49 pages • 1 hour read
Travis BaldreeBookshops & Bonedust
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 22-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 22 Summary
The skeletal being introduces itself as a “homunculus” (small, humanoid creature), and admits, under questioning from Viv, that he serves Varine the Pale. He is named Satchel, after the bag that contains him. Satchel tells them that Balthus, the man in gray, stole him and some other things from Varine. Viv realizes that Satchel must have released Balthus from jail. When he finds out Balthus is dead, he is sure that Varine sent someone to do it.
Chapter 23 Summary
The next morning, Viv goes to the bookstore, where she finds Satchel out of his bag. He is sweeping, and Fern tells Viv that she can’t stop him from cleaning. Satchel wants to be useful, and Fern finally agrees, with the provision that Satchel is free to serve or not serve and can leave at any time.
Chapter 24 Summary
The next few days are quiet, but Viv can feel that something is coming. Fern orders new inventory but has no place to put it. Viv comes up with an idea for a book sale: They will wrap three books together with a short description on the outside and sell them as sets. Later, she goes to the bakery and Maylee teaches her how to knead bread. Maylee admits that her instincts are telling her something is coming, and Viv agrees.
Viv is reading in The Perch when Iridia sits down and asks her about Varine. Although the Gatewarden doesn’t completely trust Viv, she wants what’s best for Murk. Viv agrees to tell Iridia everything she knows.
Chapter 25 Summary
The next day, Viv is surprised to find the bookstore closed. Inside, the books are all off the shelves; Fern is wrapping some for the sale and organizing the others. When Fern finds a book she doesn’t recognize, Satchel stops her from opening it and identifies it as Varine’s book. Viv realizes that Balthus hid it on the shelf when he was in the bookstore. Fern opens the book and finds that the pages aren’t just blank; they are dark. Fern dips her pen into the page, and it disappears. Then Viv puts her arm in, up to the elbow, and pulls it out.
Chapter 26 Summary
They realize that each page is a portal to where Varine stores her treasures. Viv reaches in again and feels the handle of a sword called a greatsword. She pulls it out and immediately feels a kinship with it. The book vibrates, and Satchel tells them that Varine senses when something is taken from the book. They take the book to Iridia for safekeeping and tell her about the increased threat from Varine.
That night in her room, Viv props up the greatsword and looks at it, feeling the desire to be in battle return. Her time in Murk is starting to seem unreal, and she feels like it has nearly trapped her. Now she knows that she will leave Murk—the only question is when.
Chapter 27 Summary
Viv goes for a walk with Maylee. She is distracted, thinking of the sword, and Maylee can tell. Viv feels guilty but still leaves as soon as she can to train. Working with the sword is everything she thought it would be.
The next day, Viv goes to Fern’s shop for the book sale. She and Pitts set up tables, and Fern brings a sign down to the beach to attract customers from the docking ships. Just as it seems no one will come, customers start to trickle in.
Chapter 28 Summary
As the day goes on, the wrapped books steadily disappear. At the end of the day, the sale tables are half empty, and Fern’s cash box is full.
Chapter 29 Summary
After the sale, the bookstore’s business slows down. The store’s shelves are half-empty, and Fern doesn’t know when the new shipment will arrive. Satchel is spending his time reading. Viv is restless and suggests that they take advantage of the quiet and temporarily close the shop for some renovations. Viv, Fern, Maylee, and Satchel go into Murk proper and buy a new rug and some display tables, then go for a drink.
Chapter 30 Summary
Over the next few days, the friends paint the shop and set up their purchases. When they’re finished, they sit and enjoy the comfort of the new room until it gets dark. Satchel thinks he sees something out the window, and then Viv catches the scent of frozen blood.
Chapter 31 Summary
Chapter 32 Summary
The next day, Viv, Fern, Gallina, Maylee, and Satchel climb to the top of the bluff for a picnic. Viv pretends it’s for fun, but she actually wants a view of the surroundings because of Varine. After they eat, Satchel goes for a walk. Fern tells them about how, after her father’s death, she just took over the bookstore without questioning. When Maylee asks if she would rather be doing something else, Fern admits that she would miss her work and that moment when she finds the perfect book for someone. While they’re considering this, Satchel returns to tell them he found signs of Varine in the graveyard.
Chapters 22-32 Analysis
The book sale in these chapters exemplifies the conventions of the cozy fantasy genre and its emphasis on relationships and connection. Viv and her friends work together to save Fern’s business and in the process show her how much they, and the larger Murk community, value her and her store. The sale is busy and productive, as well as inspiring them to consider what else could be improved. The idea for the sale plants the seed for later events like Zelia Greatstrider’s reading. In scenes like these, Baldree emphasizes how Viv and her friends have found a sense Belonging with Found Family. Fern can’t effect this type of change on her own, but with her friends’ support, she can.
Although Viv may have initially brought the family together, Fern is the heart of their small community. Her bookstore, as an extension of her, becomes the center of their family. Viv and her friends gather at the bookstore to hang out, read, and eat, and use it as a central meeting location. Likewise, they gather around Fern, who shows herself to be the locus of the group when bringing food and books to Viv and Gallina in jail. When Satchel arrives, she accepts him, according him respect and defending him when Gallina suggests giving him to Irina. As she says: “You don’t pass people around like […] like luggage” (168). In her defense of Satchel, Fern shows characteristic openness and fierce loyalty, which manifest in her bookstore as well.
The introduction of Satchel shows the open and accepting nature of the community. Not only is Satchel an enchanted skeleton, unusual even in Viv’s reality, but he is also a servant of Varine the Pale. Although Viv is suspicious, Fern advocates for Satchel, accepting him into their found family. In addition, the team is careful to set parameters around Satchel’s desire to serve so as not to take advantage of him. Because his need is fueled by the enchantment he is under, Fern is uncomfortable with him helping without getting paid. Satchel is adamant that serving will make him happy, so Fern doesn’t want to deny him, either. In the end, she allows Satchel to work in the store, but only with the clear understanding that, as she tells Satchel: “You don’t have to serve anybody but yourself” (177).
Open communication is also typical of Viv and Maylee’s relationship. As the time approaches when Viv will leave, tension builds between them. Viv’s worlds are colliding, but she doesn’t let anyone know the extent to which she’s beginning to slip back into her old identity. Maylee can tell because she’s been through a similar experience. Their situation is painful and painted as inevitable. As Maylee tells Viv, it’s all about timing—“I’m headed down the hill, and you’re headed up it” (322). This is a metaphor, a comparison without using “like” or “as.” In this case, the hill represents the life of a mercenary—Maylee has retired from that life, while Viv is still exploring it and ascending its ranks. The hill also alludes to life in general, and how each character is at a different phase.
Viv is conflicted but unwavering in her determination to get back out on the road as a mercenary. As signs of Varine’s impending arrival grow, the end of her and Maylee’s relationship grows closer. Even when she is with Maylee, her thoughts turn to battle: “[M]ore and more, her thoughts returned to the blade on her bedframe, drawn as if by a deadly lodestone. Her steps kept speeding up, as though she wanted the walk over and done with so she could get back” (205). Although her eagerness to leave makes her feel guilty, she can’t hide it.
When Viv pulls Blackblood from Varine’s book, she connects with it viscerally: “[A] thrill of recognition passed through her, like a scent from childhood” (199). Viv’s former life as a mercenary crystallizes, the sword providing a concrete connection to her past. In this way, the book shows how Viv intensely misses the mercenary life. She feels as if she is almost trapped in Murk, which she muses has a “sleepy power over her, a seductive song of indolence” (202). Although she suffers some pangs at leaving her friends, especially Maylee, she knows that she will.
Viv has learned about herself and dormant parts of her identity, but her commitment to being a mercenary remains. Her time in Murk, while leading to self-discovery, doesn’t change Viv’s goals. She doesn’t abandon mercenary work, but her new friendships and discovery of reading help her to be more well-rounded.
