Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The Road of Bones

Fantastic. Narration was excellent.

Cracking good fantasy read. Morally grey characters (male and female). Some disability representation (mute and mechanical arm). And the women fight for their safety/freedom. multi pov in third person. the last third was really engaging and a great mix of plot and character drama.

This book has well paced plot, tension, intrigue and a mix of well drawn characters who react with their flaws and learn with time to change their minds and actions.

The world building is interesting.

I enjoyed the various plot twists. And was deeply satisfied with some near the end that I did not anticipate.

The use of old Norse words was appealing to me (i learned some Swedish in recent years).

I’m eager to read book two.

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dblue236's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Trigger warnings: Violence, death of parent, graphic sexual content, sexual assault.

I've been really interested in Norse mythology and folklore since playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla a few years ago, so that drew me to this book. I am *not* a big fan of romantasy in general, so some of those themes were a bit lost on me, but overall I enjoyed the book despite its relatively slow pace. I liked the characters and the buildup of the relationships among them as a group, and the epilogue left me wanting to continue with the series. This was not necessarily something I'd make a habit of reading, but I did enjoy it for what it was.

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jennipea382's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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booksalacarte's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The road of bones
4.75⭐️3🌶️

Adult Fantasy Romance
Viking inspired
20yo FMC
Dual POV
Journeying
Disabled Side cCharacters
Unique Magic System
Slow burn
Found Family
Complicated Characters
Secret Identities
Forced Proximity

Tw: murder, addiction

I should have read this sooner.

I heard about it through mutuals and it has been on my TBR for a long time. I was so excited to get an arc of it which made me hike it up on my never ending TBR.

This was such a refreshing read! The plot was intriguing. The world building was slow, but well done. It didn’t distract for the story, and never felted like an info dump. The magic system has only been revealed when needed. And usually that annoys me, or makes me think it’s not been well thought out… but in this instance, I think it suits the plot really well.

The beginning was slow to get into. I was waiting for the FMC to get to a decently capable point, and it took a while. But the further I read, the more I had to keep reading. The plot was surprising, the characters unique and I was so angry when the twist happened! That character better get what’s calming to them!!

The first PoV is the FMC and very compelling. Orphan on the run with a secret even she doesn’t know about.

The second POV introduces us to another girl… the enemy, essentially, hunting for the first FMC by the order of the mysterious queen.

Third POv is the blond mercenary with a troubled past.

4th POV is the band leader who is as tight lipped and mysterious as anyone.

The beginning was hard to get into, I was waiting for the FMC to get to a decently capable point, and it took a while. But the further I read, the more I had to keep reading. The plot was surprising, the characters unique and I was so angry when the twist happened! That character better get what’s calming to them!!

The love triangle-ish had me on the edge of my seat! I was so intrigued by how the romance would play out.

Thank God I have an ARC of the second book… cause I would not do well with that cliffhanger and POV addition if I had to be patient and wait until February, when it is going to be released.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine, Dellacorte Press for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

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doahdancer's review

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dark emotional lighthearted tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The writing quality is quite good.

Relationships are built steadily, but no key moment is spared to move the plot forward. If you enjoy the slow build of a friendship or a romance and don't mind a road trip, then this is for you.

The FMC is a gentle soul, but strong hearted. She's a good antidote to sassy personalities, if they've got you down.

The MMC though? Complicated. Really wasn't sure about him most of the time, but I actually think I'm really, really going to like him in the next book. He's got some great development towards the end that sets up for an amazing payout next book. Here's to hoping we actually get it!

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ladybug12793's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

The best romantasy I’ve read in a while

I don’t know why it took me this long to read this. To be honest, I’ve been disappointed with the romance and fantasy books I’ve been reading lately. Thanks booktok for most of those poor recommendations. This was a pleasant surprise. While I can’t say this is the best fantasy I’ve read, I was entertained the entire time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The romance is slow burn, which is my favorite. I think there is one or two mild spicy scenes but even then the plot is good enough on its own without it. I can’t say that that’s the case for a majority of the books that I’ve read recently, unfortunately. So, again, this book was a pleasant surprise.

This book definitely needs more hype. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

1 🌶️

* please disregard grammatical errors due to voice texting

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kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

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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? No

3.0

I already bought the second book, so I mean the story hooked me. Even though I was invested, I thought there were a few plot points and characterizations that could have been better done. The central story is about a young woman who discovers her whole life has been a lie. There's magical prosecution of Galdra and running from assassins. Silla spent her whole life believing she wasn't special, but now she's learning there is so much more to her past.

When Silla joins the Bloodaxe Crew to travel north to a safe haven, she hides who she is and the trouble she may be in. The Bloodaxe Crew had the chance to be really interesting, but this is where I had some issues with the book. Jonas, Hekla, and Ray are all very well fleshed out. But the rest of the crew are very one dimensional. It was kind of strange to have well developed characters and then just super thin barely named characters in the same crew. I thought there could have been an opportunity to beef up the story, but it was just kind of meh.

Overall I thought this was a fun fantasy novel, though it could have used some more development.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Delacorte Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

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ta2dlibrarian's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

A romantasy with Icelandic and Old Norse influences that started pretty slow but quickly became intriguing. The plot twists kept things interesting but it ends with a HFN. Def can't wait to read the sister's story, preview in the epilogue.

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