Monstrosity has long been used by mainstream society to demonize, ostracize or raise fear towards anything viewed as "other". However, there has recently been a rising awareness of monstrosity and "otherness" as a source of power and strength. In Aden Polydoros's YA, second world fantasy, Bone Weaver, we are greeted with monstrosity in many different forms and often the lines of good and bad do not fall where society would have you believe they do.

From the very first page we are greeted with a scene that many of us would find horrific, only to learn it is in fact one of cozy domesticity. The main character, Toma, was rescued as a child by Upyr's - bodies that have arisen from the dead and usually gorge themselves on living flesh. Toma's parents have learned to control their hunger for human flesh and are raising an upyr child - Toma's sister Galina. This isolated little family is turned upside down when Galina is kidnapped by monster hunters looking to bring their prize to the leader of an uprising. From the uprising's point of view, a monster is being taken for experimentation and culling but from Toma's vantage point a sweet loving child is about to be horrifically tortured.

As Toma sets off towards the big city to rescue Galina she joins forces with the recently dethroned Tsar, Mikhail, whose magic has been stolen by the leader of the uprising. Rounding out the not-so-merry trio is Vanya, who has been branded as a witch and a murderer after using his hidden magic to save his people from slaughter by the ruling class. Vanya is part of an ethnic minority known as the Stranyk who have long been used as scape goats by the ruling class and are victimized on the regular when inept leaders need something to distract the populace with. Any magic possessed by a Stranyk like Vanya is deemed unclean witchcraft as opposed to the heroic powers of the ruling class and Tsar despite there not being much difference between them that readers can distinguish other than their parentage.

In this the reader will easily find a parable to Judaism and the history of Jewish persecution as well as a view inside true monstrosity that is often presented as heroism - the persecution of minorities by people in power who are then deem themselves heroes for killing the "unclean" and "infidel" among us. Vanya represents a bucking of that system. A question that begs to be answered - why is his magic any more unclean than Mikhail's simply because his parents were not the elite ruling class? When children are run down in the streets by the purported heroes and keepers of the peace simply because they are different and therefore present a convenient way to diffuse rising political tensions, how can anyone tell monster from hero anymore?

As the trio journeys together, Mikhail is repeatedly exposed to the injustice and hypocrisy that has taken place under his rule and often in his name. Toma discovers more about her past and the Stranyk while Vanya staunchly refuses to be seen as anything less than what he is - a person with magic, same as anyone else, not an unclean witch or a hero. Because those are titles that aught to be earned rather than inherited.

The setting of this secondary world that is populated by creatures from Eastern European and Slavic folklore In this too, readers are forced to reexamine our preconceptions as the creatures show compassion and understanding when it is offered to them - usually by Toma who approaches them without the prejudices that Mikhail and Vanya have grown up with. The ending felt overly optimistic to me - can one enlightened Tsar change centuries of baked-in prejudice? - but I am hopeful that it is the set up for a sequel in which we get to watch this change happen in real time. Because winning a war is easy compared to dealing with the ensuing aftermath and moral grayness across party lines.I would love to see how these characters take on that challenge.

Bone Weaver is a fast-paced YA historical fantasy about three unlikely allies coming together in a war-torn country to save an empire. Toma is the adopted daughter of the undead. Her sister gets kidnapped by the Tsar's enemies. The usurped Tsar Mikhail, Toma, and Vanya who they meet along the way try to save Toma's sister and stop the rebels. The story is filled with engaging characters and outstanding world-building. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Bone Weaver today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The City Beautiful has been one of my favorite reads of the year, so when I got an arc of Bone Weaver I was thrilled. In this book, we follow Toma, who has lived with her family of the undead since she was ten years old. When a plane crashes, Toma saves the lone survivor, only to find out he is Mikhail, the Tsar. When her sister is kidnapped by the Fraktisya, who are trying to kill the Tsar and all in power, she travels with the Tsar to the world of the living in hopes to save her. Along the way, they meet Vanya, a charming young man who helps them along the journey, with an agenda of his own.

