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A review by rorikae
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
'The Bone Witch' by Rin Chupeco is an interesting fantasy with an intriguing magic system.
Tea lives in a world of witches but her power is different than her family's. When her brother is killed, she resurrects him and learns that she is a bone witch. But resurrections are not looked on kindly by her community. To learn more about her powers, she ventures with her brother Fox to a different land where she can train under a more experienced bone witch. But as she trains and learns more about this new community and her powers, she becomes entangled in the politics of the city.
My favorite thing about this story is the magic system. From what I have read, it is based on various pieces of folklore and history and they come together to form this really interesting world and magic system. One of the pieces I found the most interesting is the use of Hearts Glass, particularly how people can read the color of the glass to diagnose illnesses and to tell more about the individual.
The other piece that I really liked was the structure of the story. It is told in two viewpoints, mainly from Tea's own view but also from the point of view of a bard who is encountering a future version of Tea. This creates intrigue as we get the past and current versions of Tea simultaneously and it made me interested in how she became the person in the later story.
One of my stumbling points for this story was the audiobook. It wasn't bad but I did find that it didn't capture my attention. I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book as I found it easy to miss pieces in the audiobook that would be far harder to do if I was reading a physical version of the story. There was also a slight love story in the book that felt unnecessary though I believe it will be much more important for later installments. Even though I didn't love this book, I am interested to read more of Chupeco's works in the future.
Tea lives in a world of witches but her power is different than her family's. When her brother is killed, she resurrects him and learns that she is a bone witch. But resurrections are not looked on kindly by her community. To learn more about her powers, she ventures with her brother Fox to a different land where she can train under a more experienced bone witch. But as she trains and learns more about this new community and her powers, she becomes entangled in the politics of the city.
My favorite thing about this story is the magic system. From what I have read, it is based on various pieces of folklore and history and they come together to form this really interesting world and magic system. One of the pieces I found the most interesting is the use of Hearts Glass, particularly how people can read the color of the glass to diagnose illnesses and to tell more about the individual.
The other piece that I really liked was the structure of the story. It is told in two viewpoints, mainly from Tea's own view but also from the point of view of a bard who is encountering a future version of Tea. This creates intrigue as we get the past and current versions of Tea simultaneously and it made me interested in how she became the person in the later story.
One of my stumbling points for this story was the audiobook. It wasn't bad but I did find that it didn't capture my attention. I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book as I found it easy to miss pieces in the audiobook that would be far harder to do if I was reading a physical version of the story. There was also a slight love story in the book that felt unnecessary though I believe it will be much more important for later installments. Even though I didn't love this book, I am interested to read more of Chupeco's works in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence