I enjoyed this book. The concept was new and it was exciting to see how Tea grew and integrated into the asha community. This book did a lot of world building, and was a little light on the overall story arc plot. You see glimpses in the in-between chapters, but this book definitely reads like a setup for the rest of the series. Not bad, I need the next book to really know what's going on.

Lavish in detail, The Bone Witch weaves a tale of dark fantasy and necromancy where a young woman discovers she has the power to raise the dead.

THE BONE WITCH weaves a dark and opulent tale of magic and monsters. Rin Chupeco creates a world beset by dark beasts and kingdoms tottering on the verge of war. The Eight Kingdoms are filled with elemental magic, intrigue, and rich historical traditions. It is here readers meet the protagonist Tea, a young, untrained witch who discovers her abilities of necromancy after accidently raising her recently deceased brother from the dead.

Known as Bone Witch, Tea is both feared and revered for her unique powers and finds herself thrust into the world of an Asha, learning to control her dark elemental magic. With war looming between the kingdoms and dark beasts rising up from the dead, Tea knows she must masters her skills while navigating courtly intrigue.

“Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there’s anything I’ve learned from him in the years since, it’s that the dead hide truths as well as the living. I have not been a bone witch for very long, whatever the stories you’ve heard, but this was the first lesson I learned.”

Told from two intersecting threads, past and present, Chupeco, known for her tales based on Japanese myth, The Girl From the Well, weaves in rich details of courtly arts and her training as an Asha. Clothing, dancing, and weaponry are detailed as well as the various forms of the Asha and the magics they can perform. At times the writing comes to a languid pace with all the attention to details, yet readers who persevere will be rewarded with the transformation of Tea’s character into something truly fierce and admirable.

"The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer."

Magic, especial that of a Bone Witch, extracts a terrible price, and Chupeco creates a beautiful, if solemn, story, about transformation and sacrifice with Tea’s character. In the traditions of a high fantasy, the world with its demon beasts, magics, and elementals are all fantastically crafted and the ending ensures readers will want to read more with its twisty ending.

“I understand now why people fear bone witches. Theirs is not the magic found in storybooks, slaying onyx-eyed dragons and rescuing grateful maidens from ivory towers. Theirs is not the magic made from smoke and mirrors, where the trap lies in the twitch of the hand and a trick of the eyes. Nor is theirs the magic that seeds runeberry fields, whose crops people harvest for potions and spells. This is death magic, complicated and exclusive and implacable, and from the start, I wielded it with ease.”

Though the languid pace and high attention to details hinder the story’s flow, I found this world and Tea fascinating. This is a read for those who enjoy an intimate narrative style, one revealing the internal struggle and journey, Tea's character goes through surrounded by a vivid world. I found myself setting this down after reading it in smaller portions but quick to pick it back up again - the writing is a lovely mix of haunting and lyrical and I find myself needing more of Tea’s story and anxious for the next installment.

Unfortunately, this one just missed the mark for me. I found myself unable to read this for long periods of time just because I couldn't get engaged enough in the story. I felt like there was a lot of telling but not a lot of showing, and a lack of action when it came to the plot in general. I think others may enjoy this more and I may have just not been in the right mindset for this, but it was not one that I found myself loving as much as I had hoped.

Fantasy novels like this are not my thing to begin with, so I am not the best judge and when there are more than several characters, especially with deep pasts or seers and witches that come from a history of it, I find it hard to keep track and therefore understand just what is going on and that is the case with this book.

While I can appreciate the storyline and Tea being able to raise the dead, the history was too complicated (despite the maps and extras at the end) to be able to truly get what was going on.

Update: I tried again but ended up skimming through the pages.

I really was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, I got 29% of the way through and couldn't take it anymore. It just wasn't my kind of book. I was bored and just couldn't get into the story. Fantasy is evidently not a genre I enjoy.

