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!

First of all, a big thank-you to Netgalley for providing the ARC!

 It took me longer than usual to decide how to rate this book,  as I was back and forth between 2 and 3 stars.  I still feel  I could spend more time thinking it through and still not be 100% confident with my rating. First off, let me say that I was going into this with high expectations. The premise just sounded so incredible! I mean Necromancy, Geisha’s, Magic……what’s not to be excited about.  And that cover, so gorgeous!

The story itself was well-developed and I got a good sense of the magic system and the world. It wasn’t until the second half of the book that I actually started to feel immersed in the story.  Unfortunately though , I was bored for the majority of the book. The book was very slow and I had a really hard time getting into it.  Also, the writing was way too flowery for me and I struggled to focus on what the author was trying to say. Every time we met a new female character there were endless descriptions on the way she was dressed. I had to force myself not to skip over these parts. Honestly, not much happened and there was too much information to take in. I felt overwhelmed at times.  On a positive note,  I really enjoyed the magic system and the overall concept.

As for the characters, I never really felt a strong connection to any of them. They felt stiff and kind of boring. I feel like I didn’t get a good sense of their personalities. I did like the brother/sister relationship between Tea and Fox, even though it seemed too good to be true at times.  There was a character we met named Likh.  He was a character I found to be rather endearing. Even though he has a small role, it was a necessary one. I have a feeling he will be important in future books.

Another thing I enjoyed is the authors use of a second POV . This POV is from a bard who seeks out Tea and plans to sing about her life. These two POV’s are drastically different, one is fairly light and the other much darker. The second POV really added to the story and helped me see Tea as a stronger more in-depth character.

Despite the promising premise and the unique magical world, there just wasn’t enough plot for me.  I would have liked to see more action and less focus on dresses and hair pins.  I think that Tea has promise as a main character, and I will likely read the next book  just to see how she develops. Despite the negative, I can see the potential this series has. I am hoping that the next installment lives up to that potential.

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.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Witch is a story told through two intertwined times. We have the story of the "present" in which a Bard has come to learn the story of the book's heroine, Tea. Then we have the story of the "past" which Tea relays to the Bard. It seems like the author is attempting to build an air of mystery and suspense around Tea and what brings her to become "The Bone Witch" but I don't think she was entirely successful. Each chapter begins with a moment in the "present" with Tea and the Bard. In some places, this worked and helped move the story along. In others, it felt jarring and frustrating. I wished that Chupeco would have spent more time on one side or the other. 

The juxtaposition of younger Tea to "present" Tea is interesting...but it feels out of place for at least the first half of the novel. It feels impossible that one could become the other. I think the fact that we so often revisited "present" Tea throughout the novel is what made the difference feel too impossible. At the end of the novel it is certainly clear how things might come to the ways they are in the "present" but I think it would have served a greater punch had we been separated from "present" Tea as she tells the story of her training. 

There are still many positive aspects of the story I'd like to highlight. Chupeco has built and intricate and expansive world for her characters to inhabit. The idea of Heartglasses is one I found particularly interesting. They provide a unique window into the theme of power, emotion and relationships. For the most part the magic use seems common to other fantasy tales, but I found the geisha-like training for the "Asha" an interesting spin.

I found Tea to be a likable heroine, though she does have the aura of "chosen one" about her. It will be interesting to see how that evolves come the sequel. The end of the novel certainly left enough room for her to change drastically. 

Supporting characters are equally strong. Tea is surrounded by so many women with differing personalities and ideals. It was refreshing to see a story so filling with varying female characters. No one seems to suffer from only one dimension. Tea learns unique things from all of them, and I could really see how that helped her develop as her own person.

The Bone Witch has its strengths and weaknesses. And I'll be honest, there are a few pitfalls I could see the sequel running into (See: Love Triangle) but I'm prepared to continue with an open mind and see what else Chupeco will bring to the table.

I really wanted to love this book, the beautiful cover, the wonderful description and I just love a good witch story but this one didn’t fly. I felt like the book wasn’t executed well; it is long on description and short on action. About 30% in the book stopped been interesting but I forced myself to get to the end and still nothing happened. I think the author was setting the premise for book 2 and I felt like I wasted time reading book one.

*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!

I was incredibly disappointed with this book. I wanted to stop reading about 70% of the way through, but seriously, the only parts that kept me reading (and intrigued!) were the small chapters written in the present tense. It gave mystery to the book because we really wanted to know who the narrator was there, and while it was a surprise, it wasn’t enough to save the book.

