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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I loved this book a lot, but it did not capture me like other books. I'm still exited to read the second book.
I was very excited for this book. I had read the synopsis and realized that it was going to be in one of the upcoming fairyloot boxes (which i get btw) and I could not wait to get my hands on it.
I'm really happy to say I enjoyed this book as much as I was hoping I would. I have read better books this year and I do have one issue with the book which is why i gave it a 4 star review but i did really enjoy it.
I enjoyed the friends relationships and how much Sabine cares for Ailesse and vise versa. Bastien's group were very close knit and I like how different they all are from each other yet also have so much in common, if they'd only put all their hatred aside and realize that fact!
I found it interesting that I agreed with all the main characters. I completely understood where each character was coming from which made it so hard to choose a side. I couldn't, I wanted Ailesse to become who she always wanted to be but also be free, for Sabine to never have to kill and also find her courage, for Bastien to avenge his father but also for him to let go of his hatred. I was so conflicted but in such a good way. I was not expecting the plot to thicken between Sabine and Ailesse in the way that it did or for Ailesse's mother, I was not ready for her! I was pleasantly surprised by this story and how it went along. About half way through it stopped going how i though it would go and i was completely surprised by certain aspects of the story and I loved that!I liked the ending and cant wait for the second one.
Despite all this i do feel there was something that could have been done better, the main thing that reeled me in for this book was the romance. I was down for the slow burn, enemies to lovers romance between Ailesse and Bastien and it was my main attraction towards this book. It was great in the beginning and i was enjoying the hatred they felt for each other whilst not being able to deny they found each other attractive. Yet ....... it started to just jump right into them liking each other and I would have preferred a slower burn, there wasn't really much of a slow burn tbh and that's one of my favorite tropes so I was mildy disappointed with that. That why i rated it 4 and not 5 star, i still really enjoyed the book and look forward to ''Bone Criers Dawn''
I'm really happy to say I enjoyed this book as much as I was hoping I would. I have read better books this year and I do have one issue with the book which is why i gave it a 4 star review but i did really enjoy it.
I enjoyed the friends relationships and how much Sabine cares for Ailesse and vise versa. Bastien's group were very close knit and I like how different they all are from each other yet also have so much in common, if they'd only put all their hatred aside and realize that fact!
I found it interesting that I agreed with all the main characters. I completely understood where each character was coming from which made it so hard to choose a side. I couldn't, I wanted Ailesse to become who she always wanted to be but also be free, for Sabine to never have to kill and also find her courage, for Bastien to avenge his father but also for him to let go of his hatred. I was so conflicted but in such a good way. I was not expecting the plot to thicken between Sabine and Ailesse in the way that it did or for Ailesse's mother, I was not ready for her! I was pleasantly surprised by this story and how it went along. About half way through it stopped going how i though it would go and i was completely surprised by certain aspects of the story and I loved that!I liked the ending and cant wait for the second one.
Despite all this i do feel there was something that could have been done better, the main thing that reeled me in for this book was the romance. I was down for the slow burn, enemies to lovers romance between Ailesse and Bastien and it was my main attraction towards this book. It was great in the beginning and i was enjoying the hatred they felt for each other whilst not being able to deny they found each other attractive. Yet ....... it started to just jump right into them liking each other and I would have preferred a slower burn, there wasn't really much of a slow burn tbh and that's one of my favorite tropes so I was mildy disappointed with that. That why i rated it 4 and not 5 star, i still really enjoyed the book and look forward to ''Bone Criers Dawn''
3.5 Stars
A good read. I like the world the author has created and the premise is quite interesting but the story overall lacks that oomph. The romance also could of been better, there wasn't enough tension or heat between the two to make their hate turned into love believable. I really enjoy the last quarter of the novel though. Things got intense and there was even a twist to the story.
A good read. I like the world the author has created and the premise is quite interesting but the story overall lacks that oomph. The romance also could of been better, there wasn't enough tension or heat between the two to make their hate turned into love believable. I really enjoy the last quarter of the novel though. Things got intense and there was even a twist to the story.
