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A review by bookandcoffeeaddict
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
5.0
Set in a time and place where magic is real and a whole caste system is built around it, The Bone Witch is an absorbing dark folktale told in two interweaving perspectives, flashing forward and backwards in time. The book’s present day parts are from the perspective of a bard encountering a young, powerful bone witch exiled on a beach littered with skeletons, while the parts set in the past are told from the perspective of Tea, the bone witch herself, recounting her journey from a young ingénue ignorant of her own dark power to an initiate into the exclusive magic-wielding world of the elegant and much sought after asha, learning to navigate politics, patrons, and prejudices along the way.
There are three kinds of asha in the world of The Bone Witch: performing, fighting, and Dark – the third being the rarest and strongest, but most feared and mistrusted of the three, and the group to which Tea belongs. The asha are very much like elemental magic wielding geisha – educated to be intelligent and accomplished in the arts, expensively outfitted for proper presentation in fine fabrics, hair jewels, and spelled face paints, and in high demand by patrons of status and wealth willing to pay for their time and presence as entertainers and hostesses at social gatherings.
The world building in this book is somewhat complex, but the intricacies are introduced in an organic way that feels natural, avoiding the pitfall of being more tell then show, which can happen in books such as this where a new world and vocabulary is being introduced. There is a large cast of supporting characters, each important to the plot, and I will admit I got confused at some points – especially when it came to Prince Kance and his cousin Kalen, both of who play meaningful roles in Tea’s tale. Eight different kingdoms are introduced throughout the story, each with it’s own political intrigues and cultural differences, and it can get little hard to keep things straight at some points, but luckily this was anticipated and the book contains a handy dandy little reference in the back.
The book doesn’t end in a cliffhanger, per say, but the past and the present don’t quite meet up, so we know there is more story to be told. We definitely get a foreshadowing of the darker path Tea is entering in the past, but it’s not at the level present day Tea is at, and I, for one, was left with some burning questions – what event triggers her to put her on the path she is currently on? Or was it an accumulation of a smaller events? And above all, what was she exiled for? (we aren’t really given a clear answer to this yet).
The Bone Witch was a fantastic, compelling read from beginning to end. Rin Chupeco paints such a vivid picture with her words that you can’t help but be drawn into the richly detailed world she builds and the intriguing story she weaves. Chupeco is a master storyteller and I’m a huge fan of hers. I highly recommend her The Girl from the Well series if you’re into YA horror (The Girl From The Well and The Suffering) and I eagerly await the next book in The Bone Witch‘s series.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.
There are three kinds of asha in the world of The Bone Witch: performing, fighting, and Dark – the third being the rarest and strongest, but most feared and mistrusted of the three, and the group to which Tea belongs. The asha are very much like elemental magic wielding geisha – educated to be intelligent and accomplished in the arts, expensively outfitted for proper presentation in fine fabrics, hair jewels, and spelled face paints, and in high demand by patrons of status and wealth willing to pay for their time and presence as entertainers and hostesses at social gatherings.
The world building in this book is somewhat complex, but the intricacies are introduced in an organic way that feels natural, avoiding the pitfall of being more tell then show, which can happen in books such as this where a new world and vocabulary is being introduced. There is a large cast of supporting characters, each important to the plot, and I will admit I got confused at some points – especially when it came to Prince Kance and his cousin Kalen, both of who play meaningful roles in Tea’s tale. Eight different kingdoms are introduced throughout the story, each with it’s own political intrigues and cultural differences, and it can get little hard to keep things straight at some points, but luckily this was anticipated and the book contains a handy dandy little reference in the back.
The book doesn’t end in a cliffhanger, per say, but the past and the present don’t quite meet up, so we know there is more story to be told. We definitely get a foreshadowing of the darker path Tea is entering in the past, but it’s not at the level present day Tea is at, and I, for one, was left with some burning questions – what event triggers her to put her on the path she is currently on? Or was it an accumulation of a smaller events? And above all, what was she exiled for? (we aren’t really given a clear answer to this yet).
The Bone Witch was a fantastic, compelling read from beginning to end. Rin Chupeco paints such a vivid picture with her words that you can’t help but be drawn into the richly detailed world she builds and the intriguing story she weaves. Chupeco is a master storyteller and I’m a huge fan of hers. I highly recommend her The Girl from the Well series if you’re into YA horror (The Girl From The Well and The Suffering) and I eagerly await the next book in The Bone Witch‘s series.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.