Scan barcode
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
brookieblue's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
It’s SO weirdly paced. It’s a world building book with little to no action until the very end. I didn’t like the main character, who had no growth but could suddenly Mary Sue her way out of a dangerous situation. She was a coward and complained and whined the whole time, and I got so annoyed with her I almost quit this book. I will not be continuing, although the world could be interesting enough, if it was explained AT ALL. The characters are not fleshed out, the story is convoluted, and the world is confusing.
Also, the audiobook is terrible. DO NOT LISTEN TO IT.
Also, the audiobook is terrible. DO NOT LISTEN TO IT.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Death
britgirlreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Alcohol and Body horror
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
madarauchiha's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
0.75
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️
This isn't a review, it's more like my notes via moonreader pro [yes i'm have money :)] collated into a single document. Enjoy future me, and I guess other people.
Monologues! So many goddamn monologues! And infodumping! Most of the world building is in monologues or infodumping.
▪ The brown of my skin was paler now due to my frequent bloodletting, "
Hmmmm. Really. So the MC is brown, but I'm going to bet it's a light brown. A brown that can pass as a tan white person. Just based on how horny the author is for racial features that aren't, like, not white.
It also irritates me how much of the auxiliary characters are all blue eyed. Why is the author so self hating of brown eyes? Sad.
Don't take this too seriously but sometimes this book feels like a fucking race traitor. Like green eyes blue eyes pale skin red hair golden hair!!! Every hair and eye color but brown. And she also described someone, a single person, as having angular eyes. Which feels derogatory in a fantasy genre way towards asian ppl and idk if I'm over sensitive or what.
It feels just a tiny bit infodump-y but I wont complain. The magic system, so far, is pretty interesting. The constant flashbacks are irritating. Like I'm already hooked, you know? No need to tease me with what's going to happen in the following chapter.
Actually, what's irritating about the flashbacks is that they could've served a better purpose for the narrative. Emphasize the difference between mc and the mc back then. Indicate how the world itself has changed since mc had come into her full power. Anything except "Hey you know that thing you did? True or false? Yeah lemme tell you about it in the next chapter."
"Michaelmas"
Why is there christianity in this book...? Is this not fantasy? Wh-?
If the girl grew up poor why does she compare things to expensive minerals? Eg the princes eyes with emeralds. The girl is poor, shed be thinking of greenery or smt imo. Like, it'd feel more in character, you know?
Theres weird recurrent sexual harassment of the mc and I dont like it. Also things just kinda happen around her. How boring.
This book hits a lot of cliches and I dont think it does it well enough to be interesting. Like 14 chapters in and we've gotten to the harry potter magic school section of the adventure. It's like the author is throwing everything into the pot and hoping something sticks for the variety of readers who will pick up this book. Also I hate the feminine schooling. God I thought we left the sexist fantasy tropes back in the eighties.
I'm right about hating how much this is just fucking sexist fantasy because hello they're not even teaching thisdumb bitch anything about dark bone magic. I feel like I'm wasting my time reading this.
Ok so this girl who feels like she's 14 yo gets taken away to be a student. Except not really, she'san indentured slave made to serve the magical school as a servant. She's not taught anything until chapters later when, by sheer luck, she gets in trouble and someone forces her to reveal her super mary sue levels of power. At which point the magic school owners are liek 'oh fuck. I guess it's worthwhile to teach this dumb bitch some magic'. Because literally her mentor, the one who whisked her away at the start of the book, was away doing magical missions.
But even then that feels like my time is being wasted because it's not really magical learning. No, the MC is taught feminine trades. Dancing. Playing musical instrument. How to be a party host.
So this is basically magical geishas meets harry potter. Minus voldemort and magic fascists.
THEN. Then she doesn't even learn much about this bone magic until she gets in trouble AGAIN and the magical school owners are liek 'oh fuck. I guess it's worthwhile to teach this dumb bitch some magic, but for reals this time'.
