Their organs are a powerful and deadly poison and their saliva contains a chemical that liquefies internal organs. Humans Are the Real Monsters: A recurring theme – evil humans like Henry and Reyes call unnaturals "monsters," and someone replies they’re the real monsters. I was not expecting most of what happens in this book outside of what’s mentioned in the synopsis. So all the twists? Definitely caught me off guard and definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. It was also what made Not Even Bones so difficult to put down!

After his mother was executed, he joined the Family, a mafia group. He worked there as a torturer for the Family. However, he refused one day to torture someone he saw as a friend, Matt, and was therefore punished with the torture Matt was supposed to receive by the man who raised him, Henry, a manager of a branch of the Family. When people saw that Kovit wouldn't torture people he was closer to, this made him lose meaning to Henry as a punisher and was sent away to work for Reyes at the Death Market. One sat in a glass box at the market of Monsters in "Not even Bones". It skittered away when someone poked on the glass. The sort of paranormal abilities monsters (flesh eating, organ eating, pain eating, self-healing, glowing, vampires, chupacabras, unicorns, and everything under the sun) have were cool to read about, but not overwhelming. And one of those 'something else elements' was the whole shabam wham maybe kill you ma'am of the plot. But now she almost wished she were human. Which was ridiculous. Who wants to be normal when they can be special?"GET READY TO MEET AND LOVE NITA. She's awesome. She fights to tooth and nail save her own life and if that ain't realistic I don't know what is. And yeah, okay, she loved dissecting bodies but everyone has a hobby, just leave her alone. This one has the urban fantasy feel being set in a world like ours only with paranormals existing among the humans but does take place in areas not often used in novels. Nita is also completely different than regular characters with the Dexter comparison really showing. Not sure I ever really "rooted" for her but some may and her story was certainly compelling. This is one I'd recommend to those looking for a more dark and twisted read out of the norm.

And better yet, this book features some seriously cool worldbuilding. Nita lives in a world where supernatural beings are prized for their parts but despised for their being, but also look exactly like other humans.

Translated by Fans

Señora Reyes was Kovit's former handler at the Death Market. She kept a distrustful eye on him because of his being a zannie and made sure to never give him cash lest he run away. They had no affections between them, and were seen as master and servant. Kovit and Anita eventually kill her with no hesitation, though when Nita cuts off her thumb, Kovit is a little disturbed. However, after that, they sell her body parts online without remorse. Super Spit: One of the things Nita's learned to use her ability for is to spit stomach acid at her enemies, as Gold learns the hard way. What the Hell, Hero?: Adair really lets Nita have it after the quadruple murder at the apartment building, lashing out at her for thinking that posting on the Internet about killing 3 people would really scare the planet into leaving her alone. His speech causes the sense of power the incident briefly gave Nita to vanish.

Any part of a kelpie's body is stated to be a deadly poison. Other possible usages are unknown; there has never been a kelpie dissection in all of history.

See a Problem?

What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: To Nita, the new feeling she experiences for Kovit is "this weird, amorphous thing in her." Older Than They Look: Nita's mother uses her ability to make herself permanently look about 30. Nita's noticed that her mother has never aged like her father has. Nita couldn’t imagine it—people would never take action like that in the US markets. There, after the dealers bribed the shit out of the authorities, the locals just looked away and pretended nothing was happening. They didn’t want to see the darkness, refused to believe that their country could have such an ugly underbelly. In the Webtoon they are depicted with the bodyshape of a platypus and rose fur with a white pattern on their cheek. Not Even Bones has a lot of great things going on for it, but one of my favourite parts was how Schaeffer talked about privilege in the book. It’s not something I’m super nuanced in actually, properly discussing, unfortunately, but it is something I’m becoming more and more aware of and I’m glad Schaeffer brought it up.

Decoy Protagonist: More specifically, Decoy Deuteragonist. After Nita frees Fabricio and takes him to the bus station, you fully expect her to run away with him to avoid whatever punishment her mother would have in store and the story to follow the two of them on the run together. Even Fabricio expects it. But she doesn't, ultimately meets and partners up with Kovit, and Fabricio ends up having a very different role. Nita doesn’t murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet—her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they’ve been “acquired.” But when her mom brings home a live specimen, Nita decides she wants out — dissecting living people is a step too far. With more resources now, Nita tends to Kovit's (who is weak against pain) wound. While he changes, Nita looks through Reyes' storage box and finds a picture of herself that was only on her phone. Going through Reyes' phone, she finds that she had texted someone from her own cell phone, sending Reyes pictures of her and revealing her abilities to her. Nita realizes that Fabricio, not her mother, was the one to betray her. She asks Kovit if he recognizes his name, and he tells her that he knows of an Alfredo Tacunan, an Argentinian lawyer who keeps criminals from getting in trouble. The Family that he worked for was one of his clients. Nita tells Kovit that they are going to leave, but not before burning down the market. Nita works on dissecting Reyes, and Kovit tells the 2 guards that he has something Reyes wants them to sell, telling them that it is Mirella's body. The guards call Reyes' phone to confirm, and Nita tries her best to imitate her. It works, and the guards come to take away the body parts. Dating What Daddy Hates: Nita and Kovit are each fully aware they can never let their parental figures know they know each other. Nita’s mother would kill, dissect, and sell Kovit faster than Nita could say "Don't!", and Kovit's mafia Family has been contracted specifically to kill Nita.Are you tired of protagonists who have one goal that they never achieve because of their one true love? She saw it everywhere, the weird entitlement. Tourists who stole pieces of pottery and coins from German castles because they could. Rich men who flew in to Ho Chi Minh thinking they could buy anyone they wanted for a night and do anything they wanted to them, laws of the country be damned." He even admits it. For second, the guy adores feeding on pain he caused. He loved being the evil one, the bad guy, the bad boy gone horribly astray.