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pipcorn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
ameserole's review against another edition
4.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Castles in Their Bones was hands down a wonderful adventure. It gave me Tangled vibes in the beginning and then turned into Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones in a way. No, there's no sibling romance but there's so much family betrayal. It's insane!
Each twist, turn, and secret coded message kept me fully engaged in the lives of the three princesses, Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz, and their mother, Empress Margaraux. From the very moment they were born, these three were trained and formed into the perfect bride for their prince. Well, almost.
Lurking in every corner, and inside them, was betrayal waiting to happen. Trust doesn't come easy in these kingdoms, but it also makes you underestimate your own family too. There was so much going on throughout this, that I wasn't surprised when certain things happened in a certain way. Mostly because it seemed like power was the main thing and once you had it - you wanted more.
In the end, I'm secretly hoping they have this kick ass plan to take down their mom. I also hope everyone is alive and well because I don't know how I will act if I find something is definite in the next book. I'm just sitting here freaking out because of the unknown. I can't wait for Laura to drop the sequel because I need it.
Castles in Their Bones was hands down a wonderful adventure. It gave me Tangled vibes in the beginning and then turned into Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones in a way. No, there's no sibling romance but there's so much family betrayal. It's insane!
Each twist, turn, and secret coded message kept me fully engaged in the lives of the three princesses, Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz, and their mother, Empress Margaraux. From the very moment they were born, these three were trained and formed into the perfect bride for their prince. Well, almost.
Lurking in every corner, and inside them, was betrayal waiting to happen. Trust doesn't come easy in these kingdoms, but it also makes you underestimate your own family too. There was so much going on throughout this, that I wasn't surprised when certain things happened in a certain way. Mostly because it seemed like power was the main thing and once you had it - you wanted more.
In the end, I'm secretly hoping they have this kick ass plan to take down their mom. I also hope everyone is alive and well because I don't know how I will act if I find something is definite in the next book. I'm just sitting here freaking out because of the unknown. I can't wait for Laura to drop the sequel because I need it.
booklover160's review against another edition
4.0
I think it was a 3.5 rounded up. This is a hard book to rate.
This was read in the DTReadAlong book club! Feel free to join us for the discussion in June!!
There’s a LOT going on here. We have POVs of all three sisters in their separate countries all filled with their own courts, friends, and enemies. It’s A LOT to remember for characters, places, and families. Luckily there’s a map and an ancestry map in the beginning. That helped me a lot.
This book is just full of court politics and betrayal that’s on par with Game of Thrones. Thankfully without the incest and violence. It’s hard for us to trust anyone the girls meet, and towards the end, the girls themselves. That last chapter turned the whole thing on its head and I’m eagerly awaiting book 2!
But it was a lot to juggle. There’s too many people, too many plots, too much. I’m hoping things will come together in book 2 and be easier to follow.
This was read in the DTReadAlong book club! Feel free to join us for the discussion in June!!
There’s a LOT going on here. We have POVs of all three sisters in their separate countries all filled with their own courts, friends, and enemies. It’s A LOT to remember for characters, places, and families. Luckily there’s a map and an ancestry map in the beginning. That helped me a lot.
This book is just full of court politics and betrayal that’s on par with Game of Thrones. Thankfully without the incest and violence. It’s hard for us to trust anyone the girls meet, and towards the end, the girls themselves. That last chapter turned the whole thing on its head and I’m eagerly awaiting book 2!
But it was a lot to juggle. There’s too many people, too many plots, too much. I’m hoping things will come together in book 2 and be easier to follow.
nourarchive's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Very entertaining and political intriguing. Each character perspective was interesting to follow. Although i did prefer one sister over the other. The twists and turns in the last chapters were Suspenseful. I'm very interested to see the direction the story will take.
Very entertaining and political intriguing. Each character perspective was interesting to follow. Although i did prefer one sister over the other. The twists and turns in the last chapters were Suspenseful. I'm very interested to see the direction the story will take.
jameyanne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
5.0
This book was incredible! I was hooked from the start and was hanging on for dear life through all of the twists and turns, all of the building relationships and character development, it was amazing I strongly recommend!
mckeyla's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ravvencloud's review against another edition
5.0
[MY RATING] 9/10
[SOME SPOILERS AHEAD IN CHARACTER + OVERALL SECTION]
I am SO glad I picked this novel up. The cover was gorgeous and synopsis sounded interesting, and I couldn't be happier to read this! It was such a fun read, and I couldn't put it down.
[PLOT, WRITING, WORLD-BUILDING & PACING]
- Writing a novel from 3 different perspectives is like writing 3 separate stories. As I'm not great with books with a lot of different POVs (I tend to get very confused), I went into it thinking it was gonna be a slightly muddled mess of perspectives. However, I was surprised with great writing where each of the different sister's POVs were executed wonderfully.
- The world-building was very well done– each of the different countries the sisters were sent to felt different and unique from one another. It was descriptive, allowing me to visualise the various scenes in my head clearly. The magic system, however, felt slightly confusing to me, but it was still interesting nonetheless!
