It was a touch slow to start so it’s a weak five star but any stand alone in this genre deserves rounding up!
The characterization was very well done. All of us reading this genre know the heroes defeat the villain. That’s how the story goes. I know I’ve read a few other what happens afterwards stories but this one does a great job of showing the characters in the aftermath.
Also, it’s not good when someone with necromantic magic goes a little bit off the deep end... If you’re going to have necromancy in your world it would be best if they couple be calm and ethical sorts!

Written by Sarah Beth Durst, The Bone Maker is the sequel book with no prequel. What about after the war is over? After the hero's love has died and a wall is built so no Bone Makers can get to the field of fallen soldiers and their bones?

Well, Kreya found a way to bring him back, but she needs more bones.

This is a well written, enthralling novel. We get to see adventurers, 25 years past their prime, trying to rid the world of evil while also coming to terms with their own lives. And I loved this book. And I wish that I could read the story that happened 25 years ago, to experience these people grow into the team they are in this book.

I really enjoyed that our main characters are so different from each other, and to see how much they really do care about one another. Jentt I think is a really great example of what partnership means. He stands behind her, though he tells her when he doesn't agree with what she is doing.

Zera is an amazing person who has to work through her own issues, but really shows how we are all always works in progress. Marso has gone crazy and has to find his own way back with the support of his family. Stran is just a lovable giant who wants to believe that he isn't needed anymore other than at home, but willingly steps up to help his people, even if he doesn't believe they need his help. They believe they do, so he goes.

If you are looking for fantasy with a lot of adventure and twists and turns, this is a great choice.

I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sarah Beth Durst does it again. The world she created is a fascinating one, with a magic system that has rather macabre costs. Want to run faster than the eye can track? Want to be stronger than ten men? Want to see into the future? You can, but it’ll cost in blood and bone. The system is well thought out and I always enjoy that in my fantasy books.

The heroes in this one aren’t shiny and brand new. They’ve already survived a great battle and now they’re older and scarred, both physically and spiritually, from the trauma of the war. I have to say, I love heroes who aren’t young teens fighting the system, but instead characters who have a deep history and know exactly what the cost of fighting is. Durst also delved into a rather deep question. What exactly would you be willing to do to bring back someone you love? What would you sacrifice? How far would you stretch your morals? Combining that thought-provoking story with action and battle against a villain who seems unbeatable created a story I thoroughly enjoyed.

“Some of us are better at hiding it than others, but we are all broken. You can’t live without breaking a few times. But that doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. It just means you’ve lived in the world.’ […]’What matters is you keep living in it, despite your broken bits—or even because of them.”

A hero’s journey is always worth telling. A myriad of adventures, people to save, and evil villains to defeat; we all know how the story goes. But, what happens after their quest is fulfilled? Why do heroes’ lives seem to end once they have saved the world? And what happens when they grow old and people still hold them to the standards they met on their youth?

All these questions are explored thoroughly in Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel, The Bone Maker, released March 9th 2021. In this standalone fantasy novel, we follow Kreya in her quest to bring her husband, killed in the battle against an evil magician, back to life. But that is just the beginning of the story. In her journey, she rekindles her relationship with not only her former crew of heroes—Zera, Marso, Stran, and her husband himself, Jentt—but also with one of her biggest enemies, who…surprisingly might be seeking redemption?

To begin with, the magic system is quite exciting. Divided into three guilds, Durst creates a bone-based type of magic that reads both as creepily eerie and darkly fascinating. Of course, due to the rather macabre form of magic, several ethical and moral barriers arise. Where does one set their limit? Is it okay to practice necromancy only once if it is to bring a loved one back? And should you make these decisions regardless of what the dead person may think?

Sadly, both the magic system and the fantastic environment of the novel seem a bit shallowly explored. As a result, the worldbuilding is a bit sparse and does not allow the reader to create a fully-fledged mental picture of the surroundings and background of the story. Of course, writing a standalone fantasy novel with an average page number is quite complex as it does not allow as much room to focus on small details as a fantasy saga or a lengthy fantasy book. To a certain point, that lack of exploration is understandable, especially considering the careful attention paid to the characters’ relationships, as we will discuss later.

