I really loved this story it was so chilling. It was such an interesting story that kept me on the edge of my seat. It's definitely a roller coaster ride full of fantastic twists and turns. What I loved the most about this story was that it was such a unique story.
I definitely recommend reading this book. Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating such a thrilling story. I can't wait to read more from this author.

this is going to be added to my list of favourite folk horror books, it was fantastic.
the frozen roads, the spooky atmosphere was captured so well, the tension was made worse by the fast paced style of writing and short chapters. i loved learning about the Parnee, the russian forest spirit. the horror was gory enough to be exciting and the chase was thrilling.
this is my first experience of Christopher Goldens writing and I can't wait to get to more of his novels based off this. Tiegs backstory was truly heartbreaking and the friendship between tieg and prentiss and well as Nari and kaskill was endearing and the sacrifices they made to keep each other safe was humanising. I really loved this book, possibly one of the best folk horror i've read in some time

This was such a thrill ride from start to end and I really enjoyed it. The author did a great job with the setting - I could feel the cold of the Siberian forests throughout, which was fantastic. I also thought that the pacing was excellent. The start was very much setting the scene, introducing the characters and the plot and then once the action started, there were great highs and lows of threat that made for a truly anxiety inducing read. My main criticism was the motivations of Teig towards the latter part of the plot. I just don't think we were given enough to understand why he was behaving the way he was, which threw me out things a little bit. With that being said, I found this to be a fantastic and exciting read and I would definitely recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Golden delivers a wild and thrilling ride into the horrors of the frozen abyss with this excellent road novel about an ancient force at the cold edge of civilisation.
The Road of Bones is a fantastic setting - and one I've not read about before - and proves the perfect isolated backdrop for a creepy and tightly wound story of old gods, past horrors and human survival.
Highly recommended.

Enjoyable supernatural thriller, was genuinely creepy at points.

Tense read, I had to stop and stretch out my shoulders at points but I would definitely recommend.

There are some locations that just seem tailor made for horror stories, places in the world that when you hear of them you go 'yeah, that's haunted'; even if you don't really believe in ghosts. The Kolyma Highway is absolutely one of those places, and whilst I'd not heard of it before reading this book it's one that I've ended up reading up on now; and have been chilled by the history connected to it. With anywhere between 250,000 and 1,000,000 people having died during its construction, with their bodies most often just left where they fell, it's one of the most eerie sounding things ever built, and has more than earned its name of the Road of Bones. A name that this book uses.

Whilst the road itself is real this book isn't a history of its construction, or a telling of the real life ghost stories connected to it. Instead, Christopher Golden has crafted his own frightening tale set on this lonely, deadly road.

Road of Bones tells the story of Teig, a documentary filmmaker who's going through something of a dry spell in terms of creativity. Having worked on a few fairly well received shows in the past, he's trying to find the next big thing that will land him a hit series and make him some money. Thus, he sets out on his latest venture, to create a demo reel for a show about the Kolyma Highway, one of the most dangerous roads in the world. Joining him on this trip is one of his closest friends, Prentiss, who's there to help film their adventure, and to make sure that Teig finally pays him back the money he owes.

Their adventure starts off normally enough, with the two of them taking shifts to drive along the miles of ahead of them, in an environment where if they even just turn off their engine they could end up trapped and frozen to death. They pick up a local guide to help them communicate with the locals, and to add some flavour to their footage. The trio spend some time getting used to each other, and even stop off at a local roadhouse for drinks and burgers. Everything seems fine, if not a little extremely cold. However, it's after they pick up a woman in a broken down car and take her to the nearest small village that things begin to go wrong for the group.

They find every building in town deserted, the doors open, with barefoot tracks leading from the homes to the nearby forest. Before they can investigate far, however, strange figures emerge from the trees, dark shadows, weird amalgams of animal and humans, and large, viscous wolves that make the visitors their targets. The group are forced to flee, heading down the long, winding highway to try and find shelter and help; but the dark things from the frozen forests are coming after them, and won't stop until they're dead.

Road of Bones is something of a chase story. It starts normally enough, introducing readers to the characters and the setting, and we get some small build-up of tension as they realise that something is wrong in the isolated village; but most of the book's focus, and the tension, comes once the strange creatures come after our characters and start chasing them. This essentially begins a huge chase sequence, where the characters spend their time moving from one location to another, trying their best to avoid dangers, whilst driving in their truck.

