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kheideloff 's review for:
Spit Back the Bones
by Teagan Olivia King
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I grabbed this book because the premise sounded super interesting. A girl who could hear the voices of the dead from the bog. A monster killing and the bog itself angry and wanting vengeance. The story was good but it wasn’t love for me.
Here are my thoughts:
Bog. The word is so overused in this story. The first 30% of the novel I swear the word was used every other sentence. I almost DNFed because of it. It was really bad. We need some editing here for sure.
The main character is just angry about everything. That’s her personality. Just mad. I would get it if it there was some reason for her to have that anger with her all the time but there isn’t.
The FMC acts like she has a history with one or two of the characters but we never get that in depth look. The FMC doesn’t have much development other than anger and she hates the bog.
The MMC. This boy is just crying in every scene. I think every time we see him he cries. I get it. He’s soft to her anger but cmon already. Roe is a decent character but we are told his history, not shown. This whole novel is about telling and not showing.
The action is actually pretty good. The scenes where something actually happens are done well and have a good spooky vibe. The creepy preacher, the gothic swamp vibes done well. I just wish we had more. More showing, more depth, less predictability, less slow motion.
The main plot was interesting when you dug through the rest. Do I think this is a good story? Yes. Do I think it needs more edits to get to it? Yes. I hope this story gets a little more attention and it’ll shine.
Thank you to Turner Publishing Company/Keylight books and NetGalley for the arc.
Here are my thoughts:
Bog. The word is so overused in this story. The first 30% of the novel I swear the word was used every other sentence. I almost DNFed because of it. It was really bad. We need some editing here for sure.
The main character is just angry about everything. That’s her personality. Just mad. I would get it if it there was some reason for her to have that anger with her all the time but there isn’t.
The FMC acts like she has a history with one or two of the characters but we never get that in depth look. The FMC doesn’t have much development other than anger and she hates the bog.
The MMC. This boy is just crying in every scene. I think every time we see him he cries. I get it. He’s soft to her anger but cmon already. Roe is a decent character but we are told his history, not shown. This whole novel is about telling and not showing.
The action is actually pretty good. The scenes where something actually happens are done well and have a good spooky vibe. The creepy preacher, the gothic swamp vibes done well. I just wish we had more. More showing, more depth, less predictability, less slow motion.
The main plot was interesting when you dug through the rest. Do I think this is a good story? Yes. Do I think it needs more edits to get to it? Yes. I hope this story gets a little more attention and it’ll shine.
Thank you to Turner Publishing Company/Keylight books and NetGalley for the arc.