Alexis:
Today is the last day of National Library Week! I’m always grateful for my local library; most of the books I’ve read lately have been from the library, whether digital books on my Kindle or physical library copies. Since I’m finishing up grad school, I don’t have a budget for book buying!
Now onto my review:
The Bone Witch follows Tea, a necromancer capable of wielding Dark Magic. She only learns about her power when she accidentally raises her brother, Fox, from the dead. Fox accompanies Tea as she travels around the eight kingdoms and trains to become an asha in order to learn how to control her magic.
Chupeco’s writing style is lovely and lyrical, and the sentences flow like water on the page. The amount of detail and worldbuilding they manage to include in this book is mind boggling at times. I loved learning about all of the delicious foods Tea gets to experience, and I loved reading about the beautiful, unique huas that Tea and the other ashas wear, as well as their powerful necklaces called heartglass. The magic system was dark yet lovely, and I enjoyed learning about it.
The story is set in two different time periods. Before each chapter is a mini-chapter set in the future, when Tea is seventeen, from the point of view of a Bard asking Tea questions. Unfortunately, these prologues before each chapter didn’t really work for me. I kept waiting for the events that were hinted at in the future sections to happen, but they don’t happen in this book. Because of this, I constantly felt like I was waiting for the actual plot to happen, and it made this whole book feel like a prologue to me.
That being said, I think if you love slower-paced, coming-of-age stories that are heavy on the detail and lyrical images but with minimal plot, then I definitely think this is the story for you.
VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐/5
NOTE: It’s also worth noting that I happened to get this book from the library when Chupeco opened up about how they received hate and xenophobia when this book was first published. It sucks when authors and books receive hate for dumb reasons and things out of their control. I will always be honest in my reviews, but I don’t tolerate hate and bad ratings for books and authors purely because some people don’t like where the author is from??
That is all. Have a great weekend, everybody!
takes two to book review 