hateay 's review for:

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

3.0

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This was pretty good, but definitely still lacking in many areas. The prose at the beginning was gorgeous, and I was disappointed to discover that that trend didn't continue for the rest of the story. It took about halfway for me to really get invested in the story. I think the fact that it was more summarization in a passive voice that kept me from being truly invested. This also contributed to me feeling as if there were a lack of stakes. The story felt very passion-less. She was supposed to be angry and bitter and resentful of the world (rightfully so), but I didn't feel any of that. There was a lack of depth to most of the characters, including Tea, which led me to not care about any of them. And despite the relative high rating I gave this book, I'm left debating whether I actually want to continue this series.

Next, the romance. While I love romance, I definitely don't think it needs to be injected into every story. I'm not sure if romance is more prominent in the rest of the story, but I felt like it was a missed opportunity not to focus on it here. In a world where you can literally give your heart away, willing allowing yourself to be enslaved but still can't help falling anyway.. I mean that's a lot of angst potential.

***minor spoilers***
Anyway, I kind of figured that Klance(or was it Kance) was a misdirect, but it still annoyed me because that seems to be all his purpose.

Final thoughts: I love love the idea of an embittered witch rising up in vengeance to dismantle an archaic system that treats her like a weapon while simultaneously oppressing her. Unfortunately, this one fell flat as I did not love Tea.

Also, if I had a nickel for every time a character named Zoya behaved antagonistically only to switch sides after the death of a beloved one...