* I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I have mixed feelings about The Bone Witch. On one hand, it was a unique read, blending fantasy with political intrigue and exciting worldbuilding. Watching Tea grow from an innocent girl to a morally questionable Dark asha kept me turning the pages. When the sequel releases, it's something I'll definitely pick up to continue the adventure.

However, it wasn't a perfectly smooth read. My issues stem from the mechanics Ms. Chupeco used in her writings, not the story itself. The novel alternated between short glimpses at 17-year-old Tea, exiled from society, and full-length chapters recounting Tea's first two years as an asha apprentice.

The short glimpses should've created intrigue for what was to come, for what made Tea's heart turn black (literally). While they sometimes did, they were more often unnecessary. I would've preferred three or four longer flash-forwards to Tea's future than short one-pagers. The constant flickering to the future made the majority of the story - which took place when Tea was 15 - feel stagnant and false. Like none of it really mattered since I knew how it would end.

Despite its flaws, I'm interested in hearing the rest of Tea's story. The flash-forwards annoyed me at times, but a few were compelling enough to leave me wanting more.

I have noticed that this one is getting a lot of mixed reviews. I think the main reason for this is because the story is very slow-paced and it's super wordy. I personally loved the wordiness of the writing and I felt it was beautifully descriptive and found the character and world building to be captivating. There wasn't just one major climax to the story, instead it ebbs and flows with a few peaks here and there that ultimately lead to a reveal and a cliff-hanger. The Bone Witch reminded me quite a bit of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale in that they were very descriptive and beautifully written and felt based heavily in folklore and mythology. However, while I really enjoyed this book, I didn't feel it was quite up to par with Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale as it just didn't have the excitement and action that they had. Overall, I liked the book quite a bit and look forward to seeing where this series is headed.

I thought this would be interesting for my 1st foray into YA, but I just wasn't interested. I'm sure it's no fault of the story but more so that the YA genre is just not for me.

Please see link to book review.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I was drawn in immediately. The story goes back and forth between present day as Tea talks to the Bard who has come to learn her story and the past when Tea first learned that she would become a Dark Asha.

Chupeco has created a rich world with many layers and political intrigue. Magic is common but the gift of the Dark Asha is looked at with fear and disdain. Tea's back story is interesting and slowly builds you up to present day. You watch her grow from a scared 12 year old who accidentally raises her brother from the dead to a skilled kick ass woman at 17.

As the story unfolded I became more and more invested in the characters and really wanted to get to know a few of them a bit more. Since this is the first book in a series I'm hoping that more will come from some of these other characters that Chupeco has given us a taste of.

Everyone in this world has a heartglass and the color of the glass tells you how you feel and also determines what you will be. There doesn't seem to be any room for someone to make choices of free will in this world since you are pushed in the direction your heartglass leads you.

There are many different themes throughout the book that really seem directed at following your own heart and not so much what society thinks you should do.

I really liked this book and look forward to the rest of the series.

This book started off a little confusing until I realized it was the traveler telling the story . There were many new expressions and categories that kept me on my toes. The world in this read definely had me thinking feudal times and I was not real attracted to the treatment and "assignments" of the witches in training. Felt like they were taken to a brothel and the "Madam" profited off their entertainment of the men who ruled the lands. Good world building but not really my cup of tea.

This book's a little difficult to rate. I struggled to get into it a little at the beginning, and found it slow in places, but also really enjoyed it? It's also hard to describe. It's something like a villain's origin story or Memoirs of a Geisha meets AHS Coven (but YA, obvs)?

The book uses a nice framing technique, Tea (the protagonist) is telling her story, while setting up for the sequel, so there's a bit of foreshadowing and hinting going on from the start. The flashbacks (the main part of the story) cover the period of Tea's training and apprenticeship as a Dark Asha. Because of this, sometimes the story has quite a 'and then this happened, and then that happened' feel as it covers day-to-day activities, day-in-the-life type stuff. You feel even without the 'present day' elements, that this is a first instalment, setting up for the action of a sequel.

