Pros: good world building; great central characters in Tea, her brother Fox and the head asha Mistress Parmina who feel vivid and real; an intriguing take on magic and its dark side.
Cons: perhaps too much detail - sometimes the information given can feel like an info-dump and break the flow of the text; there is a LOT of stuff about the gowns and sashes the asha wear - I found this dragged without making me 'see' the clothes; and lastly, the flashbacks.
The entire structure of the book is one chapter in the present, one in flashback - this can work, but needs to be subtle...and I simply didn't enjoy it here.
That said, I finished the book but I don't feel that I will read the next one in the series

It was true that I was born at the height of an eclipse, when the sky closed its only moon eye too wink back at the world, like my arrival was a private joke between old friends. Or perhaps the moon read my fate in the stars and hid, unwilling to bear witness to my birth. It is the kind of cataclysm people associate with bone witches. But surely normal children have been born under this cover of night, when the light refused to shine, and went on live perfectly normal lives?
The Bone Witch is set in a world where people wear their hearts around their neck. It is splendid, breathtaking, and uncharted. I love the fresh folklore and organic mythology Chupeco plaited.

The book is separated by two alternating lenses. The first took place in the past where the narrator recounts how a small girl from a quaint village becomes an enigmatic asha. The second took place in the present where the narrator met an exiled asha in the Sea of Skulls, who seems to be hiding dark secrets in the slit of her dress.

We have a main character named Tea, who accidentally resurrected her dead brother. It came as a surprise to her and her family. She didn’t know she has a tremendous amount of power. She’s a dark asha, a witch, a spellbinder. And her kind is the strongest of them all. The people in her village doesn’t know how to hone her skills except for the powerful asha, Lady Mykaela, who serves the Kingdom. In order to be her apprentice, Tea had to move away in a faraway territory.

What I loved about this book is the worldbuilding, and the mythology that is attached to it. There’s influences of Zoroastrianism. I’m unfamiliar with the folklore and that’s one of the reasons why I loved it. I love learning new things. I also love the subtleties and politics. I like it when fantasy books gently infuse sexism, racism, classism into their plot. I don’t believe that privilege and social ranks will never matter in any setting, whether it’s fantasy or contemporary.

Somethings you need to know about this exquisite story:

Firstly, we have a lovely boy that has a silverglass that wants to become an asha, but couldn’t be because it’s only restricted for girls. It stems from the toxic masculinity their culture upholds to.

Secondly, despite being a sword wielding and a weaver of magic, asha must abide to their traditions. Most of them undergo training to make them more refined and skilled at standards that are usually considered feminine, such as singing, dancing, mastering the language of flowers, and more. Because even though they’re powerful within their own, they know they must learn how to coax a patronizing man in order to put him in his place. That’s a power.

Thirdly, we have a girl who is the last thread of dark ashas and she’s reinventing a way to save her kind.

Fourthly, we have an apprentice of the forger of hearts, who has so much to give.

Fifthly, we have a prince who is kind, but seems clueless, and a duke who is overly protective with the said brother.

Sixthly, we have an undead brother who has an unyielding bond with his sister that resurrected him.

Lastly, we have four witch-sisters whose bond has been fortified by time.

This book is a magical ride for me from page one to the last. I can’t wait to read the sequel. There’s countless of unresolved thread needed to be answered.

Review also posted at Goodreads and Amazon.

This story has one of the best openings I've read in a long time:
Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise.

Talk about grabbing your attention on the very first page, with the very first sentence! Too bad the rest of the book didn't live up to that opening sentence.

The chapters alternate between past and present. In the present, a renown Bard has sought Tea out for her story, finding her exiled on a distant beach. I actually preferred the chapters set in the past, watching Tea's journey from child to accomplished Asha.

When Tea accidentally raises her brother from his grave, a Dark Asha shows up almost immediately to whisk Tea away for training. She just happened to be nearby? At that exact time? Coincidences like this are a little annoying to me. Why did she have to turn up so quickly? Couldn't she have been sent for, while Tea dealt with her now suspicious neighbors?

