The Bone Witch by Rin ChupecoMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed The Bone Witch. The story was very interesting, a girl who can use dark magic instead of light magic. She can raise the dead, and she's got an attitude. Tea our main character isn't porcelain doll to be put on display, she's powerful but lacks control. I felt the writing was well done, but the book itself was flawed. The book is good for about the first half then it drags on for quite sometime where nothing happens. There is a weak attempt at a love triangle that doesn't really materialize, I think we'll see more of that in the next book. There is one really good plot twist, that I didn't see coming, and one I figured out early on. My biggest issue is the ending. The story builds up to some epic thing that is supposed to happen, but it never occurs. I huge pet peeve of mine is books that don't stand alone and close completely. I want to feel closure when I close a book, and be compelled to read the next book. I have to read the next book to find out what happens, I'm given no choice. I have no clue what happens next, and that irks me. There are a lot of loose ends that weren't wrapped up in this book and I hope that they are tied up in the next book.
The Bone Witch follows our main character Tea, who discovers her affinity for magic at her brother's funeral. Tea discovers she is an asha and can control magic, but she is also a bone witch and can control the dead. Tea begin's her journey to learn control over her abilites with the help of fellow Bone Witch, Lady Mykaela, and recently raised from the dead brother, Fox. Mykaela takes Tea to the Willows, a place where asha like Tea, learn the arts of music, singing, dancing, history, fighting, social graces, and how to control their magic. Asha, similar to a Geisha, are things of beauty in appearance and ability to entertain as much as they are able to control the elements and wield magic. Being a Bone Witch means that Tea and Mykaela can control dark magic where as the other girls can control light magic like the elements.
The story stalls out shortly after Tea and Mykaela arrive at The Willows and Tea is accepted into the House Valerian to begin her asha training. Tea is taken on as a house maid as part of her asha trials to teach her obedience. Tea causes causes some accidental trouble, which puts her in the limelight and her training is sped up. This is where the story kind of becomes repetitive, Tea just takes lessons for a while and doesn't really do anything but asha training, none of it specific to her dark nature or her being a Bone Witch. Mykaela is off fighting daeva (demons) or recovering from fighting and doesn't really teach Tea anything. Tea gets adopted by some older asha and they begin teaching her but this goes on for a while but again they don't really do anything for quite some time. Eventually they actually go fight a dragon, and that is where the story gets interesting again and the pace picks up again.
The chapters alternate between Tea's past learning to be a Bone Witch and her present time in exile. You never are sure if she is guilty of her the crimes she is accused of. She was sought out by a bard during her time in exile and she is telling him her story. The chapters are very short, but help tell of things past and things to come. In between, the chapters tell Tea's story as a child and her journey to become a powerful asha. I normally don't like flashbacks/flashforwards, but I felt this was done well where the future time chapters were short enough that they didn't detract from the main story and they gave just enough info so as not to spoil the story yet to be told. These chapters tell the story of Tea's exile and seem to be ramping up to her doing something epic. This leads me to my biggest issue with this book. The epic thing never happens. She can raise the dead, and she spends many of these alternating chapters, telling the bard her story, but we never find out why she was exiled, or what she is going to do. You have to read the next book to find out. After all the anticipation, you don't even have a hint of what she is going to go do with the creatures she's raised from the dead. I'm left wanting at the end with no closure. I am interested in reading the next book and hope that all the loose ends are tied up.
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