- Despite the 3 different POVs, I felt that the pacing was really good as nothing felt rushed or too draggy.
[CHARACTERS]
- Out of all the sisters, Sophronia was my favourite. I liked how different she was from Daphne, who was stubborn and somewhat blinded by her loyalty towards her mother (I am very excited for the future books to see how Daphne's would handle the truth of her mother's plans), vs Sophronia who had a big heart despite everything that she was taught and raised to be. I also really liked Beatrice!
- I wished there was more romance, however. I really liked Leopold's character development / growth and his interactions with Sophronia, as well as Beatriz's chemistry with Nico! However, due to a certain betrayal by Nico, we do not really like him anymore in this house. HAHA
- I didn't really care for the rebellion with Cliona and Daphne, but her romance Bairre was nice. I just wish it was more developed.
[OVERALL + ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS]
[KINDA MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW]
- I saw her execution coming, but !?!? NOOOO I thought she had plot armour :( It was such a shocking but also not very shocking moment for me (bc I predicted she would die). I thought she would get saved....
- That last chapter writing about the mother's POV was a plot twist for me because HOW!?!??! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN? I am sobbing bc the 3 girls were amazing people that I came to know after reading the novel and following them on their journey and I would not like to see bad things happen to them.
- Overall, I highly recommend it for its plot twists and interesting plot! If you are hesitating to pick this up due to eg. politics, yes, there is still politics BUT it isn't boring politics (i.e. military blah blah). It doesn't go too much into politics, so do pick it up even if you dislike politics ! (like me)
[SOME SPOILERS AHEAD IN CHARACTER + OVERALL SECTION]
I am SO glad I picked this novel up. The cover was gorgeous and synopsis sounded interesting, and I couldn't be happier to read this! It was such a fun read, and I couldn't put it down.
[PLOT, WRITING, WORLD-BUILDING & PACING]
- Writing a novel from 3 different perspectives is like writing 3 separate stories. As I'm not great with books with a lot of different POVs (I tend to get very confused), I went into it thinking it was gonna be a slightly muddled mess of perspectives. However, I was surprised with great writing where each of the different sister's POVs were executed wonderfully.
- The world-building was very well done– each of the different countries the sisters were sent to felt different and unique from one another. It was descriptive, allowing me to visualise the various scenes in my head clearly. The magic system, however, felt slightly confusing to me, but it was still interesting nonetheless!
- Despite the 3 different POVs, I felt that the pacing was really good as nothing felt rushed or too draggy.
[CHARACTERS]
- Out of all the sisters, Sophronia was my favourite. I liked how different she was from Daphne, who was stubborn and somewhat blinded by her loyalty towards her mother (I am very excited for the future books to see how Daphne's would handle the truth of her mother's plans), vs Sophronia who had a big heart despite everything that she was taught and raised to be. I also really liked Beatrice!
- I wished there was more romance, however. I really liked Leopold's character development / growth and his interactions with Sophronia, as well as Beatriz's chemistry with Nico! However, due to a certain betrayal by Nico, we do not really like him anymore in this house. HAHA
- I didn't really care for the rebellion with Cliona and Daphne, but her romance Bairre was nice. I just wish it was more developed.
[OVERALL + ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS]
[KINDA MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW]
- I saw her execution coming, but !?!? NOOOO I thought she had plot armour :( It was such a shocking but also not very shocking moment for me (bc I predicted she would die). I thought she would get saved....
- That last chapter writing about the mother's POV was a plot twist for me because HOW!?!??! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN? I am sobbing bc the 3 girls were amazing people that I came to know after reading the novel and following them on their journey and I would not like to see bad things happen to them.
- Overall, I highly recommend it for its plot twists and interesting plot! If you are hesitating to pick this up due to eg. politics, yes, there is still politics BUT it isn't boring politics (i.e. military blah blah). It doesn't go too much into politics, so do pick it up even if you dislike politics ! (like me)
loveat1stwrite's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a fun book to read. I LOVED all of the castles and courtship and schemes!
the_bookish_angel's review against another edition
5.0
To read my full review, check out my blog post:https://thebookishangeblog.wordpress.com/2022/02/09/book-review-castles-in-their-bones-by-laura-sebastian/
I love this book! Like I fucking love this book! It exceeded all of my expectations in every way possible and in the best possible way. This was probably my first 5 star read of this year and it was so freaking amazing. Like this book made my jaw drop to the ground and blew me out of my seat. It’s so freaking good.
If you are a fan of The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski, I highly recommend this book. It has everything you could want in a YA fantasy book. Romance. Magic. Politics. Betrayals. Plot twists. I highly, highly recommend you check out this book! It’s so good!!
I love this book! Like I fucking love this book! It exceeded all of my expectations in every way possible and in the best possible way. This was probably my first 5 star read of this year and it was so freaking amazing. Like this book made my jaw drop to the ground and blew me out of my seat. It’s so freaking good.
If you are a fan of The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski, I highly recommend this book. It has everything you could want in a YA fantasy book. Romance. Magic. Politics. Betrayals. Plot twists. I highly, highly recommend you check out this book! It’s so good!!