On the other hand, the low action plot doesn't matter, because you'll be too busy admiring Chupeco's writing. The language itself is beautiful, full of elaborate descriptions of drool-worth foods and stunning clothes. Especially the food, oh my gosh, the food! The Asha culture, politico-social structures and magic system is also really well described and interesting to see. The more inter-country politics are a lot broader, and gone into in less detail, but there's enough to really set the context of the Asha and Tea's place in the world.

There's also some great relationships in this book. My favourite is Tea's relationship with her dead brother, Fox. There's an understanding and supportiveness between the two that I don't see often in books so I really enjoyed that. Tea also has great relationships with her mentor Mykela and the other asha (although there is the stereotype 'high-school' bitch too...) Oddly, although Tea's romantic relationships are really stressed in the 'current day' as her motivation (meeting her two love interests on the same day, 'the man she loved' being killed) for action, it doesn't really play much of a part except in passing. It's pretty obvious who they are, but what little we see on page is nicely done.

This review will go up on my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on 5 April 2017.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/review-the-bone-witch

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In every chapter we have 2 points of view: Tea in the present, telling her story to a bard, and Tea in the past learning to become an asha. The premise is interesting and immediately as you start reading, you wonder to yourself about Tea's situation. You will not get an answer to the question that forms in your head in this installment, just so you know. The end of this book really pulls you in, but I wish the momentum that I felt at the end started a bit earlier in the book.

The story is very slow building. We follow Tea in her studies, which is very similar to a geisha or gisaeng, I think. She learns how to sing, dance, play instruments, but she also learns self defense and attack skills as well as ways to hone her magical abilities. Men hire her at tea houses for conversational and artistic entertainment and the more renown she becomes, the higher the price they pay for her company. Also, part of what she earns at the tea houses goes to paying back what her asha-ka, or the house that she belongs to, has already paid for her training. Reading how Tea learned these techniques and how she rises up the ranks was interesting, but it wasn't enough to glue me to the book until I finished, at least not until the last 10% of the book.

I do believe that if some of Tea's journey to becoming an asha were condensed, it would've propelled the story a bit faster. Part of what slowed me down is that there isn't a lot of action in the story. Nothing really pulled at me to come back to the story and I would step away from it for days at a time. Another thing that bothered me was that more than half way into the book we're told that Tea's name is pronounced Tay-uh. Personally, this was very confusing and I couldn't get myself to pronounce her name the way it was supposed to be pronounced. If this pronunciation was introduced at the beginning of the book, this wouldn't have made me stumble every time I read her name after that pronunciation was introduced.

Truthfully, this book took a lot longer to get through than I thought it would. I feel though that now that the story has gained momentum, the next book should move much faster and I am interested to see more of Tea's journey and get an answer to the question that I have had since the beginning of this book. I did enjoy this, despite my issues above, and am looking forward to the sequel.

The Bone Witch caught my eye because I loved Rin Chupeco’s writing in her The Girl from the Well stories. She has this way of making things have this haunting feel to them that really brings the best out of stories like these. I really enjoyed her writing once and again as well as the story itself.

I love how this story is told. Present Tea is relating the story of how she got to where she is to a bard. It was interesting to go back and forth because you start to see Tea in a different light as things begin to match up. I loved her as an MC. She was just such an interesting character, especially for the fact she often mentions that it feels good to draw from the dark magic. As the story goes along you start to wonder what side is she one. Is she good or bad? The lines all seem blurred. I loved how intelligent she is, even if at times she can be impulsive. I love her fondness for her brother and her Asha sisters. I also really like that Tea wants to do the right thing by her friend, who is a boy but loves to dance and sing more than be a soldier. She understand why he has to be forced into a role he doesn’t want.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read Memoirs of a Geisha, but I have to say the Willows reminds me of that a little. I guess the Asha are similar to Geisha except of course they have magic. They also have their own political world outside that of the kingdom politics and each House is kind of like it’s own kingdom. The Asha system used to be a bigger part of the political game I think but then they started to veer off in their own agendas. We spend a large amount of the story with Tea learning to be an apprentice and the ins and outs of the world. It’s very intriguing. I also love the time that is taken to describe all the different outfits and adornments. An Asha’s Hua can tell a lot about her.

