Thankyou to Netgalley and publishers for the free copy in exchange of an honest review.

I'm going to keep it extremely honest and short, this sucked totally! I'm sorry, it might be one of the worst novels of all time for me.
The writing was flat, the plot was baseless, the characters were unbearable especially Molly, she was so fuck*ng annoying. I really had a hard time and this was nothing but torture to me.
I want a 300 page story not just some random facts about dinosaurs which I can look up on the internet as well. There were lack of quotations too, which made it difficult to understand who is saying when. Overall, this was just not for me.

Unique fossils, mysterious secret societies and a mismatched group of fossil hunters on a mission to prove that they did really find what they found. High school student Molly Wilder is excited to spend her summer as an intern at a fossil dig. She discovers something special but before the team can identify their strange fossil, it is stolen. A wild chase follows as the they start hunting for more evidence of this species.

I really enjoyed this book! It was fast-paced and fun and full of interesting twists and turns. As an ecologist with some knowledge of paleontology, I loved all the details around the field itself but also the history of paleontology. While I liked the different points-of-view, they weren't indicated well and it took a while to figure out who was narrating which section. I loved the characters and the plot and I am looking forward to the next book!

I wanted to like this--the plot description was so interesting and I could just imagine that this book would be great. Unfortunately this just...wasn't for me. The characters were pretty flat and boring, which made the book not that fun to read. But, a good plot could have made it bearable. Unfortunately, again, this book's plot was sort of monotonous and dry, very clinical--almost like a text-book rather than a book with a supposed narrative and characters and plot. I just didn't really enjoy any aspect of this work: the characters, the plot, the narrative voice--it all just came together in a really disjointed and impersonal way. I'd be down to give this author a second chance, this book just really didn't work for me.

This was unfortunately not for me. I wasn’t engaged by the characters and the plot was a little too silly for me to really enjoy it. It’s not badly written by any means, just a personal taste preference.

The book reminds me of watching myself in a weekend marathon of the entire Jurassic Park franchise with various Sherlock Holmes & gold digger influences. I liked the idea about "the bone wars" and all the Historical context it carried. But the ending made me fall out of love with the plot.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!


I tried really hard to enjoy this book. But I felt like I was a little too old for it. I am a huge fan of reading YA books. But this almost read more middle grade for me.

The concept was quite interesting and I think younger readers would really enjoy it! There is some wordiness to the book via long winded descriptions that felt straight out of a text book. I wasn’t a fan of the multiple POVS only because it was quite confusing. This book wasn’t what I expected from the blurb. But that just means it wasn’t a good fit for me.

What I did Enjoy:
- the world building helloed elevate this story
- The mystery and riddles kept it interesting!
- the concept is different and interesting!

This book just wasn’t for me! I feel like this would be a better fit for a younger reader. 3 out of 5 stars.

It follows the story of sixteen-year-old Molly Wilder who travels to Montana to be an intern for a paleontological dig. The story is told in the first person with multiple points of view experienced through letters and journal entries. Overall, it sometimes read as a geology textbook rather than a YA story. Two stars out of five.

This book felt so promising and I tried really hard to like it. But, in the end I wasn't able to even finish it. I love dinosaurs and dragons and I love learning the history of paleontology. I don't want to read what feels like a regurgitation of a Wikipedia page to learn those things. I got no sense for the characters or plot even over 30% into the book, but felt like I'd read a fact sheet about each type of dinosaur mentioned multiple times. The synopsis is strong and interesting - I just felt it didn't deliver on what was promised. Not for me, maybe great for someone else.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in return for a fair and honest review.

This book was not for me. I sadly had to DNF it at 45% in. I’m very sorry to announce that and give a bad review here but it disappointed me in many ways. First of all: it was too much science talk, as a normal person with no expertise on archeology it was terrible to go through, it bores me so much because it’s been one complicated wird after another and especially the first chapters were full of randomly detailed descriptions of the work they did. I understand why the author did that but to me it was just unbearable.
Second, the characters were flat. Especially the main character annoyed me a lot and wasn’t likeable to me, same goes for almost every other character.
Third, the plot sped up a bit but it wasn’t too exciting? The idea was good, don’t get me wrong but it was poor executed. This could’ve been a great book but it took too long to get to the point.

This book surprised me. The synopsis made it out to be more mature and complicated than it actually was. It could be said that it's a middle grade book, although there is only one teenager among the characters. The writing is simple, which balances out all the scientific names and conspiracy theories. The mane character was likable, while the rest were intriguing. There were a few plot twists I didn't see coming. It's a safe kind of book (nothing terrible can happen in an MG book) but it also kept me on my toes. It's not standalone, and I wish I had known this before I started. The change of POV every couple of chapters was too confusing for me, and I never figured out its purpose. I didn't appreciate the way religion was tackled, even though it was exculpated by one of the characters. I think it is confusing for children. All in all, it's a fast-paced, intriguing middle grade novel about a centuries-old conspiracy that involves dinosaurs.