2.4 stars
I really struggled with the review of this book, mostly because I didn't truly enjoy reading it, despite knowing, from a rational perspective, that the book isn't necessarily bad.
This is the second book I read inspired on Les Dames Blanches, the first one being Serpent & Dove, by Shelby Mahurin. I liked S&D a lot more, but felt Les Dames Blanches were much better developed and explored in BCM.
I've mentioned in reviews before that everything French-related doesn't seem to attract me as much as most people, meaning I tend to roll my eyes a bit at the French words and architectural inspiration - which I'm fully aware is a deeply personal opinion.
This being said, I think I could easily get over these elements (as I have done for S&D, for example) if I liked the story or the characters. That was not the case.
Bastien made "sense" as the person meant to confront the Bone Criers with a certain reality, while also being confronted with the truths he didn't (want to) know. For balance, you have the other side of the story from Ailesse's perspective - she is the Bone Crier who has to shock Bastien with those truths, while also being confronted with the oddness of some of their rituals & lack of knowledge of the real world.
The problem was Sabine. Not that I didn't like Sabine, quite the contrary, the issue was the biggest and most interesting revelations were happening with her and not Ailesse. Meaning, Bastien and Ailesse's relationship was mostly explored as an insta-love justified with the fate given to them by the gods, a fate they want to break so they can be together without having to complete the ritual (how convenient).
Meanwhile, Sabine was finding out their Matrone (?) was messing with shady stuff & had broken the Bone Criers's rules; that the Matrone had two daughters; that Ailesse and Sabine were sisters; that Bastien wasn't actually Ailesse's amouré; that an owl was actually helping her despite being considered a bad omen; that she was worthy of a white jackall instead of her Matrone; etc., etc., etc.
All that was most relevant was happening with Sabine, not Ailesse.
It's true certain aspects were also happening with Ailesse (finding the "new" bridge, for example), but the most shocking ones - the ones that seem responsible for the plot of book #2 - were almost disconnected from her chapters. It made the story lose some traction, some movement, some dynamism.
I honestly ended up having very mixed feelings with the characters - the book wanted me to care about what was happening to Ailesse, but then showed me the most interesting things with Sabine, so I ended up not truly connecting with neither.
As for Bastien, he was alright. I wasn't blown away by his character growth and, sometimes, the romance felt a bit forced.
As for Marcel (?) and Jules, the first one was there for plot point convenience (a nerd always comes in handy when you have puzzles to solve), and the latter I couldn't truly understand. I think the point was for her to be part of a triangle? But it was so obvious from the start how things would go, that I couldn't connect to her either.
I felt really bothered by the book's pacing and developments. There wasn't truly anything that wowed me, despite being much more invested in the second half of the story.
I was truly glad I finished the book - I felt relief, to be honest -, mostly because I didn't want to DNF-it. I kept looking for whatever people found that made them love this story so much, thinking maybe the end itself would grab my attention so strongly I wouldn't resist reading the next volume...
That didn't happen.
I will not be reading book #2, I have literally zero interest in the story, and after reading some reviews I am utterly convinced I would find it worse than this one.
In retrospect, I can't say I'm proud for not DNF-ing Bone Criers Moon. And that is quite sad.
I really struggled with the review of this book, mostly because I didn't truly enjoy reading it, despite knowing, from a rational perspective, that the book isn't necessarily bad.
This is the second book I read inspired on Les Dames Blanches, the first one being Serpent & Dove, by Shelby Mahurin. I liked S&D a lot more, but felt Les Dames Blanches were much better developed and explored in BCM.
I've mentioned in reviews before that everything French-related doesn't seem to attract me as much as most people, meaning I tend to roll my eyes a bit at the French words and architectural inspiration - which I'm fully aware is a deeply personal opinion.