Nonetheless, The Bone Maker is an astoundingly refreshing exploration of the tradition of the hero’s journey, as it is not common to see heroes go through maturity. Leaving your heroic past aside is one difficult task when people are writing songs and legends about you, and for Kreya, becoming a hermit is the only way to do so. Zera, on the other hand, relishes on her fame and past. Stran has swiftly moved on to become a father and Marso is completely broken. All of them show the many outcomes of the passing of time, and all of them are lacking something: each other.

The way the five heroes interact with each other is definitely the novel’s greatest strength. The five getting back together is so organic and realistic that you just can’t help but root for their relationship to flourish again. Friendly banter, brief moments of shock at how much they all have changed, but also instants of easy connection…the constant comparison of their past and present relationships show how they all adapt to each other again as a team and embrace both the traits they knew and the new quirks they developed over time. And still, the five of them still work together as the cogs of a clock. Their bond is so strong that some of them only begin to learn to manage their grief and heal from the trauma of war once they all come back together; and that is one powerful message to send.

Through the character development of Kreya, the main character, we also come to understand what it truly means to trust your intuition as you grow older, but also to compromise with other points of view. Time and experience truly make you wiser and for Kreya, that is an eye-opening revelation. While the five members of the crew seem to be stuck in the past, the only way for them to become better heroes is to accept the passing of time and understanding that their new lives—even if not ideal—add that little something that they lacked when they were younger.

All things considered, The Bone Maker is quite a fun read and a great way into the fantasy world for those who are not quite used to the characteristic density of the genre. As a light read that still maintains the best traits of high fantasy, Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel is a great pick for older and younger readers alike as it shows that age is no impediment to life, but an asset of wisdom and experience. Life does not end at 25, on the contrary: maturity turns heroes into human beings. So, get ready. Test the limits people will reach to save a loved one and discover whether you would be willing to cheat death by killing another person… for your loved one to live. For fans of Morgan Rhode’s Falling Kingdoms saga, The Bone Maker is a wonderful, entertaining novel you don’t want to miss.

Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”

The low-key premise reminded me of Roshani Chokshi's Gilded Wolves—obviously I was intrigued by this fantasy novel because of that alone and overall, this novel wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be.

Generally speaking, it was not terrible. Nor great. In layman's terms—meh...?

There was great potential there and I am a little surprised the author decided not to expand this to a series considering how each character brought something unique and fresh to the table, and of course, the short description below that initially won me over when picking up what I originally considered a gem:
“You’ve all heard the legends. There were five of us, tasked by the guild master to eliminate the threat posed by the rogue bone maker Eklor.” She held up one finger. “Kreya, our bone maker, a rising star in the guild, chosen for possessing a power that could rival Eklor’s— if she lived long enough to hone it.” A second finger. “Zera . . . that’s me, my loves.” Her audience cooed appreciatively, and Kreya rolled her eyes. “Bone wizard. Unknown until then, but soon to be unrivaled.” Third. “Marso, a bone reader, with a unique gift of seeing the truth of the past, present, and future that far exceeded the skills of other bone readers.” Four. “Stran, a warrior with experience in using bone talismans to enhance his already prodigious strength.” And five. “Jentt, a reformed thief, who specialized in using talismans of speed and stealth to win his battles.”

“The legend says that the guild master tasked five, but he did not. He tasked only one. Kreya. She chose the rest of us. All that befell us is her fault. All the glory, and all the pain.”

That sounded good on paper, right? But the author, in my opinion, didn’t deliver. I felt like I was just going through the motions when reading this and truthfully, I was a bit bored by the halfway point despite finally meeting the rest of the original crew besides Kreya, Zera, and recently resurrected Jentt, who are each dealing with their own struggles/new lives after their disbandment and war.

More so, what made this a somewhat taxing read was the main character, Kreya. I honestly didn't care for her. And more times than not, my primary focus was on Zera, Marso, Stran and less frequently Jentt. I understand her husband died but for her to just abandon her crew/”best friends” after his sudden death (that she caused btw) and to then—after 25 years—go out to seek them for help/guidance in bringing back her dead husband and to save the world (again). Yeah no. I wasn’t feeling that. I would have gladly told her to fuck off.

