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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
The world-building is incredibly rich and detailed, drawing from various multicultural influences, which is a major strength. However, this extensive exposition sometimes slows the narrative pace, making parts of the book feel like they're dragging. Despite this, the unique magic system and intriguing plot twists make it a promising start to the series.
Read Full Review Here: https://medium.com/@ashleymalecha_/the-bone-witch-a-world-rich-in-bone-and-blood-pacing-in-need-of-a-pulse-e51cb57bde10
Read Full Review Here: https://medium.com/@ashleymalecha_/the-bone-witch-a-world-rich-in-bone-and-blood-pacing-in-need-of-a-pulse-e51cb57bde10
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Confinement, Blood
Minor: Dementia, Grief
(The "dementia" content warning is specific to a magical act of creating a heart for someone with it, not a direct depiction of the illness itself.)
Although I really enjoy the plot and characters, I struggled with the writing and structure of The Bone Witch. How information is fed to us felt too subtle and sometimes I wondered if my confusion was my own fault or it was because of the writing itself. And while I enjoyed the increased pace and action of the last 1/4, the ending itself was underwhelming as the reveal didn't have enough context or emotional weight to make an impact.
This book is really slow, it gets better towards the end but oh did it take a long time to get good
***I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review, which was first posted on book blog Will Read for Feels.
I’ve been pretty darned excited about Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch, the first in an all-new YA fantasy series set in a world where magic-wielders called asha delight and defend their kingdoms. In fact, I named it as one of the books I was looking forward to the most this year, and I was ecstatic to receive an ARC prior to its release.
But alas, life got in the way (moving cities, a new business to open, a death in the family, and two family members being hospitalized in the span of three months), and I only recently got to immerse myself in the world of the asha. Keep reading to find out what I thought.
I really, really wanted to like this book. And in some aspects, it totally delivered. I’d completely forgotten that the blurb had advertised it as a mix of Memoirs of a Geisha and Name of the Wind, but those two novels were the ones I kept going back to when I thought about the style and the format the book was written in.
Name of the Wind is an obvious choice for format, as like Rothfuss’s novel, readers must follow a dual timeline: one in the present, as the main character tells her story, and one in the past, following the story as it is told. The two timelines are easily distinguished as the present-day narration is told from the point of view of the bard to whom the main character, Tea, tells her story, while the past is told from Tea’s point of view.
Memoirs of a Geisha is also an obvious choice for style and content, style because of the lyrical bent to the storytelling, and content because the asha are pretty much magic-wielding battle-trained geishas. More, like the main character in Arthur Golden’s book, Tea is distinctive in that people know she’s special from the start of her training, and despite her youth and the discipline demanded of her in words and action, she remains very much her own person, willing to turn society on its ear if need be.
That she has none of the subtlety of Golden’s Chiyo/Sayuri marks her as an individual rather than a copycat character, and stresses the YA-ness of this read.
But I’d add another story to the mix that I thought The Bone Witch might evoke memories of in its readers: the animated movie franchise How to Train Your Dragon. Now daevas (the demon-like creatures that wreak havoc on mankind and that the ashas protect people from) are not necessarily dragons, but there’s enough dragon imagery and enough parallels that I kept thinking about that movie as I was reading the book, especially during the second half of it.
As far as world-building and character-building goes, I couldn’t really find much fault I couldn’t explain away or forgive. There was a bit of a red herring in terms of character relationships that I thought was way too easy to guess, but I also had to wonder if that wasn’t my jadedness rearing its ugly head. I am predominantly a reader of adult fiction, so it may just be a case of YA culture shock.
What I did take issue with was the pacing. On one hand, I appreciated the richness of the world that had been painted for me as a reader. I could all but walk the same halls the asha did, eat the same food, wear the same clothes, and so on. But on the other hand, this book was woefully easy to put down because it seemed to me that things didn’t really start happening until about 45% of the way through the book. In fact, I found myself “cheating” on the book a couple of times during the days I was reading it.
On top of the slow pacing, The Bone Witch ended on a cliffhanger that left me thinking I’d pretty much just read an entire book of prologue.
Now, I’ve since found out that this book is one of three in a series. So I’m hoping this is going to be one of those cases where the second installment packs in all the action promised but underdelivered by the first.
I’m used to this happening: after all, I did still enjoy the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogies. And I plan to get my hands on a copy of the next book in the series. Given what has been promised and built up in this book, I’m expecting a roller coaster ride; otherwise, I can’t speak to whether I’ll be engaged enough for book 3.
Now, this might put undeserved pressure on the author, should she ever read this. But the truth of the matter is, I wanted to love this book more than I did. And if I don’t find myself loving the series as a whole, it will be a shame, because the language in which it is written is beautiful, and so is the world it is set in. So I’m giving it a tentative three stars, on the expectation of being wowed by future books in the series. Please, please, be better, The Heartforger.
I’ve been pretty darned excited about Rin Chupeco’s The Bone Witch, the first in an all-new YA fantasy series set in a world where magic-wielders called asha delight and defend their kingdoms. In fact, I named it as one of the books I was looking forward to the most this year, and I was ecstatic to receive an ARC prior to its release.
But alas, life got in the way (moving cities, a new business to open, a death in the family, and two family members being hospitalized in the span of three months), and I only recently got to immerse myself in the world of the asha. Keep reading to find out what I thought.
I really, really wanted to like this book. And in some aspects, it totally delivered. I’d completely forgotten that the blurb had advertised it as a mix of Memoirs of a Geisha and Name of the Wind, but those two novels were the ones I kept going back to when I thought about the style and the format the book was written in.
Name of the Wind is an obvious choice for format, as like Rothfuss’s novel, readers must follow a dual timeline: one in the present, as the main character tells her story, and one in the past, following the story as it is told. The two timelines are easily distinguished as the present-day narration is told from the point of view of the bard to whom the main character, Tea, tells her story, while the past is told from Tea’s point of view.
Memoirs of a Geisha is also an obvious choice for style and content, style because of the lyrical bent to the storytelling, and content because the asha are pretty much magic-wielding battle-trained geishas. More, like the main character in Arthur Golden’s book, Tea is distinctive in that people know she’s special from the start of her training, and despite her youth and the discipline demanded of her in words and action, she remains very much her own person, willing to turn society on its ear if need be.
That she has none of the subtlety of Golden’s Chiyo/Sayuri marks her as an individual rather than a copycat character, and stresses the YA-ness of this read.
But I’d add another story to the mix that I thought The Bone Witch might evoke memories of in its readers: the animated movie franchise How to Train Your Dragon. Now daevas (the demon-like creatures that wreak havoc on mankind and that the ashas protect people from) are not necessarily dragons, but there’s enough dragon imagery and enough parallels that I kept thinking about that movie as I was reading the book, especially during the second half of it.
As far as world-building and character-building goes, I couldn’t really find much fault I couldn’t explain away or forgive. There was a bit of a red herring in terms of character relationships that I thought was way too easy to guess, but I also had to wonder if that wasn’t my jadedness rearing its ugly head. I am predominantly a reader of adult fiction, so it may just be a case of YA culture shock.
What I did take issue with was the pacing. On one hand, I appreciated the richness of the world that had been painted for me as a reader. I could all but walk the same halls the asha did, eat the same food, wear the same clothes, and so on. But on the other hand, this book was woefully easy to put down because it seemed to me that things didn’t really start happening until about 45% of the way through the book. In fact, I found myself “cheating” on the book a couple of times during the days I was reading it.
On top of the slow pacing, The Bone Witch ended on a cliffhanger that left me thinking I’d pretty much just read an entire book of prologue.
Now, I’ve since found out that this book is one of three in a series. So I’m hoping this is going to be one of those cases where the second installment packs in all the action promised but underdelivered by the first.
I’m used to this happening: after all, I did still enjoy the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogies. And I plan to get my hands on a copy of the next book in the series. Given what has been promised and built up in this book, I’m expecting a roller coaster ride; otherwise, I can’t speak to whether I’ll be engaged enough for book 3.
Now, this might put undeserved pressure on the author, should she ever read this. But the truth of the matter is, I wanted to love this book more than I did. And if I don’t find myself loving the series as a whole, it will be a shame, because the language in which it is written is beautiful, and so is the world it is set in. So I’m giving it a tentative three stars, on the expectation of being wowed by future books in the series. Please, please, be better, The Heartforger.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Reread to read the other 2 following the the series.
Very little romance, more about being a bone witch and growing up, friendship and family(and found family).
Very little romance, more about being a bone witch and growing up, friendship and family(and found family).
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
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:
No
I ate this up and can't wait to continue in the series. This is a massive prequel for what I imagine is going to be 2 more books of Tea kicking ass and taking names.
Couldn’t put it down
A gripping story that kept me up late at night telling myself just one ore chapter. I loved the format of the book following Tea’s tale from her beginning but ending each chapter with with a snippet from the “present” that set up the next chapter. It left me eager to find out what lead Tea to where she is now. I’ll have to get the next book to find out because this book is just part of Tea’s journey so it ends before we find out what lead her here. The author has a fabulous writing style that pulls you in and writes in such away that there are clues enough for you to figure some things out alongside the characters and still be surprised. Her characters are a joy to read with a diversity of personality that makes the stories world feel more real. I definitely can’t wait to read the next book.
A gripping story that kept me up late at night telling myself just one ore chapter. I loved the format of the book following Tea’s tale from her beginning but ending each chapter with with a snippet from the “present” that set up the next chapter. It left me eager to find out what lead Tea to where she is now. I’ll have to get the next book to find out because this book is just part of Tea’s journey so it ends before we find out what lead her here. The author has a fabulous writing style that pulls you in and writes in such away that there are clues enough for you to figure some things out alongside the characters and still be surprised. Her characters are a joy to read with a diversity of personality that makes the stories world feel more real. I definitely can’t wait to read the next book.