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You see the term “old-school horror” get thrown around a lot and I don’t even know if I know what it means? But like…maybe you just know it when you read it? 

That was sort of my experience reading Cullen Bunn’s upcoming small town horror novel, BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD.

A side note first: I’ve been catching up on a ton of horror comics lately, which has been awesome. I had the ARC for BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD for awhile & it was definitely on my TBR, and then I got a note from the Gallery publicist (who is awesome!) just asking if I was planning any fall coverage of the book. And it was then that I realized Cullen Bunn wrote the HARROW COUNTY comics, which have been on my radar FOREVER! There’s a new paperback omnibus coming out soon that I’m definitely planning to pick up, because holy fuck…BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD blew me away. This is Cullen Bunn’s adult horror debut novel, and I fucking loved every minute of this demented beast of a story. 

The book is set on the fictional Wilson Island in North Carolina. It’s a seasonal/tourist town, and having spent most of my life living on Cape Cod, the vibe of this place felt so familiar to me. The windswept beaches. The smell of the ocean on the air. The local fishermen. The crazed slasher running through the streets with a trash bag full of human organs.

Wait. No. Not that last one.

BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD ultimately encompasses lots of different horror elements, some of which I think are better left as surprises for the reader. But when this one functions as a slasher novel (which is does for a significant amount of time), the book is fucking relentless & amazing. It’s also scary as hell & wicked fun, too! AND ALSO VERY DISGUSTING! 

The cast of characters is very extensive…Bunn does a lot of work breathing life into Wilson Island via its extremely colorful cast of characters. I’ll probably touch on a few different characters over the course of the review, but what would a great slasher novel be without a badass Final Girl?

When we meet Willa Hanson she’s standing on the beach at night, smoking her last cigarette. It’s her last smoke because Willa has just learned she’s pregnant. I believe Willa is seventeen and this pregnancy was very much unplanned. And her boyfriend Kenny…does not handle the news well. 

Actually, Kenny handles the news like a real asshole. 

Willa is a singer/songwriter, and she’s written as a very soulful, thoughtful, compassionate person. She’s kind, and extremely likable, and her whole world just got completely flipped upside down. And that’s *before* all the bodies start piling up!

As I said, the cast of characters in the book is pretty big, but it was easy for me to kind of visualize Willa as the “main character” of the story. She goes on a fucking journey in this book, that’s for sure, and I really grew to love this character a whole lot.

And we can’t have a proper slasher story without a VERY memorable killer! Mr. No-Face legitimately sent chills down my spine. A creepy featureless mask. A heavy-duty leather apron for butchering. A belt full of razor-sharp instruments of death & dismemberment. And an unimaginable capacity for violence. 

Yeah, this book is not fucking around!

If it seems like I’m being cagey about things, well…I am. There’s a lot of layers to this story & not everything is exactly as it seems. Which is making this review a bit more challenging than some! 

There’s so many memorable characters that really give this book a somewhat zany small town vibe…

-there’s Sarah, Willa’s best friend. She’s hilarious, she’s Willa’s ride-or-die, and she drives around in this sticker-covered monstrosity of a car called The Battleship. Loved Sarah & Willa’s friendship!

-there’s The Warlock, the sword-wielding, drug dealing, D&D Dungeon Master with a heart of gold & a rather profound sense of right & wrong.

-there’s a whole crew of rogue exterminators dealing with a veritable plague of rats & other…assorted pests.

These characters all leap off the page & make Wilson Island seem like such a vibrant, lived-in space. 

I had such a good time reading this. This was a book that was offered to me, not something that was on my radar at all. So if anyone is reading this review, GET THIS BOOK ON YOUR RADAR! It is a fucking wild time, fast-paced & fun, horrifying & gross…basically it’s everything you could want in a horror novel. BONES OF OUR STARS, BLOOD OF OUR WORLD may not have been on my radar, but it’s for sure one of the best horror novels of the year for me! 

Massive thanks to Gallery Books for sending the ARC my way! This one releases November 11th!