some parts worked. some of the characters were strong and I liked some of the POVs like Azuls, but tehy were so inconsistent in quality and the worldbuilding didn't... build so much as haphazardly toss. 2.5 stars, rounded up. tysm for the arc.

I unfortunately had to DNF at 27%. I was confused with the amounts of names and places listed, often feeling like I had no idea what was going on or who was who.

I did think this was a super interesting premise and I loved the blurb, but I could not keep up with everything.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the copy of this book.

This was a really interesting premise, and with a comparison to Six of Crows, I had to pick it up. But sadly I'm really not seeing the comparison to Six of Crows at all, and this book didn't live up to my hopes. This book was tough to get through - I never got sucked in, I was easily distracted the entire time reading, and it just never clicked for me.

For me I think it was hard to get really invested in the main storyline (the FMC, Azul, trying to resurrect her sister) because we're told her sister dies basically in the first couple chapters of the book. I wasn't attached to her at all, and I was left feeling like Azul had a really unhealthy attachment to her sister more than anything else. Without getting hooked or really sold on the main journey/plot in the first 15-20% or so of the book, it just made the rest of the book a bit tricky to get into and enjoy. The multi-POV also made it difficult as well - typically I quite like multi-POV but in this case, there were so many names, so many things going on, some time jumps, and I was struggling to get sucked in to the story already, so in this case it felt like a hindrance.

I also feel like the hints at romance between Azul and Enjul just didn't work for me, because there was no part of me who really liked Enjul. His entire personality is being 100% convinced that he knows EXACTLY what his god wants and could not at all be wrong, while maintaining that Azul is completely wrong in her perspective of the world just because he says so. He also felt so much older than Azul, who is 19 and incredibly young and naive. It feels a bit weird and predatory when we're in Enjul's POV as a result. Necromancer/Lord of Death Emissary romance sounds so interesting and has so much promise as a concept, but if you're looking for a romantasy (which this book is tagged as), you should be aware that it is only the tiniest of hints at a romance and there will have to be some serious gymnastics in book 2 to make that come to fruition. You will be very disappointed if you go in expecting romantasy, and I think categorizing it as such does it no favors.

That said, I quite liked the side character Nereida and the plot surrounding her - I wish we got more of it. I think her being a bit older probably helped me like her more, since she doesn't have that young/naive aura the way Azul does and her plotting and secrecy therefore grabbed my attention a lot more. I want to know more about her family dynamics, and the romance she's involved in.

Overall the book wasn't bad, and it had the potential to be a really intriguing story, but I really struggled with staying engaged and it ultimately just wasn't for me. I'd probably give this 2.5 stars rounded up to 3, and I don't feel as if I need to read the sequel when it comes out. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read the ARC of Mistress of Bones by Maria Z. Medina. Unfortunately, the writing style just wasn’t the right fit for me. I found it confusing, and even after restarting the book from the beginning, I was still unsure of what was happening by the time I reached chapter two. I truly appreciate the chance to preview this title.
The premise of the book does interest me and perhaps it will be more fitting for me as an Audiobook. I will keep it on my radar and look forward to trying the Audiobook.

This story follows Azul, who is relentlessly trying to steal her sister back from the Lord of Death to resurrect her. She desperately tries to reunite herself with her sister's bones in order to use her "special gift" to raise her from the dead.

I found the concept of this book to be extremely interesting and intriguing. The idea of a romance between a forbidden necromancer and the Emissary of the Lord of Death was what initially drew me in and made me stick around to see how it played out. I didn't really feel the tension between those two characters as I would have thought that I would with this setup. At no point in the novel did I feel that the relationship would have made sense / worked out.

I do feel that I couldn't get fully engaged with the plot and connected to Azul, as I was struggling with keeping up with the multiple characters, POV shifts, locations, and time changes. For me, that detracts from the reading experience, especially when there isn't a pattern to it, and doesn't allow me to feel immersed in the story. Overall, it was a 2.5 star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

Wow, what a lush, fascinating fantasy world, I could have lived in it forever. The idea of the gods' bones keeping the world anchored otherwise parts of it fall into the Void was so intriguing to me, and I loved hearing about the religions and how they differ in each region. The characters were just as fascinating, though some more than others. I really liked Azul as a headstrong protagonist who knows what she wants and Enjul as her adversary; the tension between their two opposite worldviews was very well done in the philosophical and moral discussions they had with each other. However, Nereida held most of my attention, as did the politicking with the rest of the minor cast, and the Faceless Witch is such an intriguing concept (also, Sombra my beloved). I think it won't be for everyone but I actually loved the bouncing between timelines because it allowed the reader to see all the threads being woven, and the way they all collided and unraveled at the end was magnificent. I also actually really like the small amount of romance that was in the book, I think it was fitting for how long and how well they'd known each other, but a certain development at a certain point (IYKYK) had my jaw dropping; it was bold for the author to do but fitting for the overall themes of the book, and I'm eager to see where the two characters' relationship goes next, whether that be romantic or platonic. The sequel seems like it'll focus more on the rest of the gods, which I'm highly anticipating, and I hope it also covers more regions in the world; I'd love to hear more about all the different customs.