Whilst this does add a great deal of tension, as there's almost never a moment to stop and relax for the characters or the readers, it does make the book feel incredibly oppressive at times. There's always tension, there's always danger, the threat is never really gone. The result is a book that feels quite dense, despite it's relatively short length. This made it harder to read at times, because you wanted something to happen, you wanted the bad thing that was just out of sight to finally attack because the wait for it was getting too much. Compared to a lot of horror books, where things can take place over multiple days, slowly building and using a slight increase in fear, Road of Bones felt much more cinematic in tone and style; it'd be easy to see the book be made into a film thanks to how Golden has crafted it. I do also wonder if his history with writing TV and film adaptations has helped with this, and if that kind of faster, more intense style has come across to this book because of that.

Despite the fast paced moments and the characters constantly being on the run there's still time to get to know the people involved, and Golden does a good job at building booth Teig and Prentiss into characters with a decent amount of depth. Teig gets the lions share of this, and thanks to the dives into his past and the way that he thinks he ends up being a bit of a flawed hero; someone who I at times kind of hated because he seemed like a bit of a flake, a bit of a chancer. Despite that, he ended up being a decent and likeable protagonist for us to follow.

Road of Bones is a decent horror story with some interesting ideas and a location that instantly stands out as different. Even if you come away not one hundred percent liking the story or the characters the location, an the way Golden makes it come to life on the page will make this a book that you'll remember.

trigger warning
<spoiler> kidnapping, trauma, grief, mutilation, gore, being possessed </spoiler>

Two guys are travelling on the Road of Bones, where once people perished in gulags by the masses, to gather promotion material for a docuseries to draw in investors. Of course, things don't go according to plan.

They have arragend to meet a local guy, who belongs to the Reindeer Herders, an indigenous group called Yakut but when they arrive in his hometown, it's empty. People went out without shoes, without closing doors, into temperatures well below freezing.

The whole thing takes place in one night, but when the sun goes down early in the afternoon and only will come up late in the morning again, this means more hours than I personally am accustomed to. Plenty of time for things to go wrong, and so they do.

While I did not care much for the protagonist and his sidekick, I liked the characters they met on the road and will make sure to look up the Yakut people and their stories.

The horror as such was fine. I'd recommend reading it in as few sittings as possible and simply roll with the momentum of the plot.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

Haunted roads do have a history. The infamous ghost hitch-hiker; the bargaining with the devil at a crossroads and roads are the scene of many accidents. By definition many roads are going to and from places and so perhaps the fear is you’re on them alone and if something does go wrong there is not really any imminent help unless you’re lucky? In Christopher Golden’s fast paced ride into the night that is Road of Bones we get two ambitious film-makers following their dreams on the coldest road in Siberia and have a horrific case of bad timing that could spell death for them all.

Tieg and aspiring TV producer and and his best friend Prentiss a cameraman are chasing a dream to make a supernatural documentary series that explores the notorious ‘Road of Bones’ the endless motorway that Stalin built using prisoners many of whom died in their construction as this part of the world get to minus 70C in winter. The place has had a reputation for a long time. They meet their tour guide Kaskil; ick up a driver in distress after a car breakdown named Nari and then drive to Kaskil’s community before starting to film their pilot to help pick up investors. But Kaskil finds his home empty; as are the other houses and very soon something from the Siberian forest shows its face and teeth. Tieg and Prentiss soon have to try to drive through the deadly Siberian night and cold but that may be the leats of things they have to worry about.

I’ll be circumspect as to what scares our two would be media stars as that is part of the fun of this very good horror tale. Golden sets up these two friends; we get to understand their pasts; their fears, their brotherly relationship and that while they all dream of the big bucks they’re probably quite decent people if typical tourists who just speak English and don’t know much about where they’re travelling. The skill Golden deploys is that all this set up does a 90 degree turn into folk horror.

There is little warning of what is coming; there is then little explanation for why it is happening we just have two people plunged into a nightmare they have only one job - to now try and stay alive and ideally keep the rest of the party they meet too in the process. Characters are coming and going; the pace suitably for a tale on a road is fast and the danger feels ancient and unexplainable. All helped by the reputation of this cold desolate place where as soon as you leave your car you’re starting to ice over. Things go wrong, then more wrong and then guess what…yep. This is a cold chiller of a horror tale where bad things happen to good people simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A sense of desperation grows as the route for escape narrows and narrows and this is all about the chase.

