A review by jose_kg
The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I really wanted to love this book, magical realism in Victorian London sounded amazing and many of the ideas that Raughley had are very interesting. The problem was the execution, the pacing was odd, very slow in parts and a lot of unnecessary repetition of characters back stories to the point I wondered if she'd set herself a high minimum word count. There was a lot of telling instead of showing and characters having deep feelings for each other with no reason. There was a fair amount of mind-reading going on, where Iris would question something in her mind and then a character would helpfully supply the answer without being asked. Iris was a surprisingly boring MC despite a really interesting back story, I think the author wanted her to be too perfect and that made her boring and the plot had to drive the story completely. The love triangle wasn't very believable and I don't know what was meant to be going on with Adam. 

I found the final big battle with the other 'fanciful freaks' really silly. Firstly these people were meant to be her friends, we'd been told over and over how much their friendship meant, but the second they perceived her as a possible threat they try to kill her. Secondly they try to kill her, a person they explicitly know cannot die, so what on earth did they think they were going to achieve? Piss her off so she'd kill them faster? Thirdly, they heard her story of all the pain she'd gone through, the fact she didn't want to kill anyone and now that she knows what she can do she won't accidentally kill anyone else, so as a group that has multiple murderers in it, they decide she's the worst for accidently killing someone? It just seemed so contrived and took any emotion from the realisation that many of them probably died when the club burnt down.


Overall I found this a hard book to finish and I won't be reading the rest of the series. I have given some stars because the premise is really interesting, I just wish it had been executed better. 
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