Mistress of Bones is a spooky, fast-paced fantasy that had me hooked from the start! With necromancy, a fierce and sharp-tongued heroine, and just the right touch of dark humor, it delivers a gothic adventure that’s both eerie and wildly entertaining. The worldbuilding is rich without being overwhelming, and the twists kept things feeling fresh throughout. As the first book in a duology, it sets the stage really well—leaving me excited (and a little nervous) for what’s to come next.

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and the hauntingly fun time!!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's for the advanced galley! I DNF'ed at 24%, normally I try to get halfway but I couldn't this time. While the summary of the story seemed interesting, it was taking too long for me. Up until where I stopped, there was a lot of focus on the politics of the world with a lot of back and forth between past events and the present. I'm not sure if I would've enjoyed the story if I kept going, but I personally need the book to hook me in and keep me hooked.

I have found that I am not really into necromancy so my rating is based on my enjoyment of the book rather than the books writing style and plot. I feel the author did an amazing job at weaving this story but it just wasn't a book I was interested in.

DNF

I wanted to love this one. It sounded promising, the marketing convinced me, and the synopsis interested me since I love necromancy in fantasy novels. But everything about this just fell short.

The writing style confused me, to say the least. There were all these different descriptions without actually explaining what the place and/or thing really was, the scenes kept changing from past to present in an unclear way, and I honestly just didn't care for the characters.

It took me 8 days to get 15% in. That is very abnormal for me, but I couldn't for the life of me become engaged.

I hope others love this one more than me though!

I was so excited for this title but I struggled to get through it. It felt like there were too many characters and the time shifts felt excessive and disruptive to the story flow. I assumed the MC would use her powers far more than she did and it felt like she was just going in circles for the entire book. Although it was a cool idea the story the story had poor implementation. Not for me. 2.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

DNF @ 50% 7/16/25

I'm trying to stop pushing through nonsense for the sake of an arc. Unfortunately this didnt work for me at any point of the story. I've been anticipating this one for a few months after seeing the cover so it hurts that we finally get a necromancer story and it's borderline unreadable.

- dialogue was choppy and repetitive

- multiple povs that made no sense to the core arc the story was attempting to follow. Almost all of the characters with a pov apart from the fmc Azul were unnecessary and did nothing but confuse the story further. Calling this a multi pov epic and comparing it to Six of Crows is not only incorrect but misleading.

- time jumps that went every direction but sideways and had no rhyme or reason. One chapter will be 9 years ago with a present day follow up, the next will be a different pov "some years ago", the next will be 9 months ago, the following 3 days later. Like what is the timeline here?

-I can't speak on the romance aspect since it hadn't occurred at the point in which I stopped, but if it's between the characters I think, I can tell it wouldn't have made sense.

I think this book needs more than a few more passes of editing before published and it's sort of crazy that it's coming out in 3 weeks in this state. It's almost unreadable and the part of it that I was able to follow didn't make much sense. I would be willing to read this if the flow of the story was better but right now it's a no from me.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books!

I think this book has a very interesting premise and had my excitement building when I first started but unfortunately the execution was muddled with the amount of character povs which made it really difficult to form any sort of connection with the characters. If you’re looking for plot focused fantasy, this might be a book worth exploring but I was expecting more romance based off the synopsis and was disappointed when there was not much delivery on this front.

2.5 stars

I'm... confused.

The premise of this book was so good, I honestly believed I would love this. A girl who can resurrect dead bodies, and the Emissary of the Lord of Death who would do anything to stop her? Sign me up! Then, I started reading it and found it super boring. I lost count of the times I zoned out while reading, even removing any and all distractions.

I'm honestly confused where it went wrong. The magic system is intriguing, the synopsis caught my eye. What, then? Was it the ample cast of POVs? I'm usually drawn to those. Was it the too-long inner monologues? I tend to prefer monologues to dialogue-driven books. As bad as it sounds, I think the reasons wound up being the writing, which was flat and did not elicit a single feeling in me; the main character, who I did not believe for a second was 19; and the pace, it was too fast and too slow at the same time. And while I generally enjoy a big cast of POVs, I was very confused by some of them. Nereida was by far the most interesting character, but she was barely in the book. The Count? I still don't understand his role.

So many plot twists didn't hit as hard as they should have, because I simply didn't care about the story to find them as impactful as they intended. In all honesty, I wouldn't be able to explain the plot to a stranger, and I don't know whether that's because the author did a bad job at illustrating it, or it's due to being distracted the whole time.