Altogether, what I disliked—Kreya, slow-going storyline, lack of perspective of the other characters minus MC, did I mention Kreya?, lack of world-building, the abrupt ending (WTF was that?!) that could’ve been more fleshed out, and despite it being an adult fantasy (40’s + 50’s aged team), the strong YA vibes I got was not my cup of tea.

One of the few positives of this book that I really enjoyed was the concept of bone making, bone reading, magic, special use of talisman, etc. The magic system really intrigued me and it was something I haven’t seen in other adult *cough*YA with older characters*cough* fantasy books I have read thus far. I hope to see more of this in the future.

Thank you to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for granting me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review! This review is scheduled to be published on my blog and then shared on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads on January 29, 2021.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I did for the first 20% until… I didn’t anymore. I think The Bone Maker had a lot going for it in terms of concept and the world/magic system, but the execution just fell pretty short.

As I said, I was really digging the first 20% of the book. I liked how the plot was being set up, I was enjoying the banter between the characters, and overall I was feeling really confident about the rest of the book. Then, it was as if some sort of switch flipped and everything was just either too much or too little, and most of this had to do with Durst’s choices in how she set the tone and world for the story. The banter became irritating in the sense that it no longer felt natural and was often used in situations where it was unnecessary. It seemed like almost every serious or tense moment was broken up by snarky comments or nonchalant humor, making it impossible for me to get into the atmosphere of the book. On top of a lack of atmosphere, I also had a severe lack of an image or sense of the world that Durst was trying to build. The details were pretty minimal, and when they were present a lot of it involved telling instead of showing the reader. World-building is incredibly important when I read a fantasy novel, and it just really wasn’t there in this book, which made it very difficult for me to feel much immersion at all.

The banter and the telling-instead-of-showing aspect of The Bone Maker affected the characters as well as the atmosphere and world. I wanted to like these characters, and I think that they each had decent foundations to their personalities, but there wasn’t much to them beyond that. Most of these characters felt very flat, and the development that did happen didn’t feel natural. Zera was the only character that had any sort of growth that felt like it progressed as the story did.

In terms of plot, everything was very linear and fairly predictable, which by itself is not necessarily a criticism. However, because the plot was so linear, it made it easier to focus on each event, decision, explanation, etc. and notice how thin everything felt. I really wanted to get behind this story, but there were several moments that had me scratching my head. As mentioned in the synopsis, The Bone Maker takes place twenty-five years after our five main characters defeated Eklor and won the war. Twenty-five years is not that long ago, but Durst had characters acting as if it were generations ago and the war was mostly forgotten about. This should have been something still fresh in the minds of at least the people who governed the country of Vos, but people were way too quick to forget about it. Even the motive for the antagonist of this story just didn’t feel entirely fleshed out, although that was a little easier for me to just not think too much about and take at face value.

I think that part of what hurt The Bone Maker a lot was that we don’t have an actual story about the original adventure of the five main characters. We get very vague explanations, but not even full flash-backs or scenes of memories. An entire prequel of the original event may be too redundant, but solid details and scenes from twenty-five years ago would have created a better background for this story and probably helped solidify the plot more.

Aside from the strong first fifth of the book, I was rather disappointed. I can see where this would be a good starting point for anyone completely new to fantasy, as there isn’t anything confusing about different political factions or several characters with their own completely different story-arc, which are typically what readers can find daunting about the genre. But, if you’re someone who reads a lot of epic fantasies, I don’t know if this would be completely engaging for you.

Just fantastic.

There is a dearth of broader published fantasy featuring the After. What happens after we win? What happens after the bad guy is vanquished and peace restored? How to you come back from that? Can a person come back whole and unmarred after the trials of war? How far would you go to regain whatever it was you lost?

Sarah Beth Durst examines the After with such skill that I am still in awe three days later. In a modern publishing cycle where plucky 18yr old's gaining powers and saving the world runs rampant, it was a delight to journey along with skilled adults who have already Done The Thing. People who are confident and savvy, whose learning curves are more introspective than martial. A study in the relationships forged over decades and the love between people that has already been tested, broken and re-forged.