This book is inspired by Imperial Russia, with Slavik folklore mixed in. I had a hard time understanding what exactly was defined as "The Unclean Forces." Was any magic used by the Strannik deemed unclean? Or if they were peasants with magic? Or was it the different types of power? How was it determined what magic the Three Sisters gave, versus the Unclean Forces? This was never fully explained, which left me somewhat confused as to why some were persecuted for their powers and others praised. I loved the fact that magic was something commonly accepted in the world, with all kinds of haunting creatures being woven into the story.

I do not know if this is a series, but I hope it will be. While this book was well-written, it did not feel complete. I still had questions at the end of the novel and would love to see these characters in another book.

This book did a wonderful job of developing Toma's character. She has a childlike innocence that comes from being hidden from the world since she was ten. On the flip side, she is wise and unable to see the prejudices that afflict her country. She is constantly questioning and challenging Mikhail and Vanya's worldviews. She grows on her journey, quickly adapting and using her skills to survive. I truly loved her, and the way she saw the world for the evil thing it was, but still wanted to change it.

The relationship between the three main characters was not fully fleshed out. Polydoros pushed the idea of true friendships and even romance way forming between them, way too quickly for the pacing of the book. At best, they felt like allies to me, much less like two of them could be romantically involved. In part, I believe this is due to the fact that Mikhail's and Vanya's characters were one-dimensional, especially compared to Toma.

This was a haunting, spooky novel, rich with magic and otherworldly characters, that dealt with the topics of prejudices, unfair hatred, and just what lengths a person will go through to survive.

Heart-pounding exciting, super gory, with some romance and funny bits sprinkled in. Aden delivers another page turner.

In a country fighting a. civil war there are also monsters, witches, and even the dead walk among the world. Toma is the adopted daughter of undead parents, she lives a quiet life in the forest but when she rescues a young man who turns out to be the Tsar of the empire on the verge of a civil war between the lower class and the magical elite her life turns upside down, especially when men who are searching for him end up kidnapping her beloved sister. Now Toma and Tsar Mikhail must join forces to not only save Toma’s sister from the evil being who has taken Mikhail’s seat but to retrieve Mikhail’s stolen power from him. Along for the ride is Vanya, a charming commoner who also has magical powers and has taken an interest in Mikhail. Together all three of them must navigate difficult political situations as well as the fact that people with powers are being executed and try and make it out alive. The story started off great but sadly fell apart by the middle and completely lost me by the end. I loved this author’s previous work so I was so excited to read this one, especially with the monsters and Slavik folklore elements in it. The story sort of ends unfinished and definitely feels more like a prequel and it feels like there should be more books... yet this entire first book felt lacking and the actual story and plot of the characters wasn’t really that engaging. I found the characters to lack actual distinguishing personalities and real emotions, and while the world and magic building were really interesting the characters and storyline were lacking. Then there was that super tiny bit of romance that was just thrown in there that was underdeveloped and didn’t actually make sense... Overall, this one unfortunately did not work for me. I love the author’s previous book and will definitely give his future work a read but this one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and Inkyard Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Actually 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4.

I really liked this book and the points that Aden Polydoros was making about diaspora and effects of war ... it just kind of lacked feeling. And the parts where it lacked feeling, it felt a touch over explained to make up for the lack of feeling. Apparently this was his first manuscript but it was published after the City Beautiful and that makes sense to me because The City Beautiful just felt more ... complete to me?

I will say, I liked the magic aspects oft he world and I liked that the spirits that roamed the world were just a part of every day things. Like the magic wasn't a secret underbelly of the world, but a part of every day life and I thought that was really neat. Also neat how he drew from folklore and just how that folklore had so many spirits that were like if you die in the woods you turn into this, if you drown in a river you'll become that idk folklore is so fascinating and Polydoros did a great job of meshing it into his story.

This just didn't tick the boxes for me. Thirty years ago I would probably have devoured it as I was very much into all things fantasy at the time. Now I just find the main characters a bit obnoxious and the world building a bit flat.

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

Man, I am on a losing streak with the ARCs lately, so this DNF shouldn't have surprised me. The characters seemed totally disconnected from the worldbuilding, and the plot was so aggressively average it couldn't make up for the other issues.