If you’re looking for some wintry horror at this time of year this story is perfect for a long winter night and you’ll want extra blankets around you in the process. Its very very good and highly recommended!

Road of Bones is a terrific read with a fantastic setting and well written with a literary tone. Horror with a touch of mythology, folk horror and fantasy. Fast paced, thrilling and scary. Highly recommend.

A book to enjoy on these cold nights!

Seamlessly shifting between genres with a deftness that must make other authors grind their teeth, Christopher Golden has long been a favoured author of mine. With Road of Bones, he’s added fact to the fiction, sweeping horror and suspense into the sickening history of the construction of the Kolyma Highway, where hundreds of thousands of gulag prisoners died to fulfil Stalin’s push to access the gold and uranium deposits discovered in north-east Russia, their bodies simply dug into the permafrost by their fellow prisoners. Golden truly couldn’t have chosen a more fitting setting for a ghost story.

With so few characters to work with, it’s inevitable that character development would be intense. Sometimes, this can detract from the plot, but at no point does the characterisation overwhelm the oppressive atmosphere that builds throughout the story. The bleakness of the setting quickly left me feeling the cold despite my cosy central heating, so a blanket appears to be a necessary accessory to this novel.

I received a free reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the most tense books I’ve ever read! I always love books set in snowy isolated settings, as it really adds to the chill factor when reading. The mystery of these creatures they discover, along with all the death this road has seen in the past, makes for an incredibly tense on-the-edge-of-your-seat type read.

I liked all of the main characters and grew very attached to some of them. I was constantly holding my breath in the hopes that they would all escape the dangers that confronted them!

The writing style is very detailed and doesn’t seem like it should be fast-paced, but it was so easy to fly through. The writing was so intricate and beautiful that there are several quotes I’m still thinking about now! The plot was so action-packed, whilst at the same time delving really deep into our characters, so it really had the best of both worlds in terms of plot vs character focus.

I definitely recommend this for anyone wanting a horror that will chill you to your bones and make you out of breath just reading it!

I like Christopher Golden's writing style and I think he can write a really likeable character. The characters in this book were, for the most part, really likeable and I was rooting for them. The book started strong but got quite weak. It didn't go anywhere near the direction that was hinted at in the summary and it feels like the story could have really been set anywhere but he chose this particular place because, well let's face it, a name like the Road of Bones does have quite the spine-chilling effect. A little history on the road was given but other than that it served as nothing more than the original scene setter and a place holder for the story. There were some creepy moments but on the whole this book was a bit of a let down for me personally. It was a quick read though so bonus points for not dragging out the story! Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

This started off with so much promise for me, but then by the 54% mark I was just bored, which was right when the action was starting! I think it's a me problem rather than a book problem, as it had me invested up until then and I was really enjoying learning about Siberia and the folklore.
I just...got bored.
Maybe it's one of those books where you need to read it straight through with no breaks, so you stay in the moment and because I put it down I felt no need to pick it back up again. This also happened with House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson recently as well...it could be the beginnings of a slump maybe. I sure hope not!
Trigger warnings for:
loss of loved ones, divorce, child abduction, child molestation, child murder, and gulags or slave camps.

In the middle of nowhere...
Freakily cold...
Strange things happen in an abandoned town...
Something is coming out of the woods...
Very smarter than wolves!

When the Soviets discovered gold and uranium deposits in Siberia, Stalin wanted a road built, and hundreds of thousands of people died while constructing the road, most by freezing to death.
The frozen corpses were buried where they fell, plowed under the permafrost, and lay beneath the Road of Bones.

“People should know. The ugliest parts of history are the most important parts to remember.”

Now, Teig a documentary producer with his cameraman Prentiss, ride to the coldest place on Earth, haunt ghost stories!
Teig’d always wanted to believe, ghosts might appear, maybe he could face his past if only his sister Olivia was back.
But this time he might think twice of what wished for...

"This life . . . was it a gift, or a curse?
Gift or curse, the only way to discover the truth about life was to live it."

Frightening, engaging, scary plot, heavy atmosphere, fun dialogues, and oh god heartbreaking story!
I was shocked, hold my breath, shivered and my heart stumbled.
This was my first read of Christopher Golden and for sure, will not be the last!