"Getting the band back together" has always been a favorite trope of mine, and The Bone Maker is in great company next to Nicholas Eames' Kings of the Wyld, and Timandra Whitecastle's Queens of the Wyrd on my "You Must Read This" shelf.

The ability Durst displays in navigating these intricate relationships, in allowing cracks to form where one would imagine solidity reigned, is exquisite. The injuries felt and harsh words spoken resound with a clarity and realness that one can see echoed in their day to day life. True friendships are not shattered by a minor insult, but the wound is still felt. Having characters able to address that, work through it, and come out the other side strong in their understanding of one another is so utterly refreshing when cast against the fist clenching, gaze averted, self-doubting one might feel in the early days of an alliance, friendship or romance.

In the well-established, and the re-visited, we see a team just past their prime but not so far gone as to be incapable. Indeed, when the time comes to display their skill they don't hesitate. It's a little like watching the Guardians of the Galaxy at the start of Vol. 2 - everyone knows their part, their place. There is an implicit trust in their teammates that allows for success in the end. It. is. REFRESHING.

The Bone Maker revels in its shared past history of the characters, though never in a manner that falls to shoegazing. Each character seeks independently to be the best version of themselves, to break the monotony and evolve. Though hindered by self-doubt and past mistakes, it is the importance of reflection and recognition that allows Kreya, Zera, Jentt, Marso and Strann to regain their former glory and unite as a stronger team than ever before; it is their life journeys in the After and the In-Between that breed final success.

If you like competent heroes who are just kind of sick of heroing but dangit someone's got to do it, married couples confident in each other, friends knowing that blind trust is the best trust, and lots of re-animated dead, then this is for you.

Thank you so much Sarah for allowing me to read this glorious new novel! I loved it so much. The magic, the world-building, the characters, all of it was so perfect!!!

This book was pretty interesting and it's one that I'm glad that I read, however I didn't find anything about it overly original. The storyline and characters felt familiar and I've read plenty of stories about witches already. I think Sarah Beth Durst's writing is fantastic, though, and I think that's what kept me interested throughout. I think making this a standalone was a great choice, as well. Any addition books and I think it would've stretched the story out farther than my attention could stand.

What happens after the heroes stand triumphant over their foes? Do they just go home and get back to living? These questions, and more, are the subject of The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst. Coming to a world after the big bad has been taken out isn't your standard fantasy fare, and Durst does a great job playing in the world she's created. You can see the scars her protagonists (and antagonists) have suffered due to their actions in the original conflict, and can trace their actions to their pasts. The worldbuilding is just enough to flesh out the setting for the story; it feels like Durst created an entire world and just used a few bits to tell this story (I wonder if we'll ever re-visit?). The magic system is clever and innovative; the characters, while skilled, aren't considered so power as to be gods (especially so long after their initial victory has passed). Some philosophical questions are posed, but the book has fairly clear good and evil sides, so they are quickly answered. All-in-all, The Bone Maker is a great fantasy novel, and worth picking up.

<i>I received this ARC from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.</i>

The premise of this book is really promising. Kreya is one of several types of practitioners of bone magic, and her particular ability is to use bones to animate objects, enchanting them to do her bidding. Kreya is one of a group of five heroes who saved their people twenty-five years prior through use of their respective varieties bone magic, but their victory came at a price: the death of Kreya's husband Jentt. But in the long decades since his demise and defeating the titular Bone Maker, Kreya has faded into obscurity even as her fellow remaining heroes have gone on with their lives. Tucked away in a mountainside tower, she has learned a dark magic that shouldn't even be possible: how to use her bone magic--and sacrificing minutes, hours, and days of her own lifespan--to bring her husband Jentt back to life for an equivalent amount of time. The problem is, she needs to get her hands on more bones to try and bring him back to life once and for all. In a culture where bone stealers are reviled, her resurrection magic is forbidden, and bodies of the dead are honored with cremation rather than burial, this is a task easier said than done, and Kreya must go calling on her fellow heroes for help, with mixed results.