Seems that Dark Asha, aka Bone Witches, are the most powerful Asha. They are the only ones who can raise and/or control the dead, so they're also the most feared. Rare in number, they don't receive the respect they deserve.

Asha remind me a little of Geisha, as they're skilled in singing, dancing, and entertaining. They also have magic at their disposal, although in varying degrees. And the description of the traditional Asha clothing reminded me of a kimono. Definitely got a Japanese vibe from the story.

While the writing is lovely with lots of descriptive passages, it had a little too many descriptions for my taste. I don't really care what someone is wearing, so don't need a full description right down to the hairpins. I'm more interested in action scenes, which are few and far between. I understand that authors need to set the scene and create background, but I prefer a faster pace.

This one took me awhile to finish, despite the interesting premise. A few revelations came towards the end of the book that left me scratching my head. Admittedly, I'm lousy at mysteries and usually don't pick up on cues, but these seemed to come out of left field! And the ending? Straight out of left field!

Hoping that there's a sequel to this one as I was left with too many unanswered questions.

A rich read for teens looking to disappear fully into a book. I enjoyed it.

Such an original tale! I could not put this book down, the plot, the setting and the characters were perfect, loved the pacing and the ending. Looking foward to read the sequeal.

Bone Witch
By Rin Chupeco
Rating 4.0

“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.”

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.
In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha―one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles...and make a powerful choice.

I approached reading The Bone Witch with both anticipation and a bit of caution. I just did’t know what to expect. I had high expectations for this book just from reading the synopsis and the opening quote...it reached out and grabbed me; but the reviews seemed to be a mix. I needn’t have worried. I loved the format of the book once I got into it. The story takes place in the present but each chapter begins with a kind of interview by the bard who is a collector of stories. He sought Tea out to get her story. He got her story in bits and pieces through her recollections, thoughts, reflections and hindsight perceptions. I loved the way each chapter began; allowing me to see into Tea, feel what she felt and hear her voice her inner thoughts. In this flashback way, we are told Tea’s story from the time she was 12 and now ...through the eyes and mind of a young woman of 17 coming into her own. Somehow, this seemed to make Tea’s story more real, more personal and more intense. Some readers, I think, found this confusing and disconcerting. I enjoyed the going back and fourth from the present to the past and back again. I think it added much insight into who Tea really was and what she was like.

Chupeco went to great lengths to build this world of asha and, in particular, Dark Asha. The descriptions were concise with every detail contributing to making Tea’s world come vividly alive for me. For me, it brought the Grisha trilogy, Gracling and even a touch of Daughter of Smoke and Bone together into one. Although I enjoyed reading and seeing Tea’s world, it’s the characters that are the threads that hold this story together...Tea and the bard. Yes, there are others and I’m hoping we will get to know them a little better in the future.

The story continues on with the bard along side Tea to get more of her story. Yes, there is more to tell and more questions that need to be answered. We still don't know why Tea is exiled to the Sea of Skulls; but we do know that she has become a force to be reckoned with. Hell knows no fury...yet.

Parental Note: I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up. There is some violence, bullying and explicit battle scenes. There is some "flirting" or slight sexual innuendo; but nothing explicit.

I wanted to love this book so much and yet I found it to be rather boring, I kept waiting for something amazing to happen and it just never arrived, it was all just so meh.

