Reviews

Bone Dance by Emma Bull

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embereye's review against another edition

3.0

Entertaining read. It definitely has Emma Bull's stamp on it, but is not nearly as evocative as War for the Oaks. However, there is a bit of a nod to Haitian Voodoo/Hoodoo. It's a post-apocalyptic story and has some really nice elements in it, but is not quite there for me.

beltaine76's review against another edition

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2.0

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't really care for the main character.

ofearna's review against another edition

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4.0

I started reading Emma Bull when I was practically ordered to read War for the Oaks, so I read all her novels, then started in on her significant other's books (Will Shetterly).

branch_c's review against another edition

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3.0

It was clear almost from the beginning that there was something unusual about this book's protagonist/narrator, and getting to an explanation (more or less) of Sparrow's nature was the most interesting and well-constructed part of this book - after that, however, I was less interested in the story. Much of the second half seemed a bit disjointed to me, with brief episodes of horrific violence interspersed with lazy periods of waiting and recovery. The involvement of the loa never quite fit for me with the rest of the story, and as a result I found the ending a bit vague and unsatisfying.

I'm still very impressed with Bull, and this book, like [b:War for the Oaks|771527|War for the Oaks|Emma Bull|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316130728s/771527.jpg|144029], shows flashes of her brilliance. The one book of hers that I recommend without hesitation is [b:Territory|70581|Territory|Emma Bull|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316129552s/70581.jpg|68392], which I think is easily her best.

chloefrizzle's review against another edition

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5.0

THIS BOOK IS HARD TO PITCH, FOR SEVERAL REASONS:

1) It defies genre boundaries. It's fantasy/scifi/post-apocalyptic/noir/cyberpunk. It will bounce from tarot reading to nuclear war to voodoo goddess to bioengineering and back again.

2) The plot is not straightforward enough to easily synopsize.

3) Part of the fun of this novel is figuring out what's going on. The book does not easily give you the premise or the plot; you get to work for it.

I CAN SAY THIS:

4) This book follows Sparrow, who sells black market VHS tapes in a post-apocalyptic city. The horsemen who brought the apocalypse are coming again, and Sparrow gets caught up in it.

5) This book has powerful themes of identity and bodily autonomy.

6) When I first read this book (at age 15), it was a little too strange and heavy for me. I didn't fully appreciate it then, tho I did enjoy it. Some of the marketing for this book says it's YA, but I would never put it there. Our main character is a teenager, but the themes/content-warnings/worldbuilding/out-of-this-world-Weirdness put the book firmly in the Adult category.

Now, I completely loved it. It's even better on a reread.

megatsunami's review against another edition

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4.0

This is really an excellent post-apocalyptic fantasy novel whose plot blends elements of hoodoo/ magic and futuristic science. I might give this book 5 stars except that the writing is a little too fast-moving-poetry for me - I sometimes got confused about what was happening, and even when I reread a paragraph to figure out "Wait, when did that person die?", I still couldn't always find it. (And I've read this book multiple times before.) But well worth your time.