The premise was good, the conflict was set up swiftly, and the story drew me in quickly. However, Sarah Beth Durst got her start writing in the Young Adult market, and this book felt quite YA to me despite the characters ostensibly being adults. The themes explored here could be great, except that the tone of the entire book is too light, merely skimming the surface, doing an awful lot of telling-not-showing. We are told Kreya has been reviving her husband <spoiler>over and over again for decades, each time giving up a bit of her own lifespan</spoiler> and there should be so much loss and heartache and bittersweetness for the short time they're reunited, and it's just... not explored. The estranged relationship between Kreya and Zera is introduced, then promptly discarded as the two go to lighthearted banter despite life-threatening circumstances. We are told the stakes are high but not shown it, and the characters don't act like it.

Lastly, the writing overall was technically okay, but nothing particularly engrossing to me. Despite arguably being in a particular character's head for a point of view chapter, we really aren't given any idea about the character's own thoughts except for insightful expressions such as <i>Ow</i> and <i>We aren't dead.</i> Sentences were often short with little variety and simple words, and there was little worldbuilding or description of characters or locations. They also call each other "boy" and "girl" casually, which makes me think these characters might originally have been written younger and aged up after the first draft.

I think this is a book with a good premise, and would be well-suited to a Young Adult/New Adult age group or someone looking for a light or quick fantasy read. I'd consider it low fantasy (contrasting to high fantasy) with an interesting magic system and a type of necromancy. In theory The Bone Maker ticked a lot of boxes for me--middle aged protagonists, a not-distinctly-European fantasy setting, female protagonists, washed-up or has-been heroes, a sort of ensemble cast--but it just wasn't my favorite in the end.

A refreshing take on the idea of the Chosen One and how you don’t stop your life after defeating the big bad. Loved seeing older characters still being heroes and finding love at any age.

I love the idea of the aftermath of an epic fantasy novel. How do heroes act after they no longer have to save the world? What if the world still needed saving? This is a story idea that I want to see more of and that's why this book interested me.

Oh, and because there are necromancers, necromancy is such a fun magic type and it really brings up a lot of moral questions. 'The Bone Maker' does bring up some of these questions and it does it in a way that was interesting.

But as you can tell, this book was rated three stars and that's because there are some plot issues that I just couldn't suspend my disbelief for. The world had a lot of interesting concepts, the magic of using bones to enhance attributes, make creatures, or see the past and future was fun, but at times it got confusing. Then the bigger darker magic didn't seem to have a lot of it's finer points fleshed out.

Another issue I had was the characters felt young. These are people in their late forties and early fifties and they felt like YA characters at times. I couldn't believe that they had been heroes once by the way they acted and reacted to things. Even people who were supposed to be older still acted like they were in their twenties.

My last big issue needs to be talked about, so I'll do it in a way that doesn't cause any spoilers. There is a moment when something happens and the characters go 'oops, let's do a redo and save the day'. It cheapened the ending for me. The whole ending felt rushed and the payoff didn't live up to the rest of the book.

I hear Durst's other books are fantastic and I plan on adding them to my TBR to see if this was a one-off flub.

An action-packed story starring a charming cast of middle-aged heroes who set out to save the world with bones. A book for young-adult fantasy lovers or someone just looking to read something uncomplicated and entertaining.

This book was described as adult fiction on NetGalley, but it was either labeled incorrectly or the author, who typically writes YA fiction, can't shake her established writing style. However, while I do not typically enjoy YA books, I actually didn't mind this time around. The writing itself may have been a bit shallow, but the story itself was not, and the likeable characters and exciting, if cliché, narrative arc made it a genuinely enjoyable read.

The Bone Maker tells story of a band of heroes who saved the world from an evil bone magician 25 years ago, and who now must reunite and dust off their skills to do it all over again. I really appreciated the fact that the protagonists, especially the women, were all older. You don't see that often in speculative fiction (or any kind of media, since women become useless when they turn 30 y'know). There wasn't a ridiculous amount of character development, but I still felt invested in the relationships between the characters. That is where I think this books shines.

