Cullen Bunn joins the ranks of “comic book writer turned novelist” with his adult debut, Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World. He takes a familiar formula – isolated/small town horror – and injects his own voice into the novel, giving readers a dark novel that starts as one thing – what seems to be a crime thriller/murder mystery – but is much more than that by the time the story finishes.
The bodies are stacking up on Wilson Island.
The town’s sheriff has his suspicions but no genuine evidence for an arrest, even as the murders continue and appear increasingly ritualistic in nature. And when an arrest is finally made, all hell breaks loose—literally—as a terrifying horror rises to envelop the town. Soon it’s all up to an unforgettable and motley group of residents to band together and eliminate an ancient evil in a desperate struggle for survival.
The small town is very isolated indeed, it is Wilson Island off the coast off North Carolina. In good old fashioned murder mystery style, a double murder kicks off the action, which leaves the residents of Wilson Island shaken, “that could never happen here!” Soon after, a car accident reveals something strange, a man who was almost hit by said vehicle dropped his belongings. What was in that bag? Oh just the innards of humans.
Bunn spends the large majority of the novel introducing readers to the characters, the accidentally pregnant Willa; her small-town gangster father Wade; Willa’s boyfriend (ex?), Kenny; the Warlock (aka Denny), a young man who spends his time rolling dice for Dungeons & Dragons and selling weed; Sheriff Buck, the crotchety police chief who is trying to keep a bit of sanity; and the “No-Face Man.” We don’t know who the “No-Face Man” is, but he comes across as a driven man who seeks only to care for his ailing mother no matter the cost even if that means harvesting organs.
There are side and supporting characters for those main characters who help to flesh out the novel and give Winslow Island a truly lived-in feel, not unlike Hawkins, Indiana; Castle Rock, Maine; Amity Island, or even Crockett Island from Mike Flanagan’s masterpiece, Midnight Mass. In other words, the small town comes alive as its own character as much as the people themselves. Like those other fictional small towns, there’s a sheriff at the center, though he may not be quite as affable as Hopper, Pangborn, Hassan, or Brody.
Getting to know these characters makes for a bit of a languid pace, and a sense of immersive comfort despite the rising tension as the murder (and additional murders) continue to go unsolved by Sherrif Buck. Only the Warlock, some of his circle of people and Willa begin to truly understand what is happening. By the time other people see glimpses of the true horror, it becomes something beyond their understanding and the residents of Winslow Island are in chaos.
Bunn does some things very well in this novel, one of which is the character of Willa. The empathy he’s able to give her as a young woman trapped for many reasons, but still not giving up made for an engaging protagonist and somebody whose strength and flaws made it easy for me to root for her. The Warlock is somebody who is on the fringes and I found myself rooting for as well, despite his issues. I even found myself hoping things would turn out well for Sheriff Buck.
The true nature of the horror behind the murders is well… on the Lovecraftian/Cosmic Horror side of things. There’s quite a lot of ickiness in the monstrosities in this novel and coupled with some of the gruesome imagery with the murders, shows that Bunn likes horror in many flavors and can weave those flavors together very well.
I enjoyed the novel on the whole. I think Bunn’s got a great knack for imaginative, horrific storytelling and he does character quite well. However, I felt the novel was a little unbalanced and even as I write this I’m of two minds on this thought. I think the character work, laying the ground for who these people are was necessary and well done, and because of that, the tension bouncing from character to character as the horrors escalated worked well to keep the pages turning. However, I felt there was a bit of an imbalance. The otherworldly nature of the horror felt like it wasn’t given enough space, enough backstory and for me, the conclusion felt a little rushed. Effective overall, though.
An impressive novel with a minor issue here or there for my reading tastes, but a FUN horror novel on the whole. This is one worth checking out and has me interested to see what’s next from Bunn’s horrific imagination.
Recommended.
© 2026 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | Gallery Books
November 2025 | 464
https://cullenbunn.com/
Excerpt: https://comicon.com/2025/10/15/nycc-2025-excerpt-from-cullen-bunns-bone-of-our-stars-blood-of-our-world/
Review copy courtesy of the publisher, Gallery Books
