I received an advanced copy of The Bone Witch from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes are from an uncorrected and unfinalized text.

What is The Bone Witch about?

A bard has a dream that leads him to Tea, an exiled Bone Witch. The story is told in the present from the perspective of the Bard as he gets to know the exiled witch, and from the perspective of Tea as she recounts her story in the past.

The Good & The Bad

You must think me too fastidious, listing an asha's hua in such detail every time I talk about one
Yes! Yes I do.

Every time we met someone we had to learn their backstory. Where they came from, what their family was like, what their goals were. Tea described what they wore and what they were holding and what the thing they were holding looked like. There was so so so much describing. I don't care to know all these details about someone if that person is never going to do anything.

And every time we saw a new place we had to know all about the architecture and the people there and what they were doing and what they were wearing. And how many rooms were in this house and what each one was used for. Not that anything ever happens in the cities or the house to make the information relevant.

The book is Tea telling the bard what happened in her life, and it very much reads like that. Rather than experiencing the story first-hand, we are often just told what happened. These are the people who lived in the house. Here is a list of the ways in which I was poorly treated by this person. This is what my daily schedule looked like. These were the foods we ate. We don't see Tea develop friendships but are rather informed that the friendships exist.

Know the people you entertain. [...] Our opinions do not matter, and if you have to swallow your pride to keep them happy, then so be it.

Being an asha is considered rather prestigious and powerful, but it really shouldn't be. The world of The Bone Witch is ruled by men. The asha, all of whom are women, don't do important things but rather entertain important people, who all just happen to be men. They can wield magic but spend most of their time learning to sing and play music and dance for the pleasure of the men who actually do stuff. The highest an asha can really rise is the very exciting position of wife-of-someone-who-is-actually-important. Sure, there are references in the story to famous asha who did famous things in history. And it's said that the asha fight in times of war. But in the present-day world we read about, an asha's purpose is to be entertaining to the important men around her. I could understand this if it were some dystopian world the characters were trying to change, but really they all seem excited about their life as asha.

The book wasn't all bad. It definitely picked up as it went along. Had the entire book been written the way the last 30% or so was written, it could have been an okay book. And I really enjoyed the magic system. Besides being able to control the elements, Asha could create runes that would make someone appear prettier or more graceful. I thought this was a really cool take on magic, that rather than change people themselves, it just changed how they were perceived. There were also attempts at addressing the sexism in the world, but more in the form of "why can't men be asha" than "why do asha do nothing but entertain powerful men".

My Review
⭐⭐

I give this book 2 stars. Very little happened in this book. It was far too slow-paced to keep my attention. I also found the writing style odd; at times it seemed as if I was reading a summary of a book rather than the book itself, though the writing style and pace improve throughout the book. I was also very bothered by the sexism in the world. There were pieces of it that were challenged, but it was mostly just accepted, even described positively. But perhaps that will be addressed in book two. While I wasn't a fan of The Bone Witch, the world definitely has potential and I could see this becoming a good series with a rocky start.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Witch is a YA fantasy novel written by Rin Chupeco. It is the first entry in a planned series.

Tea (whose name is not pronounced like the beverage) is a young girl living in a world surrounded by magic. Witches are valued for their power, but when Tea accidentally brings her brother back from the dead, she learns that there is a limit to society’s tolerance for witchcraft.

Bone witches are scorned, but they are also an integral component in keeping the world a safe place. Bone witches are a scarce commodity, so Tea is fortunate to find a mentor who can help her. Most of the book is devoted to Tea undergoing training to understand how to utilize her power.

There is a lot going on in The Bone Witch, but not nearly as much necromancy as one might expect from a book featuring a protagonist who is a necromancer. The situation is reminiscent of Westeros with numerous factions and plenty of political intrigue. Numerous characters are introduced, and keeping track of everyone can be difficult. There is an appendix at the end of the book, which will be very helpful for readers who have a physical copy of the book.

