The Bone Fire is a beautiful and fascinating book about the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter and much more in a war torn country. I loved the subtlety of magic sprinkled across the book. The book takes us on a journey of Emmy's life in episodes starting from the Institution she stays after her parents die, through her experiences in a new village with her grandmother. Emmy's character is beautifully developed. The book starts out slow but soon becomes engrossing. The book is very descriptive and intense and dives deeper into the intricacies of even mundane actions. Thank you Net Galley and Mariner books for an advanced reader's copy.

I recieved an e-arc of this from netgalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I first recieved this, I didnt know this was a translated work. Through from reading the first paragraph of this I knew. I think the publisher should have put into the description that this book was a translated pieces, as I for one would have liked to know before hand as I dont like reading translated works. The book read very formal and had the vibe of " main character thought this, then did this". 

After reading the first chapter I knew this book jusr wasn't for me. Though the interest in the plot was their I find it difficult to read books that are translated. This in no way reflects the book in any capacity, just my own struggles of reading a book of this nature.

This was such an interesting story!
I love that they combined history witchery and the way the author retold the grandmas story during her time in the world war tugged at my many heart strings.
The POV of Emma, an orphan girl, gave the story that much more oomph. We got to see her grow despite her trauma and we were able to see the happiness in her life as well.

I think lately a lot of us have felt like we are living in the revolution, and yet stories about uprisings and what happens after are still interesting and exciting. Dragoman is an award-winning European writer, and it shows in the plot and story. The main character is captivating and the perfect entrance to this world. Overall, I had a great time starting and getting into the beginning of this story but the middle was confusing for me. I liked the ending but it wasn't my favorite pacing throughout the story.

I dnf't this book. I could not read any further because of the writing style. Gyorgy wrote this book in a very particular way that is not for me. In part I read there weren't any conversations. All of it was in the main character head like: my grandmother said this and that is what we do. I could not continue it was taking me out of the story and truth to be told I don't remember what happened at all.

I loved this very much! The characters, the actions and even the plot itself! Very inspiring for my own book too!

This was a really interesting story! Very moving and evocative, and a great suspenseful mystery as you unravel everything that happens.

This is a... weird book. There are so many ideas that were creative and intriguing, but many elements of the plot felt underdeveloped. However, I did like the main character, who was relatable without being cheesy and decisive without being stoic (her relationship with her grandmother was also incredibly interesting.) I also enjoyed the author's writing style and the way they crafted the environment of the story in such a way that felt authentic and poignant in equal parts. All-in-all, while I enjoyed the experience of reading, I'm not sure who I would exactly recommend this book to - I'm still digesting how I felt.

The Bone Fire was an interesting tale about a girl navigating her be life with her grandmother, with hints of magic and lots of mystery. I enjoyed reading about the magic, how real it was that if you weren't paying attention it could be just misconstrued as wishful thinking, and how it wasn't entirely about navigating the magic. That being said, I would have appreciated seeing more of the magic rather than hints of it. There were numerous times throughout the book I would wonder what the point of bits were, some of which didn't feel relevant to the overall plot or character development. I didn't feel for the grandmother as much as I wanted, so reading her flashbacks felt like they dragged on.

Overall it was a bit difficult to read and some parts felt like they got lost in translation but nonetheless most of it was captivating

It feels like a translation, and had a hard time keeping my attention. If you read translations and it doesn't bother you I recommend this one.

This book is very different from what I'm used to read, but I ended up enjoying it!
The story is very creative and has a peculiar writing style.
If you like unique reads this is for you!

My god, that was powerful. Heartbreaking and mystical all at once--this tale weaves subtle magic into the complex history of a war-scarred country. Emma, our brave and bruised orphan, is claimed and whisked by a previously-unknown grandmother to a distant town, ravaged by revolution. Here she finds a reality shaped by magic to be her only foothold against fear, power, and confusion.

Absolutely hypnotic, fantastic mix of characters, relationships, and imagery woven with incredibly skillful use of flashback to deliver a beautiful blend of strength, magic, and history.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had no expectations for this book at all. I saw the cover and I thought the title was interesting enough that I said, “yep. That looks worth reading.” I had no idea what this book was even about as I picked it, and I was definitely not prepared for everything that came through with this book. It’s probably best that I hadn’t read the summary for it before agreeing to read it because then I likely wouldn’t have read it. I usually try avoiding books that have any basis in serious real world events. This book talks about WWII, the Holocaust, reeducation camps, etc. But I don’t regret picking this up.

