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clarksmom 's review for:
Bone Crier's Moon
by Kathryn Purdie
Author: Kathryn Purdie
Page Count (Hardcover): 453
Synopsis: Ailesse and Sabine are Bone Crier’s, chosen by the gods to ferry the dead to either the Underworld or Elara’s Paradise. But to become one, they must kill their amoure, their one true love.
Bastien’s father was killed by a Bone Crier when he was just a boy, and has dedicated his life to enacting his revenge.
But once Bastien and Ailesse get to know each other better, how can they kill each other?
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
I hate giving low ratings but this bad boy really disappointed me! Especially after such a catchy hook!
Jules this whole book.
Okay, I’M STARTING WITH THE POSITIVE STUFF:
The love and trust between Sabine and Ailesse makes for an excellent female friendship. Sabine is hesitant about becoming a Bone Crier because she doesn’t want to kill the three animals and then her soulmate to do so. But Ailesse has no issue with it: she has always wanted to be a Bone Crier. So even though these two have such different points of view on what they are, they both respect the other one. Ailesse even tells Sabine at the beginning of the book that, “We’ll find you another grace bone when you’re ready.” (grace bones are the bones of animals that give the Bone Crier’s their power. They have to kill the animal to get them). Ailesse does not rush Sabine to be something that she is not.
The mythology of the world is quite interesting. We learn about Tyrus, god of the Underworld, and Elara, god of the heavens. The Bone Crier’s are sort of a result of both of them and how they are connected I thought was cool. I don’t want to get into it more than that because SPOILERS but I was like, “huh, that’s neat.”
Okay, so that’s it [sorry]. There will be spoilers in my critique of the book. In general, I felt like I didn’t understand the character’s decisions, they gave up their goals too quickly, and I didn’t quite know what was going on sometimes. Like, I would skim PAGES just because it didn’t make sense or I was like – this is too much telling. The pacing felt off and the setting felt limited.
SPOILERS HERE ON OUT:
ME TO THIS BOOK
The pacing was strange. For “big events” in the book, we would switch first person POV so much that they took FOREVER. Heck, the big final event last from pages 376-442. And you could argue that it starts before that. It took WAY TOO LONG. But then, there are also HUGE PASSAGES OF TIME THAT ARE SKIPPED. Like, two weeks and then 10 days. Just passes. Which is us missing huge bits of character development (which I’ll get into later). Like we know Bastien and Ailesse were on their own in a cave for TEN DAYS and we don’t see ANY OF IT? Come on, that must have been chock-full of romantic tension!! And we were cheated of it!
Because time moved so fast, I don’t actually know what these characters are about. I didn’t get to see why they grew and changed. For Bastien, all I know is that he wants revenge. I don’t know anything else about him. For Ailesse, all I know is that she wants to be a Bone Crier. Sabine has a little more character depth, but even then she seems to throw it all away when she goes ahead and kills two more animals for her grace bones. But then they just change out of the blue and I don’t see WHY. I am TOLD why, but I don’t understand WHY THEY CHANGE. WHAT HAPPENED???
TO THAT NOTE, I didn’t buy Bastien and Ailesse falling for each other. I mean, it took nothing for them to change their minds. Bastien says something about Ailesse being “the bravest person he ever met” (or something like that), but I am like WHAT SHOWED HIM THAT. Also, he quickly believes (pg. 159) that Ailesse is indeed his soul mate, where I made the note of: WHEN DID BASTIEN START BELIEVING AILESSE WAS HIS SOULMATE? This felt like a POV error. It’s because we as the readers know Ailesse believes Bastien is, so the author just slipped it into Bastien’s head. But I don’t think Bastien would believe Ailesse is his soul mate. You could argue it’s because of the existence of the Bone Crier’s, but even if that were true I think Bastien would fight to believe Ailesse is not his soul mate. Regardless of anything, these women are responsible for his father’s death. AN INNOCENT DEATH. What could Ailesse do to make up for that except for say that the Bone Crier’s murdering the men they love is wrong? And she never says that!!! So I just don’t buy that Bastien would ever actually love her. That is why this story felt like “insta-love” (which I hate 95% of the time, bless you Nicola Yoon for changing my mind about it), because I still don’t understand why they started to like each other.
Honestly, I haven’t even gotten into Jules, who I mentioned in the gif, but honestly it was just sad seeing her pine after Bastien when he said he would never love her back. It seemed like her only purpose was to make Ailesse angry at the end of the book and run away from Bastien, then he would have to go save her.
This is a real spoiler, but I also wished we had at least known the character of Ailesse’s real soul mate before it was revealed. I wish the freaking PRINCE OF THIS NATION had been mentioned before the end of the book. The king was, but the prince never was (at least as far as I remember). Better world-building in the beginning would have made this more of an exciting reveal in the end, rather than what it was, which was me being like, “who da f is this guy?”
So, overall, this book had a lot of problems for me. This is not even mentioning that it is obvious that Bastien is not her real soul mate because HE CAN AVOID THE SONG. This bugged me from the beginning of the book.Anyway, 2.5/5 stars for me. Maybe you’ll enjoy it, so if the things I complained about seemed like not a big deal for you, this should be right up your alley!
Page Count (Hardcover): 453
Synopsis: Ailesse and Sabine are Bone Crier’s, chosen by the gods to ferry the dead to either the Underworld or Elara’s Paradise. But to become one, they must kill their amoure, their one true love.
