Reviews - The Bone Orchard

1.4k reviews for:

The Bone Orchard

Sara A. Mueller

3.63 AVERAGE

hgwe11s's review against another edition

2.0

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

2 stars + 4/10.
Premise was super interesting, and I had high hopes. First quarter lived up to it, but then everything quickly fell apart. All of the characters feel thin, and their relationships don't make much sense. Oram/Pain relationship is super annoying, as is the way everyone in Lowtown apparently thinks of Pain as an angel. Lots of "reveals" that were super obvious. All the villains were very one-dimensional, except for maybe the Emperor. The plot gets resolved in a way that feels very young-adult, complete with the heroes getting to give big speeches where they "own" the bad guys, and/or kill them in "badass" ways. Everything is wrapped up way too neatly in the end, including Phelan conveniently dying offscreen, and Oram waking up at the exact perfect moment to save Pain. And the Countess being the "mastermind" behind the Emperor's murder is so stupid - she's a character we barely see (probably appears in only 10% of the book). She gets no characterization, and what little she does doesn't make sense - Why did her and the Emperor have a relationship? Was it consensual? Is she with the new emperor now just because he wanted what his father had? Why is she double-crossing him and giving the throne to Arleas? God, none of it makes sense, and the elementary writing style did not make it any more enjoyable to read (although it did make it fast).

pine_rhyme's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

katieggoldsmith's review against another edition

3.0

I was pretty lost while reading this, but it started making sense in the last little bit. Overall: meh.

mariedoesstuff's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was recommended for lovers of The Locked Tomb series, and I think it’s a good recommendation- the magic is creepy, and it has the ???? feeling of Harrow the Ninth. I liked the characters, and even if the plot was a little slow to take off, I liked how everything came together at the end.