While the magic system is fascinating, however it's not enough to make me rate Mistress of Bones more than 2.5 stars. I'm very upset by this, because it had all the cards to be an enthralling read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy.

I have to be honest. This book just wasn’t for me. It had so much potential but the multiple POVs and time jumps just made it muddled and hard to follow. The story felt like it got lost. I immersively read this book with the audiobook and still felt bored. I just couldn’t get into it. The audiobook was narrated by and I struggled with the voicing of Azul the main character. For some reason it felt like she sounded like a child and Azul is supposed to be 19. I’m sure people will love this book I just couldn’t get into it.

Love the rich, authorial tone. Azul is a thoroughly endearing necromancer, and the whole world feels immediately complex and expansive. This and the multiple timelines within each chapter invite the reader to pay close attention to every detail, and I enjoyed the intrigue built through this experience. However at nearly half-way in, I'm still not sure what is driving the story, beyond immediate circumstances. I'll have to return to this story another time and see if I can follow it more easily with fresh eyes.

DNF at 50%.

I loved the premise of this but not the execution. The word "purview" being used more than once in the first chapter was what tipped me off that this might not be for me but I dnfed because it just did not improve for me.

This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. It’s very action packed with lots of secrets and betrayals happening. The magic system felt new and centers with necromancy magic. I loved how loyal Azul was to her sister and the whole quest she goes on is centered around that loyalty and love. Really hope there’s going to be a book 2.

1.5 ⭐️

DNF @ 45% ~

Yeah I tried to get through this one but it was impossible. This books synopsis makes it seem really promising but it did not deliver. I couldn’t stand how every single chapter started with a flashback ??? Like I understand the purpose but it was to the extremeeeee. Also hated every single character in this book LOL.

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for sending me a free copy of this book to review!!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

1.5 stars

I really wanted to love Mistress of Bones, as the premise seemed really intriguing. The taglines comparing it to Bone Shard Daughter had piqued my interest (never mind that I have issues with that series for other reasons) as well as the necromancy. Maria Medina's prose is quite lyrical and I felt it had promise from the start. However, my opinion of Mistress of Bones quickly soured.

From the get-go we are introduced to the main way the story is told: flashbacks in every single chapter. This is fine every now and then to help establish the plot as well as the world, but every. single. chapter. started with a flashback with seemingly irrelevant characters that did not link back to the present story at all until the last 10% of the novel. Not only that but they were disconcerting and constantly mucked up the flow of the original story, I never had time to immerse myself in the present, but had to focus instead on lackluster worldbuilding that honestly made me a little grossed out with how many characters were pining after others seemingly on their appearance alone.

Granted the tags do advertise Mistress of Bones as a romance but it's really not. Instead the romance was half baked at best, but primarily the romance appeared to be infatuation that led to some really not okay actions aka buying drugs to keep you dreaming about someone that a character danced with only once. That's not romantic, that's just creepy and primarily should be left to teenagers not grown ass men.

Our main character Azul, also had a half baked romance that had her following in love with someone that she a) barely knew even though she spent most of the book in their company, b) felt kind of gross how it ended up in the end of the story as it technically became necrophilia in a way, and c) just didn't work out for me despite the fact that our character was 19 because d) for some reason Azul felt like she was written to be 13 years old. Despite reassurances of her age, Azul felt way more naive than any 19 year old had any right to be though I do appreciate her inability to play the game that 30 year old men involved her in. Personality wise, she was raised in too much of a sheltered environment to handle the politics of the city.

Another thing that irked me about Mistress of Bones was how little I cared for the story. Due to the unnecessary flashbacks, the plot went all over the place and felt either rushed or like it came out of nowhere due to the lack of foreshadowing and finesse that Medina was unable to employ in the novel. I kept wondering what was the point of the story and characters tagging along with Azul as nothing was ever explained in a satisfactory way. Following that, Medina bit off more than they could chew with the unnecessary amount of POVs. Mistress of Bones could have had a much more solid foundation if we only followed one perspective, had a few flashbacks interspersed as intermissions between parts, and if more time was spent on showing not telling. Like I said earlier, Medina's prose is excellent, however they seem to not understand what constitutes a story beyond pretty words.

Nothing flowed smoothly in Mistress of Bones. Towards the end of the novel when the big reveals were happening, I couldn't care less. Azul's relationships were barely explored and she seemed to be too trusting of people she just met. I also felt that Azul's understanding of not only the world and her power felt too low level for her age. As I said before, she felt like she was written as a 13 year old which would have matched her depth of knowledge. For that alone I spent most of my time rolling my eyes at the convenience of her stupidity allowing things to pass under her nose. This led to a very unsatisfying reveal due to the lackluster foundation. The thing that gets me is that someone still thought this hot mess was worth publishing in its current state, when Medina needs to sit down and get some tutoring or lessons or SOMETHING in how to write a plot that doesn't meander like it does and to just focus on one thing at a time.