This was a very well-researched and interesting story. It reminded me a cross between Jurassic Park (although with fossils) with the Da Vinci Code.

Historical, archeological, and international intrigue combined with mythology and interpersonal drama. Some relationships are overly wrought, and a few things are just too convenient but the story generally moves quickly and the structure works. ,

I picked up this book because I definitely went through a huge dinosaur phase when I was a kid. This book definitely delivers on paleontology and dinosaur facts. I enjoyed learning more about the history of paleontology vs what it looks like today, and the fossil fun facts were interesting.

Unfortunately, both the plot and characters did not deliver. The story is told from multiple perspectives, all of them indistinguishable from one another. When I paused and returned to reading, I often could not tell whose perspective it was (until process of elimination by which characters were named). One of the characters is grating to read because of how inexplicably perfect she happens to be at everything--which is continually repeated by other characters to an annoying degree. The plot was predictable and too easy. The writing makes an effort at being a thriller, but the elements of secrecy, mystery, and discovery are often handed to the group or awkwardly juxtapose aspects of mysticism and reality.

Although the premise of this speculative fiction is promising, the characterization ultimately hampers the reading experience.

Multiple timelines, secret organisations, palaeontology and a fierce main character!

This was a riveting and fast paced read that jumped between different timelines and had both depth and character to it. II enjoyed the straightforward plot, and the cast of characters. The writing felt very easy to read and transported you to the world and time that the author was aiming for.

In conclusion, this is the kind of immersive read that you need on a rainy day!

1/5 stars! I think that archeologists would probably find this book palatable but nothing about it was useful for the average reader. The content was so slow and overly descriptive that I found myself rubbing my eyes and yawning repeatedly. It was a genuine challenge to get through this book.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This one was an interesting read.
I felt like the bones of the story were really cool and interesting, but the execution was a tad off.
I really wanted to love this, and it fell a little short.
I would recommend it to someone who is a history buff and likes more historical books, but it wasn’t for me.

What a fast paced, intense story! Once you start reading it you won’t wanna put it down. If you like stories like National Treasure or Indiana Jones you will love Bone Wars.

I’m truly surprised by the negative reviews on here as I found this book really intriguing! I’ve never had much of an interest in dinosaurs or fossils myself, but I really enjoyed this novel.

Sixteen year old Molly joins palaeontologists Sarah Manning and Derek Farnsworth on a dig in Montana, where they come across something surprising. Shocking. Potentially life changing. It turns out what they have discovered is something that someone wants to keep a secret…

The story unfolds through the eyes of Molly, Sarah, Derek and ‘celebrity palaeontologist’ Dr. Sean Oliphant, with each chapter being from the point of view of one of the main characters.

If you consider this book to be simply fantasy and science combined, then you will likely enjoy it much more than if you want it to be some kind of historical fiction. Personally, I will look forward to the Pirates of Montana #2, as this story will definitely continue.

Also, I bloody love Molly. She’s feisty and gutsy and needs her own series when she’s older and taking over the world.

My only complaints about the book are 1) sometimes I got a little confused if I hadn’t double checked whose perspective the chapter was from; and 2) the scenes featuring British people hurt my poor little British soul… we don’t talk like that. Please get a Brit to proofread your British characters.

Other than that, it was a really enjoyable read. 4 stars.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC.

Unfortunately, I will be DNFing at 60%. This book just isn't really doing it for me which is unfortunate due to my excitement over the premise.

It starts strong but quickly drops off into a bit of a mess. The infodumping felt too bland, the conspiracy angle was dry, and the characters just didn't make me excited. I just didn't care. The characters were often staggering into the plot and it was hard to be so grounded in realiy but also to be suspend disbelief to think Molly was the saving grace of these top-tier scientists. It jsut didn't work for me.

I think part of this is simply that this book is not for me. For someone younger, maybe between 12-17, might engage with this differently - it reads more towards younger YA than older YA.

I wanted to love this... I might have 15 years ago. But as it stands, this just wasn't a book for me.

From the title, you can roughly figured out what happened through out this book. Yes, it talked mainly about bones. Well..., a quest to search for dragon bones to be exact. In this book we follow a grup of scientist who found bones that looked like dragon bones. But dragon is only a myth, right? Or is it?

When i first read it, i have two expectation. First, it will be informative. Second, it will be entertaining. Let's talk about the informative part. Yes, this book is really informative. It's so informative that it feels overwhelming, especially at the beginning of the book. I can tell that the author really passionate about dinosaurs. But don't worry, because in later chapters we get more action that information dump. But you have to hang in there. The good part of this book is happening after half of the book when they travel around the world and a lot of interesting things happen. It's really entertaining... Almost made up for the 'information dump' part. Almost.

This book has some Indiana Jones vibes in it. So, if you are a dinosaur enthusiast looking for a easy read with some adventure, this book is for you. I have to emphasize the 'dinosaur enthusiast' part though. Because there's a lot of information about dinosaurs in here. Like, a lot. If you get past that, this book is really good. I have a fun time reading it.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for providing this book.

This is a fun adventure story that will appeal to budding scientists, dinosaur fans, sff readers, and more.

Sixteen-year-old Molly receives a paleontology fellowship from a high-tech Japanese company to join graduate student Sarah's Montana dinosaur dig. There she meets Sarah's childhood mentor, Farnsworth, a local fossil hunter who dreams of opening a museum. But things quickly go sideways when they discover black bones that don't look like an dinosaur known to humankind, which is quickly stolen--along with all their materials--by a mysterious group that pretends to be government officials just long enough to pull off the theft. By then they have been joined by Sarah's graduate advisor, the vainglorious Oliphant who Molly idolizes due to his TED talks and Farnsworth hates due to Oliphant having committed various scholarly crimes against him during a past collaboration.

