blackcatreads 's review for:

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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In this, we’re following a girl named Tea over the course of about 5 years. In her world, people have what’s called heartsglass, and it’s kind of like an aura mirror. It’s generally something that people wear and it essentially shows people's auras and can hint at their moods. 

This is also an indicator of the type of magic they’ll have, if they have it. Tea has grown up in a large family of witches in a small village in the kingdom of Odalia. In her family, her sisters are the ones who possess magic, and they have element based magic, like water and plants, and they are considered somewhat weak in it. 

Tea is nearing the age of 13 where her heartsglass will change to the color that will indicate her magic, but just before that happens, her brother Fox dies. She is so distraught that her magic manifests early and she resurrects him and makes him her familiar. So she’s a necromancer, and these are rare and super frowned upon. 

Formally trained witches are called Asha, and one by the name of Mykaela found her not long after this happens and takes her to the neighboring kingdom of Kion to the home of the Asha called The Willows. 

While there, she is trained essentially as a geisha. She learns to dance and play instruments and how to be a diplomat, and these asha serve many functions in the society. Most asha are element based and they’ll serve as apothecaries, healers, things like that. More powerful ones might be able to use more than one elemental based magic, and they’ll serve different functions in the government. However, necromancers, also called Dark Asha, are generally considered both weak and powerful. They are weak in the sense that they can’t use elemental magic. They can only use Dark magic. However, it’s also the most dangerous and difficult to control, so they are powerful. 

So, while Tea is trained like all the other Asha, her duties are a little different. In this world, there are also these chimera - like demons that never stay dead. They resurrect after a certain amount of time, and only Dark Asha can combat them. Currently, there are only two Dark Asha: Tea and Mykaela. 

Throughout the book, we follow Tea through her training as an Asha and what leads her on the path she does as it is hinted at the beginning. 

For the writing, I gave that an 8 out of 10. I found it very interesting and I was really engaged. While the book is technically YA since our main character starts at 12 and ends at 17, the writing style doesn’t feel like YA. I would also say the writing style is similar to A Magic Steeped in Poison or She Who Became the Sun. I liked how detailed everything was in the book, but it wasn’t bogged down by those details. It flowed really well. I also liked that it was almost an interview. We start the book with another character meeting Tea at the end of the events that occur in the series, and we follow along as she tells this person of her life and the events that led to where she is now. The main downside to the writing is that it was hard to keep track of the time elapsed. At one point, I was wondering how long had passed, only to find out she was now 15. 

For the plot, I gave that a 5 out of 10. It’s not a plot heavy book. As mentioned with the writing style, we’re following Tea’s life, so there isn’t a specific plot to follow. We’re mostly following her through her training as well as her learning the intricacies of the magic. 

For the characters, I gave that a 7 out of 10. The book is much more character centric than plot centric. I do like Tea as a character, and many times I did forget that she was a teenager. If cold fury was a character, this is her. At the beginning, she already has a strong sense of justice and is very spirited, and that never really leaves her. Throughout her years with the asha and nobles, she starts to have this simmering hatred of the world. She sees how asha, especially dark asha, are treated as commodities for entertainment for the wealthy, but then turned over to the daeva as lambs for slaughter. Tea has seen how this cycle has worn down her mentor, Mykaela, and how unfair it is. She also learns that boys also can use dark magic, but they are not allowed to become asha. They are conscripted as Deathseekers to help hunt and kill daeva, and being a Deathseeker has a high mortality rate. She sees all these injustices in the world, and so she almost harbors this hatred. At some point, we learn a boy she loves is killed and she is going to take revenge on the world. We don’t get the full picture of her character in book 1 but I love a morally grey FMC so I’m interested to see how that goes in the next books. 

For the world-building, I gave that an 8 out of 10. I thought the idea of magic geisha was really cool, and I loved this idea of the heartsglass. I’m not entirely sure how it works, and maybe that will be described in later books, but either way it was interesting. I love these chimera monsters that resurrect. Although, if you’ve seen Love Between Fairy and Devil the live-action show, all I picture is the black dragon. 

Overall, I gave this 3.5 stars. I did really enjoy it. I think it was really interesting, and it was a quick read for me.