Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley

5 reviews

emily_mh's review

adventurous emotional medium-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

4.75

This was a fantastic YA fantasy standalone! It was structured well, beginning with the audition and then proceeding with the stages of the tour - but Tooley makes sure to make each stage a little different, a little more challenging, and works with the characters a little more each time, so that the plot doesn’t feel repetitive. The world-building complemented the story well, being woven into the narrative rather than info-dumped. For example, characteristics of Sofi’s world are the reason behind the inciting incident and also a lot of the personal and interpersonal tension. I liked the perpetual winter setting, and found the magic system of bones intriguing.

It would have been cool to see some kind of exploration of how the papers aided disabled people, as the papers are sort of like the equivalent of tech. Currently tech IS undermining art through the use of plagiarising AI (similar to how the papers give skill to a person without them learning it) - but on the other hand, tech is immensely helpful to disabled people (like a Paper might help treat symptoms if it can influence things like body temperature, or complete tasks for people with dexterity limitations). Please note I don’t find the absence of this exploration problematic, it’s just something I wished was there! It could have also been good to showcase more the effect on society of limiting music performance to five people. However, this is a personal preference, not a critique of quality. I get there are limits to what can be explored in a YA standalone!

The character work was really compelling. You have this MC, Sofi, that’s coming out of an abusive relationship with her father and herself, trying to find goodness but really struggling, too. The biggest lessons Sofi has to learn are that “the things you love shouldn’t hurt you”, and that devotion to your craft doesn’t look like self-flagellation. Tooley also shows Sofi’s love for and knowledge of music rather than just telling us she has these, which seems to be a step authors commonly forget when centring an art form in their book.

The romance was good! It was nothing particularly outstanding, but Tooley really put in the effort to make the reader understand not only the attraction between Sofi and Lara, but their connection, the reasons why they grew to love each other - and they did grow to do this, it wasn’t insta-love.

The themes were interesting. As I mentioned before, a big part of the book is Sofi healing from abusive relationships. Another topic was that art is better with emotion. There was also a really interesting discussion of achievement! The book showed that achieving a goal or title isn’t everything, and that being too focussed on a goal can lead to feelings of worthlessness and burnout. It was also so important to see a YA MC who wasn’t able to achieve her dream, as sometimes we do fail at things or miss the mark! This is a concept you don’t often see in YA, but it’s a really important one for this age group.

I’ll wrap up on a quote that really resonated with me:

“In fact, the Muse’s silence was so loud that Sofi began to fear the voice she had once heard, that whisper of her destiny, had merely been in her own head. Another way that she had forced herself to suffer.”

Rep: lesbian MC (word not used because fantasy), sapphic LI, Achillean SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Suicide, Confinement, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: imprisonment Minor: capital punishment, childbirth, self-injury, menstruation, theft

a_ab's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

3.5

This book explored interesting concepts, but I found it to be too long and meandering, especially in the middle. 

It also suffers from "all fathers are monsters" syndrome - not a single father mentioned in the book (in their fatherly capacity), even in passing, could be described as even a half-decent person. It got a little weird there.

But otherwise this was an interesting young adult fantasy book with some thoughtful observations about talent, excellence and self-discovery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Toxic relationship

asexualandriod's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've never read a book that so accurately captures the experience of a classical music lover. The book resonated (pun intended) with me so much. I also really enjoyed the mystery aspect of this story. You get bits and clues about some big story elements, but the full context is still twisty enough to be very satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Physical abuse

betweentheshelves's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-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

The world building in this book was absolutely magical. I appreciated how Tooley combined Sofi's journey with us learning more about the world, also giving us flashbacks that slowly reveal what was actually going on. The overall pacing and the way the characters interacted with the world just worked really well. I was entranced by Sofi from the beginning, and thoroughly enjoyed the way that her relationship with Lara transformed thorughout the novel.

Really, the main reason this isn't getting a full 5 stars is because the twist was obvious to me from the beginning. Well, not 100% of the details, but there suggestions there right from the first time that Sofi plays her instrument. However, this didn't take away that much enjoyment from me, and I always love to find standalone fantasy so I don't have to wait for the next book.

If you're looking for a new, queer fantasy to try this summer, this will definitely be your jam!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Blood, Suicide, and Classism

elwirax's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

4.0

Rep- lesbian MC, (most likely) Lesbian LI, Gay SC, mentions of non-binary characters.

"What was art if it did not come from hard work and devotion? If it was not tended to and grown in the careful pockets of one’s heart?" 

"...you don’t have to hurt yourself to be worthy of pursuing your dream. You don’t have to deny pieces of yourself in order to be good. Your songs are never better than when you let yourself go."

This has been one of my most anticipated reads this year after really enjoying Tooley's Sweet & Bitter Magic last year, and I loved it equally as much. 

Tooley has such an interesting way of weaving magic and atmosphere into her worlds it makes for a really immersive read. Her writing is beautiful and easy to get into (slightly repetitive in this book, though not glaringly so). 

In terms of characters, Sofi herself wasn't always likeable but I understood why she felt the way she did. She had a difficult childhood where her true self was constantly repressed and punished and it took time to unlearn that what she had been taught was wrong.The road trip nature of this book was a great way to develop her character and relation with Lara who encouraged her to view her opinions on art and emotions in a different light. Lara's character wasn't as developed as I had hoped but she was passionate, hopeful and complemented Sofi's character well. Although the romance between these two wasn't convincing as an enemies to lovers nor was it a big aspect of the book, it was sweet nonetheless. 

Another aspect of this book I really liked were the interludes of childhood memories, they allowed me to understand Sofi's character and her relationship with her father a lot more which in turn made me sympathise with her and her pursuit of perfection for the sake of art. The friendship and family aspects of this book were wonderful, though I wish at times they were a bit more developed as I loved the characters so much. 

The ending is truly one of my favourites in a standalone. I was afraid that given all the ideas presented by Tooley it would not end in a satisfying way. However, the book wrapped everything up perfectly. 

Many plot twists were predictable and very clear for the start and some aspects of worldbuilding were not expanded enough but in all fairness this didn't hinder how much I enjoyed the book. 

Overall, an amazing queer, fantasy, standalone with many great messages, characters and an atmosphere that enthralled me completely. I will definitely read anything else Tooley comes out with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent