I ended up enjoying Mistress of Bones more than I originally anticipated. The world building could use some work, and I do think the plot felt messy at times, but I did enjoy the characters for the most part. There is a lot to latch onto, and the writing was intriguing enough that the book flew by without feeling like any sort of slog.

On a positive note, I love the cover art, and the premise sounded so interesting.

In reality, the execution of said premise was lacking. I will say that I was neither a fan of the writing style nor the pacing. Additionally, a lot of the word choices were interesting (maybe too complex?) for what is supposed to be an upper YA novel.

There were a lot of POVs in this book, which normally I do not have a problem with. However, it just did not work for me this time. Also, it was difficult to keep all the people and storylines straight. A lot of the names were similar enough to cause confusion, plus all the random swapping of POVs and backtracking in the story to cover scenes from another character's perspective.

I believe this writing style is what made it impossible for me to really connect with the characters, especially the FMC. I just did not feel the need to root for her and the excitement for her to succeed. Do not even get me started on the MMC. I am not new to fantasy books, but I just really struggled to get into this book enough to finish it.

I will most likely not read the next book when it releases. However, reading is subjective, and this book may hit all the right buttons for another reader!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press/Wednesday Books for gifting me this e-arc. All opinions are my own, and voluntary.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an e-arc copy of this novel.

I’m so sad to say this book was not for me. I applied because I absolutely loved the premise of this book but the writing fell very flat for me and missed the excitement I was looking for. There were too many character POVs and the flashbacks made absolutely no sense to the progression of the story and for that reason I have to give it a 2 star rating.

I think with more editing this could be a really great novel, but for me it’s going to be a no.

A dark, bone-chilling fantasy with gorgeous ideas, but I struggled to connect

I wanted so badly to love this one — with necromancy, gods, a grieving sister, a deadly island, and magic systems steeped in death and sacrifice, Mistress of Bones had a setup that absolutely screamed my name. It promised epic stakes, lush worldbuilding, layered politics, and morally complex characters. And to its credit — it delivered on many of those fronts. The prose is atmospheric and haunting, the world imaginative and intriguing, and the themes around sisterhood, power, and defiance of divine forces were right up my alley.

But the execution left me feeling… adrift. The constant shifts in timelines and POVs pulled me out of the story more often than they pulled me in. I often found myself flipping back to figure out where I was, whose head I was in, and how it tied to the previous chapter. And for a character-driven reader like me, that made it difficult to build emotional investment — even in Azul’s compelling arc. I wanted to feel her desperation, to root for her fight against death itself. But with the structure jumping so rapidly, it was like trying to hug a ghost — beautiful, but never quite tangible.

Still, there were moments that glimmered. The bones-as-magic concept is original and haunting, and I truly appreciated the Spanish-inspired mythos. Characters like Azul, Nereida, and Enjul had the strongest emotional presence, and I’m hoping the sequel gives them even more room to grow. There's so much promise buried in these pages, and despite my disconnect this time around, I'm tempted to revisit the story once book two is out — maybe it’s the kind of duology that reveals its magic better in hindsight.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / Wednesday Books for sharing this teen fantasy romance digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Mistress of Bones has a strong foundation with its necromancer heroine, intriguing lore, and high-stakes plot, but it doesn’t fully deliver. The worldbuilding is imaginative but underdeveloped, and the cultural elements feel more like surface details than a true influence on the story. While the cast of characters shows promise, many arcs feel rushed or incomplete. It’s an engaging start with potential, but it left me wanting more depth and follow-through.

Mistress of Bones is an atmospheric and beautifully written story, with writing that’s often lyrical and haunting. The time jumps were handled smoothly, and there’s a definite sense of intrigue throughout. However, I found myself struggling to understand the world, there were many names, titles, and unfamiliar terms that weren’t fully explained. The ending left me with mixed feelings, poetic, but not entirely satisfying. Still, Medina’s talent for crafting mood and language is undeniable. I highly recommend pairing the audio book with it if you enjoy immersive narration and don’t mind feeling a bit lost in a mysterious world!

Thank you NetGalley and Maria Medina for allowing me an ARC of Mistress of Bones.
While I did struggle with names and places (I need a visual map to help me around these continents!), I was surprised at the story. The necromancer, Azul, wants to resurrect her dead sister but must confront the Lord Deaths emissary, Virel. Get ready for an epic adventure, enemies to lovers and some slight confusion with shifting timelines along the way. Over all, there are bits I’m still quite confused about but it was a good read.

This was tough for me to review because Mistress of Bones has so many things I should’ve loved - necromancy, gods and magic, morally gray choices, an intriguing world built on bones and sacrifice - and yet, I never quite clicked with the story or characters.

The writing itself is lovely, and the premise had so much promise. I really appreciated the layered plot with political tension, divine meddling, secret pasts, and complex character dynamics. However, the frequent shifts in POV and time were disorienting for me, especially early in the book, and made it difficult to get immersed in the story. Because of those shifts, I also sometimes had trouble keeping track of who was who and where we were in the timeline, and that distance made it hard to get emotionally invested in the stakes.

There were some intriguing characters. Azul’s desperation to save her sister was compelling, and Nereida stood out in a way that made me wish she had a bigger role in the story. The magic system tied to gods was unique and had some really fascinating moments, though I wanted more clarity and depth around how everything worked. Some aspects of the world felt undefined.

In the end, I think this is one of those books that will really work for some readers—especially those who enjoy intricate, non-linear storytelling and don’t mind piecing things together as they go. It just didn’t quite land for me the way I hoped. Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

I genuinely dislike giving anything less than 3 stars. I can tell a lot of work went into this book.

The cover and title caught my attention immediately. Then I read "necromancer" and new I wanted to try it. The premise was SO cool. Some very neat ideas and fun worldbuilding, especially around culture.

Which probably made it even more disappointing when I struggled to get into the actual plot. Some of this is a "me" problem - I get frustrated pretty easily when I have to hold too much in my head. So, for me, the timeline jumps and constant shifts in point of view made it hard to get invested. Every time I started to connect with a scene or character, the story ran off of me. The worldbuilding was dense and an overall strength, but there were still places that felt unclear. Instead of deepening the experience, the different layers and multi-threaded plot left me feeling pulled in too many directions. I also struggled to connect to the characters even though their challenges should have anchored the story.

This is the first in a duology. I think (hope?) there’s a chance the second book will clarity or help deepen the characters. I ended up frustrated but I saw enough promise of something good that I would consider picking up the sequel.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Maria Z. Medina for the opportunity to give an honest review on the ARC.

Soft DNF for now - I just can’t get into this story.
I mainly think my issue is with the writing style, it’s just a touch too flowery for me!!

Thank you so much, Wednesday books, for the eARC.

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Mistress of Bones by Maria Z Medina
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Dark Fantasy
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: August 5, 2025
📖 329 pages

🖤 Romantic Subplot
✨️ Necromancy
📚 Lush World Building
🗡 Enemies to Lovers
🍻 Multiple POV
⏳️ Nonlinear Timeline
⚫️ Devastating Betrayals

When a necromancer's sister turns to dust after stepping foot on a guarded island, she must work with her enemy and a group of strangers in order to retrieve a bone from her sister to resurrect her once more.

The prose is absolutely gorgeous and the world-building immaculate, but I did find myself feeling a little confused by the abrupt changes of POV and timelines. We bounce back and forth a lot and it's not always clear initially whose POV you're reading in. The characters were interesting and fleshed out well, and I enjoyed eventually seeing how all of the stories came together. The end leaves you not necessarily with a cliffhanger but with a lot of unanswered questions. I'm hoping there's a sequel to answer these!

While this one had it's issues, I enjoyed quite a few elements of the story and I'm certain there are many who will absolutely LOVE it!

Thank you so much Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the digital review copy!

I received an arc from Wednesday Books on NetGalley. I read the first 20%, but unfortunately I wasn’t enjoying the book or intrigued enough to keep reading.

The premise was interesting, the writing was good (looking in sections/ small parts) but the multiple pov, world building and execution were difficult and confusing to follow. I think others might enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.

Mistress of Bones has an interesting premise, but poor follow through. The book starts out intriguing with the setup and one sequence of action, but it quickly drops off. I found myself wondering what the point was because what I told was the point wasn’t what the characters’ actions portrayed to me. I also didn’t like all the time jumping. From the MCs’ POVs, I could get behind it, but having flashbacks to random characters’ POVs? I didn’t like that and it made the book feel super disjointed. I was bored and frustrated.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-ARC.

I was brimming with exciting as I began this novel. Finally, a new romantasy with unique worldbuilding... Or so I believed. I don't know why this story is tagged romantasy. There is little to no romance at all. I was immensely disappointed.

The pacing is also unstable. In the beginning, after a few chapters, the story begins about nine years earlier. It was too soon after two separate POVs for there to be a time-jump. It would have been better used as a prologue.

This book has such an interesting premise: a necromancer trying to resurrect her sister who ends up involved in more. I ultimately just lost interest in this one. The writing style is not super engaging, and while I could appreciate the ambition of the plot, I didn’t think it was super well executed.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, for me, this was a 2 star book for me.

I really liked the premise of this novel, but really felt the execution was lacking and ultimately confusing. I felt like I had to do a lot of mental gymnastics to understand the world and keep the characters straight while reading.

Reading the novel I felt as though I was thrown right into the world without any real worldbuilding or the beginnings of world building even along the way. As the story went on, we got tidbits of what different regions meant and their gods but not in depth enough to feel connected to the world or immersed in the story. Most of the time, I couldn’t tell the different regions apart, or which gods they referenced/what they symbolized. The idea here was really interesting: having a god worshiped per region and symbolizing something within the world, but it was not well done for me.

The characters, as stated previously, were also hard to keep in line. Azul and Nereida were two favorites, and I do wish we had gotten even more of Nereida, with Enjul being a close 3rd favorite character to these two. However, the other characters were difficult to differentiate during the first 50% of the novel and since it mas multi POV it was hard to flip back and forth wondering, wait… who is this again? Unless of course it was Azul or Enjul. Azul, Nereida and Enjul felt like the most complex and nuanced characters, and were the most fun to read for.

The magic in the book was tied into the gods worshiped, and it was super interesting to read but I honestly wish there had been more - more explanation of the system and how it tied into each god. Some of this was revealed towards the end but it made it hard to track in the beginning.


Overall, this one was not for me in execution, it only really scratched the surface when I wanted more and needed more, but I did love the premise.

I absolutely loved this book’s concept, its characters and story. The prose was lush and beautiful. But the multiple timeline and POV shifts made it really hard to follow the story. I felt confused for nearly the whole book and I’m actually still a little confused, if I’m being honest.

I think this would be a great book for those that enjoy being a little confused, and don’t mind a nonlinear timeline.

I will say that even though this book didn’t really work for me, I’m still very interested in trying other books by this author in the future.

Audio Narration: 4.5/5 Really great performance! Not too slow at 1.0x and the pacing is consistent! Pausing is a little extended which can be a little frustrating, especially if you’re trying to speed it up. Inflection is fabulous and I really enjoyed the character voice variations!

This simply wasn't for me. The premise was so so so promising but the execution just wasn't there for me.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

A necromancer determined to raise her sister gets caught up in political dealings and intrigue.

Audiobook Stats:
⏰: 11 hours 48 minutes
🎤: Ana Osorio
Publisher: Macmillan Young Listeners
Format: Multi POV/Timeline
I found the narrator to be clear and concise in her narration. I never had to adjust my speed and was able to listen within my typical range.

Themes:
🦴: Rebellion
🦴: A sisters love

Representation:
🃏: Spanish Mythology

Tropes:
💗: Enemies to Allies
💗: Necromancy
💗: Swashbuckling action

🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: domestic violence **check authors page/socials for full list.

Short Synopsis:
Azul wants nothing more than to keep her gift as a necromancer a secret and to raise her sister from the dead. A second time. But she can't seem to reach the bones that she needs to do so. And every attempt to reach them is interrupted by other people's motivations and political aspirations.

General Thoughts:
This is a book that had an absolutely stunning premise and idea, but felt just a little short for me on execution. The multiple timelines were super jumbling for me. We jump from anywhere to today, before or after the present timeline, to anywhere within 45 minutes of the present timeline. There was just too many variations in the timelines for me to get a solid footing on the story. I found myself spending most of my time trying to keep the timeline straight versus enjoying what was happening.

I really enjoyed the characters. They felt very solid and like people I could easily root for or against. I really liked what was happening with all the different characters and none of them felt boring to me. The characters and the storyline, which was also super interesting, are what kept me reading this book through the duration.

I honestly feel like if I read the second book coming out in the duology that I will have to reread this first book. Due to the jumbling timelines and how disconnected everything felt I know I missed a lot of plot points. This might be the type of book that for me is more impactful upon a second read. The storyline and characters were good enough for me to maybe do that in the future.

Overall, a super exciting storyline because I love necromancer stories. I felt like the interpersonal relationship to between the characters were extremely interesting and clouded in mystery. I felt like some of the motivations were definitely interesting and also shrouded in mystery and I would love to see where those end up. But the jumbling timelines and the disjointed way the book was written really impacted my enjoyment overall.

Disclaimer: I read this audiobook via free ALC through NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Unfortunately, I need to bail on this book. The execution of the story feels very disjointed and clunky. The time jumps feel unnecessary. And with the storyline being bland, I couldn’t get into the story enough to enjoy it.