What if. What if?
The Bones Beneath My Skin
Fantasy
Tor Books
February 3rd, 2025
Hardcover, Ebook, Audiobook
416
A spine-tingling standalone novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune―a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government. There's nothing more human than a broken heart. In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears. Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.
The Start of an Adventure
“The Bones Beneath My Skin” would be a great place to start if you’ve never read a TJ Klune book before. It’s a stand-alone novel about a man who is coming to terms with the cross roads of his life, and sets himself on a course of self-reflection. Of course, if you’ve been around the block once or twice, then you know that you don’t just sit down and muse about what to do with your life — rather, you are faced with not one, but two difficult choices, and each one dictates the next direction your life goes in. In Nate’s case, his choice to stay Alex and Artemis Darth Vader leads him on a path that he’ll never be able to stray from.
If you’ve read and enjoyed “In The Lives of Puppets”, you might also find yourself loving Bones because the vibes of a cobbled together family on the run are similar.
“Nate didn’t need complicated. The reason he’d come to Oregon at all was to make things uncomplicated.”
Found Family Expert
TJ Klune is truly an expert at creating a found family. Not just in this book, but in all of his books. Found family is going to be a given, so if that’s your jam, you’ve come to the right place.
On the surface, Bones is a paranormal adventure story, but if you cut all the extraneous detail away, you’re really left with a story about humanity and human behavior. It boils down to this: people are afraid of what they don’t know, and they don’t typically take the time to learn or understand. They just fear and judge.
But… there are the exceptions to every rule. Nate, Alex, and even Artemis Darth Vader are the proof of that.
“You think yourself alone. You think yourself lost. We wanted to show you that there was so much more than this place. We didn’t come to hurt you. We didn’t come to save you. Only you can do that. We came to be your friend. To make you understand that, in the end, you are never alone.”
Final Thoughts (but I could go on and on and on…)
I love TJ Klune’s writing. I’m a huge fan, and I’m always going to want to read his stories. They’re strange. They’re weird. They push on people’s boundaries of what is right and good and sometimes even acceptable. Underneath, though, the messages are poignant to what’s going on in the world. Klune originally published this story in 2017, but the message is still relevant today in 2025, and I have a feeling that it’ll still be relevant in 2050, too. Family doesn’t have to be blood relatives. Keep your people close. Try to open your mind to things that are different. Different doesn’t mean bad, it just means different.
“You’re all capable of such great and terrible things. And in such a short amount of time. You are surrounded by millions of those like you, yet you can still feel alone. You’re so angry and powerful and wonderful. And so fragile. You can break into pieces and feel so lost. I didn’t get that. Not… before. I don’t think any of us did. You’re complex and yet so simple at the same time. It’s a dichotomy that shouldn’t be possible. When you smile, it’s like the sun is out. When you cry, it’s like you’re trapped in shadows and you can’t find your way back to the light…. You hate that others aren’t like you. They scare you, even though they want nothing more than to be you.”
“The bones beneath my Skin” by tj Klune
This book was damn good. Read it. I hope you love it like I do.
I’m Val, and I’m excited to share my love of books with you! I’m a sassy Sour Patch kid from New Jersey, dog mom to Chance the beagle, and much like the rest of the Hive, I’m a coffee lover (I think it’s a requirement to be here). The first book I remember reading voluntarily involved a boy wizard who lived in the cupboard under the stairs, and I’ve been chasing magic ever since. I love Happily Ever Afters, and I love love. My favorite genres are romance and rom-coms, fantasy, and young adult/new adult. If I’m not reading, I’m probably kayaking, watching the Great British Baking Show, or discovering a new craft beer.
