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A review by rubybooks
The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
3.0
Thank you to Nyx Publishing for sending me an ARC of this novella! It's a sapphic retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice in a fantasy world - in the original Greek myth, Eurydice is killed and Orpheus travels to the Underworld to try to get his wife back. It's not a strict retelling, so some details have been changed, which I guess is good because otherwise I would have easily guessed the ending, but I think I was expecting something slightly different! The cover is absolutely stunning too - I read a digital copy, but I bet a physical copy would be even more beautiful.
At the beginning of the book, Teagan's wife Cressidae had left their home and journeyed to the realm of the Shadow Princess in order to save Teagan, who had been poisoned by a monster from that realm. Cressidae planned to petition the Shadow Princess and hopefully cure the poison that is killing Teagan. The Bone Way is told from Teagan's perspective, who sets off on her own journey to try to find her wife before her soul is trapped - because it is well known that the Shadow Princess doesn't let anyone leave her realm. The journey is dangerous, and Teagan faces many physical and mental obstacles on the way to find her wife.
The Bone Way has strong feelings of mythology and a bit of a fairytale style too, especially when talking about the Shadow Princess, which fit the fantasy story really well. The land of Wisteria has magic but also technology like hot air balloons, and the descriptions definitely gave me a steam punk vibe! I loved the f/f relationship and it was just a nice change to read a fantasy story where two women were just happily married. Teagan feels a lot of grief from the death of her mother when she was younger, and the grief really felt genuine.
Because Teagan and Cressidae were already an established couple, we only saw bits of their initial relationship in flashbacks, and I wish we'd seen more of that, or more moments of them just together. I also wanted to see more of the fantasy world - it's mentioned that there is a mix of magic and technology, which is unusual for a lot of the fantasy books I read, so it would have been cool to see more about how everything worked. The actual journey to the shadow realm seemed to go by really quickly and I expected to see more from the various trials. Also, I was really interested in the character of the Shadow Princess, so I wanted to see more development there, as well as in the ending which went by very quickly.
The Bone Way is a novella, and I read it really quickly - it took me less than an hour. I wish it was longer to add more character and plot development. I do appreciate that the point of novellas are that they are short, but the story still felt a bit simple and I just wanted more of everything! Still, it was definitely easy to follow and I enjoyed the overall experience of reading it. If you struggle with longer/complicated fantasy and want to try something short, this might be for you! The Bone Way includes content such as grief, discussion of parent death that happened in the past, and violence.
At the beginning of the book, Teagan's wife Cressidae had left their home and journeyed to the realm of the Shadow Princess in order to save Teagan, who had been poisoned by a monster from that realm. Cressidae planned to petition the Shadow Princess and hopefully cure the poison that is killing Teagan. The Bone Way is told from Teagan's perspective, who sets off on her own journey to try to find her wife before her soul is trapped - because it is well known that the Shadow Princess doesn't let anyone leave her realm. The journey is dangerous, and Teagan faces many physical and mental obstacles on the way to find her wife.
The Bone Way has strong feelings of mythology and a bit of a fairytale style too, especially when talking about the Shadow Princess, which fit the fantasy story really well. The land of Wisteria has magic but also technology like hot air balloons, and the descriptions definitely gave me a steam punk vibe! I loved the f/f relationship and it was just a nice change to read a fantasy story where two women were just happily married. Teagan feels a lot of grief from the death of her mother when she was younger, and the grief really felt genuine.
Because Teagan and Cressidae were already an established couple, we only saw bits of their initial relationship in flashbacks, and I wish we'd seen more of that, or more moments of them just together. I also wanted to see more of the fantasy world - it's mentioned that there is a mix of magic and technology, which is unusual for a lot of the fantasy books I read, so it would have been cool to see more about how everything worked. The actual journey to the shadow realm seemed to go by really quickly and I expected to see more from the various trials. Also, I was really interested in the character of the Shadow Princess, so I wanted to see more development there, as well as in the ending which went by very quickly.
The Bone Way is a novella, and I read it really quickly - it took me less than an hour. I wish it was longer to add more character and plot development. I do appreciate that the point of novellas are that they are short, but the story still felt a bit simple and I just wanted more of everything! Still, it was definitely easy to follow and I enjoyed the overall experience of reading it. If you struggle with longer/complicated fantasy and want to try something short, this might be for you! The Bone Way includes content such as grief, discussion of parent death that happened in the past, and violence.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death of parent