This being said, I think I could easily get over these elements (as I have done for S&D, for example) if I liked the story or the characters. That was not the case.
Spoiler
For starters, I didn't enjoy having three narrators at completely different plot points of the story.Bastien made "sense" as the person meant to confront the Bone Criers with a certain reality, while also being confronted with the truths he didn't (want to) know. For balance, you have the other side of the story from Ailesse's perspective - she is the Bone Crier who has to shock Bastien with those truths, while also being confronted with the oddness of some of their rituals & lack of knowledge of the real world.
The problem was Sabine. Not that I didn't like Sabine, quite the contrary, the issue was the biggest and most interesting revelations were happening with her and not Ailesse. Meaning, Bastien and Ailesse's relationship was mostly explored as an insta-love justified with the fate given to them by the gods, a fate they want to break so they can be together without having to complete the ritual (how convenient).
Meanwhile, Sabine was finding out their Matrone (?) was messing with shady stuff & had broken the Bone Criers's rules; that the Matrone had two daughters; that Ailesse and Sabine were sisters; that Bastien wasn't actually Ailesse's amouré; that an owl was actually helping her despite being considered a bad omen; that she was worthy of a white jackall instead of her Matrone; etc., etc., etc.
All that was most relevant was happening with Sabine, not Ailesse.
It's true certain aspects were also happening with Ailesse (finding the "new" bridge, for example), but the most shocking ones - the ones that seem responsible for the plot of book #2 - were almost disconnected from her chapters. It made the story lose some traction, some movement, some dynamism.
I honestly ended up having very mixed feelings with the characters - the book wanted me to care about what was happening to Ailesse, but then showed me the most interesting things with Sabine, so I ended up not truly connecting with neither.
As for Bastien, he was alright. I wasn't blown away by his character growth and, sometimes, the romance felt a bit forced.
As for Marcel (?) and Jules, the first one was there for plot point convenience (a nerd always comes in handy when you have puzzles to solve), and the latter I couldn't truly understand. I think the point was for her to be part of a triangle? But it was so obvious from the start how things would go, that I couldn't connect to her either.
I felt really bothered by the book's pacing and developments. There wasn't truly anything that wowed me, despite being much more invested in the second half of the story.
I was truly glad I finished the book - I felt relief, to be honest -, mostly because I didn't want to DNF-it. I kept looking for whatever people found that made them love this story so much, thinking maybe the end itself would grab my attention so strongly I wouldn't resist reading the next volume...
That didn't happen.
I will not be reading book #2, I have literally zero interest in the story, and after reading some reviews I am utterly convinced I would find it worse than this one.
In retrospect, I can't say I'm proud for not DNF-ing Bone Criers Moon. And that is quite sad.
Ok the book is like a 3.5 it's just the last battle scene to me didn't make that much sense. I don't know if its just me but like Odivas reasoning for everything was dumb and I don't know if we were supposed to feel bad for her but I'm not in any way.
Actual rating 2.5 stars
I have been deceived by a beautiful cover and the promise of a hate-to-love/fated romance trope. Perhaps it was that my expectations were too high, but I was very disappointed by this book. The world-building is phenomenal, I really loved the lore of the Bone Criers, but world-building is only going to get a book so far. What I found lacking were the characters and the romance, which is what I love most about a book.
Ailesse starts off strongly, but I lose interest in her the moment she meets her love interest.
Bastien—whose POVs are weighed down by his annoying friends—has the personality of a doormat, with nothing to him other than his drive for revenge and then his obsession for Ailesse.
Sabine, sweet soul, is the only character I truly loved in this book, but even her POVs begin to sound repetitive toward the middle of the book, in order to propel a plot that feels like is going nowhere. There is action for the sake of action, fight scenes, hunt scenes, dialogues that seem the repetition of themselves. It feels like reading the same thing over and over again—and for what? To give Ailesse and Bastien more time to fall in love? If we had at least seen that happening! Ailesse and Bastien go from beating each other up to suddenly being fascinated with each other. Ailesse is special, but how Bastien figured that out? No clue. Bastien is stubborn and proud and oh so dreamy, but what did he do for Ailesse to realize that? I am clueless.