Rin paints quite the fascinating world with her words of a diverse culture that reminds me of a cross between Vikings, India, Middle East and Celts with a healthy dose of magic and creatures that are equal parts fascinating and dangerous.
Tea is the youngest of five girls and one boy who hopes to one day have adventures similar to the heroes in her books but also enjoys being surrounded by her loving family.
One fateful day, everything changes when her beloved brother Fox is put to rest after dying on a military mission. Tea is understandably upset as well as her family and when compelled to speak syllables, cut her fingers and draw runes that retsult in bringing her brother back from the dead.. sort of. Think kind of zombie but has no interest in eating brains or harming others unless they threaten his sister.
Tea soon finds out that she is a Bone Witch also known as an Asha which is a special sect of witches who can raise the dead, become quite powerful and someone you want on your side. She reluctantly goes with a mysterious woman named Lady Mykaela who will soon become her mentor and confidante to learn more about her powers and how to control them.
She is soon caught up in a world of magic, mystery, adventure, unexpected friendships and a dash of danger as she learns the way of an asha and the importance of believing in yourself.
Just when things seem to be going great, a creature shows up at a special ceremony that will leave most of her fellow asha and villagers reeling from the violence of such a monster. There is something darker lurking than just the creature waiting to pounce on unsuspecting people, an enemy is closer than most people realize and will throw the reader for a loop.
This book was confusing at times with the switching of different views of the story but also hard to pull away. It ends on quite the cliff hanger which makes me really curious about next book and wanting to know what will happen to Tea and her friends.
I can't wait to see what Rin has up her sleeve next and I'm so glad I read this book!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley an honest review.

While a lot of reviewers found this book being too detailed and slow at the end, that wasn't the case for me. This is a pretty big book for a young adult novel but I was entertained and interested the entire time, even after the 100th hua description. The characters and world building are what really make the story. Everything is beautiful and refined while being savage at the same time.

I love the end and how it goes into this grey area with Tea, it makes the character more interesting. I want to know what happened to get us to this point.

I tried guys, oh man did I try! I really wanted to love this book, and if not love, then I really wanted to like and enjoy this book, but sadly that is not the case.
I Did Not Finish this book, let me be clear there. I started this book and I was super excited for it because I saw it all of Bookstagram and so many people were raving about it, so when I got the email saying I was getting a copy I squealed. I should not have squealed. While I was super excited about reading this book, I had received 2 before it and since I go in order, it was a couple months before I got to it. But since I have been trying and failing to get into this book, it has disrupted my reading of my others from Netgalley, and I really don't like that.
I think this book has a lot of potential, but I do not like the way it is being told, not that word TOLD. I hate stories that tell me what is going on instead of showing me. I can't get into stories that tell me everything without giving me evidence or details. I also really don't like how it is just information overload.
Instead of a gradual progression with information thrown in every so often it is a dump of just things. Like, who is her brother? Well here's a whole lot of information about him and the other Bone Witch just thrown at you out of no where. No, just no.
I really did want to love this book, that cover still has me stunned, but I just can't. Maybe one day I will return to it and maybe then I will enjoy it, but as it stands this day, it is sadly a DNF.

Although I received an advanced copy of this e-book from the publisher via netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This book took me a long while to get through. The first three quarters moved at such a leisurely pace, I didn't feel compelled to read it all the time like I do with some books. I loved the new (at least to me) idea of a bone witch. Kind of reminded me of final fantasy 10 with the raising of the daevas.

Tea, the main character doesn't even know she is an asha until she unwittingly resurrects her dead brother at his funeral. She is then thrust into the journey to become an Asha.

Overall, this was a good one, just not a great one for me. I am quite anxious to see what the next book brings.

PS I also loved how it goes back and forth from the past to the present. You don't know who you are hearing from until the end. That part I really enjoyed!

***I received an ARC via Netgalley. I volunteered to review the book.***

I am sad to say this book is DNF @15%. I did not get far in this book. I tried. But, I just couldn't in the end.
The blurb of the story is really nice and that is what drew me in. Magic, Witches and necromancy....What's not to love? The book is SLOW and nothing happens except for Tea raising her brother accidentally as a kid. Even that is lukewarm somewhat. Tea grew up amongst witches. Her sisters are also witches however, they are your standard, run of the mill types. Tea is different, she & her family didn't know how different until the incident with her brother. With the resurrection of her brother, another bone witch comes to town and takes Tea under her wing to teach her the ways of the asha.

The world building was not bad albeit a bit confusing for me. The whole Heartglass thing I'm not quite sure I understood it completely the purpose of it.

