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A review by skylarkblue1
Twelve Bones by Rosie Talbot
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/rk7i9JDT/87-the-death-touched-of-york-2-twelve-bones-by-rosie-talbot
Well this was a pretty good sequel! Unfortunately a lot of the plot threads/holes from the first book weren't fully solved in this one - but a lot of questions where answered!
Set a few months after the ending events of book 1, Sam and Charlie finally get some time to be romantic.... Until even more ghosts want their help! Missing bones, strange occult goings-on and more!
There's quite a lot that goes on here. Explanation and expansion of The Hand, grappling with the events of the first book still and especially expanding on the world and magic system! I think the issue the first book had where there's too many characters is still very much an issue here. Where characters where lost in the first book, they're very quickly just replaced in this book, with more characters thrown in on top.
The character arc's and development was as good as the first book in my opinion, not overly fleshed out but satisfying enough that you can very easily tell there's a difference. Though the plot..... the plot is why it's 4 stars not 5. Minor spoilers for tropes used in the ending if you care for that but not about what actually happens.
The plot up until the ending - and even the first part of the ending - is pretty standard to what the first book was like and quite enjoyable. The ending climax started and got real dark and tense and it was great....... and then the author pulled the "and now they're god" trope. It just feels a bit lazy, you wrote this ending, if it can't be solved within the confines of the established lore and boundaries then why have that be the ending? Judging by how fast this book released, I suspect there was heavy crunch involved in making it, but even then I'd kinda just prefer an ending that just ends with a "it's an impossible situation! Lets see how it ends in book 3" if you needed more time to work it out. I get why, and yes the solution is I presume what book 3 will be about, but it just came out of nowhere and just felt a bit rushed imo.
Another thing that felt a bit rushed is the representations. There's a lot, if you look at my trello card linked at the top of this review you'll see there's a *lot* of labels. I think I got everything but I suspect I'm actually forgetting about some. There's a few that are kinda just "this character exists with this representation. Ok they're gone now". This happened at the end of book 1 with sign language, an incredibly fleeting moment during the ending that isn't continued even slightly into book 2. I was kinda really excited for another book with full, proper, sign language representation :(
Well this was a pretty good sequel! Unfortunately a lot of the plot threads/holes from the first book weren't fully solved in this one - but a lot of questions where answered!
Set a few months after the ending events of book 1, Sam and Charlie finally get some time to be romantic.... Until even more ghosts want their help! Missing bones, strange occult goings-on and more!
There's quite a lot that goes on here. Explanation and expansion of The Hand, grappling with the events of the first book still and especially expanding on the world and magic system! I think the issue the first book had where there's too many characters is still very much an issue here. Where characters where lost in the first book, they're very quickly just replaced in this book, with more characters thrown in on top.
The character arc's and development was as good as the first book in my opinion, not overly fleshed out but satisfying enough that you can very easily tell there's a difference. Though the plot..... the plot is why it's 4 stars not 5. Minor spoilers for tropes used in the ending if you care for that but not about what actually happens.
The plot up until the ending - and even the first part of the ending - is pretty standard to what the first book was like and quite enjoyable. The ending climax started and got real dark and tense and it was great....... and then the author pulled the "and now they're god" trope. It just feels a bit lazy, you wrote this ending, if it can't be solved within the confines of the established lore and boundaries then why have that be the ending? Judging by how fast this book released, I suspect there was heavy crunch involved in making it, but even then I'd kinda just prefer an ending that just ends with a "it's an impossible situation! Lets see how it ends in book 3" if you needed more time to work it out. I get why, and yes the solution is I presume what book 3 will be about, but it just came out of nowhere and just felt a bit rushed imo.
Another thing that felt a bit rushed is the representations. There's a lot, if you look at my trello card linked at the top of this review you'll see there's a *lot* of labels. I think I got everything but I suspect I'm actually forgetting about some. There's a few that are kinda just "this character exists with this representation. Ok they're gone now". This happened at the end of book 1 with sign language, an incredibly fleeting moment during the ending that isn't continued even slightly into book 2. I was kinda really excited for another book with full, proper, sign language representation :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Body horror, and Gore
Minor: Death of parent and Homophobia