This book had me locked in from the very start to the jaw-dropping/mind-reeling end! I loved the multiple POVs you encounter as you read this book; each chapter was refreshing and bold in a way that had me unable to focus on anything else around me as I was trying to take in everything I was reading!! I thought I had a favorite character when I started reading, but now that I've finished, I can't pick one! Everyone, even the villain, had me so intrigued by their inner dialogue!

The world-building was so captivating, the magic system SUPER interesting, the lore had me wishing I had a physical copy because the amount of tabs I would've left behind would've been extensive--but necessary! The tension and the yearning and the bantering throughout this book was phenomenal, and I can't wait for the conclusion of this epic duology!!

This book completely captivated me. I was all in on Azul's journey, her self-discovery, her unraveling power, and the mystery surrounding her sister’s bones had me hooked from page one.

Maria Z. Medina masterfully wove a story full of magic, family secrets, and emotional depth. And that twist about her family?! I did not see it coming. Just when I thought I had things figured out, the ending hit me with a cliffhanger that left me gasping.

This was such an atmospheric, haunting read, and I genuinely didn’t want it to end. I need book two ASAP.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Maria Z. Medina for providing me with a #gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for gifted access to this audiobook. All opinions below are my own.

Azul is on a mission to recover her sister’s bones with hope of resurrecting her. To do so she must face the Master of Death and search through the ossuary. At every turn she faces danger and intrigue.

This was a very atmospheric read. Descriptions of the world were immersive. But it sort of felt to me like I was dropped into a story midway and I never really caught up. There was a quest and lots of emotion and a light glimpse of romance but it never fully came together for me. I liked it as a bit of a vignette of fantasy and darkness but it really felt like a prequel to something else.

Read this one if you liked The Bone Shard Daughter.

DNF @ 65%

I feel bad about giving up on this as it's a gifted ALC, but I truly cannot force myself to listen to anymore of this jumbled, nonsensical word vomit.

Our timeline is... what is our timeline? 10 years ago? Present day? 2 months ago? 3 days later? There is a correct way to incorporate flashbacks and out-of-order sequences into a story, and this is not it.

I'm over halfway through the story, and I'm still not fully understanding WHAT the plot is outside of this young woman trying to bring her sister back from the dead a SECOND time. I have no clue. She's been kidnapped? She's been threatened? She's been brought into court intrigue? She's talked with so many people so haphazardly that I cannot recall who or what it was for or about? What has furthered the plot? WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Lastly, unfortunately, the FMC is downright unlikable, and I at no point felt a connection to her, her plight or her passions.

The narrator's performance is wonderful given just how much (or little???) is happening, and I in no way blame my dislike for this book on their skills.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book early and share my honest review. All reviews will be posted to my socials (Netgalley, Goodreads, Fable, IG).

The audio book was fantastic. I loved how she used authentic Spanish dialects to bring out the culture of the story. I did have to read along at first to get the names memorized and separated. Lots of names with Gs.

First, I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity I had to listen to this audiobook ahead of release. I really appreciated the opportunity.

I really thought I would like this story more than I did and I was a little disappointed when I didn’t end up liking it as much. I think part of the problem was the audiobook narrator in this particular audiobook. I’m not sure if I would have liked it more in the ebook or physical copy version but it was certainly not my favorite in this format. There are a couple of reasons I had a hard time following the story.

First, there were a lot of characters with similar sounding names. I don’t think this would particularly have been a problem except for the fact that I didn’t really feel like the narrator did a good job of giving different voices to different characters. It was very difficult to tell who was speaking because they all sounded similar. So, on top of similar names, they all had similar voices, and I couldn’t keep track. The story also jumped around a lot from past to present, back and forth. I’m not sure if this was confusing because of the way that the author wrote it or if it was confusing because of the way the narrator read it but either way I kept getting confused over whether we were in the present or not constantly. The spicy level was a level 1.

Overall, I would rate this book a 2 out of 5 star for me. Part of it was the narrator but I think part of it was the way it was written for me. It was a very interesting book, probably not the book for me.

This was an okay listen. While the premise sounded interesting I found that the story didn't really Holden my attention. The narration was okay was t the biggest fan.

Mistress of Bones by Maria Z. Medina pulled me in with its eerie atmosphere and steady sense of mystery. The story was intriguing from the start—definitely YA in tone and pacing, but in a way that worked. The writing style reminded me a bit of What the River Knows (which I loved), with that same lyrical, immersive quality and layered emotional undercurrents.

The plot unfolds with just enough suspense to keep you turning pages (or in my case, listening nonstop), and the world-building strikes a nice balance between haunting and elegant. I enjoyed the characters, though at times I wished for a little more distinction between the POVs—especially in the audiobook, where it could be hard to tell who was narrating in the moment. That said, the narration itself was solid and added to the gothic vibes.

Overall, Mistress of Bones is a great pick if you enjoy YA with a slightly darker edge, rich prose, and a sprinkle of historical or supernatural intrigue. I’d definitely read more from Medina.

