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A review by sarag19
The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst
3.0
I finished this book really liking it but the longer that I thought over it, the more I went over events that had happened the less I found myself liking it. I think there is an amazing premise here but it didn’t deliver what I thought it was going to deliver. What happens after the heroes are victorious, what traumas do they carry with them as the world forgets and moves on and that is not what the book delivers.
Most of the book we spend with Kreya the leader of the five heroes and she is very singular and self centered in her wants, to bring back her dead husband. I understand the desires but it is hard to be supportive of Kreya and her actions because I don’t know anything about her and Jentt’s story. The book sells that they have a love story so strong that Kreya is willing to violate the greatest of laws of a bone worker and sacrifice her life for this love but I never feel it. The book would have been better served giving us more flashbacks so that their love story feels more alive that Kreya’s want to break all rules resonates with the reader because they have been a witness to that journey. It also doesn’t help that Kreya spends a good chunk of the book bossing everyone around, she is the leader and seems to be constantly pulling rank on her friends putting herself into dangerous situations to satisfy her own wants knowing her friends will follow her. Kreya does eventually begin to come around near the end to see how her wants have put so many people in danger but its only have she can actively compare her actions against the actions of evil even though she has had twenty five years to dwell on this.
As for the other characters, they are mostly just cut out stereotypes that we never get to spend enough time to allow them to fully develop as characters. They also act like they are just out of their teens, much of the dialogue and interactions feel very juvenile instead of traumatized folks in at least their early forties. Especially when you remember that these are characters that fought in a war that they carry scares with them.
Zera has attachment issues due to Kreya’s abandonment and creates superficial attachments with the people around her but we know that she cares deeply for Kreya and her friends to immediately throw herself into danger despite all the walls she has built up around herself. Jentt has no autonomy over his own life, he is at the whims of Kreya when and if he will come back to life. It is mentioned that he has spoke with her about moving but I wish the book had focused more on him. I want to know more about his struggle with the idea how constantly coming back to life and the lose of time between living and death. Stran and his wife are just there, Amurra feels more fleshed out than Stran even if at the end she feels more like a plot device than a real character.
Marso’s story is the saddest for me, he was broken and driven mad by the visions he saw and the people around him. He does slowly grow into confidence with his seeing abilities but I do appreciate that by the end of the book he is not just magically fixed. After twenty five years he may be beyond repair but he does slowly begin to get control over his abilities so they don’t continue to damage him further.
The magic system itself is fascinating, I loved the idea of different bone workers able to use the bones in different ways. Also how the different bones may be able to be used for different abilities that are reflected in the type of bones that are used. I would have like to have seen more of how Zera creates the talismans that they use, I get the idea of Marso and Kreya’s abilities but not so much hers. I wish that we had gotten to see more of the bone workers in actions.
Plot wise, its very frustrating as some moments work great and then the book grinds to a near halt as it transitions into an actual conflict which I don’t think the book needed. You have four broken characters and a fifth that keeps coming back to life, a character study would have been much better suited for the story that I think this book was trying to get across. The moral grey areas of bone working, the unseen scars we carry with us and the lingering resentment of being forced to carry the weight of battle on ones shoulders. When they book covers these points it excels and I really enjoy it because I want to know more about these characters and how they have struggled with what happened to them. But so much of that is left unsaid, happened in the twenty five years that we didn’t get to be apart of.
Most of the book we spend with Kreya the leader of the five heroes and she is very singular and self centered in her wants, to bring back her dead husband. I understand the desires but it is hard to be supportive of Kreya and her actions because I don’t know anything about her and Jentt’s story. The book sells that they have a love story so strong that Kreya is willing to violate the greatest of laws of a bone worker and sacrifice her life for this love but I never feel it. The book would have been better served giving us more flashbacks so that their love story feels more alive that Kreya’s want to break all rules resonates with the reader because they have been a witness to that journey. It also doesn’t help that Kreya spends a good chunk of the book bossing everyone around, she is the leader and seems to be constantly pulling rank on her friends putting herself into dangerous situations to satisfy her own wants knowing her friends will follow her. Kreya does eventually begin to come around near the end to see how her wants have put so many people in danger but its only have she can actively compare her actions against the actions of evil even though she has had twenty five years to dwell on this.
As for the other characters, they are mostly just cut out stereotypes that we never get to spend enough time to allow them to fully develop as characters. They also act like they are just out of their teens, much of the dialogue and interactions feel very juvenile instead of traumatized folks in at least their early forties. Especially when you remember that these are characters that fought in a war that they carry scares with them.
Zera has attachment issues due to Kreya’s abandonment and creates superficial attachments with the people around her but we know that she cares deeply for Kreya and her friends to immediately throw herself into danger despite all the walls she has built up around herself. Jentt has no autonomy over his own life, he is at the whims of Kreya when and if he will come back to life. It is mentioned that he has spoke with her about moving but I wish the book had focused more on him. I want to know more about his struggle with the idea how constantly coming back to life and the lose of time between living and death. Stran and his wife are just there, Amurra feels more fleshed out than Stran even if at the end she feels more like a plot device than a real character.
Marso’s story is the saddest for me, he was broken and driven mad by the visions he saw and the people around him. He does slowly grow into confidence with his seeing abilities but I do appreciate that by the end of the book he is not just magically fixed. After twenty five years he may be beyond repair but he does slowly begin to get control over his abilities so they don’t continue to damage him further.
The magic system itself is fascinating, I loved the idea of different bone workers able to use the bones in different ways. Also how the different bones may be able to be used for different abilities that are reflected in the type of bones that are used. I would have like to have seen more of how Zera creates the talismans that they use, I get the idea of Marso and Kreya’s abilities but not so much hers. I wish that we had gotten to see more of the bone workers in actions.
Plot wise, its very frustrating as some moments work great and then the book grinds to a near halt as it transitions into an actual conflict which I don’t think the book needed. You have four broken characters and a fifth that keeps coming back to life, a character study would have been much better suited for the story that I think this book was trying to get across. The moral grey areas of bone working, the unseen scars we carry with us and the lingering resentment of being forced to carry the weight of battle on ones shoulders. When they book covers these points it excels and I really enjoy it because I want to know more about these characters and how they have struggled with what happened to them. But so much of that is left unsaid, happened in the twenty five years that we didn’t get to be apart of.