I find the relationship and the Oracle to also be intriguing. It’s only lightly explored in this book but I’m curious to see how much more details there are in the next book. As Tea walks this line between what is considered to be good and evil (I think the considered is important), I want to know what part the oracle is really playing.

There are some other great side characters. Like the Heartforger and his apprentice, the different shop owners and of course other Asha. Of course there is the light love interest, again it’s not deeply explored...yet.

So the ending….leaves you like, okay I need the next book. It’s a cliffhanger of sorts. I really liked it though and am looking forward to see more of the story.

The first time I saw this book was on a Goodreads giveaway. The description looked enticing and I really enjoy reading about women necromancers. -cough- "Sabriel" -cough- I also read somewhere, maybe from the author, that this was supposed to be like "Memoirs of a Geisha" meets "The Name of the Wind." I totally felt I had to get my hands on this book after reading that.

That being said... I did see certain aspects of these two books in "The Bone Witch." It certainly was about a kick ass geisha who travels to a distant land to learn how to be a proper bone witch. (So geisha and magic school- covered.) She also travels with her dead brother, whom she raised from the dead. The whole book is basically her not-so-humble beginnings to being a witch and a small gimps to the present where there are hints of wars and fighting to come, but the majority of it was left for, hopefully, a second book.

This book was extremely descriptive. The author really put a lot of effort into the world-building. Sometimes I felt the need to have a master chart and descriptions of things next to me so I can reference it when certain things came up in the book. For example, I almost had to make a chart with the heartsglass color meanings. It took me to almost the end of the book to have them memorized. I loved the concept, but it got a little confusing at times. I love a lot of description, so this didn't put me off.

I really wanted to enjoy the overall plot. It had a lot of potential, but I felt that there wasn't complete development. Also, there were a few aspects that confused me and left me with questions. Some of these aspects might be covered in a second book, but if there were more to the plot in the this book then it wouldn't be so confusing. Also, Tea's love interests put me for a bit of a loop. Not that I'm against the choice at the end of the book, but I was totally surprised... in the confused way. Plot twist? Who was she channeling when she wrote that, M. Night Shyamalan?

Everything considered, I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of aspects I liked, and with a bit more development in the plot it would have been 4 or 5 stars. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and hope that it will provide more clarity on the confusing aspects of this book. (I could write a essay of questions for Rin Chupeco, which I think she'd answer because she seems pretty cool.)

A young girl named Tea, lives quietly with her family in a small village. Her life is ordinary except for her love of reading and her thirst for knowledge. Tea reads tales of magic-wielding Asha, who fought wars against the Faceless, dark witches and fearsome creatures. Magic is accepted in her world and her sisters possess magic of a benign nature.

But Tea’s magic is very strong and she inadvertently raises her brother from the dead. This ability propels Tea forward into the select group of Asha witches known as the Bone Witches where she is taught to control this exceptional skill. These witches are feared and dreaded. They are also highly regarded as valuable assets for the protection of the world.

While Tea prepares herself for a life protecting everyone, dark forces are preparing to destroy her. Tea must learn to protect herself as well as her fellow Bone Witches in order to fulfill her obligations.

As with Rin Chupeco's previous books, I have to give a ton of love first and foremost to the cover designer. The Bone Witch stares at you off the shelf and demands that you pay attention to it. It begs you to read the synopsis, and be wooed by it. Then, you'll pick up the book and see that it is about a new world full of monsters, magic, and necromancy. A world where everyone wears their heart around their necks, and witches of all sorts live among the common people. A world where our protagonist finds that she isn't always welcome.