Upon being left with nothing, they receive a mysterious clue in the mail. This begins a globe-trotting adventure where they follow the clues and try to outrace their mysterious foes to finding another skeleton which can prove their discovery is real... a discovery that Molly quickly dubs a dragon.

The mix of scientific info-dropping and mythological stakes make this a great, fun read (with bonus science education along the way) that should have wide appeal.

I requested this ARC earlier this year and started it almost immediately after. Now, at the end of the year, I'm still having a hard time coming up with what to say in a review.

The concept was very promising and I picked the book up because of its premise, which excited me. But I was struggling to get past the first chapter. It took me a really long to make any progress at all because I didn't click with the writing style or character voice. DNF'd quickly after that.

I think there's someone who would like this book, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

I always love seeing women portrayed in fiction in STEM careers, so I immiedately requested this one simply because it was about a girl who was interning on a dinosaur dig site. When Molly discovers a set of fossils that don't fit the dinosaur narrative, it isn't long before a "Government Agency" swoops in to claim them. But the agency isn't any known government arm and with clues to other fossils, like the ones Molly finds, scattered across Europe ... all Molly and her team can do is follow them.

This was a fun adventure, similar to a National Treasure feel. There was adventure on every page, risk and reward and the thrill of the hunt. The only thing that kept me from giving this story a full 4-stars, was the ease at which the 16-year-old is not only able to travel with these adults, but to solve all the riddles. Rarely did any of the adults step in with valuable knowledge and instead seemed to just be along for the ride, both as the funding for the trips and the overseeing of a minor traveling internationally without her parent's knowledge or consent.

Overall, it was fun and I do look forward to the next installment.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of The Bone Wars. I did like this book. I enjoyed the premise that science has covered up the existence of dragons. I found the things that the 16 year old was able to do and the fact that adults let her to be a little too far fetched. I did like the book enough to finish it. And I liked learning about the females, like Mary Anning, who played an impressive role in modern paleontology.

the whole time i was reading this book, as dissatisfied as i was sometimes with the pacing, the language and the characterisation, i thought to myself how much 12 year old me would devour this book and would rate it 6 stars out of 5. 12 year old me didn't care for any of the literary devices that a decade on from that i care about now. all she cared about was secret societies and intrigue and having a protagonist that she could relate to even when it was completely implausible that a young girl would be involved in a conspiracy like that.

i think that is the book's strength. i think it is something that almost teenagers who are a little bit precocious will love to read, because while it has this overarching conspiracy and a brilliant touch of supernatural magicness, it infodumps real facts about dinosaurs the whole way through as well.

the only thing that i think doesn't work for younger readers is the POV changes. it changes a lot between the main characters, and does so inconsistently, but never really establishes distinct voices between sean and derek, with the two of them blending into one voice in some parts. i think this book would have worked a little better if it was just from molly's POV, because she is the character who young readers are going to relate too, not the 40 year old should-have-been-alcoholics-but-this-is-a-childrens-novel characters.

(p.s. was anyone else getting an exes vibe from sean and derek???? no???? just me???? oh well)

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for a review!

I honestly had a really hard time getting into this book, but I'm SO glad I stuck with it.
So to reassure anyone having the same hesitations I was in the beginning of the book, a small spoiler. <spoiler> There is no romantic relationship between Molly and any of the other characters. I was initially really wary of the relationship with her and Derek because she is a child, and it's unclear how much older he is. Thankfully, this develops into a nice mentoring relationship that didn't make me want to throw the book across the room. </spoiler>

The Bone Wars is honestly such a fun adventure. It fulfills so many of my childhood archeology/paleontology day dreams. I used to love the idea of exploring historical sites and discovering abandoned pieces of history, and this story delivers. There are puzzles, a key hidden in plain view, and ancient discoveries hiding right under our noses. The way the narrative blends fact and fiction left me running to wikipedia to learn something new. (I can't believe I'd never heard of Owen's Iguanodon mold dinner party!) This story covers so much ground geographically, following a century old scavenger hunt, and it's delightful.

Not to mention the secret society trying to kill them!

The mystery is fun, and the relationships between characters are compelling and believable. Once I got past my hesitation, I couldn't put it down, and finished the last 3 quarters of the novel in 2 days. It was an absolutely wild ride that keeps packing twists. Even the Big Bad's motives are intriguing, and I usually find antagonists to be disappointing.

I recommend this for fans of "The DaVinci Code" (Dan Brown), or "Remarkable Creatures" (Tracy Chevalier), and anyone who likes to see a little truth in their mythology.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read and was interesting.

Requested Bone Wars just for the book cover and to satisfy my Jurassic Park loving child-heart. Fossil, skull, scientific stuff, palaeontologist, the story has all the interesting elements to make this fun to read, but sadly was a bit slow for my liking and had a few plot holes. My adult brain is saying the negative about this book, but my archeology + fossil obsessed childhood part of me enjoyed reading this! Fun its going to be a book series.

Thank you Inkshares for the e-arc

I was so excited for the premise of this book. I mean I love dinosaurs and paleontology as a whole, so this should have been right up my alley.
Sadly, however, the characters felt flat and the plot is so slow that I DNF'd this book about 50% of the way through.