The magic system, like the rest of the world, was not over-developed or complicated. The book primarily deals with themes of death and resurrection through the use of bone magic. The bones do other things as well depending on who is wielding them: they can give their users powers, animate inanimate objects, and tell the future. To me, the mechanics were interesting and unique (though, I have not read many of the "bone" books that seem to be published by the dozens nowadays).

Overall, this was a delightful, easy read and just what I needed to get out of a reading slump.

In The Bone Maker, you'll meet a bunch of people that reminded me a little of [book:Kings of the Wyld|30841984]. An old band getting back together to fight evil? Sign me up! In this book, you'll meet Kreya a middle-aged widow that is looking to resurrect her husband, Jent. He died sacrificing himself during the bone war twenty-five years ago where he and four other people acted as heroes to save Vos against a man who mass-murdered people to get to his goals. Kreya thought she'd killed him. Everyone thought Eklor was dead... but is he truly dead? After all, Kreya managed to resurrect Jent by using some of Eklor's notes so what is to say Eklor didn't plan in advance...

Overall, I really enjoyed this book but be aware that is it slow-going. I found the ideas behind the bone making, bone reading etc really interesting. I loved the characters and they made up for the slow-pace. It wasn't all white and black with Kreya as she did some forbidden things like use human bones to see her loved-one again. I'm happy I got to discover this standalone as it is my first book by this author. I might read some of her other books in the future.

<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

Note that this review will go live at the link on Jan 1st, 2021.

I finally did it, you guys. I finally finished a Sarah Beth Durst novel! This is not the author’s fault. The publisher has been sending me ARCs of her books for a while now. I received the entire Queens of Renthia trilogy, plus an eARC of Race the Sands. I just couldn’t get into the former (My fault, I was interested but it just didn’t grab me enough to read in print. I rarely do that anymore.) And the latter came at a time when my brain was just not going to allow me to engage with any new media. (Hello, pandemic anyone?)

So I’m quite happy that I was capable of finishing this one. If you’re one of those people who bemoan (rightfully) the lack of grown-up protagonists in fantasy novels, then you should definitely pick this one up. ALL of the main characters in this story are middle-aged and up. It’s a refreshing change from that same old hero’s journey we’ve seen dozens of times. Once you’re past your twenties, a teen-aged hero can be as annoying as they are engaging.

Kreya was the leader of the motley crew of heroes who saved the world twenty-five years ago. At great cost, they defeated the necromancer, Eklor, and his skeleton army. That would be the end of the story in some worlds, but in this one, it’s just the beginning.

The tank has gone on to live a life of obscurity as a farmer with his wife and children. The mage has broken his mind by looking at truths that no one else is willing to believe. The support has leveraged her fame into a life of luxury and idleness where she can be properly adored by her fans. The leader is now a recluse, breaking the laws she once upheld just to recapture a bit of happiness for herself. And the thief? He’s dead. Most of the time.

Now, after 25 years, they have to start over again. Not as young and optimistic heroes, but as aging citizens with all the baggage that growing up involves: paying the bills, taking care of the kids, old betrayals, lost loves, and one-time mentors that aren’t the perfect image they once seemed…

It didn’t change my life or anything, but The Bone Maker is a solid novel that stands out from the crowd enough to be worth the time and is engaging enough to keep you reading until the end. It was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of days. Pre-order it now, so you’ll have it in March, as a Pandemic Birthday gift to yourself.

Frankly, I don't think there is anything Sarah Beth Durst could put out that I wouldn't enjoy.

Though, I will say that this was probably my least favorite book by her. It was still enjoyable, still incredibly creative, but I was surprised to find this felt more like YA fantasy than adult. And there is nothing wrong with YA (in fact I tend to enjoy YA more as it has always felt more diverse and creative than adult fantasy in general) but it's just not what I was expecting.

I will say, one of my favorite things about Sarah Beth Durst is that she makes her heroines older - and I don't mean mid-twenties. It's refreshing to have a character be in their thirties or forties, and I've noticed it is something she does for each of her books. Her descriptions are vivid, painting a world you can easily picture in your head, and her characters will stay with you long after you've shut the book for good. Also? The magic system and the different styles of magic associated with bones? Might be one of the coolest things I've ever read.

This book is stuffed full of potential.