The plot moves slowly, despite the fact that Tea’s powers are so advanced that she moves through training at a faster rate than the other asha (witches). Chupeco focuses on world building rather than character development. This is not necessarily a negative; Chupeco presents vivid descriptions of clothing and food, and she is clearly a talented writer. Part of the reason for the slow pace might be due to the shifting perspective. The chapters alternate between the present day and the past. It’s clear that Something Big happened to Tea, but the details do not emerge until the end of the book. Chupeco uses this technique to create a sense of intrigue, and it worked. I kept reading because I needed to know how Tea ended up in her current predicament.

I would recommend The Bone Witch to fans of YA fantasy. If you’re looking for something fast-paced and full of action, you might feel restless while reading this book. It’s clear that Chupeco put a lot of work into Tea’s world, and ends the book on a tense note, making the reader anxious to find out how the conflict will be resolved in the next book.

This is one of my favorite books coming out this year and one of the best young adult fantasies I've read in a long time. Chupeco's world building is done carefully and precisely, revealing the pertinent information a little bit at a time. The characters are almost all female and all are strong, brave, courageous, and intelligent in their own right. The plot is complex but well thought out and the writing is cinematic. If this doesn't get optioned for a movie, I'll be surprised.

Imagine a world where geisha-like women are some of the most respected political leaders and warriors of their land. They're called asha and they start training very young, on their Heartsrune day, when the power of their hearts are pulled into a glass heart that sits around their neck. The heart power is kind of like a mist and for most people it's pink or red, though the colors change with emotion and sickness. If you're an asha, your heart's color is different--silver. Unless you can draw the Dark, then there's no mist that comes from your heart.

Drawing the Dark means you can raise the dead and Tea, the main character and badass supreme, raises her brother on accident after he's killed by a daeva. The daeva are horrible monsters that rise every few years and attack the people of the land. Unless the Dark asha get there first to raise it and then immediately kill it. Dark asha have the power to control minds and their ability to compel daeva (and humans) is strong. For this reason, they are feared and ultimately reviled by the people of the land who call them Bone Witch.

We follow Tea from the moment she raises her brother all the way through her asha training and her first mission. She is a captivating character and the pages just fly by, while you root for her success and wonder about the implied dangers she must face. As she learns more about the politics of the country and meets more nobles, she begins to fall for the prince. The love story is secondary here and believable. Both things I can appreciate since the prominence of the "girl-meets-boy" trope in YA is way over done.

I highly recommend this books for those that love "The Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld or "Daughter of Smoke and Bone". This could also easily be an adult crossover for those that liked GoT or Wheel of Time.

This novel seems to come from a similar idea as <em>Sabriel</em>, but is not as well executed. The author executes some interesting world-building, but may be trying to include too many imaginary cultures at once to give any of them the thoroughness really required (and includes enough thinly-veiled real-world stereotypes to make me kind of uncomfortable). The choice to have the two intertwined narratives not meet up is an odd one, and has the effect of the framing story spoiling many major plot points of the main story in a disappointing way. It had enough going for it that the next book in the series could turn the whole thing around, though.

This is my Rin Chupeco book.

I was very disappointed. I thought the book would be better from what I read in the description. I found it to be veeeeery slow. Not only that, it had way too much information crammed up and it was very hard to follow. I felt like it was never going to end.

I liked about 2 scenes where good conversation happened.

The ending has a name that is the hook to the second book.

Tea, like her sisters, is a witch. When her brother, Fox, died, she found out purely by accident that she is a special type of witch, a necromancer. During her grief, she brings him back from the dead. This makes her a bone witch. A bone witch is shunned from society and is greatly feared. Luckily, she is taken under the wings of an older, experienced bone witch. She puts in a great amount of effort to become an asha, someone who can do magic as well as be a social companion. These are dangerous times, however, and Tea has to make some choices that will effect her and those around her forever.