I wouldn’t even know where to begin describing this book. It is such a contradiction. It was magical, but it was also disturbing. This is in part due to the fact that, more often than not, the story really makes you feel like you’ve been transported to the times they’re discussing. I have always found magical realism to be a great way to tell certain stories, especially stories like this that include such heavy topics, and it was done wonderfully.
It was also beautiful and yet heartbreaking. It’s hard to find a balance between them both, but this author has managed it stunningly. I also appreciate that while important to the story, the politics aspects were not the focus of it. I also absolutely adore Emma’s grandmother. And Emma herself is quite likeable and even relatable. I liked the way we get to see Emma growing through her experiences, and how well it all fit into the plot.

The only real downside for me was how abrupt and maybe a little unended the ending felt. While far from an easy read, it was an important one to me, and it was beautiful and painful. This was definitely a different kind of read for me, and I was very out of my comfort zone with it, but I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity to read it.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a free Ebook in exchange for an honest review!

This book was... Strange, in a mostly good way. There was a sense of the mystical and mysterious and even a bit morbid permeating the story. The plot seems well thought-out, too, weaving well between the past and the present storylines.

There were a few bits I wasn't too fond of, though, mostly the conclusion. It's very abrupt and not really satisfying at all.

I give The Bone Fire three stars out of five!

This tale of Eastern European post war life combines family secrets and a little bit of magic.

Grandma finds her orphaned granddaughter Emma and takes her to live with her in their village home. Emma's parents never told her she had a Grandma, so Emma takes a while to warm up to the old woman. Why would her parents keep this a secret, Emma wonders. Grandma's recollections of the war and possible sins of the family come to light.

Must be read with your best Eastern European accent to truly transport you to this era.

This was a very different book for me to read. It was in some places hard to understand. But over all it had a great feel to the plot!

Finalist for Le prix du Meilleur livre étranger (France) * A Finalist for the Premio von Rezzori (Italy) * Longlisted for the Prix Femina (France)

The writing can be hard for some to follow. Saying this, I enjoyed the mythos of the novel, which in many ways is a satire-like fairytale. At least, it promises to become one. It is a chilling and suspenseful novel set in the wake of a violent insurrection about a young girl rescued from an orphanage by an otherworldly grandmother she has never met.

This was a very peculiar book. The premise was very interesting (and I'm sure I would've gotten way more out of it if I was more familiar with Hungary's history) and I loved the atmosphere of the book. I also really liked all the characters, they were all interesting and had a lot of depth, even the minor characters felt intriguing.

I loved how the Grandmother and other things slowly began making sense and the story unraveled. The way magic worked in the book is really cool, I really liked the concept.

What I didn't really enjoy about the book was the formatting; all the insanely long paragraphs and no quotation marks or anything when someone speaks, were at times really exhausting and slow to read. I suppose it brought a unique feel to it but it was still a bit too heavy to my taste.

This book had an interesting premise, but I didn't get it.
I was excited to have it, and besides that it was not by an English-speaking author but a Hungarian, I was super interested since its synopsis was compelling and I thought that the book series was super fast to finish because of how interesting it would be but it was not, It was slow, and to my point of view it was confusing in some parts, I do not know if it will be a problem of the translation in English or that is the original text, but it was very heavy to read since as I said before it was confusing and another problem was the point of view in which the story is narrated, lacked emphasis on dialogue and that contributed to not understanding.
Anyway, thanks to netgalley for the arc for an honest review.

This book actually has an interesting premise. I was excited to check it out- it was quite refreshing to read a book from a non-English speaking author. I don't think I've ever read anything by a Hungarian writer before! There are numerous historical and cultural elements, all with a hint of magical realism. The plot is slow (sometimes even confusing) and you don't really realise where its going, yet it is still enjoyable to read.

However, my main issue was the point of view and the lack of marking the dialogues. The story is told from the first perspective and often I found myself having to go back and read certain parts again, because I missed what was being said. I was really wondering whether it's the fault of the source text or the translation. Therefore, it's quite difficult to rate this text.