"All the life in the world depended on protecting the remaining wilderness from the spread of humankind, but there were more dangerous things than people. Sometimes, the spirits of the forest needed to protect the people from a far older malevolence, and thus maintain the balance of the world."

Many thanks to Titan Books via NetGalley for giving me a chance to read Road of Bones by Christopher Golden, I have given my honest review.

The Road of Bones is in Siberia - it gets its name from the fact that many prisoners died while being forced to work by the former Soviet Union and their bodies were left on the ice, eventually becoming part of the road itself. Teig has set out to create a documentary about the local area, however when his group reaches one of the towns they find it deserted except for one girl who appears to be in shock and a pack of incredibly fast and dangerous wolves.

This was a complete roller-coaster of a book and extremely addictive.

It was an incredibly frightening and terrifying story that will stay with you long after you finish reading. So much so that it came to mind as I was travelling by car on a dark road and sent a chill down my spine. The writing was fantastic, full of suspense and there were so many scenes that had my heart racing. Combined with the instantly likeable characters it made for such an immersive read. I found myself reading it long into the night as I could not put it down.

If you enjoy horror and suspense I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I liked how atmospheric this book was and how the author built up the eerie atmosphere through the novel with the emptiness and bleakness it created. I thought the characters were written fine but they were a tiny bit 2-d in places and they only felt fleshed out in moments of pure character exploration and the rest of time they were kind of flat and a little weak. I did like the action and pacing in this and thought it proved a thrilling and exciting winter read.

Fortunate enough to read this via NetGalley, the premise really interested me. I wasn't disappointed as the book is original enough to spark an interest and to keep that interest alight. Taut and twisted, this is a supernatural thriller that is very written and engaging from the start. The central characters hold everything together as the plot races onwards and what I liked is the unpredictability of the story throughout.
A really original story that I hope is read and appreciated.

Road of Bones has an interesting premise but the story didn’t captivate me.

Documentary film makers are making their way across the Kolyma Highway in Siberia Russia also dubbed the “road of bones” due to being a graveyard to Gulag prisoners.

What I was expecting was a claustrophobic and atmospheric read full of tension and horror but what I got was bland characters with not a lot going on.

Some aspects of the book felt like they were meant for a different medium, for example one of the characters questions whether he said a name correctly and the guide repeats it for the guy to say isn’t that what I said? In text this really didn’t work.

I struggled to want to pick up the book, the only thing I enjoyed was the beautiful cover.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc!

4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2022/11/08/road-of-bones-by-christopher-golden/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: What the heck just happened?

This is going to be a strange review to write because on the one hand Road of Bones was really not what I was expecting it to be, nor did I find it the least bit creepy – although now I’m really thinking about it to write this review I realise that’s not entirely truthful. It is in fact creepy but it didn’t scare me (if that makes sense – gah, I know what I’m trying to say!). On the other hand, although it wasn’t the story I was expecting it was still a compelling read and a good one. So, ultimately does it really matter if this didn’t do or go quite where I expected?

Just to unravel this let’s look a little deeper into what the book is about because it’s absolutely fascinating as a concept and I defy anyone who reads this book to put it down and not be intrigued enough to go and google The Road of Bones, or the Kolyma Highway as it’s also known. Yes, the Road of Bones is real and it has a shocking history. Built during the Stalinist era the road took over twenty years to build and used slave labour from Gulags along the route. The conditions were harsh and to date there is no accurate record of the number of deaths that occurred during that period but it is believed that the bones of 250,000–1,000,000 unhappy souls lie beneath the permafrost. It’s a bit mind numbing isn’t it?