I’ve heard this described as a cross between Memoirs of a Geisha and The Name of the Wind. I can see where they are coming from. Because of the story telling aspect, it definitely reminded me of Name of the Wind, although it is definitely geared to a young adult audience. I enjoyed the way the book was written. Basically, you have a bard who is pulled to a location where Tea is living in exile. She has brought him there to share her story with him and have it told. The story alternates between Tea in the present and Tea in the past. It was very easy to follow, but also took a long time to develop. As this is the first book in a series, I do understand the need for all the groundwork for the story, but it did slow down the plot.

I see this getting mixed reviews. It’s either love it or hate it. I actually loved it. It was a very memorable read. I finished it a few weeks ago and still find myself thinking about it. I give this a 4 out of 5 star ranking. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first time in a long while I have read a book that I didn't want to put down. I fell asleep reading it on two nights, and I switched it to text-to-speech during meals. I was captivated by this world and the characters living in it.

I LOVED the main character.
I LOVED the storyline.
I LOVED the beautifully descriptive writing.
I LOVED the surprising twists.
I LOVED the fresh and brilliant magical system.
I LOVED the fantastical beasts.
I LOVED the sociopolitical undertones and messages.
I LOVED the LGBTQ elements.
I LOVE that it is a series and I get more of Tea's story.
I LOVE that there was no romance.
I LOVED IT!

Tea's sisters are all named after flowers, but she isn't. They are all asha, but she isn't. Not exactly. She finds out what she is when her brother, Fox, is laid to rest and she hears him calling to her. She finds out that she is a Bone Witch when she raises him from the dead. Soon after, Lady Mykaela takes her away--Fox in tow--to train her in the ways of her art.

And that's where I basically lost all interest.

I really wanted to like this but I had such a hard time with it. I felt totally out of my comfort zone and element with this book. I felt like I had been thrust into a new culture without any prior knowledge of it and without any means of learning about that culture. I could not for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on the majority of the time. There was so much description and extensively vague worldbuilding that I found myself wanting to skim through it but I knew that I would be so lost if I didn't read every single word. Then again, I was still lost, even when reading descriptions over and over. It really didn't help that the plot seemed to come to a grinding stop at about 20%.
A few things I did like:
- The cover (Sooo gorgeous!)
- The necromancy
- The monsters
- Heartglass

Heartglass was a very interesting concept in which an asha or Bone Witch could draw a person's 'heart' or soul out into a glass necklace so that they could give their heart away to whoever they were in love with. But in doing so, you gave the person control over you. Better hope whoever you fall in love with has the best intentions.

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for not finishing this book because I do not like to DNF books. Maybe this just wasn't the right time for me to read this. Perhaps I will come back to it in the future and try again because there were a few things that really stood out and had me interested in the first place.

*Sigh* When I read the description for this book, I had high hopes and was super excited to get a copy.

The story had a really great start. We are introduced to Tea, who turns out to be a Bone Witch and accidentally raises her brother from the dead. Because this is shunned upon in her village, she ends up leaving with an older bone witch who trains her to become an Asha.

After the witch takes Tea, the story becomes slow..too slow for my liking. Nothing really happens after that (no joke), which was disappointing. I was expecting a much faster paced book about witches and dark magic. One that would be packed with action. Instead, I got more of a story about Geisha. Had I known this ahead of time, I wouldn't have chosen this particular book. I also thought it was a bit too descriptive which made me lose interest. Unfortunately, I did not end up finishing this book, which is a shame because I really wanted to like it.

It may not have been my cuppa 'Tea', but perhaps it might be yours.

This is a true fantasy novel with weird animals, strange powers, and countries/names you can’t pronounce, and I really liked it.

There are alternating chapters. The chapters in italics are the present told in the Bard’s first person. The Bard is here to hear Tea’s story and then ultimately tell others why she is doing what she’s doing. She says that she is going to destroy what she can because “they” killed the man she loved. In these chapters you learn about Tea’s powers. She is one of the most powerful bone witches; she has been cast away or has chosen to leave--we’ll find out later. She’s clearly powerful, knowledgeable, and angry, yet she’s not crazy or unkind. Obviously, something happened that has pushed her to right a wrong as she sees it. The other chapters are Tea’s story, told by her in first person, so switching first person between chapters does require effort for your brain.

