A review by blackcatreads
Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

For the writing, I gave that a 6 out of 10. The writing was, unfortunately, extremely inconsistent in its quality. There were a number of typos and spelling errors. Many of the dialogue indicators were missing or in the wrong places, so we’d get lost within the sentence for whether or not someone was still speaking. Additionally, we have specific instances where we are told one thing but then later it’s something else. When homecoming is cancelled, it’s first noted that the students found out via email but later in the page, Savon says they found out through rumor. During specific scenes, it’s stated they are in the yard but in the next paragraph, the characters are leaving the living room. When did we get in the living room? One less important but funny item a friend pointed out is that, when we meet John Henry, he’s not wearing clothes, but we’re never told later if he ever ends up putting clothes on. I could pass the typos off as being an ARC and perhaps they were fixed in the printed version, but I do expect better editing for the inconsistencies from such a large publisher. 

For the plot, I gave that a 6 out of 10. The plot was incredibly slow with little substance. I would be fine with a slow plot if we could say we were learning the greater details of the magic system or uncovering more of the mystery of his mom, but we don’t get any of that. The plot is overtaken by homecoming, for the most part. Other than giving Malik a normal college experience, it did nothing to further the plot. I would have been fine with the homecoming stuff if there were other things happening alongside it, but there weren’t. At the end, everything comes to a head with Malik on trial for something he didn’t do. The trial plot point made no sense to begin with, but towards the end of it, it’s pretty clear Malik will be absolved. Rather than waiting it out and then leaving Caiman, he decides to make a huge spectacle and it seems like a forced plot point to show Malik as being overpowered. 

For the characters, I gave that a 6 out of 10. Malik has always been a complex and flawed character, but he seems to have regressed from book one. Any development he had seems to have been swept away. One could argue that, because he finally started going to therapy in this book, it makes sense he would regress a bit. I agree that regressing does happen. However, he mentions therapy twice and then it’s never brought up again. 

Leading up to the homecoming event, he specifically states that he isn’t really interested in participating but wants to support Savon and D Low to be the first queer royals. But the minute Malik is nominated, he betrays his friends and decides that he does actually want to participate because he should get to experience these things. As someone who has done a lot of soul searching and reliving things I didn’t get to do as a kid, that shouldn’t come at the expense of your friends. Malik knew how important this was to Savon and the queer community he is a supposed an ally of and he chose to put himself first anyway. They do end up reconciling, but that entire plot point was dragged out for so long. 

That seemed to be the main theme of the book. Malik consistently was selfish but all the characters constantly kept staying by his side and forgiving him. Malik doesn’t seem to suffer real consequences for his actions. 

Additionally, when we run into his mom again, there seems to be an underlying theme of “family is family no matter what they’ve done,” and I cannot agree with that. Malik’s mom, despite the plot twist at the end, was terrible and it doesn’t mean she should automatically be forgiven. Same with his dad. His dad knew where he was the entire time and never even tried to get him out of terrible situations. 

Just because they are your blood does not mean they deserve your forgiveness. 

We also know Malik has enough trauma but now we’re adding more labels that don’t actually apply to him. When his parents are arguing, he says it’s exhausting to parent your parents. As someone who actually did have to parent their parents throughout childhood, this is not the same. His parents were not in his life the entire time. He had to parent himself, which is its own issue. He did not parent his parents. 

Later, when Malik is trying to understand his mom, she says that a lot of her issues stem from the trauma of being a first born daughter. Malik’s mom is an only child. This is not the same experience as a first born daughter. We also never learn what that trauma really looked like other than having to live up to the expectations of being in a prominent family. While that is its own issue, we seem to be throwing around trauma for the sake of character depth. 

For the world-building, I gave that a 6 out of 10. We never expanded on how the magic system worked at all. We could get away with the mechanics being vague in book 1 because Malik didn’t understand it. Now, we’re in book 2 at a magical university, so it’s expected that we would learn the mechanics in more detail but we don’t. We know the magic comes from the ancestors but we never learn what makes Malik more powerful than other people. We never learn what other spells are so special within the Scroll of Idan. Malik somehow gains more control but he also still loses control when it’s plot specific. 

Overall, I gave this 3 stars. It was incredibly disappointing in comparison to book 1.