Road of Bones by Christopher Golden.
Surrounded by barren trees in a snow-covered wilderness with a dim, dusky sky forever overhead, Siberia’s Kolyma Highway is 1200 miles of gravel packed permafrost within driving distance of the Arctic Circle. A narrow path where drivers face such challenging conditions as icy surfaces, limited visibility, and an average temperature of sixty degrees below zero, fatal car accidents are common.
A brilliant gripping read. 5*.

So not what I was expecting, quite enjoyable if you like horror stories.
A real page turner, past faced and full of suspense

This book is a horror story based on a real place and a real thing that happened. The Road of Bones is in Russia, and is the P-504. The gulag of Serbia and the Road of Bones is and atrocity that is spoken about far less than the victims deserved. I would hope that in reading this book it would encourage people to read and learn about these events.

The book follows Teig and Pentiss as they travel the Road of Bones for a documentary. They meet up with a guide and are travelling along the road of bones and the villages along the way. In one they meet a guide who is to take them along the road and me a part of the documentary. However upon arriving at the home-village of the guide it is noticed that something is wrong and this is where the paranormal/horror side of the story starts to really show on it's own.
I'm not going to go into any further details here - as it will completely ruin the story however I would give this story a 5/5 as it kept me interested all the way through, and I definitely did not see the ending coming so 10/10 for the unexpected there as well.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes paranormal stories that are based around real events/places. The story moves at a good pace and isn’t overly graphic which keeps the readership open

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden is a folk horror tale set on the Kolyma (P -504) highway that runs through Siberia, infamously know as the The Road of Bones due to it being the resting place of an estimated hundreds of thousands of Gulag endentured inmates that are buried under and around the road after Stalin's regime forces them into labour to build the highway.

On a work trip, documentary maker and producer Felix Tiegland, otherwise known as Tieg, and his long standing friend, who also happens to be his cameraman, Prentiss, travel the Kolyma Highway scoping out what Tieg hopes will be his breakthrough television documentary.

However, as they travel the frozen planes of Siberia with their guide, they come upon a deserted town. No one knows what has happened, but upon investigation they find that the inhabitants have seemingly all disappeared. Trying to find out why the inhabitants have disappeared they discover a young girl, traumatised and seemingly catatonic. In an effort to get the girl to safety they attempt to take the girl to a place of sanctuary with her relatives, which initiates a devastating chain of events.

This book is excellent. Immediately Golden paints a vivid picture of the vast, frozen plains of Siberia, impressing upon you the untamed isolation of the environment that Tieg and Prentiss are travelling through. Not only that, he paints a picture of a land and communities that whilst seemingly have some semblance of civilization, there is that strange otherworldly feeling of a place that is gripped in the frozen mists of time.

In Road of Bones, Christopher Golden successfully manages to integrate a contemporary horror story, with the myths and legends of the Siberian people to tell a chilling and pulse pounding tale of a group of individuals trying to survive both the savage environment and the even more savage figures from myth and legend.

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden is a fast-paced, chilling supernatural thrill ride. Set in the an area of the frozen Siberian countryside where the cold might just be the second most scary thing out there. I’ve not read Christopher Golden before but saw this book advertised and was hooked by the intriguing premise and promise of a chilling (pun intended) ghost story. Looking for a fun scary season read I dove into this one and it didn’t let go. The book is action packed, creepy as anything and had me Googling Road of Bones wanting to know about this place. It was a fairly quick read (240 pages) and grips you right from the get go. I am definitely planning to keep an eye out for this author in the future. Thank you to Christopher Golden, Titan Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this e-book.

What the hell just happened here?! Wow, this story was insane, it was tense, it was insanely tense! I know very little of Russian folklore. In fact I know very little of a Russian anything - Andrei Chikatilo and Dyatlov Pass are the extent of my knowledge! So this was a book of discoveries for me. The author does a great job of creating an eerie atmosphere using the sense of isolation, the frustration of language barriers along with the main characters feeling controlled by the immediate environment. The book starts slow but once the action kicks in, it kicks in and the book maintains that pace until the end. I was convinced I knew what was happening. No. No I did not. This book takes a turn I did not see coming and I loved where it went! The ending does give some explanation but also leaves enough open for you to interpret yourself. This is a little bit creature feature, a little bit folkhorror. So if that’s how you like your scares this book is for you.

This is a fast moving and effective horror novel, with a strong sense of place and the hostility of the landscape - in fact, it’s tempting to get pseudy and read all the supernatural horror as metaphor, a reification of just how inimical this place is to life. But then again, it’s also pretty fun to think about unstoppable horned shamans in endless pursuit of our heroes and animistic spirits messing people up in inventively gory style. I guess you can indeed have it both ways, and this one was a very entertaining slice of pagan horror in a fresh and undressed setting. Nice one.

Chilling, atmospheric and intense that left me with my heart in my mouth and the hairs on the back of my neck on end. I loved it,

I really enjoyed Road of Bones. This is the type of horror novel I love; intense, unsettling, creepy and a dash of predatory menace, and every moment of gore is earned and works. I hate horror fiction that’s all about the blood and gore. I felt really connected to the characters, especially when Teig and his companions discover what the strange wolves want and why they are pursuing them, forcing difficult choices. This is a mesmerising book.

