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kathrynleereads's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco begins the story of Tea, a young girl who is brought to the city of Ankyo to be trained as an asha after accidentally bringing her brother back from the dead.
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In my mind, this book can be split into two very distinct parts, the first being the majority of the book, and the second being the last 100 pages.
For most of the book, the pace is slow, the plot basically nonexistent, and the character development mild.
The last 100 pages, however, tell a whole different story. All of a sudden the pace turns nearly frantic, and the characters are challenged in new and difficult ways.
-
Tea- While reading, I constantly forgot that Tea is only 14 years old. She has the air of a much older and more experienced person, which I believe is one of the reasons that she is so powerful and (potentially) dangerous.
Fox- I’m not sure why, but I never completely trusted Fox. He obviously loves Tea very much and is there to protect her, but the whole time I was reading, there was some part of me that felt as if he’s got the potential to derail things for Tea.
Lady Mykaela- Despite having to deal with the daeva on her own for the most part, and without the presence of her heartsglass, Lady Mykaela is such a calming and positive presence. I do wish that she fought back against the kingdoms using her basically as a tool though.
Zoya-
Likh- I wish Likh had been a little more present in this book. I love his character and the debate that his presence brings up about tradition.
Polaire & Althy- I love these two. They’re so different but also so genuine. Despite everything, they love Mykaela and Tea and do everything in their power to keep them both safe.
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Flash-Forwards & the Bard- The presence of the Bard in the flash-forwards was ingenious in so many ways.
Having Tea explain things to the Bard was a seamless way to foreshadow, and to fill readers in on things they may have overlooked, but I think the Bard’s reactions to Tea’s stories are so much more valuable.
Fictional worlds are sometimes hard for readers to grasp because even with different customs and traditions explained through world-building, it is not always easy to gauge the level of difference between that world and our own.
Seeing how the Bard, who only knows the world of the Eight Kingdoms, reacts and responds to the information he is learning from Tea gives readers insight into the mindset of the people there.
Putting aside the Bard and the added world-building element that they provided, I enjoyed the presence of the flash-forwards because of the intrigue they created.
Obviously, there are some slight spoilers released through the flash-forwards, but they are so far-fetched from the current direction of the story that it only builds the suspense more.
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World-building- In my opinion, world-building is what makes or breaks a book. I love seeing fictional worlds brought to life and reading about all the cultures and traditions that exist in each one.
I’ve never read a book about which I could say there was too much world-building.
Until now.
The Bone Witch has an amazing world that I loved learning about, but I think the reason it dragged so much for so long was because of the over-abundance of world-building.
There was so much information thrown at the reader so quickly that I got lost in the details numerous times.
It took me most of the book to determine that there is just one of each deava, and I’m still trying to sort out the major differences between the eight kingdoms (the guide at the end of the book would have been very helpful had I discovered it before finishing the book).
This book taught me that it is not world-building alone that makes or breaks a book, but world-building that is well-paced.
Despite this, and even though the book did drag for a majority of the story, I do think The Bone Witch is worth reading.
Rin Chupeco has built an intricate and beautiful world and has set the story up for great second and third books.
I can’t wait to find out what’s in store for Tea in the rest of the trilogy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Classism, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
directorpurry's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Sexism, and War
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I appreciated the rich culture and world that Chupeco created in this story. It was pretty confusing at first but I did like that it unfurled as the story did. It may have been clearer in physical form and I think I will pick up the books for the rest of the story.
Tea is a necromancy witch in a world where witches are known. Female witches are trained to use their rune magic to both protect and entertain the wealthy and high class. In their training to entertain they are very highly educated in history, dance, musical instruments and song, as well as fighting. Male witches join the military ranks as Death Seekers. Tea discovers her ability as a Dark Asha by accidentally raising her brother, a fallen death seeker when she is only 12. From here the story follows Tea as she is trained in her craft, but the training doesn't come easy and Dark Asha's are more feared and ridiculed than respected.
