Scan barcode
tbuoy's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Gore, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
booknerdery's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, Child death, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Gore, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal death and Cancer
roseleebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really liked this book. Nhika is my favorite type of MC, someone doing what they have to to survive, but still holding to certain ideals. Her POV was really great to read.
The plot is part mystery/thriller, part medical drama in a fantasy setting and I am impressed by how well it all worked in this book. Kochin also was a great counter to Nhika. Their relationship does seem to develop and change very quickly, I was wishing there were more interactions between the two of them.
I would love to read another book in this world. The ending was phenomenal and the characters well developed. A great read!
The plot is part mystery/thriller, part medical drama in a fantasy setting and I am impressed by how well it all worked in this book. Kochin also was a great counter to Nhika. Their relationship does seem to develop and change very quickly, I was wishing there were more interactions between the two of them.
I would love to read another book in this world. The ending was phenomenal and the characters well developed. A great read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Genocide, and Gun violence
lexihworth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I want to thank Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a free arc of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, blood, injury, gore, medical trauma, the use of weapons, and kidnapping.
This book had a ton of the trappings of what I love in a dark fantasy novel. It was well written without being overly flowery in language. It was easy to follow. The characters were interesting. I found the premise intriguing and the fast-paced plot kept me entertained. What set this book apart for me was the setting and atmosphere of the world in which the story took place. I was captivated by this city with its old-world high society classism, and polite smiles hiding mistrust, treachery, and unwarranted fears of the “foreign” or “unknown,” all of which were juxtaposed with futuristic automatons and medical advancements. The influence of Vietnamese mythology on this book kept it from falling too far into the cliches of steampunk but still managed to capture the duality of future tech and antiquated society that most punk-type genres aim for. Along with the protagonist’s modern sense of justice, a mystery plot to solve, and the beautiful lore-rich magic system, this was almost a 5-star read for me.
My only critiques are with some of the interpersonal relationships between the characters. I liked the characters themselves, but some of the dynamics that the heroine had with them just didn’t feel grounded enough for me. The main romance had a great “rivals to lovers” style build-up in the first half, but it felt very rushed after the characters made their first major turning point. The payoff was lessened for me by the way it kind of felt underdeveloped. That being said, this is the first in a duology, so the second may alleviate some of that tension for readers.
Our protagonist’s relationships with her employers also felt underdeveloped. There was a lot of tension about whether or not they were ever going to give her their trust, but I had hoped that tension would feel a little bit more resolved. Their reticence was believable and even sometimes understandable, but I grew more frustrated as the narrative went on that the tension there was neither escalating nor dispersing. It plateaued the plot momentum a bit for me.
The narration of the audiobook was well done. I tend to prefer audiobooks because I sometimes struggle to sit still without anything to occupy my hands. Listening to an audiobook while playing an idle game or doing a craft project is my ideal. Sometimes if a narrator's voice is too monotone or they don’t pause for punctuation. I can struggle to keep focused on the story. I didn’t have that problem at all with this text. However, I did listen to it on 1.5x speed, as the regular narration speed was just a little too slow for me (but I almost always have to speed up narrations, so that’s not really a complaint). I thought the narrator’s voice was a perfect fit for the characters and I never had any trouble discerning which character was speaking.
I rated this book 4.5 stars on Storygraph, and 4 stars on Goodreads. In the system that I use for my reading statistics, I rated “The Last Bonecarver” as 8.9 out of 10.
With that rating, I would recommend this book to readers who love fantasy stories with fast-paced mystery plots, magical adventures, and dark themes.
If that sounds like you, “The Last Bonecarver” by Vanessa Le will be officially published in just a few days– March 19, 2024– so add it to your TBR or order it now.
Content Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, blood, injury, gore, medical trauma, the use of weapons, and kidnapping.
This book had a ton of the trappings of what I love in a dark fantasy novel. It was well written without being overly flowery in language. It was easy to follow. The characters were interesting. I found the premise intriguing and the fast-paced plot kept me entertained. What set this book apart for me was the setting and atmosphere of the world in which the story took place. I was captivated by this city with its old-world high society classism, and polite smiles hiding mistrust, treachery, and unwarranted fears of the “foreign” or “unknown,” all of which were juxtaposed with futuristic automatons and medical advancements. The influence of Vietnamese mythology on this book kept it from falling too far into the cliches of steampunk but still managed to capture the duality of future tech and antiquated society that most punk-type genres aim for. Along with the protagonist’s modern sense of justice, a mystery plot to solve, and the beautiful lore-rich magic system, this was almost a 5-star read for me.
My only critiques are with some of the interpersonal relationships between the characters. I liked the characters themselves, but some of the dynamics that the heroine had with them just didn’t feel grounded enough for me. The main romance had a great “rivals to lovers” style build-up in the first half, but it felt very rushed after the characters made their first major turning point. The payoff was lessened for me by the way it kind of felt underdeveloped. That being said, this is the first in a duology, so the second may alleviate some of that tension for readers.
Our protagonist’s relationships with her employers also felt underdeveloped. There was a lot of tension about whether or not they were ever going to give her their trust, but I had hoped that tension would feel a little bit more resolved. Their reticence was believable and even sometimes understandable, but I grew more frustrated as the narrative went on that the tension there was neither escalating nor dispersing. It plateaued the plot momentum a bit for me.
