Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.
Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.
Goodreads Ratings: 3.58 stars with a little over 4,000 ratings
Genre listing: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Witches
Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository
Book Haul: Canadian Book Haul
2017 Reading challenge: A Young Adult Book
Review:
I finally finished a book! It's sad that it's an achievement now and not just a regular thing, but that's what happens when you have several projects going on at once. I'll be completely honest, I'm abandoning the challenge I set for myself this year. It's not even remotely going to happen. At the rate I'm going, I'll be lucky if I can finish a book a month. I'm sorry for that, I hope you all will stay with me even if my reviews are sporadic at best. Because of this, I am no longer accepting requests from authors. I think I've got two out there that I promised I would read, and I will still try to honor that promise, but after that, I won't be accepting any more for a while, or if I do, I'm going to be really choosy about it.
Alright, on to The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. I think I put a little too much stock into loving the cover of this book and the idea presented. I started to get really into the story, but my whim to read it faded fairly quickly. Truthfully I'm frustrated and disappointed in it. I think part of it taking me several months to finish, is because I just couldn't stay interested in it.
I'm going to start with the good. I thought that the heart glass magic was interesting, especially because it ended up having many purposes. I thought it was cool that they were exchanged in relationships, composed of memories, and changed colors to represent moods and illnesses. I also liked the different styles of magic that a witch could have and that dark magic didn't necessarily mean evil. I won't say this is where my list of likes ends, because the book did hold my interest somewhat, and I wanted to know what happened, but I found myself really frustrated with this book.
My biggest frustration with this book is the timeline. I feel like it was being told from both ends of the plot and it made it really confusing. The chapters were all about her life and becoming an Asha. Then in between each chapter is a scene where something happens and she's stranded in a cave telling her story to a bard. It felt like as a reader I was reading the beginning and end at the same time to figure out the middle of the story. It was incredibly confusing and really took away my ability to enjoy the story. What's worse is I don't feel like the book ever got to that something. The book ended, and I didn't feel like the story was actually revolved. I know it's the first in a series, but the timelines never really synched up. The book ended, and I just felt like it made no sense. I think I actually closed the book and said "Wait... What?" out loud.
I didn't really feel like there was any personality in the main characters. Tea read as very monotone and dull to me, as did Fox and many others. The only character I really resonated with was the dragon who just wanted to be left alone. I'm not sure if that says more about me as a person or the book. I kept hoping for it to get more 'Witchy, ' but it never did. I don't really get why the main focus of these Asha was to go to parties and entertain. Beyond the heart glass magic, and Tea raising Fox from the dead there wasn't a whole lot of magic in it. Most of the magic spoke of was vanity magic used in wardrobes and hair pieces. It felt more like I was reading a story about a house of courtesans with a little bit of magic than a story about a bad-ass necromancer witch.
I have so many questions about this plot. It probably doesn't help that the details got muddled for me. I don't know if this is due to how long it took me to read this book, but I felt like it was hard to keep track of the different kingdoms. The 2nd book won't be out until 2018. I'm not sure if I'll read it or not. I kind of want to so I get some answers, but at the same time, I don't really care to read this writing style again. I imagine it's going to work along the same timeline, and I'll just be frustrated again. I'm pretty bummed about this book. I wanted to love it, I really really did. It had so much potential, but there are just some things I can't get past.
Alright, on to The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. I think I put a little too much stock into loving the cover of this book and the idea presented. I started to get really into the story, but my whim to read it faded fairly quickly. Truthfully I'm frustrated and disappointed in it. I think part of it taking me several months to finish, is because I just couldn't stay interested in it.
I'm going to start with the good. I thought that the heart glass magic was interesting, especially because it ended up having many purposes. I thought it was cool that they were exchanged in relationships, composed of memories, and changed colors to represent moods and illnesses. I also liked the different styles of magic that a witch could have and that dark magic didn't necessarily mean evil. I won't say this is where my list of likes ends, because the book did hold my interest somewhat, and I wanted to know what happened, but I found myself really frustrated with this book.
My biggest frustration with this book is the timeline. I feel like it was being told from both ends of the plot and it made it really confusing. The chapters were all about her life and becoming an Asha. Then in between each chapter is a scene where something happens and she's stranded in a cave telling her story to a bard. It felt like as a reader I was reading the beginning and end at the same time to figure out the middle of the story. It was incredibly confusing and really took away my ability to enjoy the story. What's worse is I don't feel like the book ever got to that something. The book ended, and I didn't feel like the story was actually revolved. I know it's the first in a series, but the timelines never really synched up. The book ended, and I just felt like it made no sense. I think I actually closed the book and said "Wait... What?" out loud.
I didn't really feel like there was any personality in the main characters. Tea read as very monotone and dull to me, as did Fox and many others. The only character I really resonated with was the dragon who just wanted to be left alone. I'm not sure if that says more about me as a person or the book. I kept hoping for it to get more 'Witchy, ' but it never did. I don't really get why the main focus of these Asha was to go to parties and entertain. Beyond the heart glass magic, and Tea raising Fox from the dead there wasn't a whole lot of magic in it. Most of the magic spoke of was vanity magic used in wardrobes and hair pieces. It felt more like I was reading a story about a house of courtesans with a little bit of magic than a story about a bad-ass necromancer witch.
I have so many questions about this plot. It probably doesn't help that the details got muddled for me. I don't know if this is due to how long it took me to read this book, but I felt like it was hard to keep track of the different kingdoms. The 2nd book won't be out until 2018. I'm not sure if I'll read it or not. I kind of want to so I get some answers, but at the same time, I don't really care to read this writing style again. I imagine it's going to work along the same timeline, and I'll just be frustrated again. I'm pretty bummed about this book. I wanted to love it, I really really did. It had so much potential, but there are just some things I can't get past.
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