The audiobook version of Mistress of Bones enhances the lyrical quality of Medina’s writing. The narrator does an exceptional job seamlessly pronouncing the words and names, bringing elegance and rhythm to the storytelling. While I still found the world building difficult to follow and wished for more clarity on certain aspects, the audio format helped smooth over some of those gaps. A good pick if you enjoy immersive narration and don’t mind feeling a bit lost in a mysterious world.

For some reason I had thought this was going to be more on the Adult end of things, especially since the synopsis calls this book "tragically romantic." But unfortunately I find that it doesn't read even like a New Adult or Young Adult, but more like middle-grade.

I can't tell if it's the writing, the narration style, or both, but it's very hard for me to think of this as anything but a children's book with very young characters who have very simplistic thought processes.

That's fine! It might even be good for that audience! But even though I sometimes enjoy children's books and children's movies, as an adult reader I just couldn't get into this one.

This book started off a little slow but then the pace picked up steadily until the climax of the book which was laid out perfectly. The tale was woven expertly with grief, death, and life being central interconnected themes. The main character was interesting because she seems so wise for her years and is somehow disconnected from life being trapped in her grief and desperation to bring her sister back. There were themes of found family but not in a typical way coupled with growing up too fast and being ignored by the people that should love you most makes this story hit hard emotionally.
The narrator did a good job overall with an even pacing, interesting voice acting, and proper inflection for the characters emotions.

3.25🌟 I was intrigued by the very promising premise and was not disappointed. I immediately fell in love with the paranormal fantasy vibes, and the narrator Ana Osorio did a wonderful job of bringing this world and its characters to life.

However, there is a very complex overarching plot that was difficult to follow via audiobook. Up until the 30% point, I only understood Azul’s part of the story, and even after the main characters came together, I didn’t really understand much of what was going on. I would have benefited quite a bit from a character chart.

Despite all that, I would like to read what comes next. I will just need to reread this first book to actually understand what's happening.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

I was intrigued by Mistress of Bones because I enjoy stories of necromancy and personhood, but I never really knew what the bare-bones premise was. I did enjoy this though I wonder if it would have been better to read with eyes because I struggled to keep the names and characters distinct in my mind. There was a lot of really interesting things with the world and the characters, and I probably will read with sequel because I want to know what’s going to happen next now that the gods are returning to the world, in a sense. In some ways this reminded me of Andrea Stewart’s The Drowning Empire series because the way land is built off the bones of the gods, but it also felt original and compelling. Overall I was engaged and enjoyed the story, though I don’t remember who all the characters were or their connections.

So this one was very different from all the other books I have read. I still really enjoyed it a lot. But I do got to ask is this a Stan alone or will there be a second book. I highly recommend everyone to give this book a go. Releases August 4th

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!

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.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC

Story 2 1/2 ⭐️
Narration 3 ⭐️

I wanted to love this so much, but it just fell flat for me. The premise sounded so promising, a necromancer who wants to steal her sister’s bones back from Death. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this and felt like the plot got lost along the way. I know that this book will find its intended audience, however that is not me.

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.

A necromancer and emissary of death race towards a similar yet conflicting goal driven by a sense of duty and love. The magic system is so intricate and seamlessly blends into the world building. The storytelling is unique with an eerie, cat and mouse chase kind of mood. I love a rich story, filled with adventure, wit and banter. There’s some romance too. 😊

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

ARC Review*

the premise was incredibly interesting and i couldn’t wait to start this audiobook arc. however, it threw a lot of information and characters at you all at once. this made it really difficult for me to follow along. what i was able to pick up on kept me hooked and is the main reason i finished it. also the last quarter of it really started to clear things up for me which helped a ton. i really think this would be better if it was physically read via hard copy or e-book. i’m not sure how i feel about the ending but overall a very unique story

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

Azul is a necromancer, hell bent on resurrecting her sister. But, in order to do so, she'll have to reclaim her sister's bones. As she searches for where they could be, Virel -- Emissary of the Lord Death -- attempts to stop her at all costs, because what she can do goes against everything he believes in. The two of them find themselves drawn into the plans of others, used as pawns in a game that will change their world, for better or worse... but mostly worse. They'll have to figure out what is going on, working together in order to save humanity. Because while the gods and their sacrifices have been forgotten by everyone, they remember.

There's just something about a romance between a necromancer and an emissary of death that drew me into this and I was here for it... and then it fell a bit flat. I really wanted to like this book, but there was something keeping me from falling completely head-over-heels for it. Whether it was the watered-down romance, or the way things ended (don't get me started on that ending), or the back and forth time jumps every other chapter, something kept me from being completely immersed in this world. I did love the gods and the mythology/lore surrounding this world, and the world building was well done. And I did love the magic and the way things are explained. However, I do feel like this whole romance subplot was advertised in the blurb and it really never took off. I will say, I am interested in what is to come, especially with the witch and the gods, but I'm definitely hoping for some sort of redemption of that ending. I will say, I was entertained, and I did find a lot of things interesting, plus the audio-book was well done and the narrator did a fantastic job bringing it to life. Definitely recommend this.

Actual Rating: 3.75, rounded up