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🌿Tropes & Themes 🌿
* Necromancy
* Multi-POV
* Slow burn
* Political Intrigue

✦ Overall ✦
Such an interesting premise! Azul is on a quest to bring her sister back from the dead and no one will get in her way, even if the Emissary of Death has other plans.
The world building was rich, unique, dark and atmospheric. I would say it’s slow to medium paced.
There were constant shifts of point of view and timelines that had me feeling a bit lost, and left me grasping to keep up.

I listened to the audiobook version which was done really well. The narrator voice was a little drawn out for me at 1x speed but at 1.3-1.4x I felt that was more enjoyable and did bring the characters to life.

✦ Characters ✦
Azul is an interesting character, I think she felt the most fleshed out. Overall I enjoyed her drive and motivations to cling to her sister. Azul’s magical abilities to revive the dead with just a bone was intriguing and drew me in originally.

Unfortunately I didn’t find Virel Enjul to be like-able or book boyfriend material. He was described as being very attractive and sadly felt like that’s all he had going for him. At least for me. I was almost questioning if he was supposed to be the MMC? Maybe he isn’t?

Many thanks to netgalley for the arc of this!

I will fully admit that I wasn’t sold on this one until about halfway through. More often than not, the MCs were insufferable in their own unique ways. Too naive and a zealot. But they both change in ways that remain true to their characters but ultimately make them more sympathetic.

Once I was onboard, I really enjoyed it. A Spanish golden age-esque fantasy world, and vibes that remind me of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow and Hannah Whitten’s Hemlock Queen.

A society that frames its relationships to its gods in an interesting way.

Life and death
Necromancy
Grumpy/sunshine
Death(‘s emissary) and the maiden?
Kickass women with swords

The audio narration was really well done and dynamic despite being single narrator. This one has multiple POV shifts and every character stayed distinct. Not exactly sure how to classify this as far as genre is concerned, but that makes me even more interested in the next one so I can find out.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC & ALC.

Azul learned very young that she has the ability to bring the dead back to life. Using the bones of a dead animal, she is able to not only reanimate them, but also restore them to complete wholeness. When her older sister falls ill and passes away, Azul is relieved to be able to apply her necromancy to save the person she loves most in the world. She soon learns that reanimation isn't permanent, and that her strange abilities are seen as an afront to the gods by those who serve them.

Maturity: 15+

This book includes;
- necromancy duh
- the will of the Gods
- complicated extended family trees
- masked figures
- ensemble POVs
- a witch!
- secrets
- zombies????

The cover of this book is GORGEOUS and concept of this book is exciting and interesting. The characters are unique and they feel both real and complex. However, i was unable to connect with any of them and did not feel emotionally invested in the characters of the story at any juncture. I think the pacing must have been slow for me because I was woefully bored the entire time and I felt like nothing was really happening. Chemistry was jilted, the urgency was lacking, and I never felt like I was really rooting for anyone (except maybe the villain tbh).

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Maria Z. Medina, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863 and it will be posted to my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightingales/ and booktok https://www.tiktok.com/@tinynightingales?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

This was a great fantasy mixed with mystery and plenty of intrigue. Loved the characters, lush world building & lots of weaving plot. I’m looking forward to where this series leads.

I was provided an ALC and an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This had a really interesting premise, but I found it hard to follow. There are alot of characters with very similar names and I struggled to keep them all straight. The timeline also jumps around alot from chapter to chapter which also makes the storyline hard to follow because you aren't really sure what part of the story you are in because it isn't consistent from chapter to chapter "when" you are. There is some romance, however it is a secondary plotline and not the main focus. It is more of a promise for more to come. The magic system is interesting and Azul's dedication and love for her sister is compelling.

I would have liked more background info on the gods and how the magic is tied to them. I love mythology and lore, but I like a bit of an explanation on how that all works together. Hopefully there is more to come in book 2. The pacing is a bit on the slower side for my preferences when it comes to fantasy, but the ending was interesting enough for me to want to pick up the next book and see where things go.

The audio narration was excellent. Ana Osoria does a wonderful job

necromancer azul del arroyo only wants one thing: to reclaim her sister’s bones so that she can steal her sister back from death. the emissary of the lord death will do anything to stop her, though, no matter how alluring he finds her. however, they soon find out that the fate of the lands is at risk, and azul might have to defy more gods than death to keep humanity alive.

with such a gorgeous cover and being comped to the bone shard daughter and six of crows, both of which i loved, i was quick to add this to my tbr. i can see similarities with both comps, from the bone magic to the technical heist (i mean, azul was aiming to steal back her sister’s bones and life, after all). this book was its own, though, and i enjoyed seeing how medina explored the necromancy and other magic aspects. there were also so many interesting relationships depicted, from estranged siblings, to enemies attracted to one another, even to what was essentially a parasite and a host.

this is a rare critique from me, but i do think this book would have been even more enjoyable for me had i read an ebook or physical copy. with the way this book flipped between past and present and various characters, i had trouble keeping the story and the timeline straight. the narrator, ana osorio, had a lovely voice, but i think my personal disconnect with the audiobook was due to the unique nature of the storytelling.

overall, though, this was an intriguing book. i would recommend this to ya fantasy readers.