Tea begins her story explaining, “I never intended to raise my brother from his grave.” A year before Tea is supposed to gather for spring equinox where teens receive their heartsglass, which you wears around your neck. This is your “heart.” Witches, like Tea’s sisters, trace Heartsrune spells to fill the hearts. Many witches, like her sisters, are respectable, but bone witches are definitely not. No one in her family has ever been a necromancer, but when Fox, Tea’s brother dies, “The syllables tripped on my tongue, tasting old and formal. It felt as if they came from someone using my mouth as a passageway through which words not my own raced. I had heard Fox. I had seen him move…. I dashed toward the grave….As we watched, a cold, gray hand rose up, scratching and stretching, and gripped the tufts of weeds growing close to the grave. The strange being lifted itself out of its earthly prison…..but then it smiled, and it was Fox’s smile, quiet and kind.” Tea now has a familiar and it doesn’t exhaust her powers.

A bone witch happens to be nearby. As Tea would be treated badly, Lady Mykaela comes to fetch Tea and Fox and take her to the Willows where she will learn how to use her powers. Witches, called asha, are trained here. It’s an odd world--they entertain people with dancing and fellowship. Tea meets many people, including the prince, and gains knowledge. She’s the only bone witch in training, but she’s principled and powerful. Lady Mykaela is the only bone witch in the area, so she becomes exhausted. Tea will have to learn quickly in order to complete the duties required of bone witches.

I liked the novel although I’ll admit I’m not sure I understand the kingdoms, the False Prince, the Faceless, and the weird animals. I has a slight passing understanding. I should probably re-read the beginning where it’s explained. I can see some people having trouble with the novel because it’s not a fast-paced novel where there are fight scenes, etc. It challenges your brain as you figure out this strange world. At the end, Tea has raised her animals from the dead and is headed off to destroy, but I don’t think book two will be about this destruction. I think it will be her romance and why she’s declared war. There is no romance in this novel--it’s completely Tea’s story. It’s definitely an interesting and fascinating book that is getting a lot of press.

It's a bit confusing at first since we're just being introduced to this world and the characters are using words we have no meaning for so it feels like we're essentially being dropped in a foreign world without any guidance but the more you read the more you begin to understand. Excellent story and I definitely recommend!

In the past few years, some of my favourite books have been those which were suggested to be primarily by someone saying, “read it; just trust me”. Generally, this phrase comes up when the premise is just too weird to sell a book. For example: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor involves monsters and the slow collection of human teeth. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is about a magical horse death race into the sea. Neither of these descriptions gets an immediate affirmative from me, but I loved both of these books immensely.

Thus, when I read the premise of The Bone Witch — girl accidentally raises her brother from the dead and discovers she is a powerful witch that most people probably won’t like — I was actually reasonably on board. I’ll be honest and say that I can’t give it 5 stars, but it was certainly a great read.

One of my favourite things about this book were the short bits between chapters featuring a glimpse into the future life of the main character (aka: the bone witch) Tea. It reminded me of the way in which Patrick Rothfuss formatted The Name of the Wind, and anything that relates your writing to Patrick Rothfuss is a good sign in my books. It left me totally fascinated and puzzled by how Tea ended up where she did, so I’m certainly on board for a second book.

I struggled a bit with the details of Tea’s training; I was awfully tired of reading about her learning to dance. I think the story would have been well-served by a greater focus on her physical and magical training, rather than the cultural elements of her role as an asha-ka.

In short, the concept of The Bone Witch is phenomenal, and I look forward to reading the next book to see where things ended up for Tea!

What an incredibly rich story with details and imagery that sparked incredible pictures in my mind's eye. The asha have a geisha feel but then add a spot of mystic reminiscent of The Last Airbender story line. Tea is the reluctant hero that you can't help but sympathize with and admire as she learns that she is to be a dark asha and that she will most likely be THE dark asha. I could not put this book down even while vacuuming!

