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A review by musingswithmiranda
The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill
4.0
Happy release day!!
I received an eARC of this novella from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Look, I am a very easy person to please when it comes to marketing books. If you mention something being sapphic, I am in. Add to that a myth retelling, and I am beyond sold on picking up a copy. When I saw the publisher and author posting about requesting an arc, I honestly could not pass up that opportunity. I was so excited when I got the email with a copy!
The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill is inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but sapphic and with witches. The story starts with Teagan’s wife Cressidae going missing. She left Teagan to travel to the Shadow Realm where she is seeking a cure for a poison that has slowly been killing Teagan. Cressidae hopes to find the Shadow Princess who is rumored to help those who manage to find her after traveling through the dangerous realm. Teagan knows how perilous this is, so she leaves at once to find and help her wife. Being in the Shadow Realm forces Teagan to confront the danger she is in as well as her past.
I feel like I always gravitate toward stories based on mythology. It is something I find incredibly intriguing. I love when authors take a general idea from mythology, folklore, etc. but completely make it their own thing. I am a sucker for these books especially when they are sapphic.
Teagan and Cress were both well developed. I appreciate the time Underhill spent on this both for them as individual characters and in their relationship. They had an interesting dynamic, and their relationship seemed cute and sweet. It was also cool to see how they both had struggles and motivations that affected how the story played out.
Underhill’s writing is really something to admire. The novella is excellently written with rich worldbuilding. I appreciated how natural this setup and development was though. The magic, Shadow Realm, and the different creatures in this world were brought to life. I loved that the author implemented a nonlinear timeline as well. This is one of my favorite narrative structures, so it was a nice surprise here. This timeline allowed the story to weave together the past and present. Not only that, but it also provided more insight into Teagan and Cressidae’s relationship as well as stories about the Shadow Princess.
The Bone Way was exactly what I have been wanting to read! May was not my best reading month, so I felt a bit of a reading slump during that month and leading into June. I knew I wanted to read this book at the beginning of the month, and it seriously helped me so much! I felt motivated to read it and really ended up loving the story. Underhill does an amazing job with crafting this novella and creating an entertaining story. I highly recommend picking up a copy!
*Content warnings from the author: death of a parent (in the past), terminal fantasy illness, mention of fantasy incarceration, harm to fantasy animals*
Thank you to author and Nyx Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novella before its release on June 26, 2021.
I received an eARC of this novella from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Look, I am a very easy person to please when it comes to marketing books. If you mention something being sapphic, I am in. Add to that a myth retelling, and I am beyond sold on picking up a copy. When I saw the publisher and author posting about requesting an arc, I honestly could not pass up that opportunity. I was so excited when I got the email with a copy!
The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill is inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but sapphic and with witches. The story starts with Teagan’s wife Cressidae going missing. She left Teagan to travel to the Shadow Realm where she is seeking a cure for a poison that has slowly been killing Teagan. Cressidae hopes to find the Shadow Princess who is rumored to help those who manage to find her after traveling through the dangerous realm. Teagan knows how perilous this is, so she leaves at once to find and help her wife. Being in the Shadow Realm forces Teagan to confront the danger she is in as well as her past.
I feel like I always gravitate toward stories based on mythology. It is something I find incredibly intriguing. I love when authors take a general idea from mythology, folklore, etc. but completely make it their own thing. I am a sucker for these books especially when they are sapphic.
Teagan and Cress were both well developed. I appreciate the time Underhill spent on this both for them as individual characters and in their relationship. They had an interesting dynamic, and their relationship seemed cute and sweet. It was also cool to see how they both had struggles and motivations that affected how the story played out.
Underhill’s writing is really something to admire. The novella is excellently written with rich worldbuilding. I appreciated how natural this setup and development was though. The magic, Shadow Realm, and the different creatures in this world were brought to life. I loved that the author implemented a nonlinear timeline as well. This is one of my favorite narrative structures, so it was a nice surprise here. This timeline allowed the story to weave together the past and present. Not only that, but it also provided more insight into Teagan and Cressidae’s relationship as well as stories about the Shadow Princess.
The Bone Way was exactly what I have been wanting to read! May was not my best reading month, so I felt a bit of a reading slump during that month and leading into June. I knew I wanted to read this book at the beginning of the month, and it seriously helped me so much! I felt motivated to read it and really ended up loving the story. Underhill does an amazing job with crafting this novella and creating an entertaining story. I highly recommend picking up a copy!
*Content warnings from the author: death of a parent (in the past), terminal fantasy illness, mention of fantasy incarceration, harm to fantasy animals*
Thank you to author and Nyx Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novella before its release on June 26, 2021.