The ending was…strange. Random.
It is a shame, truly. The world-building alone deserves five stars, but the rest that is within it was disappointing. The sequel seems to be set up in a way that the drama between the characters will be the main focus of the story, but one character is not enough for me to want to read a book. I doubt I’ll be picking it up.
I have been deceived by a beautiful cover and the promise of a hate-to-love/fated romance trope. Perhaps it was that my expectations were too high, but I was very disappointed by this book. The world-building is phenomenal, I really loved the lore of the Bone Criers, but world-building is only going to get a book so far. What I found lacking were the characters and the romance, which is what I love most about a book.
Ailesse starts off strongly, but I lose interest in her the moment she meets her love interest.
Bastien—whose POVs are weighed down by his annoying friends—has the personality of a doormat, with nothing to him other than his drive for revenge and then his obsession for Ailesse.
Sabine, sweet soul, is the only character I truly loved in this book, but even her POVs begin to sound repetitive toward the middle of the book, in order to propel a plot that feels like is going nowhere. There is action for the sake of action, fight scenes, hunt scenes, dialogues that seem the repetition of themselves. It feels like reading the same thing over and over again—and for what? To give Ailesse and Bastien more time to fall in love? If we had at least seen that happening! Ailesse and Bastien go from beating each other up to suddenly being fascinated with each other. Ailesse is special, but how Bastien figured that out? No clue. Bastien is stubborn and proud and oh so dreamy, but what did he do for Ailesse to realize that? I am clueless.
The ending was…strange. Random.
It is a shame, truly. The world-building alone deserves five stars, but the rest that is within it was disappointing. The sequel seems to be set up in a way that the drama between the characters will be the main focus of the story, but one character is not enough for me to want to read a book. I doubt I’ll be picking it up.
I highly underestimated this book. I thought it was going to be alright... a normal YA fantasy book. I was BLOWN AWAY.
Like ok yeah it was obvious it was a doomed love situation. Ok yeah it was obvious who the villain was. But it was face paced and handled some tough situations and the writing was beautiful. The descriptions of the catacombs were SO amazing. It was easily one of the best books Ive read all year.
Not anymore. Im keeping both you no one can take them from me *sticks out tongue.*
I usually have a tendency when theres two female leads to lean more toward one than the other. I always have one I connect with more. Not in this case. I loved both girls equally for different reasons. I felt sympathy for both girls equally for different reasons. And I’m rooting for both girls equally for different reasons.
The side characters were lovely. The story was lovely. The sequel, I’m sure, is going to be lovely. I can not WAIT to find out what happens!
When I got my Owlcrate AND Fairyloot and they were both copies of this book, I was like “ugh.. I’m gonna have to sell one now.”
Like ok yeah it was obvious it was a doomed love situation. Ok yeah it was obvious who the villain was. But it was face paced and handled some tough situations and the writing was beautiful. The descriptions of the catacombs were SO amazing. It was easily one of the best books Ive read all year.
Not anymore. Im keeping both you no one can take them from me *sticks out tongue.*
I usually have a tendency when theres two female leads to lean more toward one than the other. I always have one I connect with more. Not in this case. I loved both girls equally for different reasons. I felt sympathy for both girls equally for different reasons. And I’m rooting for both girls equally for different reasons.
The side characters were lovely. The story was lovely. The sequel, I’m sure, is going to be lovely. I can not WAIT to find out what happens!
When I got my Owlcrate AND Fairyloot and they were both copies of this book, I was like “ugh.. I’m gonna have to sell one now.”
Real fucking rude for such a slow burn to end on a cliffhanger!!! But I still want to read the next book!!! Because I feel such emotions!!!