Oh also there's a scene that's repeated twice in the last few chapters. It's the one where the MC remembers she was bullied in a crowd by a strange boy because he thinks her bone witch people killed his mother. It felt almost word for word, or hit the same beats as the first time it was brought up. And it was only a few chapters apart! Please, I remember, I don't need this beat into my head. I wonder if this was missed in editing or what.
I think there's bad guys? Like the main bad guyis a fellow student who wants to overthrow the government. I think. But who cares about that. That's not really a big part of the plot, most of it's about growing up in magic school and also the love triangle. The love triangle which, so far, is only hinted at.
There's a love triangle, btw. I think. It's between a prince and a nobleman. Or another prince, I forget. Like Idk how a prince who is supposed to be helping run the kingdom and learn how to be kings / nobility has the time to fuck around with a junior geisha [maiko? what's the term?] but alright sure. It's ya, it's fantasy, I'll live with it. Though I think it's not purely romantic love, as she has to pick between her romantic interest and her brother. But for reasons which aren't unveiled yet. I assume it'll be in book two.
Which I will be skipping. The plot in this book feels like dragging a very heavy stone across a field for several hours, to load it into a catapault, firing it into a wall that's only 5 feet away. If this book took a route that was actually scenic and interesting, I'd forgive it. But it doesn't. The writing is serviceable and doesn't make me want to burn the book after reading. So there's that.
I'm going to give reading the third [and final?] book just to get some closure. Judging by the cover blurb, this dumb girl hasn't accomplished jack shit since the first book.
content warnings:
minor xenophobia, misogyny, infidelity, q slur in historical context, wars, death,
major sexual assault? forcible disrobing, transmisogyny, xenophobia, misogyny, honor killing, body horror, death,
This isn't a review, it's more like my notes via moonreader pro [yes i'm have money :)] collated into a single document. Enjoy future me, and I guess other people.
Monologues! So many goddamn monologues! And infodumping! Most of the world building is in monologues or infodumping.
▪ The brown of my skin was paler now due to my frequent bloodletting, "
Hmmmm. Really. So the MC is brown, but I'm going to bet it's a light brown. A brown that can pass as a tan white person. Just based on how horny the author is for racial features that aren't, like, not white.
It also irritates me how much of the auxiliary characters are all blue eyed. Why is the author so self hating of brown eyes? Sad.
Don't take this too seriously but sometimes this book feels like a fucking race traitor. Like green eyes blue eyes pale skin red hair golden hair!!! Every hair and eye color but brown. And she also described someone, a single person, as having angular eyes. Which feels derogatory in a fantasy genre way towards asian ppl and idk if I'm over sensitive or what.
It feels just a tiny bit infodump-y but I wont complain. The magic system, so far, is pretty interesting. The constant flashbacks are irritating. Like I'm already hooked, you know? No need to tease me with what's going to happen in the following chapter.
Actually, what's irritating about the flashbacks is that they could've served a better purpose for the narrative. Emphasize the difference between mc and the mc back then. Indicate how the world itself has changed since mc had come into her full power. Anything except "Hey you know that thing you did? True or false? Yeah lemme tell you about it in the next chapter."
"Michaelmas"
Why is there christianity in this book...? Is this not fantasy? Wh-?
If the girl grew up poor why does she compare things to expensive minerals? Eg the princes eyes with emeralds. The girl is poor, shed be thinking of greenery or smt imo. Like, it'd feel more in character, you know?
Theres weird recurrent sexual harassment of the mc and I dont like it. Also things just kinda happen around her. How boring.
This book hits a lot of cliches and I dont think it does it well enough to be interesting. Like 14 chapters in and we've gotten to the
I'm right about hating how much this is just fucking sexist fantasy because hello they're not even teaching this
Ok so this girl who feels like she's 14 yo gets taken away to be a student. Except not really, she's
But even then that feels like my time is being wasted because it's not really magical learning. No, the MC is taught feminine trades. Dancing. Playing musical instrument. How to be a party host.
So this is basically magical geishas meets harry potter. Minus voldemort and magic fascists.
THEN. Then she doesn't even learn much about this bone magic until she gets in trouble AGAIN and the magical school owners are liek 'oh fuck. I guess it's worthwhile to teach this dumb bitch some magic, but for reals this time'.
Oh also there's a scene that's repeated twice in the last few chapters. It's the one where the MC
I think there's bad guys? Like the main bad guy
There's a love
Which I will be skipping. The plot in this book feels like dragging a very heavy stone across a field for several hours, to load it into a catapault, firing it into a wall that's only 5 feet away. If this book took a route that was actually scenic and interesting, I'd forgive it. But it doesn't. The writing is serviceable and doesn't make me want to burn the book after reading. So there's that.
I'm going to give reading the third [and final?] book just to get some closure. Judging by the cover blurb, this dumb girl hasn't accomplished jack shit since the first book.
content warnings:
minor xenophobia, misogyny, infidelity, q slur in historical context, wars, death,
major sexual assault? forcible disrobing, transmisogyny, xenophobia, misogyny, honor killing, body horror, death,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Body horror, and Death
Minor: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Death
erickabdz's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
"When people cut us, we are expected to do only two things: smile and bleed."
I'm so utterly devasted. I have been following Rin Chupeco in social media for a while, only because she is a very cool person, and I was excited about the prospect of reading something of her finally. Lots of people I follow have also loved The Bone Witch and gave it high ratings, so I guess I had a little too many expectations for it. I'm so very sad I couldn't love it as much as I had anticipated I would.
Firstly, I wasn't expecting this many parallels with Japanese geiko. At first, I didn't know the asha were inspired in them, but it became evident as the lecture advanced. Inspired, though, feels like an inadequate word when literally everything in the asha has its counterpart in the geisha, from the dances to the accounting to okiya and ochaya. All of Tea's life as an asha felt straight out of [b:Memoirs of a Geisha|929|Memoirs of a Geisha|Arthur Golden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409595968l/929._SY75_.jpg|1558965] or, being more culturally accurate, [b:Geisha, a Life|522534|Geisha, a Life|Mineko Iwasaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359402937l/522534._SY75_.jpg|18133]. The kingdom being called Kion even sounds like the geiko district Gion.
The only significant differences were the martial arts the geisha were part of and, of course, the dark asha. While I liked both of these aspects, they felt irreconcilable for me with the other parts of the asha culture; it is not that they couldn't be, but that I was not given just enough reasons to believe they should. There was nothing that tried to blend these two concepts: mastering arts and fighting monsters and work as bodyguards. I could have totally understood that men were expected to go and fight while women had to use their powers to entertain, but the reason why women were expected to do both without negative connotations in any is beyond me.
Dark ashas were a very cool concept, though, and part of the reason I didn't dislike this book. I've heard that they are based on Filipino mangkukulam, and I did enjoy to read about them doing their witch thingies.
I think the reason I couldn't bring myself to like this book was mostly Tea. Try as I might, I couldn't like her. Everybody and everything in the narrative was trying to sell me this idea that she was oh so powerful and poor girl only bad things happen that I just couldn't stand it. Dark asha can command the death, the living, destroy monsters... and Tea is the only current dark asha and also most powerful that most of them and I'm sorry but it's just... too OP for me.
I actually didn't especially like any character in the book... there were so many pages with descriptions of clothes and architecture but I couldn't get attached to any of the characters. And the apparent love triangle- I'm just-
Anyhow, I think I'm going to read the next books. Everybody says they're better than this one, and I'm a little bit interested in what is going to happen (mostly because the framing device keeps insisting that some interesting is going to happen and it never happens and I'm tired of the teasing but it also worked
Spoiler
and I please want to know that all of what Tea is doing is for selfish reasons and she's actually darkened please
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Animal death
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
More...