The narration of the audiobook was well done. I tend to prefer audiobooks because I sometimes struggle to sit still without anything to occupy my hands. Listening to an audiobook while playing an idle game or doing a craft project is my ideal. Sometimes if a narrator's voice is too monotone or they don’t pause for punctuation. I can struggle to keep focused on the story. I didn’t have that problem at all with this text. However, I did listen to it on 1.5x speed, as the regular narration speed was just a little too slow for me (but I almost always have to speed up narrations, so that’s not really a complaint). I thought the narrator’s voice was a perfect fit for the characters and I never had any trouble discerning which character was speaking.
I rated this book 4.5 stars on Storygraph, and 4 stars on Goodreads. In the system that I use for my reading statistics, I rated “The Last Bonecarver” as 8.9 out of 10.
With that rating, I would recommend this book to readers who love fantasy stories with fast-paced mystery plots, magical adventures, and dark themes.
If that sounds like you, “The Last Bonecarver” by Vanessa Le will be officially published in just a few days– March 19, 2024– so add it to your TBR or order it now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Gore, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Animal death
thebookkeepers's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was riveting and impossible to put down. The mechanical and steampunk elements reminded me of Cinder as well as some Frankenstein retellings I’ve read, especially with the medical focused magic system. Some other books this reminded me of was The Poppy War (colonialism) and Belladonna (murder mystery). While I could see different elements that reminded me of a lot of my other favorite books, this story felt fresh and original all on its own with the world.
I always enjoy a magic system that comes with a cost to the user like this one did and is one of the many reasons I loved the magic & world building. A few plot reveals I was able to predict but not in an overly apparent way. The ending was wild and definitely increased my overall rating. I don’t necessarily love what the epilogue suggested…but I’ll still read book 2 to see what comes next.
This book does contain blood - think surgery, medical, and gun violence scenes.
LGBTQ + rep: male/male relationship with side characters
I always enjoy a magic system that comes with a cost to the user like this one did and is one of the many reasons I loved the magic & world building. A few plot reveals I was able to predict but not in an overly apparent way. The ending was wild and definitely increased my overall rating. I don’t necessarily love what the epilogue suggested…but I’ll still read book 2 to see what comes next.
This book does contain blood - think surgery, medical, and gun violence scenes.
LGBTQ + rep: male/male relationship with side characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Gore, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Child death and Animal death
Minor: Cannibalism
devynreadsnovels's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Genocide, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Gore, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Emotional abuse
allisonisabel's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
A sweeping debut that blends magic, science, and familial ancestry in a Vietnam inspired fantasy world, The Last Bloodcarver is definitely worth the read.
By far, my favorite part of this book was the magic system. The way in which medicine is blended with magic is so fascinating and truly so so creative in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. I may be biased as I’m a pre-med student but it was still so cool. The pages long descriptions of Heartsoothing and the intimate connection with the body were gripping and engaging to read. I also enjoyed the hints at a larger society, with mentions of a technocracy, automatons, and a looming war based around colonization. The line level writing was quite beautiful at times and I truly felt that Nhika’s character development was both realistic and well handled.
The plot provided a solid anchoring to carry you through the book, and I felt that in many parts, tension was adequately maintained, although I did guess what I’ll call one of two twists that are revealed about 60% through. That’s nothing against the author, however.
I think my only complaint lies in the development of the romantic relationship. I won’t spoil much, but the ending for me fell a bit flat as I did not fully believe in the relationship in relied on. I wish we could’ve seen more establishment of that. However, I did enjoy the development of platonic relationships although I also would’ve wished for a bit more set up from those. I also slightly wish we could’ve seen more about the world and the greater issues going on that I mentioned above.
All that is to say, this was a very good book. If you’re looking for a diverse fantasy that blends magic, medicine, and murder mystery in a technocratic society, then this book is perfect for you. I enjoyed it, and I hope you will too.
Thank you again to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
A sweeping debut that blends magic, science, and familial ancestry in a Vietnam inspired fantasy world, The Last Bloodcarver is definitely worth the read.
By far, my favorite part of this book was the magic system. The way in which medicine is blended with magic is so fascinating and truly so so creative in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. I may be biased as I’m a pre-med student but it was still so cool. The pages long descriptions of Heartsoothing and the intimate connection with the body were gripping and engaging to read. I also enjoyed the hints at a larger society, with mentions of a technocracy, automatons, and a looming war based around colonization. The line level writing was quite beautiful at times and I truly felt that Nhika’s character development was both realistic and well handled.
The plot provided a solid anchoring to carry you through the book, and I felt that in many parts, tension was adequately maintained, although I did guess what I’ll call one of two twists that are revealed about 60% through. That’s nothing against the author, however.
I think my only complaint lies in the development of the romantic relationship. I won’t spoil much, but the ending for me fell a bit flat as I did not fully believe in the relationship in relied on. I wish we could’ve seen more establishment of that. However, I did enjoy the development of platonic relationships although I also would’ve wished for a bit more set up from those. I also slightly wish we could’ve seen more about the world and the greater issues going on that I mentioned above.
All that is to say, this was a very good book. If you’re looking for a diverse fantasy that blends magic, medicine, and murder mystery in a technocratic society, then this book is perfect for you. I enjoyed it, and I hope you will too.
Thank you again to Netgalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Trafficking, Medical content, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Colonisation, Gore, and Car accident
Minor: Animal death
More...