After reading the blurb I really wanted to read The Road Of Bones. I am afraid it did not live upto my expectations. I was expecting a rip roaring horror and all I got was a damp squib. It took a long time for things to start happening. It was creepy in places and atmospheric but nothing more. It was a struggle to finish it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I thought I was going to love this book - the setting was horrifying before you even throw in any actual horror and the premise was good. The first time Nari and Teig encountered the 'wolves' in the woods was truly chilling (pun unintended, I literally got chills down my spine!) and the way they were tracked was very creepy. But then as is so often the case, once The Big Bad was seen up close and personal, it ceased to be scary and became ridiculous.

If I could make modern horror writers listen to one thing it would be this - LESS IS MORE. The monster in the shadows is FAR scarier than the monster and all its friends in a clearing listening to a moronic bargain from Teig (because his body count wasn't high enough already)!

Truly, the real monster was Teig - almost every death could be traced back a stupid thing he did or decision he made!

3/5 Good

I’m not entirely sure how much I really liked this book. It started out really pulling me in with its atmospheric feel as Teig and Prentiss start their journey along the Kolyma Highway or the “Road of Bones’ in hope of creating some award winning tv to sell to Netflix etc.

The idea is very good, and Christopher Golden has an extremely likeable writing style, but there is something that just fails to spark.

The main characters really are just not particularly nice. I couldn’t take to them at all. At times they are just obnoxious. And then the Road, it just doesn’t seem to be the main source of the story. It becomes about the monsters, and about half way through I really slowed down and it just got all a bit silly.

But as I said I really do like the writing style, and the prose, Golden is clearly a very talented writer.

For horror fans out there I would highly recommend , but I think you really do need to be into that genre ti fully appreciate this one.

Be prepared to put on several layers of clothes while you read this spooky book set in Siberia! Felix has been chasing Ghost stories, hoping to find the ghost of his little sister. Now traveling the Koylma Highway with his best friend, Prentis he is about to get far more than he bargained for. 3.5 Stars.

As one of the seeming minority that prefers ebooks to physicals, I'd been waiting for what feels like an age for Road Of Bones to come out electronically after seeing many trusted bloggers rave about the book.
I was surprised and delighted to stumble across it on Netgalley, so in mid October when I caved and turned the heating on I decided it was time to get stuck into this wintry horror.

I hadn't known going in that the 'Road Of Bones' actually does exist. The thought of all those miles of permafrost packed atop thousands of long dead bodies is truly horrifying, if ever I believed in the ability to see ghosts this would be the place I'd expect to.

Golden writes the atmosphere brilliantly, the cold between these pages settled into my bones and I couldn't get warm even under piled of blankets in my own home. Danger approaches from all angles in Road Of Bones, our characters contending with the roads, the cold, the creatures and their own injuries.
The tension is unending from page one with the constant spectre of death dogging every moment

I didnt invest deeply in the characters, but the pacing was fast enough that I was kept engaged by the plot. There were moments I looked fondly upon the friendship between Teig and Prentiss, but ultimately I didn't care whether they'd survive and both characters were rather repetitive in their thoughts and actions.
Having the rescued child Una be catatonic for a significant part of the story made her difficult to care about too and I'd like to have seen more of her origins.

Uninspired characters aside, the mystery of the missing Akhust community and what dwells in the deep, dark forest made for a gruesome and heart pounding ride that I very much enjoyed.

One minor plot hole- an opportunity to use a phone to call for help was mentioned but never came to fruition despite no circumstances to prevent it. However, I was wrapped deep enough into the story to not realise this until I sit here writing my review.

I was also somewhat put out by the distinct lack of ghosts considering the excellent set up for them but I truly love folk horror so I soon forgave Golden this missed opportunity.

Pick this up for a fast paced survival horror with a twist and be ready to feel that chill seep in.

Road of Bones is a horror novel set in the Siberian wilderness, as a man set on making a documentary about the Kolyma Highway finds himself pursued by uncanny creatures. Felix "Teig" Teigland needs a win, after constantly losing money on his work, and he's brought his friend Prentiss as cameraman and companion along to the harsh environment of Siberia in the desperate hope of making a documentary series people will love. The highway is also known as the Road of Bones, where Stalin's prisoners worked and died to build the road, but Teig has found a guide and has a plan to document whatever they see. However, when they reach the town they're aiming for, it is suspiciously empty.

Without wanting to give away too much, this is a book that both does what it sounds like—creates horror around being in a very cold place where something unnerving is happening—and doesn't do what I expected from the title and early focus on the highway. It opens with Teig and Prentiss starting out their journey, giving backstory to why they're there, and then follows them as they meet their guide and head on. From the documentary setup and the focus on the Road of Bones, you might expect more about history and the prisoners, but actually the book is much more about ethereal, unnerving creatures and folklore, with the highway more of a minor player.

There's plenty of chill, both in terms of cold and the creepy situation, and Road of Bones is definitely atmospheric, with a tense feeling of otherworldliness and uncertainty about what will happen. The pace is fast and you get a classic story of a group of people fighting to get away from somewhere, but the blurb and start seem to set up for quite a different kind of horror.