If you're a current or former dinosaur kid I would recommend checking The Bone Wars out. I think that this book was a fun read especially if you're a fan of mysteries and adventures. Following a ragtag group of individuals around the world in search of answers after discovering a mystery creature and finding themselves in danger, The Bone Wars weaves together fact and fiction to create a unique story. Around the time when I was reading this, I was taking a biology class that covered a lot of the factual pieces of this story and I think that this really added to my experience reading it. There were definitely parts of this that felt like I was reading straight from a textbook or Wikipedia page but I also think that this being geared towards a younger audience allows for this to almost be educational as well as just fun.

One thing that I found interesting about this book was the choice to have mostly adult narrators with the exception of Molly. She was a fun character though and I think that overall the story was well balanced. I will say that the description that's given for the plot doesn't quite follow what actually goes on in the story. I was expecting this to be a story that took place across time and while portions of this book are attributed to the people from the past (in the form of letters and journal entries), the majority of the story takes place in present day. I don't think that this took anything away from the overall story but it just wasn't quite as expansive as I was expecting it to be.

In terms of the plot I thought that this had a nice balance between the action and the lulls. It was engaging and a quick read once I got into it. The mystery aspect was intriguing and I'm looking forward to checking out the second book in order to see where the story goes. This was an unexpected read in a variety of ways but I think that it's worth checking out.

Sixteen-year-old Molly has been fascinated by Palaeontology since she was four so, when she wins a chance to take part in a real dig, she is thrilled. The dig is going fine, no surprises, when Molly.gets a chance to tr out the new drone. However, when a wind rises and blows it out of sight, she scrambles to find it. However, as she tries to climb a hill marked with loose dirt and sand, she slips and is unable to prevent her fall to the bottom. When she finally stops, she finds herself in front of a cave . Her curiosit overcomes her sense of caution and she decides to explore. What she finds there is like nothing she or, perhaps anybody, has seen before, a discovery that could completely turn the world of Paleonology upside down.

Blend the science of Paleontology with cryptozoology, throw in petty academic jealousies, a coming-of-age story, and a group of fanatical anti-science conspiracists and you have The Bone Wars by Erin Evan. For the most part, I quite enjoyed the book but I love fiction that reference real science especailly Paleontology and I liked the mystery.

I did, however, have some problems with the novel. It tended to drag in places and, when it did, it seemed to have trouble getting back on track. & as much as I liked the character of Molly, she seemed too often to be more aware of the science than the actual scientists.The book was alos told in first voice, switching between the various characters which tended to be confusing until t got to know the characters as the story progressed. Still, overall, I enjoyed the story despite these faults enough to want to know where it goes next.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Inkshares for th opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</I>

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Wars both had some good moments and some downsides, in my opinion. While this may be a great book if you love dinosaurs and would love to learn more about them and the world of paleontology, it’s not a highly recommended read if you don’t.

Sixteen-year-old Molly Wilder is excited to start her summer internship in Montana, digging up fossils. By accident, Molly discovers a fossil that has a large wing structure, horned skull, and black bones. Nothing that has ever been seen before in dinosaurs. As such, neither her supervisor, Sarah, fossil hunter Derek Farnsworth, nor Dr. Sean Oliphant can place it.

But Molly knows what it is: a dragon.

Just how revolutionary this discovery is, becomes apparent when the BLM drops by and takes away all of their work. But are they really the BLM? And what are they trying to prevent to keep from the world? Are certain fossils truly worth killing for?

Story

The story itself starts out a bit slow. It takes some time before Molly finds the fossil. But after that, the pace does pick up.

I did enjoy the hunt for clues, the mystery, and the puzzle. I’m always in for figuring out riddles.

The biggest let-down, for me, was the ending. The twist was just not quite believable. While I can see where the author had tried to set it up, it doesn’t come across strongly enough. The motivations just fell short, in my opinion.

In addition, the story was written in 1st person, from different character POVs. However, it was very difficult to distinguish between these POVs. It often took me half the page or more to figure out who the “I” was in this chapter.

The voices just weren’t quite distinctive enough, which leads to some confusion at the beginning of each chapter.

Characters

Molly is, as far as I could tell, the main character. I didn’t count, but I think most chapters were from her POV.

As it happens, I also had the most trouble identifying with her POV. While this might be because I’m an adult, not a teenager, I think it has more to do with her inconsistencies. She acts like a teenager, so that felt natural, but then she’s also often smarter, somehow, than the adults. And she’s not very respectful toward the adults most of the time, either. I found this difficult to believe, especially since she’s such a fan of Dr. Oliphant at first. And yet, she has no trouble talking back to him.