Anyway, as the story begins we make the acquaintance of Teig and Prentiss. Teig produces documentaries and over the years he’s had successes and failures, unfortunately many of his friends have drifted away, no longer enamoured with his ‘big’ ideas for money making. Prentiss is Teig’s remaining friend, although Teig does owe him money and the two are hoping that this latest brainchild will reap rewards. Teig wants to travel the Road of Bones to the coldest place in Siberia, Oymyakon. Temperatures are believed to reach -60. This isn’t just a harsh environment in which to live it’s positively life threatening. During the winter months there’s only a few hours of sunshine and even then the clouds keep the place in darkness. If your vehicle breaks down or you turn off the ignition outside it’s more than likely that you’ll die. Anyway, Teig is hoping for drama, moodiness, intense weather and maybe a few ghostly experiences in order to return home and wow potential investors into backing his latest dream. Unfortunately his hopes become a very grim reality and he finds himself being pursued. Teig employs a guide to take him to Oymyakon, they also rescue a stranger en route, a woman whose car has broken down and would have undoubtedly died without their fortunate timing. The four of them finally arrive at the settlement only to find it’s abandoned. All the houses are empty. The doors are open. Frozen suppers lie on the tables untouched and trails of footsteps can be seen heading towards the forest, some of them barefoot, as though they left in a hurry. Eventually the four find a young girl who seems to have retreated into her own mind, unable to speak and possibly scared so badly that she’s positively numb with shock. From here things take a strange turn. Large wolves attack and everything goes a little out of control. I’m not going to elaborate too much from here, this is a fairly short and quick read and I don’t want to spoil it for others. Basically our characters take to the road and the wolves (or whatever they happen to be) pursue them.

So, this story has a cinematic quality without doubt and I think it would make a stunning adaptation. The setting itself is practically another character. It’s so cold that every action our protagonists take has to be considered beforehand. There’s always a chance that their vehicle won’t start and when you’re being chased you can’t afford to leave such things to chance. There is plenty of action and I’ll just warn you right now that the body count starts to grow with some shocking deaths and developments. I enjoyed the writing, it’s packed with atmosphere and, as I mentioned the setting itself really lends itself to this type of chiller.

I’m not going to give away the ending, although to be fair, I’m not sure I could explain with any confidence exactly what did happen. Let’s just say ‘here be monsters’. We have a Parnee – I took this to be the spirit of the forest. It has an almost human manifestation and seems to control the shadows and beasts. I don’t know what its intentions were even now. Was it driven by unhappy souls? I’m not sure. This is more the type of horror/chiller that doesn’t bear too much scrutiny. I think everyone will have different mileage with this one and so my advice is just sign up for the ride and let the story take you where it will.

There was another aspect to the story that involves an older woman who has a mission of her own, this next part of the review is going to have a slight spoiler so look away now. I was puzzled by this aspect to the tale. Ludmilla travels the Bone Road praying, I understood her to be a shaman who was trying to bring peace to the unhappy souls who hadn’t moved on. What puzzled me is that during the story, before we meet Ludmila, there is talk of a woman who haunts the road. After Ludmila’s involvement concludes there is also talk of a woman who haunts the road, I felt like the two were linked somehow but couldn’t quite figure out how, almost like Ludmila’s presence was a haunting – but that doesn’t seem possible either.

In terms of criticisms. Well, this isn’t really a criticism of the book. I picked this story up in the firm belief that it was going to be a haunting horror story whereas it turned out to be more an environmental folklore horror story – which, as it happens was very good. But, I can’t help still wanting to read that haunting horror story that I first anticipated – it feels very much like a story begging to be told.

As it is, I thought this was a gripping, shocking, dark, relentless, sometimes brutal, always compelling, chiller of a story. Perfect for a winter’s night. Wrap up warm. The writing here is enough to give you the chills even if you’re sat in front of a cosy fire.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Wow! If you enjoy an edge of the seat, thrilling, scary tale, look no further! I must admit, I honestly wasn't sure about this; A book about 2 male friends, heading across Siberia to capture an idea for a film - really? But, reading a review by Stephen King and another that promised 'don't pick up if you want to be able to put down' or similar, I thought 'why not?' Well, had I not, it would have been my loss.
I literally read in 2 sittings and the only reason it wasn't in one, was I needed a few hours sleep! Yep, it's that good.

The 2 main characters of Felix Teiglund (Teig) and Jack Prentiss (Prentiss) have a complex relationship that adds to the feeling of growing unease as they travel across the Road of Bones in Siberia, named after the poor souls who died whilst building it. The cold is described intricately and it's the perfect winter read. However, I read in the Canary Islands where it was a balmy 28 degrees at the time of reading and I still shivered!

I loved the characters, the tension, suspense and the theme of the possible causes of the terrors they experience.

Just wonderful! Loved it.

I'd give more than 5* if possible and that's unusual for me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to preview. Congratulations to the author, Christopher Golden.