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A review by ecnadkins
Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
3.0
Ugh - where to start…
This was a really interesting concept - a fantasy world modelled after pre-revolution Russia and containing a lot of Eastern European folklore. The dead often come back to life, the nobility wield magic with pride, the common folk wield magic too but are branded as witches because of classism. The Tsar has been dethroned and one of these “witches”, Koschei, has stolen the Tsar’s magic.
Toma lives in a rural area with an undead family and after her sister is stolen to be taken to Koschei, she and the Tsar team up to… travel to him. That is the best way to summarize this story.
I had 2 big problems with this story. First, I think the main character was severely under-utilized. Toma has this really cool skill; she can heal people by sewing runes into their skin with sutures. And we get to see for a bit at the beginning and end of the book, but in the middle she doesn’t get to do anything. She stuck following 2 boys around while sometimes trying to chase after her sister.
Which leads me to the second problem - Toma’s motivations are very muddled. I think all 3 main characters suffered from this actually. Toma wants to rescue her sister. Mikhaïl wants to get his power back from Kochei. I don’t know what Vanya wants… to see the Tsar restored to power? They’re just out there existing and not making any sense. It made the pacing really slow in spots and left me confused.
The 2.5 stars (rounded up for goodreads) are purely for the world building and Vanya. The world was really cool; I loved the way the author interspersed the mythical creatures in Toma’s journey. And Vanya, even though I didn’t understand his motivations, ended up being the most interesting character.
This was a really interesting concept - a fantasy world modelled after pre-revolution Russia and containing a lot of Eastern European folklore. The dead often come back to life, the nobility wield magic with pride, the common folk wield magic too but are branded as witches because of classism. The Tsar has been dethroned and one of these “witches”, Koschei, has stolen the Tsar’s magic.
Toma lives in a rural area with an undead family and after her sister is stolen to be taken to Koschei, she and the Tsar team up to… travel to him. That is the best way to summarize this story.
I had 2 big problems with this story. First, I think the main character was severely under-utilized. Toma has this really cool skill; she can heal people by sewing runes into their skin with sutures. And we get to see for a bit at the beginning and end of the book, but in the middle she doesn’t get to do anything. She stuck following 2 boys around while sometimes trying to chase after her sister.
Which leads me to the second problem - Toma’s motivations are very muddled. I think all 3 main characters suffered from this actually. Toma wants to rescue her sister. Mikhaïl wants to get his power back from Kochei. I don’t know what Vanya wants… to see the Tsar restored to power? They’re just out there existing and not making any sense. It made the pacing really slow in spots and left me confused.
The 2.5 stars (rounded up for goodreads) are purely for the world building and Vanya. The world was really cool; I loved the way the author interspersed the mythical creatures in Toma’s journey. And Vanya, even though I didn’t understand his motivations, ended up being the most interesting character.