Not for everyone, but those who get it, will devour it!! I get it!

The Bone Witch was cover love at first sight for me. The beautiful swirls of purple, the beautiful young girl and the skull in the middle was an ultimate 10/10 score for an enchanting cover. I didn't look too hard at the plot before I knew it was about a Bone Witch by the name of Tea that resurrects her brother from the dead and it hooked me enough that I wanted to read it even though I had so many other books to read!

It's funny because when I was reading the first 20% of the book it really reminded me of Memoirs of a Geisha. Then I saw the blurb on Goodreads saying that it was actually compared to Memoirs of a Geisha so that's pretty cool. With that book, we follow a young girl taken from her family and thrust into a sensual, dangerous new world of riches and expensive tastes and entertaining men. It is also told from the point of her younger self and looking back in reflection. With Bone Witch, Tea accidentally resurrects her newly dead brother and is then taken to a new town where she trains to become an asha, women with gifts of witchery that wear expensive hua dresses, book parties where they entertain gentleman and take classes for dancing, instruments and more. It's also told from her younger self and her present day self so the similarities are about 85% or more.

The rest is a magical and unique world of witches. Tea's older sisters are good witches favoured in her community. A forest witch or a water witch are always welcome in a town where their gifts will help but a bone witch is something to fear or put up with at the most for the majority of people. But it's clear they need them because the bone witches can raise the dead or put them back so when the monstrous creatures called daeva rise every decade it can be the task of a bone witch to slay them.

Another added quality of this book is the heartsglass. It seems like everyone has a heartsglass that they carry on a necklace around their neck. They symbolise and show their hearts and when people marry they can exchange them. If you give your heart to the wrong person and they don't give it back or break it, you'll never be the same. The very wealthy can pay to make new hearts or disguise a bad heart but bone witches like Tea can take a glance at someone's heartsglass and look below to their true heart and face.

I didn't feel like there was any real romance in this book so at least if you're not a fan of romance you can rest assured. She definitely talks of two loves she met and there's passing mentions of one boy she likes and her meetings with him but there's never a real focus on them. It's not a bad thing but I would have liked to have seen just a little more. I think her friendships and her relationship with her brother were much more defined and I'm glad for that because I loved reading about the other asha and Fox.

I do feel like the entire plot was sort of glossed over at times. There were a few key points to the story, Tea's rise to being a bone witch, life as an asha, her brother's undead life and even her romance off to the side but it seemed like this were all dropped at one point to another point and none of it was actually finished at the end. It was pretty interesting for me up until the 75-80% point in the book where the plot just dropped and all it had built up to didn't seem to amount to anything for me. I still enjoyed reading it but I actually lost interest about 80% and it wasn't a constant flow of reading after that. All in all, I loved reading something so similar to another story I loved and instead of feeling like a rip-off (when many events felt like a mirror image) it did feel like a beautiful expansion but I just lost interest in it towards the end. The ending did give me some hope for the next book and I can see it being really interesting from what happened at the end of this one.

No review. I read about 40% of it and couldn't force myself any further.

This sat awhile before I finally got to reading it. Well written and a good way to pass time. We'll developed story and characters.

*I received a free copy, Via Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire in exchange of an honest review.

If you read the reviews by others, you will see that the reviews are pretty bad, because of the pace of the book. Yes it tends to be overly descriptive, and the story building is rather lengthy. I saw that a lot of readers DNF'd this book, as that is not something I like to do. I stuck it out.

I'm glad I did. I enjoyed this book, I appreciated the world that Rin Chupeco was building it was beautiful and worth being patient for. Also how refreshing is it, to read a book where the romance takes a backseat? I do look forward to reading the sequel, if it does happen. It's not a book that's for everyone. But I sure enjoyed it. Guys, it's worth a shot, and you never know, YOU might love this book!