I loved this book so much! The detail and creativity that went into this book are astounding, and I loved the connection to Russian and Ukrainian lore. It felt set in both the future and the past. There was a big war that send most of the country back to olden conditions, but there are obviously technological advances and scientific qualities to the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Inkyard Press for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be an intriguing fantasy! Toma lives in the forest and the boy people around her are her undead family, she hasn’t seen or spoken to a living person in seven years. She also doesn’t remember much of her past before meeting her family. One evening her sister finds a living man, when Toma goes o him turns out he’s not alone he had another young man with him and they are being hunted. Toma rescues Mikhail but in the process his friend dies. She later finds out that his the Tsar and the men after him are rebels, as her homeland outside the forest is in a Civil War. The men kidnap her sister leaving her and Mikhail to go after them, along the way they met Vanya and together the three of them go on a mission to save Toma’s sister and stop the rebels. Magic and monsters also play a big role in the story! I was intrigued early on and stayed that way throughout the story! As a fantasy there is a lot of world building and it took me some time to conceptualize that, but eventually things started to flow pretty easily! The book also utilizes Russian lore so there is some tricky language. I also felt that there were a few parts that didn’t really seem needed or to add to the story but they didn’t hinder the book too much. I enjoyed Toma, Mikhail, and Vanya a lot! I will say there are a lot of unanswered questions so there better be another book! I highly recommend this book if you like fantasy novels and I will say give it a chance because it really is worth it! Can’t wait to read it again!

In Bone Weaver, Polydoros has stitched together all the elements of a remarkable book. Intrigue, innocence, action, adventure, love, loss—Bone Weaver ticks all the boxes and does so beautifully!
The theme of ignorant prejudice vs selfless love is woven deftly throughout the novel, illustrated by characters the reader will love.
One suggestion for improvement is expansion/clarification of the political situation. It felt a little too surface for me to be fully invested, which is something I was more than willing to be!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for gifting an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't quite know what to expect when diving into this novel, save for there would be zombies and magic. Which seemed like the weirdest thing to read at the time. But this book will pleasantly surprise you. In both good and bad.

Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros is YA fantasy/historical fantasy (as it has a historical heft to it) following the life of Toma and her peculiarly undead family as she travels across a war torn country to save her younger sister. But things go awry when Toma discovers she might have magic. And with the help of a supposed witchy Vanya and Tzar seeking his throne, Mikhail, things become even more complicated.

Though I wouldn't call this my favorite book of the year. It is a hauntingly gorgeous story to read. Especially if you read closer to all Hallows Eve.

Have been unable to review due to illness, but greatly looking forward to this novel! A very original premise, and the title just grabs you! LGBTQ representation and a richly imagined fantasy world make this book the top of my reading list!

There is a lot to like about this book. Polydoros writes about the atrocities of war and how strong divisions of faith can create problems. While the book is allegorical in relation to the division of early Jews and Christians, I almost feel as though it does a less complete job of explaining this rift than Katherine Arden's Bear and Nightingale trilogy or Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver.

I think it's incredibly difficult to discuss this book without understanding the world-building. The world is roughly based on imperial Russia with tiers of magic layered in. The idea is that there is an Unclean Force, which isn't as strongly explained as I would have liked. It seems as though it is a power source that can be reached by everyone after hardship and strife, but due to religion calling it evil and dirty (suppression of power among common people) it is only used by the kolduny (witches male and female.) On the other hand, we have bogatyri, which are people with access to magical powers from birth which is considered good and Clean because they are born into nobility. Bogatyri are also born into common blood families, but because it is a power dynamic (literally and figuratively) anyone who is common and born with bogatyr powers is called kolduny and executed.

Essentially, you have the bogatyr forces (also called Tsarist or Otzvuk) and the Fraktsiya (essentially the proletariat forces) who are unwittingly controlled by a legit koldun, Koschei. So while this book has elements of religious war, it also deals with socio-political aspects of strife. The more you learn about history, the more books like this show you how difficult it is to point out the "good" or "bad" sides. In this world, we also have a religious minority - the Strannik - who are hated and persecuted by Otzvuk and Fraktsiya pretty equally. It seems as though bogatyr powers manifest pretty frequently in common Strannik families because we are given two examples of this in the book (but maybe it's because we didn't have many named characters who were non-Strannik commoners.) The thing that sucks about that is that even among the Strannik, bogatyr powers are still considered Unclean and heretical if they belong to commoners.

