Take a photo of a barcode or cover
seraphjewel 's review for:
Bone Crier's Moon
by Kathryn Purdie
This was the Owlcrate pick for April. Unfortunately, I have to round down on my rating for this one. I thought the mythology was fascinating and the bond between Sabine and Ailesse was good, but it dragged on for so long I got bored about midway through. Plus there is no need for this to be stretched out even more for a sequel.
I get the negatives out of the way first so I can end on a positive note, so here we go. I'm likely the only person reading this who doesn't want Bastien to have a romance with anyone. I don't care if you're a guy or a girl-- "no" means "no", and Jules being bitter and teary-eyed because he wasn't interested in a romance with her got so irritating. Imagine if the genders were reversed in that situation. Would we be championing the whining, pouty guy who keeps pushing for something even after the girl says "no"? Not that his romance with Ailesse was any better. They just decided they were in love with each other because... fate, or something. I think this is where I really stopped caring because I don't remember there being any chemistry or build-up to affection between them. Hell, there is way more chemistry between Sabine and Ailesse.
There are a few reveals in this book that I guess are supposed to be surprising. One I figured out very early on, another made sense from what the text was hinting at, and another... Remind me why I'm supposed to care? This character comes out of nowhere and I swear I thought we had a love rhombus on our hands. It might still happen with how the book ends. I sure do love it when a book that's about these women sacrificing men for ancient gods ends with the guy needing to rescue the girl from something. True, Sabine is also trying to rescue Ailesse in this book, but still... why do they need to be rescued at all?
I would've loved it if the book answered simple questions. Why was Sabine so against killing animals to the point of crying over them? Did she still eat the meat or was she a vegetarian? It made no sense growing up in her society where they show such care and reverence to the dead, and they don't waste the parts of animals they kill. How did Bastien become the way he was? Why would Odiva tell Sabine what she was doing and why? Odiva was way too conveniently overheard when she was talking about her questionable plans. What exactly does one do in order to be Unchained? The rules on that feel very odd. I feel like way too much was put in and not given enough time to be explained or developed. It took way too much time with nothing going on, so when the action happened it was all rushed through.
All that being said, the actual society of the Bone Criers was very interesting. I would've loved more time spent among them so I could learn about their culture and the way they saw the world. I would've loved to know more about their gods and all the rituals the women performed. I wanted to know more about the other women in the group and why sixty was such an old age for them.
So, yeah. Very interesting concept with a strong female friendship. If the book had just stuck with that, it would've been amazing. But it dragged on forever without anything actually happening or learned about the characters, and the romance was weak and underdeveloped.
I get the negatives out of the way first so I can end on a positive note, so here we go. I'm likely the only person reading this who doesn't want Bastien to have a romance with anyone. I don't care if you're a guy or a girl-- "no" means "no", and Jules being bitter and teary-eyed because he wasn't interested in a romance with her got so irritating. Imagine if the genders were reversed in that situation. Would we be championing the whining, pouty guy who keeps pushing for something even after the girl says "no"? Not that his romance with Ailesse was any better. They just decided they were in love with each other because... fate, or something. I think this is where I really stopped caring because I don't remember there being any chemistry or build-up to affection between them. Hell, there is way more chemistry between Sabine and Ailesse.
There are a few reveals in this book that I guess are supposed to be surprising. One I figured out very early on, another made sense from what the text was hinting at, and another... Remind me why I'm supposed to care? This character comes out of nowhere and I swear I thought we had a love rhombus on our hands. It might still happen with how the book ends. I sure do love it when a book that's about these women sacrificing men for ancient gods ends with the guy needing to rescue the girl from something. True, Sabine is also trying to rescue Ailesse in this book, but still... why do they need to be rescued at all?
I would've loved it if the book answered simple questions. Why was Sabine so against killing animals to the point of crying over them? Did she still eat the meat or was she a vegetarian? It made no sense growing up in her society where they show such care and reverence to the dead, and they don't waste the parts of animals they kill. How did Bastien become the way he was? Why would Odiva tell Sabine what she was doing and why? Odiva was way too conveniently overheard when she was talking about her questionable plans. What exactly does one do in order to be Unchained? The rules on that feel very odd. I feel like way too much was put in and not given enough time to be explained or developed. It took way too much time with nothing going on, so when the action happened it was all rushed through.
All that being said, the actual society of the Bone Criers was very interesting. I would've loved more time spent among them so I could learn about their culture and the way they saw the world. I would've loved to know more about their gods and all the rituals the women performed. I wanted to know more about the other women in the group and why sixty was such an old age for them.
So, yeah. Very interesting concept with a strong female friendship. If the book had just stuck with that, it would've been amazing. But it dragged on forever without anything actually happening or learned about the characters, and the romance was weak and underdeveloped.