Reviews

The King of Bones and Ashes by J.D. Horn

peonydmus's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

This is one if the most sophisticated and beautifully crafted narrations that I have read (in a fantasy novel) in a long time. I am usually no fan of male authors tackling the inner workings of female characters (or other minorities), since it too often turns out to be a rigid mess of stereotypes and assumptions. But J.D. Horn develops his characters with an incredible level of empathy and care. No character is alike and even the most minor character in the background has a life of their own. The story can be convoluted at time and the pace can vary dramatically, but that made it a more fun and rewarding read in my opinion.

missyansell's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I got this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley.

Told from the perspective of three woman, Evangeline, Lisette, and Alice. Book is about witches in New Orleans and how magic is failing. The three women are connected in order to stop the magical entity Babau Jean.

I found this book to be very slow paced and frankly boring. I kept waiting for it to pick up, and it never really did. Filled with too much family drama, and not enough magic. Some of the background was confusing. Did normal people know about witches or no? Also there was very vague descriptions of the characters so i felt like I didn't have a clear picture of the them.Honestly if i wasn't reviewing this from netgalley, I would have DNF at 20%.

roseredreads's review

Go to review page

4.0

I loved this book...mostly. It had many of the things I loved about the Mayfair Witches books. It was the last 50 pages or so that made me hesitate, they felt rushed. Very, evil villain tells the hero his grand plan to explain everything to the audience. Overall I enjoyed it though. I will be reading the next one.

elvenavari's review against another edition

Go to review page

DNF @ 20%.

Sadly, this one just did not catch my attention. I felt the prologue was overly long and confusing. I gave it the next couple of chapters in hopes things would sort themselves out...but they didn't.

eyan_birt's review

Go to review page

3.0

I dunno, I didn't like it as much as some of his other stuff. Nothing wrong that I can put my finger on, but I wasn't all that invested in any of the characters and it flitted around too much.

bibliovino's review

Go to review page

3.0

Haven’t fallen love yet, like I did with Witching Savannah, but it’s early days.

oleanderdreams's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I was very excited to receive an ARC of The King of Bones and Ashes because, come on, that description sounds totally awesome! I began devouring the pages because it was just that good! I was liking how the book switched between different characters view points to give us a wider view of the story, but then I began coming across points that the writing just had me becoming a bit confused and I was having to re-read whole pages. Sometimes it all felt a bit disjointed but despite the few times I got confused I still managed to enjoy this book and its dark intriguing storyline, Just not as much as I had hoped.

I give The King of Bones and Ashes 3.5 Stars.

endlessmidnight's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

This just wasn’t my thing. I really tried to get into it, but it just didn’t have much of a story to tell.

This is a very slow work, and to me it just never picked up the pace fast enough. Or even made the characters interesting enough to keep me reading. I just felt nothing as I slowly trodded through this.

The writing was pretty good, and at the beginning held my attention. As all the characters were being introduced and fleshed out. Just that I believed it took a little too long to get to the heart of the story and most of the middle was rather sagging.

With the scope of the novel, it indeed is interesting and nonetheless fascinating. But it just didn’t do a good job to tie me to anyone at all, nor did any of the characters interest me.

Although there were plenty of talking about the witches but very little of the spells, and it took too long to get to it and all the possible implications.

Overall, I just think that it took quite a long time just to get to the core of the novel. And that was what killed the book for me.

suncani's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I didn't enjoy this as much as Horn's previous series. Throughout the whole of the book, there's a feeling of inevitability which removes most of the emotional heart. However, the pace is quick and I did care about some of the characters. I most probably will pick up the next one, just to see what happens.

a_h_haga's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

I have no idea what was going on in this book. Way too many characters and family intrigues and different magic system and random storylines that didn't seem to have any point at all.
I wasn't even confused, there was just too much of everything. Other than the main plot. I have no idea what that was supposed to be.

I added it to my "witchy books" shelf, but honestly wasn't sure if I should, for a moment. There was a lot of talk about magic, but not much use of it. I have no idea what the magic system is like, as it seemed kind of all over the place, and there were few of the witches that even used their so-called power. St least that I can remember