The book is written with Tea's past and present. Each chapter is alternating between her Past and Present. - The present takes place where a bard recounts his experiences with an exiled asha (Tea) he meets on a lonely beach of skulls. Her Past takes place, where Tea tells of her rise as a bone witch within community of witches and trained by another bone witch (Lady Mykaela) who takes her under her wing after the fiasco with her brother.

The style of writing, for me, was sort of distracting as I couldn't feel connected to her. I feel if the past had been presented every few chapters maybe, it would have been less distracting to read. Cuz every time I felt like a connection the chapter switched to present or past. Thus, breaking the link for me.

From the little bit I read...I do think there's a love triangle in the future. Although, at the point where I stopped there wasn't any reference except for what Tea said.

This book just wasn't for me. A shame cuz the cover is gorgeous.

A very promising series opener. (4 stars)

Though quite derivative of Memoirs of a Geisha I hate to use that word because The Bone Witch manages to spin a well-known idea in a fresh way. Much as Julie Kagawa's The Iron King did with Labyrinth, The Bone Witch manages to be comfortably familiar and completely unknown all in one. So rarely do you see such a deep attention to costuming in YA fantasy and while it can feel a bit plodding in description sometimes, it plays such an important role in who and what the Asha are that I enjoyed it.

While I enjoyed The Bone Witch and will definitely be reading the next novel in the series it definitely will not work for everyone. The world building is complex and yet manages to leave so much unexplained. The big climax at the end is painfully obvious from very early in the book but will certainly leave readers eager to find out what lead to it. It is these flaws that also provide a reason to want to continue the series.

If you enjoy dark fantasy and liked Avatar: The Last Airbender, Sabaa Tahir's work, or The Star-Touched Queen, I think this is a read worth picking up. It's good, not great, but makes for a series starting novel that I'm glad not to have missed. I am very much looking forward to the next one!

Here's the deal: I kept noticing how many fellow bloggers had included The Bone Witch in their TBR pile. I liked the cover and let's be honest, the title is pretty brilliant. I'd seen it enough times that I had to take a closer look. The first line of the blurb was both so chilling and straight to the point convinced me that I had to read it, too.

The Bone Witch is one of the most unique stories I've come across in a while. Tea's special ability is that she can raise the dead, a gift that's mystifying and frightening. It's not exactly something to go bragging about. Her grief-stricken misery upon the death of her beloved brother, Fox was the trigger that set off everything. She raised him from the dead and now her family and neighbours eye her suspiciously; fearfully even. Luckily, a fellow bone witch is travelling through the area and offers to take Tea under her wing. Mykayla wants to teach Tea everything in due time. But Tea is young and confused and wants answers immediately. Being away from home and everything that's familiar doesn't help either though she has Fox with her.

One of the more appealing aspects of the story is Tea's internal struggle to accept the truth that she enjoys the power she feels coursing through her when she's harnessing her abilities. She feels guilty about wanting more of something that she must to learn to control. I liked this tug of war within herself because this is where one's character is built. I liked how Chupeco split Tea's POV between the present and the past. In so doing, she created an otherworldly atmosphere in the present that appears desolate and bleak. It suggests a hard life complete with heartbreak and hard choices. Tea's POV from the past feels like life is just starting for a young, naive girl eager to learn and become stronger.

This is a story rich with detail which can be a good and bad. There were times when I felt bogged down by them. This isn't one of those stories that you can just pick up when you have a free ten minutes to fill. Chupeco has taken great care to describe as much as possible so that we can inhabit this world with Tea. Because of the complexities and the many characters involved, I picked the quieter times to read so that I could absorb the details. With that approach I wasn't at my usual reading pace.

The Bone Witch is highly imaginative and descriptive, and it's awesome to see so many people excited about it. Definitely pick this one up but make sure you have the time to devote to this story so that you can fully appreciate it.

~ Bel

DNF @ 43%

I think I did quite well making it this far! This book had so much promise, and I enjoyed it for a little well. But it was so bogged down with detail that I just lost steam. There was just not enough plot and too much world-building, coming across more like a sociological text on the culture of the asha and the kingdoms they operated in. It took a quarter of the book for even a little bit of excitement, and that barely had any impact except to trigger more description of the ashas’ way of life. Eventually, I couldn’t bring myself to turn another page, as it felt like slogging through mud.