However, I will give credit where it’s due: the world building was amazing albeit a little confusing at times. I didn’t realize until after I finish the book that there’s actually a small appendix in the back of the book listing the countries. There is also a map at the front, but reading an eARC, it’s a bit tedious to get to the map. Despite that, I loved the very distinct Asian influence in the book. The way Tea becomes a full-fledged asha, and the way particular tea houses patron ashas and pay for them to be trained, etc., reminded me a great deal of geishas. Now, I don’t know much about geishas outside of the few articles I’ve read. But the dancing and singing lessons Tea was required to take were offset by history lessons, lessons in healing, and combat training. The descriptions of the hua (outfits worn by the asha) along with the food and the culture of this fantasy world.

I also really liked the concept of heartglasses and how they were readable and changed color with a person’s mood. One of the few things that I wasn’t convinced of or had me confused as Tea’s relationship with the Prince. They had romantic feelings toward each other (I guess?) but it was very…mild, and it didn’t pull on my heartstrings or make me feel giddy. Overall, I was disappointed with that. They didn’t have a lot of scenes together for me to form a deep attachment to them and be convinced of their romance. As for Tea’s brother whom she raised from the dead… I also felt that lacked in certain areas. He becomes known as her “familiar,” and I can appreciate the connection they share but what other purpose did he have when Tea raised him from the dead?

In terms of characters, I thought many of them were only mildly developed. I really wanted to know more about Mistress Parmina’s past, especially if she was as famous as Tea thought she was. I liked Lady Mykaela, and other asha who became Tea’s “sisters.” I also really liked Likh, and his desire to break from the mold of society by dressing in a hua and dancing. It seems obvious that becoming an asha is restricted only to females, and while Likh knows that and the possible shame it would bring to his family, he surprises everyone by performing a well-known asha dance.

I really expected something fast-paced with a lot of action, but I didn’t get it. This book was incredibly slow and dull. Others might appreciate that, and sometimes I do, but not in this book. Granted, there are a variety of interesting characters, and I certainly didn’t see how the ending would unfold, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save this book for me.

I loved The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. 
4 Stars (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
I went into this book blind (meaning I didn't read the synopsis, but that is my favorite way to read a book. You never know what to expect.)
This book blew me away. 
I loved the how the book continuously switched from present to past perspective... it made me equally excited to see where Tea was in both places in life. I love how I never knew what to expect next. Having Tea as someone looked at as an oddity was something I liked equally as much. The idea of a Dark Asha leaves so much up to the imagination and especially the way the book ended... can you talk about a cliffhanger! It is a brilliant ending. You have me ensnared. I wish I had the sequel in my hands at this very second and I cannot wait for The Bone Witch to be released to the public and have this incredible fantasy given to the masses to devour. This was definitely a brilliant read.. Rin Chupeco, all's I can say is that you just left me sitting here, open mouthed, wishing it was next year when book two (I presume) will be released. I feel like I was just check mated.

I'm not one to leave a book unfinished, so it wasn't lightly that I gave up on this particular story. I wanted so much to love this book, the cover drew me in and the premise hooked me. It started out slow, so I gave it a chance to get better, thinking it would. I made it 60% of the way through this book before I decided that I just did not want to finish it. 

It was an excruciatingly slow story with very little action. The characters all seemed transparent and boring to me. I didn't connect with any of them and I found that I really didn't care to know how they fared by the end of the story. It jumped between time lines with each chapter, which wasn't bad, I actually liked how it pushed the story along, at times. It focused a lot on her lessons to be an asha though, and they all seemed drawn out and unnecessary.

I was thrilled for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book, it could have been so good, but The Bone Witch just fell flat.

First off let me say the cover is AWESOME looking. Love the purple and it just overall stands out.
So I am not too big on fantasy books just because sometimes the worlds that are created either do not appeal too me or they just seem way too far fetch for my liking. When I saw this author's name I wanted to give her a chance on this book because I have read her other work and loved the books she wrote.
 
The author has an amazing way with describing things in this story from the huas that the asha's wear. You can just see the bright colors and design that is within the descriptions. Another neat thing was the Runes that are drawn in the air. I could literally see them being written and the detail that they were given. Another neat thing was the heart glasses that play a huge part in this world that has been created. 
We follow Tea as she has become a bone witch something that is feared among the many villages and villagers. Though it seems that Tea is able to learn at a fast pace which is really neat, we see how she grows over a small time period and how she thinks of others even when putting herself in danger.
Now there is not much fighting and I think that is because Tea is having to learn about the Dark that she has because of who she is. So I am hoping that maybe in the next book we see what Tea can really do. I really liked the twist that came when figuring out who the Faceless is and we get that towards the end of the story, I can honestly say I was not expecting that.
 