Bastien’s father was killed by a Bone Crier when he was just a boy, and has dedicated his life to enacting his revenge.
But once Bastien and Ailesse get to know each other better, how can they kill each other?
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
I hate giving low ratings but this bad boy really disappointed me! Especially after such a catchy hook!
Jules this whole book.
Okay, I’M STARTING WITH THE POSITIVE STUFF:
The love and trust between Sabine and Ailesse makes for an excellent female friendship. Sabine is hesitant about becoming a Bone Crier because she doesn’t want to kill the three animals and then her soulmate to do so. But Ailesse has no issue with it: she has always wanted to be a Bone Crier. So even though these two have such different points of view on what they are, they both respect the other one. Ailesse even tells Sabine at the beginning of the book that, “We’ll find you another grace bone when you’re ready.” (grace bones are the bones of animals that give the Bone Crier’s their power. They have to kill the animal to get them). Ailesse does not rush Sabine to be something that she is not.
The mythology of the world is quite interesting. We learn about Tyrus, god of the Underworld, and Elara, god of the heavens. The Bone Crier’s are sort of a result of both of them and how they are connected I thought was cool. I don’t want to get into it more than that because SPOILERS but I was like, “huh, that’s neat.”
Okay, so that’s it [sorry]. There will be spoilers in my critique of the book. In general, I felt like I didn’t understand the character’s decisions, they gave up their goals too quickly, and I didn’t quite know what was going on sometimes. Like, I would skim PAGES just because it didn’t make sense or I was like – this is too much telling. The pacing felt off and the setting felt limited.
SPOILERS HERE ON OUT:
ME TO THIS BOOK
Spoiler
Most of this book took place in the forest or catacombs, neither of which were particularly vibrant or telling about the world we were in. There was a city, Dovre, but we never really see it or live in it. We later learn that Bastien is a petty thief, but we don’t see where he lives or how he survives. We don’t get to know him that well before he meets Ailesse. I WANTED MORE SETTING. I wanted to live in the big city! I wanted to explore where the Bone Crier’s live! I wanted to understand more about Bastien’s secret hide out! Why was it just in the catacombs where MOST OF THE BOOK HAD ALREADY TAKEN PLACE? Give me more!The pacing was strange. For “big events” in the book, we would switch first person POV so much that they took FOREVER. Heck, the big final event last from pages 376-442. And you could argue that it starts before that. It took WAY TOO LONG. But then, there are also HUGE PASSAGES OF TIME THAT ARE SKIPPED. Like, two weeks and then 10 days. Just passes. Which is us missing huge bits of character development (which I’ll get into later). Like we know Bastien and Ailesse were on their own in a cave for TEN DAYS and we don’t see ANY OF IT? Come on, that must have been chock-full of romantic tension!! And we were cheated of it!
Because time moved so fast, I don’t actually know what these characters are about. I didn’t get to see why they grew and changed. For Bastien, all I know is that he wants revenge. I don’t know anything else about him. For Ailesse, all I know is that she wants to be a Bone Crier. Sabine has a little more character depth, but even then she seems to throw it all away when she goes ahead and kills two more animals for her grace bones. But then they just change out of the blue and I don’t see WHY. I am TOLD why, but I don’t understand WHY THEY CHANGE. WHAT HAPPENED???
TO THAT NOTE, I didn’t buy Bastien and Ailesse falling for each other. I mean, it took nothing for them to change their minds. Bastien says something about Ailesse being “the bravest person he ever met” (or something like that), but I am like WHAT SHOWED HIM THAT. Also, he quickly believes (pg. 159) that Ailesse is indeed his soul mate, where I made the note of: WHEN DID BASTIEN START BELIEVING AILESSE WAS HIS SOULMATE? This felt like a POV error. It’s because we as the readers know Ailesse believes Bastien is, so the author just slipped it into Bastien’s head. But I don’t think Bastien would believe Ailesse is his soul mate. You could argue it’s because of the existence of the Bone Crier’s, but even if that were true I think Bastien would fight to believe Ailesse is not his soul mate. Regardless of anything, these women are responsible for his father’s death. AN INNOCENT DEATH. What could Ailesse do to make up for that except for say that the Bone Crier’s murdering the men they love is wrong? And she never says that!!! So I just don’t buy that Bastien would ever actually love her. That is why this story felt like “insta-love” (which I hate 95% of the time, bless you Nicola Yoon for changing my mind about it), because I still don’t understand why they started to like each other.
Honestly, I haven’t even gotten into Jules, who I mentioned in the gif, but honestly it was just sad seeing her pine after Bastien when he said he would never love her back. It seemed like her only purpose was to make Ailesse angry at the end of the book and run away from Bastien, then he would have to go save her.
This is a real spoiler, but I also wished we had at least known the character of Ailesse’s real soul mate before it was revealed. I wish the freaking PRINCE OF THIS NATION had been mentioned before the end of the book. The king was, but the prince never was (at least as far as I remember). Better world-building in the beginning would have made this more of an exciting reveal in the end, rather than what it was, which was me being like, “who da f is this guy?”
So, overall, this book had a lot of problems for me. This is not even mentioning that it is obvious that Bastien is not her real soul mate because HE CAN AVOID THE SONG. This bugged me from the beginning of the book.