Scan barcode
lakinglaze's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
5.0
I absolutely LOVED this book! It really builds and the world is so rich and wonderful!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Violence, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail
jupiterlee's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
As morbid as it sounds, I am a sucker for any novel that includes "death" magic.
However, I will admit that there was not a massive amount of it in this novel, but I am willing to put that down to the first novel world building.
This is the first time (I believe) that I have read a book that alternatives between past and present narrative. I found that this kept my interest peaked because you begin to wonder things when reading the present narrative, and you start to wonder if maybe Tea is the villain of the story. However, I did find it slightly confusing as not only was the present time from a different perspective but at times it was all just too much to continuously try and wrap my head around: the different names of the dark items, the different names of the creatures that the dark asha are trained to put down, what each heartglass means and the colours associated with emotions, and the various names of places and people at times was just too much for my head to remember who was who and what the creatures were (but I supposed you can argue that that is not all that important, but it can be frustrating when you cannot visual what you are reading).
I do think that a glossary at the bad with heart glass colours and emotions would have been extremely helpful (others might have found this easier to understand than I did but at times I just gave up remember what silver heartglasses meant and what the colours displayed in them was supposed to represent).
Another thing I will admit is that, for me, it was a very slow paces book, which I am not a massive fan of. While I understand that chapters on Tea's classes and her struggles as a novice are there to build character, I felt that it could be underwhelming at times and it made me not so eager to pick up the book when I had the time.
I will certainly be picking up the next novel due to the ending and the facts that were revealed, but I hope that we get to see Tea using more of her magic and her mischievous nature (which it seems we may with what the information she has decided to withhold from others in the last few chapters). I will also be interested to see what happens with two characters :- one that seems to have went from her forever ally to her enemy, and one that seems to have went from her forever enemy to her ally!
However, I will admit that there was not a massive amount of it in this novel, but I am willing to put that down to the first novel world building.
This is the first time (I believe) that I have read a book that alternatives between past and present narrative. I found that this kept my interest peaked because you begin to wonder things when reading the present narrative, and you start to wonder if maybe Tea is the villain of the story. However, I did find it slightly confusing as not only was the present time from a different perspective but at times it was all just too much to continuously try and wrap my head around: the different names of the dark items, the different names of the creatures that the dark asha are trained to put down, what each heartglass means and the colours associated with emotions, and the various names of places and people at times was just too much for my head to remember who was who and what the creatures were (but I supposed you can argue that that is not all that important, but it can be frustrating when you cannot visual what you are reading).
I do think that a glossary at the bad with heart glass colours and emotions would have been extremely helpful (others might have found this easier to understand than I did but at times I just gave up remember what silver heartglasses meant and what the colours displayed in them was supposed to represent).
Another thing I will admit is that, for me, it was a very slow paces book, which I am not a massive fan of. While I understand that chapters on Tea's classes and her struggles as a novice are there to build character, I felt that it could be underwhelming at times and it made me not so eager to pick up the book when I had the time.
I will certainly be picking up the next novel due to the ending and the facts that were revealed, but I hope that we get to see Tea using more of her magic and her mischievous nature (which it seems we may with what the information she has decided to withhold from others in the last few chapters). I will also be interested to see what happens with two characters :- one that seems to have went from her forever ally to her enemy, and one that seems to have went from her forever enemy to her ally!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Animal death, War, and Violence
Minor: Bullying
ariel790's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book is about a girl named Tea. Tea experiences loss and then has a re-birth that is comparable of Daenerys Targaryen's of Game of Thrones. Done by trial by fire with everyone questioning her motives. Tea is similar to the beauty and cleverness Daenerys has, but I think is so much stronger. I thoroughly enjoyed this tail of her beginnings, with a glimpse of the terror she may wrought in the future.
Rin Chupeco kept an easy pace with enough detail to imagine Tea's world with ease. Although, not a unique technique, I did enjoy Tea's humble beginning told as if in the past while jumping back to the present at the end of each chapter. This gave a sense of mystery to be solved in how Tea ended up exiled. While this wasn't revealed, enough to keep Tea interesting is. Looking forward to book 2.
Rin Chupeco kept an easy pace with enough detail to imagine Tea's world with ease. Although, not a unique technique, I did enjoy Tea's humble beginning told as if in the past while jumping back to the present at the end of each chapter. This gave a sense of mystery to be solved in how Tea ended up exiled. While this wasn't revealed, enough to keep Tea interesting is. Looking forward to book 2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: War and Bullying
Minor: Animal death, Terminal illness, and Violence
caseofspades's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, and Violence
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a fantasy novel about a girl with dark magical abilities being inducted into (and then cast out of) order of geisha-like entertainers and magic users. Parts of the story are set in the present and the other parts are Tea describing her history to a disgraced bard.
The story is slow but rich and detailed, and I thought the world was fascinating, especially the stuff about heartsglass. The main character Tea isn't necessarily likable but she is sympathetic and interesting. However most of the other characters are pretty flat - including, unfortunately, the love interest, which makes some parts of the plot feel a little silly - and some of them are pretty broad ethnic stereotypes (the "Russian" guy is mostly just kind of goofy but the way the characters implied to be Muslim are handled is genuinely offensive in places).