Good concept just slightly confusing execution. The writing was good, the world building was very well done. The characters were where I struggled a bit. The POV's were all over the place. I was listening to the audiobook and there were no warnings when a POV changed (only one narrator) so I couldn't keep everything in order, which made it incredibly confusing. The book also went through some timeline switches which added to that confusion sometimes.

Overall its a good book, just a bit confusing.

The narrator did do a good job bringing the story to life. I do think this is an audiobook that could have been much better with multiple narrators.

I just finished Mistress of Bones by Maria Z. Medina and here are my thoughts.

Azul is a necromancer and she only wants one thing.. Her sister.. back from death so she needs her sister's bones. But the Lord of death isn’t going to give up that easily.

Their paths keep crossing and the deadly game has fate hanging in the balance….

The magic in this book is in the world building. It was absolutely earth shatteringly good. The magic was absolutely enchanting and I loved how descriptive the book was.

I got an ARC and an ALC so I switched between the two and honestly, the audiobook was so good I did most of the book this way thanks to the great narration.

I don’t think the constant shifting of timelines worked for me. It was a tad messy and hard to follow and there were too many POV to get a tight story. I think less POV and not so much time shifting would have made the story flow better. Another reason why the audio was better was because it was much easier to follow along this way.

The characters are a tad underdeveloped at this point and it was hard to care about anyone because we didn’t dig deep enough for my liking. I'm hoping because this is book 1 of a duology that the characters will grow in the next book.

All in all the magic is in the world building. The writing was actually quite beautiful and I am going to grab the next installment when it is out.

3.75 stars. I needed more character building. More balance!!

Thank you @stmartinspress @wednesdaybooks @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for my gifted arc and alc

Thank you #MacAudio2025, Netgalley, Maria Z. Medina, and Ana Osorio for the opportunity to review this audio arc. I'd like to start with how impressive the narration was for this one. Ana did a beautiful job making this feel immersive and intense and the quality of her voice was incredibly engaging. To be honest though, I think that's a large credit to why I kept going with this book. It's not that anything was wrong with it necessarily, but I found myself struggling to follow the storyline at many times, and it resulted in me having to go back and re-listen to quite a few sections. Typically, this would turn me off enough to DNF, but I really was enthralled by Ana's performance, so I continued listening. Overall, the concept was very interesting with this book, but it turns out, it wasn't a great fit for me.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I liked the premise of a girl who could bring animals and people back from the dead imply by having one of their bones. Bits of necromancy and bits of fantasy with a lost sister, I was excited to dive in. However, I am not certain it fully lived up to the hype I envisioned.

Azul brought her sister back once before, but death has taken her once again. However, this time Azul does not have access to her sister's bones and is on a mission to find them and bring her back once again. As Azul travels, she makes a deal with one girl to owe a favor when the time comes and she encounters a guy who is the Emissary of Death who sees Azul's gift as blasphemy against his god.

His internal monologue and warring with himself goes back and forth between hating everything about Azul to having a crush on her and wanting to make her his. It's a bit intense and pretty odd. I was not a fan of the romance aspects as they really felt very toxic and not something to be pursued. Azul also has a half brother who seems to have some level of status but can he really be trusted?

I felt like there was a lot going on but the plot was hard to follow and I am not certain I got a great deal f pay-off with the ending. I am also not certain the tagline of "swashbuckling, grand, and tragically romantic" really describes this book. All in all, it really wasn't for me, but I am sure it can find it's audience,

I listened to this book and it was so hard to follow with different POVs, flashbacks (I think it was different POVs as well ),and just organization. I loved that it was like reigning gods and necromancy which was a cool premise but this book was not made for an audiobook unless you are good at 100% attentive listening. the premise was good execution was okay. The character is very driven for her sister but the interactions are meh. I wanted so badly to like it but it fell short with the audiobook (nothing to do with the narrator she did amazing).

I think objectively this book should be good. But it did not hit for me. I tried and tried and eventually got through it but it just never... I never wanted to be reading it. I never cared about the characters. I never felt that hook you want to feel that makes you look forward to a book. It just didn't hit for me and while it felt like it should, because the themes and genre are right up my alley, it just didn't have that "thing" that makes you want to be reading a book. I wish it did, the premise is interesting and some of the elements of the book are too. But it's just not good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for providing me with an audio copy of this. I ended up reading the second half of it in paper format hoping it would help, but it wasn't the narrator. It was the book.

Mistress of Bones is an intriguing listen with a rich atmosphere and a darkly magical premise. While the pacing at the beginning felt a bit slow and took me some time to fully settle into the world, the story picks up nicely as it progresses, delivering some truly surprising twists and turns that kept me engaged. Ana Osorio's narration was a standout—her performance brought the characters to life and really enhanced the listening experience. Overall, it’s an enjoyable audiobook with strong narration and a story that rewards patience.

