As a longtime fan of V.E. Schwab, I was nervous about this book. Knowing it was about vampires, an occult I’ve never cared for, I was apprehensive about picking it up. I was even more worried that it would taint my love for Schwab’s writing if it didn’t live up to my expectations.

I greatly regret my apprehension now, however. The book in question, “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil,” is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Released last month, “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil” marks Schwab’s 25th novel.

The story unfolds across several centuries, beginning in the 1500s. It weaves and intertwines the stories of three women, all from a different century and place, as they each confront the gift — or curse — of vampirism. Each of the women is driven by her own unique impulse, a feature that sets them apart from one another and also eventually brings them together.

Alice, a student at Harvard University, who died in 2019: she leads with her head.

Charlotte, an 18-year-old girl who died in regency-era England: she leads with heart.

And María, the oldest of them all, a widow from 16th-century Spain: her hunger leads her.

Each woman’s story is tied into a compelling character drama, driving the novel through their experiences and decisions. The three points of view are expertly written with their own syntax structures and language styles, and Schwab has impressively crafted each POV to have its own cadence and rhythm to the narration, making the reader truly feel the underlying distinctiveness of each character.

Alice is young, nervous and riddled with anxiety, evident in the quick-paced sentences and frequent use of expletives. Charlotte is deliberate and careful, longing for the freedom to openly love another woman. María is cunning, calculated, doing what she must to survive.