This book was absolutely amazing! I kept seeing it on various social media, Instagram, Facebook etc so when the opportunity to read it came I jumped on it. WOW it reminded me of Memoirs of a Geisha meets high fantasy. The story is about a girl named Tea who inadvertently raises her dead brother from the grave at his funeral. Thus revealing her power as a bone witch. The bone witch is a needed member of the community but looked down upon due to their dealing with Dark Runes. Her instructor (a powerful asha/ bone witch)finds her and takes her to train as an asha. asha are like geisha in their traditional dress and instruction. Tea is set to be one of the most powerful dark asha ever. This is the first book in a trilogy and I am dying to find out what she does next!

**** Big thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!****

I was super pumped when I found out Rin Chupeco was writing not only another book but a dark fantasy book! So of course I went into this book expecting to love it since I loved “The Girl From the Well” and luckily for me I was not disappointed.

The Plot

While I was very much invested in the plot of this story I will admit that the pacing was pretty uneven it was borderline slow. It felt like this book was more so setting up for the next book than having any real action on its own. This is a book you have to be a little patient with.

I also really liked how the story was told from two different POVs one being a Bard whom an older Tea tells her life story in the present and the other being told from the past by a younger Tea. I have to say the present day Tea is very dark and mysterious and I found her to be the most interesting I want to know what happened to her to make her this way! So this does jump back and forth throughout the story between the present and the past which I thought worked really well in this book, it made the story more suspenseful and interesting, it kept me reading!

The story may not be the most fast paced or action packed but it’s still super interesting with all of the world building. I absolutely loved reading about the asha and their magic as well as the horrible monsters the daeva which were actually pretty terrifying. Reading about how Tea is such a rare breed of “witch” and watching as she comes to terms with her Dark abilities and learning how to use them was just a ton of fun.

The world building was also spot on and very creative, it provided just enough to keep me happy and withheld enough that I am interested to learn more in the next books. I loved the concepts of the magical Asha, the demonic monsters Daeva, the mythology of the world, and the different aspects of all the Kingdoms. Also the magic system was interesting as well. There was definitely no lack of world building here and at the same time there was no info dumping either.

The writing was something I had a sort of love-hate relationship with, on one hand I liked it and thought it was very beautiful but on the other hand I found it to be almost TOO descriptive at times. It did help me visualize things a little better but the in depth details got a little tedious after while, I can only read about clothes in that much description before it gets old.

THAT ENDING THOUGH! It wasn’t necessarily a cliffhanger but at the same time it left me crying because I don’t want to wait a YEAR for the next book!

The Characters

Overall the characters were pretty great in this book, I did feel some lacked a little development though especially the secondary characters because I would have liked some more background on them. I still got very attached to a lot of them mostly the other asha characters such as Althy and Polaire!

The more central characters were a little better such as Tea, her brother Fox, and her mentor Lady Mykalea. We got a lot more background on these characters and I assume we are only going to get more as the series goes on.

The Romance

I’m happy to say that the romance did not play a HUGE factor in this story, it didn’t take center stage and didn’t take precedence over the plot. Apart from that it wasn’t really developed either, once again I’m assuming it will be explored more in the next book.

There is a bit of a love triangle although without spoilers I will say it isn’t what you think it is a first, they kind of throw a red herring our way and it WILL surprise you when you get to the end. I hate love triangles and this one didn’t bother me at all!

In Conclusion

Overall I was very satisfied with this book even though it did bother me a little bit that so much is left to be determined in the next books. The world building is the strongest (and best) part! I am VERY excited to continue with this series and so far Rin Chupeco has yet to disappoint me!

What I Liked:

The overall story was intriguing
The world-building was great and creative
The POVs between past and present was interesting
The ending left me wanting MORE
The characters were pretty well written
The romance didn’t take over the plot

What I Didn’t Like:

The writing got a little TOO descriptive at times
I wanted just a bit more background on some of the characters

Recommend?

If you’re interested in reading a dark YA fantasy I highly recommend this one, it combines all the best parts of fantasy with a little bit of horror since the monsters and sometimes the magic get very creepy. Also if you liked Chupeco’s other duology I think you’ll love this one too!