The story itself was a little slow, but is told in two timelines. When the reveal of why happens the story starts to pick up. As with most YA stories, Tea is incredibly strong and special. But it didn't feel as Mary Sue as it could have. We see her struggle with many things and we see her fail and we see her punished. I did enjoy the aspect of her making mistakes and learning from them, we aren't told she is smart but we see that she is smart. Though that doesn't mean she doesn't make stupid young teen mistakes. Which I greatly appreciated.
The building of the world and weaving of cultures honestly gives it extra points for me.
Tea is a necromancy witch in a world where witches are known. Female witches are trained to use their rune magic to both protect and entertain the wealthy and high class. In their training to entertain they are very highly educated in history, dance, musical instruments and song, as well as fighting. Male witches join the military ranks as Death Seekers. Tea discovers her ability as a Dark Asha by accidentally raising her brother, a fallen death seeker when she is only 12. From here the story follows Tea as she is trained in her craft, but the training doesn't come easy and Dark Asha's are more feared and ridiculed than respected.
The story itself was a little slow, but is told in two timelines. When the reveal of why happens the story starts to pick up. As with most YA stories, Tea is incredibly strong and special. But it didn't feel as Mary Sue as it could have. We see her struggle with many things and we see her fail and we see her punished. I did enjoy the aspect of her making mistakes and learning from them, we aren't told she is smart but we see that she is smart. Though that doesn't mean she doesn't make stupid young teen mistakes. Which I greatly appreciated.
The building of the world and weaving of cultures honestly gives it extra points for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Sexism
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Violence
amre23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Bullying, Gore, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, War, Violence, Grief, Sexism, and Classism
Minor: Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Body horror
aura_rurubele's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is so sweet and I love exploring Tea's training, as slow as it may be it builds up beautifully and I'm always so excited to for following chapter. The ending is such a twist and I can't wait to read the sequel.
I love the way we explore a young girl's mind in the midst of such chaos and madness. I also love her relationship with her big brother, they're the perfect pair, so to find out what happens in the next book is absolutely heartbreaking.
It's absolutely unfathomable to me that they severed their bond and he's no longer her familiar, they adore each other, it depresses me greatly, what also shocks me is that KALEN DIES AND HE ENDS UP BEING HER LOVER?!? I really want to see how this relationship develops because it's a pure enemies to lovers, that was so shocking.
In other words, this book has phenomenal world building and beautiful descriptive language of all of scenery. It's not particularly over whelming and perfectly positioned to help us gain a sense of this beautiful and dangerous world. The ending is such a plot twist though, goodness I'm still in shock!
Essentially I love this book! Rin Chupeco is officially my favourite Chinese Filipino author, probably my favourite YA author next to Cassie Cassidy.
I love the way we explore a young girl's mind in the midst of such chaos and madness. I also love her relationship with her big brother, they're the perfect pair, so to find out what happens in the next book is absolutely heartbreaking.
In other words, this book has phenomenal world building and beautiful descriptive language of all of scenery. It's not particularly over whelming and perfectly positioned to help us gain a sense of this beautiful and dangerous world. The ending is such a plot twist though, goodness I'm still in shock!
Essentially I love this book! Rin Chupeco is officially my favourite Chinese Filipino author, probably my favourite YA author next to Cassie Cassidy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexism, and War
Minor: Xenophobia
ofbooksandechos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Grief and Bullying
kurumipanda's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War, and Sexism
Minor: Animal death and Transphobia
thenovelmaura's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow, I loved this book! I read it in June and three months later, I already own the second book in the trilogy and plan to read it soon. It's a bit light on action compared to the fantasy I usually read, but I think the second book will pick up quickly. The narrative choice to have an older version of Tea telling her story worked really well here, and the mystery of how she ended up on this remote beach making evil villain speeches kept me reading. Tea and her brother Fox have the sweetest relationship and I can't wait to see how it evolves as Tea gets older.