Additionally, she often, very conveniently, had a certain skill that was necessary. E.g., she was a fan of a certain author, knew a certain language, read a particular book… and so on. While I suppose this is possible, it felt more convenient because of the order the author chose to reveal this information. I think if Molly’s skills were set up a bit sooner instead of given at the moment of necessity or after, it would’ve felt more believable.

As for the other characters, I’m afraid I have to say I couldn’t quite identify with them either. I think the one who had the most personality was Dr. Oliphant. Likely because he has the largest ego of the group. So, he was the easiest to identify (although he wasn’t particularly a likable character).

So, as far as characters go, the book was somewhat of a let-down, for me.

Worldbuilding

The worldbuilding was a real strength of the book. I admit the amount of detail was a bit much, for me, because I’m not that into dinosaurs. But, if you are, then I’m sure you’ll appreciate the information given in the book.

It was clear that there was a huge amount of research that went into it, and I love how the author tried to weave in the fantastical with reality. It made the story more believable that way.

And, even better, if you want to know more about the things you read in the book, the author gives plenty of resources at the end of the book.

Conclusion

To conclude this book review of The Bone Wars, I’d recommend the book if you really love dinosaurs, would love to learn more about them and enjoy some mystery. Honestly, if dinosaurs aren’t really your thing, I don’t think you’ll enjoy this book as much. I did feel it had a not-so-satisfying twist ending, and I couldn’t quite connect with the characters.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book just did not stand out. I'd say this is half my fault for requesting for an ARC when I was never really interested in this kind of stuff. Info dumps were slightly exhausting and annoying but it was overall a fine book. It was average.

I never DNF books, but this one just couldn't drag me in. The title is super intriguing and the summary made it sound like something that would be right up my ally. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me. That is not to say that there aren't readers out there who might love it.
I really like information to be released gradually and to make sense, but the info dumps were a bit much for me. I will probably come back and try to finish this one eventually since I never DNF, but we will see.

Erin Evan gave me full fledged 80's vibes with The Bone Wars. As if Jurassic Park and The Goonies had a book baby. 16 year old Molly discovers a new and unidentifiable fossil that will bring about a whole new world to the badlands in Montana. While this book had a great storyline, the delivery felt forced and not fully developed. A fun read, but not an in-depth one.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all know that I hate DNF'ing ARCs. HATE IT. I feel this overwhelming sense of guilt anytime I don't finish a book if the publisher was kind enough to provide it for free. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get through this.

"The Bone Wars" is basically like if Jurassic Park met The DaVinci Code but for teenagers. I have no idea why Evan chose to write this story as YA, I think it would've made a million times more sense for this to be an adult novel. But whatever.

There are info dumps, and an MC who is a skilled paleontologist at the age of 16 somehow? Also, the writing just isn't that strong. On the first page along we have both of these nonsensical quotes:

"'Look up, Molly!' she'd say. 'You're missing the world.' Yet my eyes never left the ground."
For context, this snippet is referencing how the MC's mom wasn't supportive of her dino-digging dreams. But like....why? I've not encountered many parents who would have an issue with their child becoming a respected scientist but....okay.

"The town felt slow, even from a thousand feet in the air." I don't even know what this means.

I don't know...the idea behind this is super cool but it feels like the execution was wildly off.

Thank you to NetGalley, Inkshares, and Erin S. Evan for the opportunity to honestly review an e-arc of The Bone Wars: The Pirates of Montana.

Molly is a 16 year old with a passion for paleontology. Over the summer, she is lucky enough to win an internship at an active dig site in the Badlands of Montana. While there, Molly stumbles across the fossil of what could be a dragon, and after a secret society steals the fossil, she must team up with a group of renowned paleontologists to track it down.

This was an interesting read for me. The plot itself was good. The premise is interesting and made me want to keep reading, but the execution and the characters made me want to put it down. Our main character, Molly, and her interactions with our supporting characters seem very unrealistic. She is supposed to be 16, but is treated as an expert on many obscure topics without much questioning by the rest of the characters, who are actually experts in their fields. Her random knowledge is taken as fact without much questioning and it just seemed a little strange.

Another of the main issues I had was the voices of the different characters. All of the perspectives sound almost identical when reading and, in some cases, it was only through the process of elimination that I was able to figure out who’s perspective we were following. I don’t know if it was an arc formatting issue, or if they weren’t there, but having the name of the character with the chapter title might be an easy solution to this issue.

Now, despite those things, I really did enjoy the plot. I loved the scavenger hunt adventure and the mystery kept me engaged and kept me reading to the end. I don’t know if this is the start of a series or not, but if it is, I will gladly give the next book a read.

It's a mediocre book. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either.

The characters did not stand out to me. The plot was basic and easy to follow, but I was not fully engaged in the story. The writing was OK. I was never absorbed in the story nor was I ever attached to the characters. Overall, it's a really okay book.

While the story itself is entertaining the numerous paleontological facts continuously being referenced detracted from the story for me. As did the characters who lacked depth. It read as YA fiction.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.