Yes, The Bone Witch definitely started off with a bang for me. The first line is perfection but, more than that, the first few chapters really draw you into the world that Chupeco is building. This story is told in flashbacks, as Tea remembers the child that she once was. It was a stunning way to do things, because you can see the innocence that she used to possess set starkly against the fierce and hardened woman that she is now. Each chapter pushed me further into Tea's life, and I happily followed along.

The one downside to this way of story telling, and I definitely know that this was partially because this is a first book and needs to set the stage, is that it is slow. As I mentioned above, the first few chapters fly by. Tea's abilities come to light, she's torn from everything she once knew, and set onto a path that she never expected to be on. Past that though, a lot of narrative ensues. Things slow down and, quite honestly, I ached for the flashbacks because I wanted more action. I wanted more of my fierce and cold bone witch, and her amazing powers. I wanted less of tea parties and polite conversation.

However, the benefit of telling the story this way is that it sets a detailed stage for the story to come. There are lot of characters introduced that, while they aren't that important this time around, you can tell will make a difference in Tea's further adventures. Since this book focused heavily on Tea's time as an apprentice, I see that she'll be growing into the next story. I can't deny that I was a slight bit disappointed that we missed out on more action, but I'm honestly also still really eager for more. I'll be picking up the next book for sure.

Tea lives in a world where witches are commonplace. Tea, however, is different from the witches in her family, which was showcased after her brother died when she raised him from the dead. Tea’s gift relates to the dead – to necromancy. She is a Bone Witch. The most feared but important witches in the kingdom. However, Tea needs to control and hone her gifts which means she has to leave her home and train to become an asha under the watchful eye of an older and more experienced witch, Lady Mykaela. However, while in the city, she learns that the kingdom is on the brink of war with an enemy called The Faceless and everyone she has ever cared about are in danger.

The Bone Witch is a slow-paced, but an atmospheric, original, and dark high fantasy which is PERFECT for fans of witches and magic. As I mentioned, it was slow paced at times, but it had such vivid and rich world-building that made up for it – full of culture, folklore and mythology which is a breath of fresh air for fantasy.

In The Bone Witch, people wear their hearts around their necks, they are called heart glass. When their heart glass turns silver, they are deemed to be magical and, if they are women, they are trained to become asha. Each asha can draw different runes which align with different elements. Tea is a Bone Witch because she can raise the dead and she deals with dark magic. Asha are trained to become skilled warriors but are also trained to become entertainers and refined women. They learn to dance, sing, play instruments, etc. So if you want a fantasy with kick-ass women who are also feminine, then The Bone Witch is for you.

In terms of characters, I loved Tea. She isn’t your typical protagonist and she isn’t considered to be the hero of the story as she’s the villain in many people’s eyes. The Bone Witch was told in two alternative timelines, one where Tea was finding out about her magic and training to hone it, and one where she is a powerful witch feared and ostracised due to something she did, which we have yet to find out. I loved this, where you slowly are starting to learn how Tea became the witch, and the dark asha, that everyone fears. But really, she is just finding a way to try and save her people but because she has fell too far into dark magic, she’s deemed too dangerous and branded the enemy. She’s the anti-hero protagonist I’ve been waiting for and what we need more of in YA, especially fantasy.

Fox is also a great character, Tea’s brother, and I really loved their sibling bond. Which was made even more pronounced because she raised him from the dead so they are now connected in more ways than just being brother and sister I loved the protectiveness and the love the two had for each other. There were also hints of a romance, but it wasn’t at the forefront of the story.

Overall, a unique, atmospheric, dark and magical fantasy that I highly recommend.

RATING: ★★★★☆

This was such a wonderful read!
I was very much looking forward to it ever since I read its book blurb and saw its amazing cover art. Isn't it the most impressive book cover? The book blurb sounded very interesting and very promising. There was no way a YA fantasy lover would not be curious about it!
Had the book kept its fast pace through out I would certainly have given it a 5 star. But at some point half way through the book I had to stop for a little while as I found it dragging. That did not last long though, and only a few pages further it was 'all happening' again, which is why it still deserving a high mark.

