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A review by nonesensed
The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
3.0
Having defeated a great evil 25 years ago, Kreya now spends her days trying to resurrect her lost love, some times succeeding, but only briefly. Her quest to gain the necessary 'ingredients' for her less than legal necromancy leads her to discover a horrific possibility: the man who murdered her husband and thousands of others might not be as dead as previously believed.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this story. The characters, former heroes reuniting after years apart, having to deal with things left unsaid and how they've all changed, are engaging and likeable! I had fun getting to know them and got invested in their friendships and loves. But then the central plot took off and I sadly found myself over and over needled by a big issue (which is a bit of a spoiler, so):
Kreya, the supposed brilliant strategic leader who brought down a guy who's talked about like he's Sauron, is... not a very good strategist. Not only does Kreya get outwitted over and over and fails to be strategic (for example: not checking the valley of eternal mist and monsters you yourself used to sneak around in for the undead army you think might be lurking around - why not????), but her achievements from her younger days are also more tell than show. It made the plot a continuous loop of "our heroes fail yet again!" once Eklor re-enters the scene. Frustrating.
Also,the more you learn about the "Bone War" you start to realize it was basically One Guy with a lot of undead against One City State. Not exactly the world ending doom I at first got the impression Eklor was supposed to be.
Now, this is not me saying this is a bad book! I had a lot of fun reading about the characters, I really like them as people, but I went into this kinda looking for Competence Porn and that's not what I got. Kinda like biting into what look like a strawberry and tasting chocolate - not a bad taste, but not what I was in the mood for, y'know?
Basically, read this for fun characters, but be prepared to be frustrated by their life choices.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this story. The characters, former heroes reuniting after years apart, having to deal with things left unsaid and how they've all changed, are engaging and likeable! I had fun getting to know them and got invested in their friendships and loves. But then the central plot took off and I sadly found myself over and over needled by a big issue (which is a bit of a spoiler, so):
Also,the more you learn about the "Bone War" you start to realize it was basically One Guy with a lot of undead against One City State. Not exactly the world ending doom I at first got the impression Eklor was supposed to be.
Now, this is not me saying this is a bad book! I had a lot of fun reading about the characters, I really like them as people, but I went into this kinda looking for Competence Porn and that's not what I got. Kinda like biting into what look like a strawberry and tasting chocolate - not a bad taste, but not what I was in the mood for, y'know?
Basically, read this for fun characters, but be prepared to be frustrated by their life choices.