The story is slow but rich and detailed, and I thought the world was fascinating, especially the stuff about heartsglass. The main character Tea isn't necessarily likable but she is sympathetic and interesting. However most of the other characters are pretty flat - including, unfortunately, the love interest, which makes some parts of the plot feel a little silly - and some of them are pretty broad ethnic stereotypes (the "Russian" guy is mostly just kind of goofy but the way the characters implied to be Muslim are handled is genuinely offensive in places).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Islamophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence
ticktock's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Violence
rorikae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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
3.5
'The Bone Witch' by Rin Chupeco is an interesting fantasy with an intriguing magic system.
Tea lives in a world of witches but her power is different than her family's. When her brother is killed, she resurrects him and learns that she is a bone witch. But resurrections are not looked on kindly by her community. To learn more about her powers, she ventures with her brother Fox to a different land where she can train under a more experienced bone witch. But as she trains and learns more about this new community and her powers, she becomes entangled in the politics of the city.
My favorite thing about this story is the magic system. From what I have read, it is based on various pieces of folklore and history and they come together to form this really interesting world and magic system. One of the pieces I found the most interesting is the use of Hearts Glass, particularly how people can read the color of the glass to diagnose illnesses and to tell more about the individual.
The other piece that I really liked was the structure of the story. It is told in two viewpoints, mainly from Tea's own view but also from the point of view of a bard who is encountering a future version of Tea. This creates intrigue as we get the past and current versions of Tea simultaneously and it made me interested in how she became the person in the later story.
One of my stumbling points for this story was the audiobook. It wasn't bad but I did find that it didn't capture my attention. I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book as I found it easy to miss pieces in the audiobook that would be far harder to do if I was reading a physical version of the story. There was also a slight love story in the book that felt unnecessary though I believe it will be much more important for later installments. Even though I didn't love this book, I am interested to read more of Chupeco's works in the future.
Tea lives in a world of witches but her power is different than her family's. When her brother is killed, she resurrects him and learns that she is a bone witch. But resurrections are not looked on kindly by her community. To learn more about her powers, she ventures with her brother Fox to a different land where she can train under a more experienced bone witch. But as she trains and learns more about this new community and her powers, she becomes entangled in the politics of the city.
My favorite thing about this story is the magic system. From what I have read, it is based on various pieces of folklore and history and they come together to form this really interesting world and magic system. One of the pieces I found the most interesting is the use of Hearts Glass, particularly how people can read the color of the glass to diagnose illnesses and to tell more about the individual.
The other piece that I really liked was the structure of the story. It is told in two viewpoints, mainly from Tea's own view but also from the point of view of a bard who is encountering a future version of Tea. This creates intrigue as we get the past and current versions of Tea simultaneously and it made me interested in how she became the person in the later story.
One of my stumbling points for this story was the audiobook. It wasn't bad but I did find that it didn't capture my attention. I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book as I found it easy to miss pieces in the audiobook that would be far harder to do if I was reading a physical version of the story. There was also a slight love story in the book that felt unnecessary though I believe it will be much more important for later installments. Even though I didn't love this book, I am interested to read more of Chupeco's works in the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
cheye13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a lovely story, but I'd call it more of a prequel than a first book. The writing and the immersion in the world is beautiful. This fantasy narrative had the worldbuilding carry most of the story, but it works well. The concept of the world and its magic and political systems are all so interesting.
I do think this story is a little misrepresented; I picked this up because of the necromancy/undead tagline, yet that's almost an inconsequential detail of the story – it doesn't matter so much that bone witches raise the dead, but that they carry vast global responsibility when there are so few of them.
The beginning is very slow, and I liked the vignettes of the future to vary pace and keep me reading, but ultimately it left me wondering which was the real story – is the second book going to pick up with the bone witch, the bard, and the familiars, or are we going back to Tea's asha training and filling in the gaps? Or are we sticking with the dual timeline/frame narrative? Overall it felt like a really long first chapter or Prologue– nothing much happened story-wise, and while it was still interesting to read, it leaves the rest of the story up in the air.
I do think this story is a little misrepresented; I picked this up because of the necromancy/undead tagline, yet that's almost an inconsequential detail of the story – it doesn't matter so much that bone witches raise the dead, but that they carry vast global responsibility when there are so few of them.
The beginning is very slow, and I liked the vignettes of the future to vary pace and keep me reading, but ultimately it left me wondering which was the real story – is the second book going to pick up with the bone witch, the bard, and the familiars, or are we going back to Tea's asha training and filling in the gaps? Or are we sticking with the dual timeline/frame narrative? Overall it felt like a really long first chapter or Prologue– nothing much happened story-wise, and while it was still interesting to read, it leaves the rest of the story up in the air.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Violence
Minor: Terminal illness
In fantasy-genre fashion, there are discussions of war, war injuries & casualties, and implied child soldiers.ellekhupe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Slavery
More...