One of the most interesting features in The Bone Witch is that the story is told from Tea's perspective, but from the future. She has been banished from her home and is somewhere remote with a very different heart from the heart she once had. In between chapters the reader get glances of a much older Tea, with secrets and a heavy heart. Those chapters are rather dark and heavy. And of a younger Tea, who is still learning to master her skills. Brave and with an almost happy-go-lucky attitude.

The main character in this well written story is as you probably guessed Tea. Very early into the story she finds out she is a bone witch, or an asha when she 'accidentally' brings her brother back from the dead. Luckily for Tea (since bone witches are not loved in her home town) another bone witch is nearby when Tea resurrects her brother and comes to the 'rescue'. She takes Tea and her brother away so that Tea can be properly trained in her craft. Her relationship with her brother blossoms through out the book and it is one of the main things I looked forward to while reading it. His deadpan not-funny-at-all jokes are oddly and strangely enough: heartwarming!

We are introduced to many different characters through the story and it is hard to talk specifically about each one of them. The main focus was definitely Tea and no one else.

We have a prince, Kance, who is very kind and sweet but perhaps a tad clueless. Tea is infatuated with him from the very begging but not much happens between them. Romance really is not on the radar in this book. It is obviously with its ending that it will be on the next book, but it isn't here.

There is the ever overprotective Duke, Kalen. His job is to protect the prince and he takes that duty very seriously. He is worried about Tea and the potential relationship between her and the prince. Tea and Kalen are my favorite characters, I kept wanting to know more about him and considering the ending I am sure I will!

The King's brother is an apprentice to the forger of hearts. A sweet and very clever boy who I am hoping to see more in the next book too.

And than there are the ashas that Tea is both leaving with and learning from. They become her sisters and her family away from home. They protect her and she protects them. The relationship is certainly not always easy, but it is most definitely entertaining. All ashas surrounding Tea have very different personalities and are therefore unique in their own away. It is impressive to me that Rin Chupeco managed to give so much heart and soul to so many different characters in one book!

I would most certainly recommend this book to anyone that loves young adult fantasy. It delivered in every way.
I am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series.

It all started when her brother’s body was sent home from the war. Tea loved him so much she couldn’t bear living without him. So she didn’t. Some magic manifested itself within twelve-year-old Tea, and she raised him from the dead, revealing herself to be the first new bone witch in decades. An older witch of her kind found Tea, and the training began.

The first thing I noticed about The Bone Witch is that it wasn’t as dark as it sounds. Let me be clear, it is dark; there are demon creatures, living dead, dark magic, and betrayals. But most of the story follows a girl through her training to become what most magically-gifted girls were trained to do—be an Asha. These women spent years learning traditional art forms, including dancing, martial arts, and magic, in order to be entertainers for the upper classes and occasionally warriors, assassins, and bodyguards. Except that Tea was the only bone witch (necromancer) her age and had to learn to control her power before she accidentally did something dreadful. Long story short, the world-building was fascinating. The threat of evil was woven throughout all of it, culminating in a dramatic ending that begged to be continued.

The story began with a traveling Bard finding an older, renowned Tea and listening to her story over the course of several days. Every chapter, the narration turned back to this pair, as the older Tea filled in details about the world, dropped clues, and hinted at a greater evil the younger version of herself did not know about until the end of the story…or series?

Meanwhile, Younger Tea learned, grew, got herself into trouble, and started to fall in love. Through her experiences, the story touched on gender equality, religious differences, temptation to do evil, dehumanization of those of a different class, and other difficult topics. Why shouldn’t a talented man be allowed to become an Asha? Why were bone witches treated as subhuman simply because they held greater, more dangerous power than other people with magic? Whether these topics were addressed well depends on your perspective.

The Bone Witch was a fascinating read, filled with gorgeous culture, intriguing magic, and memorable characters. The magic was extremely dark at times, but the desire to continue reading held me captive to the end, and continues to do so as I await the next novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and FFBC Book Tours. All opinions are expressly my own.