There's a great story here with so many interesting elements, but I just couldn't connect with the prose and by extension, the characters. It reads very YA market for me with simple, repetitive sentences/dialogue but is obviously not made for a YA audience with our main characters being firmly adults and dealing with mortality and complex adult relationships. I really loved the beginning section and thought the set up was really good. But this story just never got to the level of depth and nuance that I was hoping for. :(

The Bone Maker has one of the neatest concepts I've seen in a book: what happens after the 'chosen ones' vanquish the great evil? Kreya and her companions are middle-aged, but that doesn't stop them from being completely badass. Kreya's relentless love for her husband was one of the main things that drew me in, and I felt so sad for her when she couldn't be with Jentt. Her friend Zera, although very eccentric and prideful, was such a good friend to her and I loved her personality. The Bone Maker really explored the nature of evil, as well as love and forgiveness, in such a unique way. I always love books by Sara Beth Durst, and although this wasn't my favorite, I did really enjoy it and loved how it drew from and built up the chosen one trope.

"Some of us are better at hiding it than others, but we are all broken. You can’t live without breaking a few times. But that doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. It just means you’ve lived in the world."

The Bone Maker is a standalone adult fantasy, set in a society nestled in the mountains of Vos where magic comes from bones, usually animal bones. It is set 25 years after The Bone War when a corrupt bone worker broke the fundamental rule of their society and used human bones to animate his machines. We pick up with Kreya who has spent the last 25 years in isolation learning how to use this forbidden art of human bone magic to resurrect her dead husband. Kreya is unable to overcome the obstacles she encounters on her own and so turns to her old team from the war days for support.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really engaging premise and magic system with entertaining characters. One of my favorite things about this book was that these characters are all seasoned humans. These aren’t young guns just dying to defeat the baddie and go out in a blaze of glory. We follow a band of middle-aged folks. Zera is a successful and established businesswoman, Stran is a family man, Kreya has become a complete hermit who is incredible at what she does and has experienced intense loss, and Marso has had to deal with so much trauma he feels broken beyond repair.

What worked for me:
- I loved the magic system in this book. There are three different ways that bones can be used, and while there are rules around each of the “trades” within the guild of the bone workers, we don’t necessarily learn them all. It was fun to see the different ways that they were used and to discover more about it as we went. The setting was also very different from what I usually see being completely built on different mountains and having some types of technology. This is something that I would have loved to see a bit more exploration of, honestly.
- The characters: Zera was my favorite. She was sassy and funny and completely her own person. I felt like it was a different dynamic than we usually get between teammates because they have such a past history together. It was really enjoyable to see older characters and to see the different perspective that they had on things as adults.
- I thought that the pacing was excellent throughout and that it never seemed to drag. There was always enough happening that I was engaged and looking forward to whatever happened around the next bend.

What didn’t work for me:
- My main complaint in this book was that there were some points that became somewhat repetitive and came to feel a lot like telling rather than showing. I felt like Kreya had some major realizations about her personality, her style of leadership, and how she relates to other humans throughout the story, and while most of it felt organic when she first made the realization, many of these were repeated multiple times. When these repetitions came up, it started to take me out of the story and took away from that characterization for me.
- Character development: Kreya is our main character, and I thought that her character was fleshed out pretty well for the length of the book. We got to see her make several big realizations and to grow as a character. We also got to see the team come together again as adults, which was fun. For brief periods of time in each chapter we are given a limited 3rd person POV from the other characters. While this was enjoyable, it did set my expectations that we would see each of those characters fleshed out more in their own right rather than just seeing them as characters from Kreya’s perspective. Because of that, I personally just didn’t get the depth from the other characters that I usually like from my characters if we are given their POV.
- I touched on this briefly earlier, but I would have loved to get more background on the world and the culture. I absolutely loved what we got, but I felt like we only got brief snippets of the world. I would have loved to get more info about the culture and society as well as to learn more about the world that we saw. I thought that the descriptions that we got were fantastic. So this isn’t really something that didn’t work, I just wish I had more!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would probably read it again, so my rating is a 3.5/5. While it didn’t hit an overall 4 for me, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed some of the characters.

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.