Will have to DNF this one at 45%.

I'm not feeling any excitement and don't feel compelled to continue. Reading other reviews on Goodreads hasn't really sparked any curiosity in me, and I have so many books to read, so I'm going to abandon this one. This isn't a bad book by any means, it's an "it's not you, it's me" type of situation. I hope that this book will find it's target audience!

The audiobook narration for Mistress of Bones is really well done. I enjoyed the narrator’s style.

Overall I am rating this book a 3.5. It was an interesting premise with Azul being a necromancer who can raise the dead using bones. The writing is good. There was something about the story that didn’t fully pull me in. I enjoyed it, but it is not likely a book I would reread.

The cover art is stunning also.

I, personally, feel this book suffers from being a round Epic Fantasy peg forced into a square Young Adult space—and I say that as one who loves both of these genres!

Again, my perspective only! But the complexity of this world, the layers of storytelling (including constant shifts between past and present) plus the numerous key characters (all given their own POV chapters and flashbacks incorporated within the narration) offered absolutely incredible potential…that unfortunately the story ultimately proved unable to realize; though I believe it could have if given more words, more pages, to truly delve into the world building and character development and let the story breathe—and us, as readers, connect.

Rating: 4/5
I received an ARC for my honest opinion

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, and since I received the audio, I thought I might like it a little more if I followed along, and I am so happy that I didn’t DNF this book because it was so interesting. I love that the author draws you into this rich world-building, with court politics, gods and people always trying to use others to further their own gains. The pace of the book was a little slow at first for me but then it picked up and didn’t slow down. I love that I got to understand the characters and you will see character development throughout the book but mainly at the end and all while we got to understand where the plot was going, and the who, what and why it is happening.

I thought that this book would be a romantasy, but really in my eyes it wasn’t, and I know that a few others have said the same thing. However, let me tell you this is an amazing fantasy book with a small amount of romance in it. I loved that all the characters were well written and had depth for each of them. The banter between the characters had me laughing and you see that two characters, even with their differences and opinions, have chemistry but the banter and the who can get away with what had me smiling. You will see characters that have interweaving plots going with the main plot and I thought the author did a great job with handling all the different stories that all center around Azul. Flashbacks in the story helped me to understand why each character was reflecting on the choices and reasons that brought them to the point in their life. I won’t lie and say that a few times I did great, a little confused on what was going on, but I just read the page again and it helped me to get my spot right back on track. I loved the twists and turns that the plot took and at times I thought that I had it all down then to have it switched up on me.

The audio was narrated by Ana Osorio, and I thought she did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life and helping the reader to understand the rich depth of this book. I can’t wait to read the next book or even the audio of it.

I want to thank NetGalley and SMP for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio ARC!

3.5 - I thought the world building was well done, and the premise was very intriguing! I felt like the addition of auxiliary character POVs threw me off a bit, I didn’t love the chapters where I wasn’t with the main characters. The main character did feel a bit flat at times, I wanted to know more about her inner monologue and history. There were a few key points about her background that I wish was fleshed out a bit more and we as readers got brought into that. Versus just getting plopped in. I overall did like how the story unfolded and I think the writing was good. I really enjoyed the lore about necromancy and this felt like a fresh take. I’d definitely be interested in reading the second in the duology!

E-ARC and Audiobook ARC generously provided by St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much NetGalley!
Publication: August 5
Narrator: Ana Osorio (Where else have I heard her? Well, she has also narrated “What the River Knows” & “Where the Library Hides” 🙌)

Intricate, fascinating and detailed world building. Unique fantasy world origins & description.
Latinx inspired
Gods
Necromancy
Mystery. Secrets.
Fantasy with romance subplot (I would argue this is not romantasy)
MMC has high (religious) morals/ convictions and doesn’t like that he grows go like the FMC
Multiple POV
Flashbacks/time jumps that add and reveal the story piece by piece - I’ve seen some critiques of this in others’ reviews, but I liked this pacing.
This is definitely a high fantasy book that requires commitment to jump in and follow along, but once you’ve warmed up, and if you keep pace, is immersive and alluring. I loved and appreciated that I had both a physical E-copy of the book to follow along with as I listened to the audiobook! The audiobook allowed me to stay focused and follow along with the pacing in the book. I could fully absorb, learn and follow the names and world building. Highly recommend audio + physical when reading (high) fantasy. Ana Osorio was an awesome narrator!
I will admit that it took a little bit for my head to wrap around all the new terms, names and lore but once I got into the groove I really enjoyed this fantasy world and plot!

I really tried to get into this, but had to DNF because I was beyond confused as to what was happening. I thought maybe it was just me, but I checked reviews and saw that maybe it’s not just me.

Let me say that the cover of this book is so beautiful, and the narrator did a fantastic job. However, there were, in my opinion, way too many POVs right off the bat, which made it incredibly hard to follow. It has such an amazing premise and there were some parts that were very interesting, but unfortunately, I just don’t think it was executed well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.