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.

I had some pacing issues with the story. And with all the different POV's, I had a hard time keeping track and was confused. I kept having to flip back to get my bearings. I couldn't connect with any of the characters because of it. Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this story.

A great premise, that for me, just fell a little short of expectations after feeling a bit heavy in the pacing, including the time jumps and multiple POVs. I personally found it hard to keep track of the story.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for an advanced electronic copy in exchange for an honest review. Mistress of Bones comes out on August 5th.

Spoiler-free review: Mistress of Bones
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book and found it so different and refreshing! Azul is my girl- she is so funny and I love her.

The world building was spectacular and the whole concept with the gods building with their bones for the world was really cool and unique. Even the way people “pray” is creative. The political intrigue surrounding the mining was super interesting.

The standout for me was honestly the writing style. Her prose was simply beautiful and I thought it was incredibly well-written and had great pacing. Lots of highlighted sections.

Overall, I really enjoyed this but it wasn’t a 5 star read simply because it wasn’t super captivating and took me awhile to get through. Still highly recommend reading it to anyone who wants to try something new and unique with beautiful writing!

My only suggestion is to add a pronunciation guide to the beginning of the published edition so readers don’t have to butcher the names like I did (was pretty fun to be honest, but perhaps not the most efficient way to read lol).

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.