I was fascinated by the Eight Kingdoms and I could tell Chupeco put a ton of thought into these lands, the people, and the magic system. This book was a bit contained to just a few cities and villages, but I'm expecting Tea to travel a lot more moving forward. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang or The Young Elites by Marie Lu; these books all have the fascinating theme of following the gradual corruption of the main character. And be prepared for really lush descriptions of clothing and other parts of the setting because there's a lot of that as well. I have friends who enjoyed this entire series so I'm really excited to continue it!
I was fascinated by the Eight Kingdoms and I could tell Chupeco put a ton of thought into these lands, the people, and the magic system. This book was a bit contained to just a few cities and villages, but I'm expecting Tea to travel a lot more moving forward. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang or The Young Elites by Marie Lu; these books all have the fascinating theme of following the gradual corruption of the main character. And be prepared for really lush descriptions of clothing and other parts of the setting because there's a lot of that as well. I have friends who enjoyed this entire series so I'm really excited to continue it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Transphobia
taglharp's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
WTF?? I need the sequel. Now.
Summary of things I liked:
‣ The worldbuilding — especially the dresses and the culture (JBC I was going "Hello Asia, I'm so happy to see so much of you" all the way through). But I also enjoyed the magic system!! There's also a lot of world politics and history that had a good amount of detail.
‣ The minor duelling — or, well, sparring. Listen I'm a sucker for any hint of military fantasy even though this is not a military fantasy.
‣ The family fluff — Fox & Tea's sibling relationship is to die for!! I'm used to squealing about more complex dynamics, but the simplicity of their relationship was so cute. I also really enjoyed the found family trope in this one - but lbr, is there anyone who doesn't like found family?
‣ Lihk & Zoya's characters — was this really published in 2017? Anyway, if you know you know. They were treat.
‣ THE FOOD DESCRIPTIONS. I was only hungry, like, all the time reading this book.
Summary of things I disliked:
‣ The beginning of the book — specifically the first 20%. Boring as all hell and quite hard to get through. Descriptions upon descriptions to the point that it was honestly disorienting. I'm a character-first kind of reader & they were almost all buried beneath the amount of worldly descriptions.
‣ The italicized interludes — alright, so I'm biased. You can pin this on my shallow dislike of lengthy italicized flashbacks (or in this case, flash-forwards) but I also didn't care at all for future (present day?) Tea. Each time they came in, I was like: Why do I care lmao. The Unknown Bard POV doesn't really help either, if anything it further isolates me from her character. Though I do understand its narrative purpose.
‣ The possible love triangle — spare me!! Not impressed!!!
‣ THE NAME DROP AT THE END?? I swear I would've been more intrigued if it was kept secret.
Summary of things that were "eh, okay, I guess":
‣ The characters — admittedly, I'm suuuuper picky about this. Still, I thought the characters in this book were rather bland and left something to be desired. The execution of their narratives lacked a lens that could've explored any depth and complexity they potentially had - and I could see quite a few characters that had this. But since this is a plot-driven story, I understand why we didn't delve much. So this is more of a preferential kind of thing (well, this entire review is, obviously, but this especially).
Spicy things I have to say:
‣ The world of the asha are a lot more interesting than that of the grisha. No, you cannot change my mind. Come for me!! (jk, don't - but hey! if you like grishaverse, you may like this!!)
Summary of things I liked:
‣ The worldbuilding — especially the dresses and the culture (JBC I was going "Hello Asia, I'm so happy to see so much of you" all the way through). But I also enjoyed the magic system!! There's also a lot of world politics and history that had a good amount of detail.
‣ The minor duelling — or, well, sparring. Listen I'm a sucker for any hint of military fantasy even though this is not a military fantasy.
‣ The family fluff — Fox & Tea's sibling relationship is to die for!! I'm used to squealing about more complex dynamics, but the simplicity of their relationship was so cute. I also really enjoyed the found family trope in this one - but lbr, is there anyone who doesn't like found family?
‣ Lihk & Zoya's characters — was this really published in 2017? Anyway, if you know you know. They were treat.
‣ THE FOOD DESCRIPTIONS. I was only hungry, like, all the time reading this book.
