot of grief and religion and childhood trauma. I prefer my horror and fantasy to be more straightforward genre fiction, so unfortunately this was a big miss for me.

Thank you to Titan and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Edward "Gryftkin" Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is this? Horror? Yes. Urban fantasy? One could argue. Detective procedural? Maybe. Whatever it is, it works. Brix and Bellefeather take on very specific cases. Monsters, ghosts, demons, the fae - this is what piques their attention. Don't bother bugging them with cheating spouses or lost car keys, that's not what they do. Their unique talents are well suited for the types of cases others can't handle, but they come with their own baggage and burdens. Something or someone is haunting the most well known (and most haunted) hotel in Port Astor - but this isn't just a normal haunting, this is far beyond anything they've ever tackled - and when Belle's sister shows up in trouble, the two have to split up to investigate separate issues. Can they handle two cases alone that they could barely handle together? Can they overcome the demons of their past in time to save those in desperate need? If you like ghosts and demons and conniving fae queens, this book is for you. Currently a stand-a-lone, I'm kind of hoping for a book 2 ;)

[Laura The Busy Book Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blend of supernatural, cult and horror.

it actually started off quite light hearted and slowly became darker and more twisted. The two main characters have two separate plots for 2/3 of the book. I probably would have preferred more of them working together. It felt like two different books at times. The two are supposed to connect, but to me, they just didn't. I just think they had different vibes.

I would have liked to be more invested in the main characters. It probably would have been a better book two in a series, after getting to know the main characters in book one.

If you love a dark cult horror you may love this. Sadly, it just wasn't what I expected.

[Angela M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC! 3.5 stars

I thought this had an interesting premise with the paranormal investigators, along with a Hollywood esque character entrapped by a villain in another world. I did feel that something was missing - what exactly did the Hollow Queen want? I guess it’s love from Jimmy, but it feels like we didn’t get enough backstory on her.

This half baby - how will it exist in the world? Is that even possible? Some questions unanswered but overall I had fun reading the book.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 20%.
The premise was everything I love — gothic, paranormal investigators, demons, fae — but sadly the story and characters never pulled me in. Not every book is the right book at the right time, and this one just wasn’t for me.
Thank you to Titan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

[Rosemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overwhelming melancholy, hope, music, a potential series. These are the things I felt as I finished this novel.
Two seemingly disconnected cases - the haunting of a hotel and the strange changes to a priest - turn out to be connected by a blinding light, hunger, and a fae queen.

[Kacey Rayburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wise’s beautifully bewitching voice has cast another spell on me, seeping under my skin and chilling me to the bone. With prose that stabs and glitters like a knife, I devoured this one!