To add to this are the "monsters" or resurrected dead. We are never given a specific reason for why this seems to happen to certain people, as the people of Kosa don't seem to know themselves. We are given speculation that seems relatively plausible. Some of these monsters are familiar from Slavic folklore but in new contexts. Drekavcy, mavki, rusalki, upyri, and vodyanye are all forms of resurrected dead. As we learn through the course of the novel, the monsters tend to be less monstrous than some of the human characters, which is a common theme in fantasies involving monsters. In order to prevent any dead from being resurrected, there are different precautions that can be taken.

Now going into the actual story. Koschei deposes the current tsar, Mikhail, and takes his powers. Mikhail escapes by the skin of his teeth. He is discovered by Toma, a girl with a mysterious past, who is human but living among a "family" of upyr who have maintained their sentience and humanity. Unfortunately, Mikhail was pursued by Fraktsiya soldiers who discover Toma's upyr sister, Galina, and kidnap her to take her back to Koschei as a consolation for accidentally allowing Mikhail to escape. This starts a race against time to save Galina. Toma pursues the soldiers and Mikhail comes along to attempt to confront Koschei and regain his stolen powers. En route, they meet Vanya, a Strannik orphan with bogatyr powers who is also half-Rusalki. When Vanya is revealed as a bogatyr in his community, he must run as they call him koldun and plan to execute him. So he joins their quest.

There is a lot to enjoy about this book. The world-building is strong enough that there could be more books written about it. I'm not as impressed with the characters. I feel like the author had a clear idea about Vanya's personality and place in the world, but did not know what he wanted to do with Mikhail at all. The perspective it's told from is Toma's which is beneficial because you are learning about Kosa society at the same rate that she is, but her naivety sometimes wears on me. She seems a little wide-eyed and unrealistic for someone who basically witnessed her mother's execution, but in all fairness, her mother's identity was kept from her.

Overall, I would say that this book is interesting and it does a great job of keeping the reader engaged. Because the world-building is complex, it might be better for YA readers who are adept at immersing themselves in fantasy rather than those new to the genre.

This was an interesting read! I enjoyed the world building, which was very unique. The plot was fast paced and adventurous, but I do wish it had been fleshed out a bit more.

I did find I was having a hard time connecting to the characters but they were very well written overall.

Slavic folklore has been popular in the YA genre for about a decade now, and <i>Bone Weavers</i> is a good example of how the market has reached the saturation point. Some of the earlier works like Bardugo's Grisha series really mine Slavic folklore for some of the more unique traits while others like Emily Duncan's Something Dark and Holy show a complete (and sometimes wildly racist and anti-semitic) mishandling of another culture. Polydoros's <i> Bone Weaver</i> doesn't cross the line the way that Duncan's work does, but it's an example of cultural appropriation where the writer genuinely doesn't seem to grasp the culture he's writing about. The book probably would have been more engaging if it wasn't shoe horned into Slavic folk culture. Instead the folk characters come across as mishandled and the plot points don't ever quite come together in a satisfying way.

More confusing is the author's note at the back of the book where the author notes his family came from imperial Russia (did his family move before the collapse of tsarist Russia? maybe through a magical time machine and manage to skip through Russia's history post 1917?) It's a bizarre claim and a weak way of trying to claim a connection to Slavic culture.


Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There's parts of this book I enjoyed and others that felt a bit slow for me.

I'm not the demographic for YA but generally enjoyed the book. It's gory and not for the faint of heart. It's a story about family and identity as well as death. Toma is a likable character and we follow her as she quests to save her sister, fall in love, and find out who she is.

Overall it's an interesting read.

Bone Weaver is an intense story centering on family, identity, and the struggle of surviving in a world that doesn’t believe you belong. This was a strong fantasy read; while it did have some things that detracted from it for me, the rest of the book made up for it.

The three protagonists in this one seemed interesting, though I felt I personally couldn’t connect with their interests/worries. I think overall it was because their backstory was so shallow. Maybe as the series progresses, but you have to hit me from the start.

I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling in Bone Weaver. Aden Polydoros’s characters were enjoyable and felt solid to me, as did their struggles. I felt drawn in immediately and stayed intrigued through the monsters, both human and of folklore, and the war torn landscape. This parallel to Imperial Russia holds up, in my opinion.