Summary of things I disliked:
‣ The beginning of the book — specifically the first 20%. Boring as all hell and quite hard to get through. Descriptions upon descriptions to the point that it was honestly disorienting. I'm a character-first kind of reader & they were almost all buried beneath the amount of worldly descriptions.
‣ The italicized interludes — alright, so I'm biased. You can pin this on my shallow dislike of lengthy italicized flashbacks (or in this case, flash-forwards) but I also didn't care at all for future (present day?) Tea. Each time they came in, I was like: Why do I care lmao. The Unknown Bard POV doesn't really help either, if anything it further isolates me from her character. Though I do understand its narrative purpose.
‣ The possible love triangle — spare me!! Not impressed!!!
‣ THE NAME DROP AT THE END?? I swear I would've been more intrigued if it was kept secret.
Summary of things that were "eh, okay, I guess":
‣ The characters — admittedly, I'm suuuuper picky about this. Still, I thought the characters in this book were rather bland and left something to be desired. The execution of their narratives lacked a lens that could've explored any depth and complexity they potentially had - and I could see quite a few characters that had this. But since this is a plot-driven story, I understand why we didn't delve much. So this is more of a preferential kind of thing (well, this entire review is, obviously, but this especially).
Spicy things I have to say:
‣ The world of the asha are a lot more interesting than that of the grisha. No, you cannot change my mind. Come for me!! (jk, don't - but hey! if you like grishaverse, you may like this!!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Sexism
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Subtle and Powerful, The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco wields undeath and beauty to great effect. Tea of the Embers tells her history to the Bard on a lonely and bone-strewn beach, one of great magic; silk and swords; danger, dance, and betrayal.
The Heartsrunes feel at once ingenious and obvious, like someone pointed out a thing I ought to have known forever but never dreamed of before. They're essential to the book without ever feeling like a storytelling shortcut, and the color system was understandable. Tea is believable at different levels of maturity throughout the whole book, she changes a lot and it comes through really well. Her dynamic with Fox feels like a real sibling relationship, their peculiar complication notwithstanding.
There’s a tension and release created by the interstitial sections of the framing device, sometimes warning of emotional beats to come, sometimes cooling down after a stressful chapter. It made for a very soothing reading experience for me, one that addresses the kind of anxiety I have when reading new books that involve a character making social faux pas. It allowed for tiny wind-ups, building a small bit of tension by revealing some information in the interstitial then having it pay off somewhere in the next chapter (or even several chapters later). It's all the comfort of knowing how a book is going to turn out, without actually spoiling the end. The interstitials are complete enough to be their own short story and they strengthen the book overall, separate from being a good fit for my own reading quirks.
Overall I love this book and I'm very excited to read the sequel. I keep trying to describe more things I liked and I'm stymied by the spoilery nature of most of them.
The Heartsrunes feel at once ingenious and obvious, like someone pointed out a thing I ought to have known forever but never dreamed of before. They're essential to the book without ever feeling like a storytelling shortcut, and the color system was understandable. Tea is believable at different levels of maturity throughout the whole book, she changes a lot and it comes through really well. Her dynamic with Fox feels like a real sibling relationship, their peculiar complication notwithstanding.
There’s a tension and release created by the interstitial sections of the framing device, sometimes warning of emotional beats to come, sometimes cooling down after a stressful chapter. It made for a very soothing reading experience for me, one that addresses the kind of anxiety I have when reading new books that involve a character making social faux pas. It allowed for tiny wind-ups, building a small bit of tension by revealing some information in the interstitial then having it pay off somewhere in the next chapter (or even several chapters later). It's all the comfort of knowing how a book is going to turn out, without actually spoiling the end. The interstitials are complete enough to be their own short story and they strengthen the book overall, separate from being a good fit for my own reading quirks.
Overall I love this book and I'm very excited to read the sequel. I keep trying to describe more things I liked and I'm stymied by the spoilery nature of most of them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexism and Emotional abuse
CW for sexism, verbal abuse, betrayal, death, major character death.
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