I had very high expectations for Bone Crier’s Moon. The cover clearly played a part in that, but when I read that this was going to be another Dame Blanche retelling with a hate to love romance and the word ‘doom’, I thought I would adore this book.
Alas, somehow this book and I got lost in translation.
Bone Crier’s Moon did have some aspects that fascinated me. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the book, which was rich with the world-building and mythology of the Bone Crier’s. Unfortunately, there’s only so much the world-building can do, and so much page time it can occupy before the characters take over, and sadly the characters just didn’t catch my attention.
Of the three POV characters—Bastien, Ailesse and Sabine—Sabine was the only character I truly liked, though I started having issues with her as well toward the end of the book. One of the general things I disliked about them was that their inner monologues were often repetitive, and they sometimes acted as if this book were intended for a very young YA audience, which felt like a dissonant note to the otherwise dark atmosphere of the story.
Sabine’s chapters were the ones where most of the world-building came through, so it’s no surprise they were the ones I enjoyed the most. But I was also a fan of her inner struggle between the Bone Criers’ expectations for her, her own morality and the lengths she was willing to go in order to rescue Ailesse.
In Ailesse and Bastien’s chapters, we got most of the romance…or the lack thereof. While the book promotes a hate-to-love narrative, what I feel like we got instead was two characters who spent quite some time beating each other up in the first part of the book, a time jump, and then suddenly two characters who have deep feelings for one another. I felt no build-up, no tension, and no reason for Ailesse to suddenly abandon her determination to become a Bone Crier and for Bastien to abandon his desire for vengeance.
Since the majority of the book focused on a romance I was not liking, my enjoyment gradually diminished. It didn’t help that all the secondary characters felt like plot devices rather than necessary players of the story, and that even the villain—who was looking like a very well structured character in the beginning—did not have a satisfying arc.
The resulting feeling is that this book felt like a filler. The plot twists were predictable, the romance was too hastily done and the main plot had seemingly no real impact on the characters’ story. This felt like a giant prologue to what will maybe happen in the second book, but I’m still unsure if the ending was enough to make me want to continue reading.
Alas, somehow this book and I got lost in translation.
Bone Crier’s Moon did have some aspects that fascinated me. I really enjoyed the first quarter of the book, which was rich with the world-building and mythology of the Bone Crier’s. Unfortunately, there’s only so much the world-building can do, and so much page time it can occupy before the characters take over, and sadly the characters just didn’t catch my attention.
Of the three POV characters—Bastien, Ailesse and Sabine—Sabine was the only character I truly liked, though I started having issues with her as well toward the end of the book. One of the general things I disliked about them was that their inner monologues were often repetitive, and they sometimes acted as if this book were intended for a very young YA audience, which felt like a dissonant note to the otherwise dark atmosphere of the story.
Sabine’s chapters were the ones where most of the world-building came through, so it’s no surprise they were the ones I enjoyed the most. But I was also a fan of her inner struggle between the Bone Criers’ expectations for her, her own morality and the lengths she was willing to go in order to rescue Ailesse.
In Ailesse and Bastien’s chapters, we got most of the romance…or the lack thereof. While the book promotes a hate-to-love narrative, what I feel like we got instead was two characters who spent quite some time beating each other up in the first part of the book, a time jump, and then suddenly two characters who have deep feelings for one another. I felt no build-up, no tension, and no reason for Ailesse to suddenly abandon her determination to become a Bone Crier and for Bastien to abandon his desire for vengeance.
Since the majority of the book focused on a romance I was not liking, my enjoyment gradually diminished. It didn’t help that all the secondary characters felt like plot devices rather than necessary players of the story, and that even the villain—who was looking like a very well structured character in the beginning—did not have a satisfying arc.
The resulting feeling is that this book felt like a filler. The plot twists were predictable, the romance was too hastily done and the main plot had seemingly no real impact on the characters’ story. This felt like a giant prologue to what will maybe happen in the second book, but I’m still unsure if the ending was enough to make me want to continue reading.