Angie Spoto’s new novel The Bone Diver is a gothic fantasy inspired by the Scottish landscape and an Orkney folktale The Seal Killer. Kier is from a family of seal-hunters but has been cursed and cannot kill. She feels she is a burden and accepts a commissions from Lady Erskine, seeing it as a chance to support her family, prove herself and have a fresh start.

This is a Scottish fairytale with selkies, kelpies and other monsters of the sea, deep cold ponds, dark creepy forests and a brooding eerie manor. I loved the gothic setting of Erskine Manor perched high on a cliff, surrounded by dense woods, where odd things happen and which has weird servants and is occupied by a secretive aristocratic family who no-one in the nearby town ever sees. Naturally, this leads to much speculation about the mysterious residents with rumours and myths abounding.

One of the clever things about the way Angie Spoto has written this is that it seems timeless, by which I mean it’s not entirely sure when the story is set. The language of the majority of the characters feels quite modern but there are no cars or phones – although there is a chippy! Lady Erskine and her family have a much more formal way of speaking and dressing creating a disconnect and adding to the eerieness and fairytale feel.

Kier’s task, as you might guess from the book title, is to dive for bones in deep, dark pools. I won’t tell you why of course as that is one of the mysteries of the book. The diving scenes were so intense and vividly described that I felt myself holding my breath as though I was underwater myself. Water and the sea is central to the book as it often is in Scottish folktales. It creates and destroys, provides and takes, and is a truly liminal and other-worldly place.

Although The Bone Diver is very different from my usual kind of read, I thought it was wonderful and was gripped by the mystery and tension throughout. If you are looking for a beautifully written Gothic tale this spooky season, look no further.

The Bone Diver is a fantastic retelling of well loved Scottish folklore and mythology. The story feels incredibly familiar and you can practically smell the sea air.

From the first page we are thrust into an incredibly atmospheric world with visceral, almost eerie writing. I will always love a book with a creepy manor that is bordering on sentience.

I loved Angie Spoto’s writing style; it is so lush! However, I did feel she fell into the trap of shoehorning some Scottish words or phrases that didn’t fit. This will likely not impact most readers experiences, and overall this felt like an accurate, if slightly romanticised, representation of rural and coastal communities.

I loved the queer representation and the character writing was wonderful. I absolutely adored Keir and Breagha! Dratsie was a delightfully endearing and entertaining addition to this little group. I could have happily stayed in this village steeped in magic for even longer.

This is the perfect autumnal book. I would highly recommend this to lovers of low fantasy and Scottish folklore.

As someone who absolutely loves selkies, there was no way that I wasn’t going to pick up this book. And it’s queer? Definitely my kind of story.

The Bone Diver is a slow and atmospheric story that keeps its secrets very close to its chest. I really enjoyed the fact that we didn’t get answers until much later compared to when other stories might have offered them. I also loved the dark, lush, and gothic tone that Spoto expertly executed in writing this story. This was such a decadently moody read and you could imagine it taking place in any number of coastal Scottish villages that also made it feel like home.

Whilst the slow pacing may not be for all readers, I think it is a story that is well worth being given a chance even if slow stories aren’t for you. Spoto has truly made the legend of the selkie her own whilst also honouring its roots.

What a very peculiar book. It was very slow and didn't really speed up, so seemed to take forever to get through. The story was quite an interesting concept but the book itself was too drawn out and became tiresome. None of the characters had any reality about them, it was more of a fairy story. I would definitely not recommend this, and would be reluctant to read any others by this author.

A wonderful little YA folktale. There really isn't that much selkie fiction at the moment and The Bone Diver is a great addition to the genre. Light horror blends with a little romantasy and a lot of really popular YA tropes and results in this folktale brimming with teenage angst and atmospheric tension. Absolutely wonderful.

This was a beautifully gothic and dreamy novel about selkie folklore. The setting was beautiful and the supernatural elements were woven through with fantastic intrigue. I felt that the ending felt quite rushed and I would have loved to have this more fleshed out. Overall it was such an enjoyable read that I had to give it 5 stars just for the experience of sinking into such a lovely story.

I do like a story based on old legends or fairy tales, and I think this story could fit both.
Spoto takes it, and fleshes it out beautifully.
She gives us a whole other story too, and weaves them together beautifully.
The setting of the old house, and it's strange family was perfect for this story.
I got completely caught up in this.
It's magical and mysterious, and very good.