Wonderful world building; a strong introduction to a new series and compelling characterisation. The Bone Witch delivers all of these, and resonates long after the story ends.

The start of a new, hauntingly beautiful series, The Bone Witch is a book full of dark magic and whether dark necessarily means what you think it does.

After a somewhat disappointing experience with Rin Chupeco's previous book The Girl in the Well, I was unsure if I would like her new fantasy series, but thought that the chance to read about the training of a bone witch (aka necromancer) could be fascinating. While not action packed every page of the way, this book certainly entertained and pleased me more than expected.

What this book really reminded me of was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, in that we encounter the main character at a young age and follow her through her training. While these segments might seem slow to readers that don't like that level of detail on that kind of subject, I quite liked it myself because it felt new and exciting. I was learning about these monstrous creatures that Tea, the titular Bone Witch, will encounter; learning about the power that brought her beloved brother back from the grave; the prejudices that she encounters from people that don't understand her abilities. There's also a fair bit in here about perspective because Tea, for example, was taught that bone witches were dark, fearful asha (this world's word for spellbinder). However, on her journey to the place where she will be taught the ways of her witchery, she encounters people that worship and adore her teacher, the Lady Mykaela, a vastly different reaction that the one Tea's fellow villagers gave her when they learned what kind of witch she was.

There were two points of view at various times throughout this story that slightly threw me at times. There is a bard that sought out the Bone Witch for her story and these portions are in italics, sometimes told from her point of view and sometimes from his. The voices in these are not entirely unique and I had to reread a couple to remind myself who was speaking. This wasn't a large inconvenience, but being brought out of the story by the abrupt change of perspective and realizing it wasn't who I thought brought the storytelling down a bit in my estimation.

This is the perfect book for a long afternoon of reading, as I think it would benefit the reader most to be able to sink into the story. You'll really be able to absorb Tea's venture toward the asha future her training is preparing her for. Please, grab a cup of tea, coffee, etc. and enjoy this necromancer's fantastical journey into a land of witches, monsters, and intricate magics.

I absolutely adored this book! I felt that the characters were very well-developed and enjoyed reading Chupeco's skill as a storyteller.

This is an excellent book to judge by its cover. The world is as complex and interesting as the cover would have you believe. The characters are a bit of a let down, I feel more attention could have been paid to character building as much as Chupeco did to world-building.

DNF at 15%. The idea behind this book was interesting and I really did want to read it, there was just one thing that I couldn't get over.

So, before each of the chapters truly starts there is an italicized section. In this section is this traveling bard person who I believe is talking to Tea about her adventures as a bone witch. Now, that was interesting. And cool. I love bards and stuff like that so I was totally into it. Anyway, the bard is talking to Tea and Tea is telling (him? her? not sure) them about what was going on. I take issue with this because Tea would explain things and then the chapter that comes afterward is just an elaboration on what Tea told the bard. Tea would say, "My heart stone thing was purple," and then the chapter was all about why her heart stone was purple, what that means, and anything else dealing with her heart stone being purple.

Okay, so it wasn't that situation exactly, but one that I do remember is that Tea told the bard that she had only been in love with two guys and she happened to meet them both on the same night...and then she proceeds to explain exactly how it happened. I guess my issue is, those italicized sections are giving me a summary of what's going to be talked about in the actual chapter like it's some kind of a chapter description. And I really didn't like that. I should know the basics of what's going on in the story from the story description, but I don't want a play-by-play. Please don't map out each chapter for me.

Maybe this isn't such a big deal, but I had a really hard time with it. And if I'm being honest, I actually preferred the italicized sections. I liked the way they were written much better. I'm a person with whom less is more, and the chapters that just elaborated on the italicized parts felt like too much.

So I guess if you don't mind this idea, I would give it a try. I can't really recommend this book based on content because I was more focused on the format, rather than what it was actually saying.