Reviews - The Bone Orchard

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

1.4k reviews for:

The Bone Orchard

Sara A. Mueller

3.63 AVERAGE

azaliahandre's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was hoping this would be my first 5 star read of the year, but it did not meet those expectations. This book has an engaging premise with a unique take on DID and how people (specifically women) deal and overcome the trauma they've experienced. While I enjoyed may aspects of this book, including Charm as a character and some of the world building, the pacing and timelines of this book ultimately work against it. It is hard to keep track of events and how quickly they are progressing, leading to a rushed third act and aburpt resolution.

always_reading_ashley's review against another edition

2.0

This should've been a dnf.

shaniceh's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this ARC. I did not think it was possible to go from wanting to DNF a book to completely falling in love with it but here we are.

The first four chapters of this book felt like hard times and endless suffering. Almost nothing made sense I was fighting for my life trying to get through it. But once I did I became absorbed in the uniqueness of the story and the complexity of the characters, even the ones I hated.

This book follows Charm, a brothel owner and a prisoner of the Emporer. Charm never leaves her brothel but she's also never truly alone because within the Orchard house are her ghosts that she grew herself, Pride, Shame, Pain, Desire, Justice and sometimes the Lady. You get to learn about all these characters as well as others who live in Boren.

This book contains a murder mystery, political fantasy, an analysis of the psyche and strangely enough a soft romance. I can’t say much more without giving away the plot (and understanding Charm and her ghosts as you read more is part of the experience). I loved this in the end and I’m happy to have finished it.

garbagegal's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

parmenta's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kelseywho's review against another edition

5.0

This was recommended by a very dear friend whose review immediately sent me over to NetGalley for an ARC. Her own review mentions how this is such a beautiful exploration of the ways in which women experience (and move on from) trauma and that is exactly spot on. Mueller does a wonderful job of slowly revealing what has happened in Charm's past and only showing you these different events as they become relevant. And normally this would make me impatient, but it's so gracefully done here that you hardly notice.

Anyway, content warnings for physical and mental abuse, gore/body horror, violence, assault, implied rape. And I'm not sure if it warrants a warning, but this book deals heavily with the separation of personalities and self in order to cope with extreme trauma. So just keep that in mind!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.