As far as characters go I liked all of them they were special and unique in their own way and really stood out. Though I would have liked to see what had become of Likh who we learn isn't like a lot of other males especially the Deathseekers.
I have to say my favorite character is Polaire her quick and witty responses were awesome.
 
I can't wait to read the next book when this author has it coming out.

It was slow, and hella descriptive. But it was fantastic, though apparently it's not a standalone which is the only minus I can give it, because it would've been a fantastic standalone. 

You shouldn't read it if you didn't like The Star Touched Queen or Uprooted. 

Definitely one of my favs so far in 2017

There were two main things that made me not like the book.
1. It's very slow.
2. No plot.

The bone witch is the story of Tea, a 12 year-old, that resurrect her brother, Fox, discovering the she is not only an asha, but a bone witch.
Told in two intertwined stories, one in the present where a bard find Lady Tea and asks her about her past and the other is Tea telling her story. This technique of storytelling I did not like. I found that the little intervention from the present sometimes didn't add to the present story, frankly I found this very boring. It is not until de end that made sense.

It's so slow. It's mostly description. It wasn't until the 50% mark the became interesting.
The worldbuilding was a little confused at the beginning with description of places without any reference that meant something (like the twon tha Tea grow up in). It's very info- dumpy, every few paragraph someone is explaining something.

Plot. There wasn't a clear direction . Tea find out that she is an asha and then she training, but nothing much happend, we see Tea grow from 12 to 15 without much of a storyline.
After the climax, the lasts chapter set up the plot for the next book.

There is a love triangle that doesn't play in this book, but it's set up for the next one. Though Tea tells us about it in ther first few chapter and by the end, she show us who she picked (wich I could predict very easily)

I likes some characters, like Fox and Polaire. I enjoy the the geisha-like world, but the way it was present not so much.
The end surprise me. I did not see that coming.

There are books that are not for the screen, I feel like this is the opposite, this book would had been better as a movie or tv show .

I have tried - several times - to get into this book, but simply cannot. On its surface, it should be a great fit for me - it has a fantastic first sentence ("Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise."), an engaging premise, strong female characters...  But somehow the story just falls flat for me, and I can never seem to get more than 40/50 pages in.  I don't know if it's just a matter of the right book at the wrong time or what, but I've tried reading it over a couple of months and the fit never gets any better.

**I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

okay I am going to try to fully express how I feel about this book...sorry this will probably be such a scattered review because I am so shook by this book tbh....

First off, I am honestly so surprised that this book has such a low average rating. 3.38 stars is pretty much unheard of to me (I usually don't even read anything under 3.80). Please know how inaccurate that average rating is and ignore it. This was such a good book, easily one of my fave books of the year and we're only two and a half months in!

A basic summary of this book is that Tea, the protagonist, is revealed to be a dark asha (essentially a witch), or a bone witch (although this term is considered offensive), when she accidentally raises her brother, Fox, from the dead. Luckily, another dark asha, Lady Mykaela, is in the area, so she takes Tea under her wing and brings her and Fox to the Willows to train to be an asha. However, this book is told in alternating POVS: one is Tea's while she is training, and the other is another person who is with Tea in the future. In this way, we see a Tea who is coming into her powers and a Tea who is now much changed from that of the past.

In The Bone Witch, we get so many diversity aspects that we usually don't get in a fantasy. The world building is exquisite, and each of the eight kingdoms is vastly different. There's the kimono-like huas that the asha wear. The women who wear covers that are reminiscent of hijabs. A caring prince but with him, his cousin who hates Tea for some reason. Many women who mentor Tea through her journey to become an asha. A strong sibling relationship between Fox and Tea. A boy who desperately wants to be an asha despite the fact that only women can be ashas because some of the things they do are considered too "feminine," such as dancing and singing. 

Admittedly, this book did drag a bit for the first third, but it does pick up rapidly. And yes, there were some cliches, but I think they were well done? I got so caught in the plot I didn't even notice any of this much though.

Although a little confusing at first, I loved this book so, so much. I'm very excited for book two, especially after that ending! We know the beginning and ending of Tea's story, but we don't know how she gets to where she is in the future, and I'm already planning to reread when this book officially releases.

Nooooo! How could it end when it was starting to get good?! I struggled with this book, let me tell you. It's not that it was bad, it's just that it was so dang slow. Seriously, I thought I was going to read about a girl who can raise the dead and do super fancy things with her gift, but no hardly any of that happened. The book mostly followed how Tea became an Asha, and all the rules and lessons she must learn in order to become an Asha. It did have some beautiful writing, (that's what kept me from not stopping the book), but I was hoping for a little more adventure I suppose. The ending more than made up for it and I will continue the series. I have a feeling there will be more action than telling in the next book.