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ofbooksandechos's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Se questo libro fosse una persona sarebbe lə studentə che “è intelligente ma non si applica”.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, and War
Moderate: Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Content Warnings (by the author) • On page murder and violence, including decapitation and gun violence • Off page dismemberment • Reference to the mutilation of corpses • Religious and ethnic prejudice/oppression • Death of a parenthobbithopeful's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Note: I am updating this written review after having in essence an intervention, different text will be in bold
This is a story about war, and a girl trying to get her sister back while keeping her magic a secret. Toma has lived a relatively uneventful life, if you count the fact her family is undead and yet can still walk and talk thanks to her magic. Her peaceful life is soon completely upended when her sister is kidnapped. She will have to venture across a country ravaged by civil war to get her sister back, meeting unlikely companions along the way.
I almost expected it to end with the 3 main characters as a throuple because the book touts itself as being LGBT. I wouldn't label this as an LGBT book even though the authors says that Vanya(male character) is bisexual and Mikhail (male character) is gay It really reads as more of an after thought or as an attempt to diversify the cast of characters. Even the main romance is between one of the Vanya(male character) and Toma(the female lead) . I guess to me a book isn't LGBT just because one or two characters is, unless it is a major plot point or romance, or even point of discussion in this book it was used as the equivalent of her hair is such and such color. The main focus of the story remains on Toma and her discovering her identity and who she is.
There were parts of it that I liked, and some parts I didn't. The world building and lore is truly excellent. (We all know I love world building!) And I am so grateful that there was a glossary, so many books don't have that and need it! But some of the characters I just wanted *more* from. After some author revelations, it's hard not to look at this book differently. The way Toma has to hide her magic and not reveal who she really is for fear of ostracization or worse. I can't imagine, and would never be able to imagine what is like to have to hide who you are for years and years and years, for fears of being hurt or bullied, or worse. I think because my experience with this book was up and down, I will read another book by the author and see what I think. While being a consistent author is great, being an author that improves with each book is even better, there is no limit to how great they will become.
This is a story about war, and a girl trying to get her sister back while keeping her magic a secret. Toma has lived a relatively uneventful life, if you count the fact her family is undead and yet can still walk and talk thanks to her magic. Her peaceful life is soon completely upended when her sister is kidnapped. She will have to venture across a country ravaged by civil war to get her sister back, meeting unlikely companions along the way.
I almost expected it to end with the 3 main characters as a throuple because the book touts itself as being LGBT. I wouldn't label this as an LGBT book even though the authors says that
There were parts of it that I liked, and some parts I didn't. The world building and lore is truly excellent. (We all know I love world building!) And I am so grateful that there was a glossary, so many books don't have that and need it! But some of the characters I just wanted *more* from. After some author revelations, it's hard not to look at this book differently. The way Toma has to hide her magic and not reveal who she really is for fear of ostracization or worse. I can't imagine, and would never be able to imagine what is like to have to hide who you are for years and years and years, for fears of being hurt or bullied, or worse. I think because my experience with this book was up and down, I will read another book by the author and see what I think. While being a consistent author is great, being an author that improves with each book is even better, there is no limit to how great they will become.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Sexual harassment
If there was a way to give this book between a 3.75 and a 4 I would.booksthatburn's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
THE BONE WEAVER explores grief, otherness, and reconnection in a second-world fantasy. Toma was raised by undead but is forced to find connections with the living when her sister is stolen by soldiers as a curious specimen. She travels with Mikhail, the displaced Tsar, and Vanya, a commoner with magic.
Because Toma was raised by undead for a large portion of her life, there are a lot of things where her reasoning gets her to a workable solution by a very strange route. Her traveling companions don’t usually try to correct her, as her worldview is so fundamentally different from theirs they might not even know where to begin. In matters of the undead, she eventually gets them more comfortable. In matters of society, war, and prejudice, the tsar and the commoner tend to vehemently disagree while Toma listens to them both and makes up her own mind. Vanya is part of a persecuted minority, his situation made more precarious because he has magic. This would be fine if he were noble, but commoners with magic are thought of as unclean or cursed, somehow fundamentally different than nobles with the same powers.
I enjoyed the array of undead types who appear late in the book. The timing means that the worldbuilding as far as human society and the current conflict are well established before the differences between types of undead begin to matter in the story.
Toma and Mikhail travel for a while before meeting Vanya, which helps with balancing the interactions between them. Toma and Mikhail establish a rapport, then Vanya finds his place in their trio. Toma is the only point-of-view character, but in at least one instance she overhears a discussion between Vanya and Mikhail which makes it clear they have built a friendship separate from and in parallel with their friendships with her. It never feels like an infodump because the three main characters have legitimate reasons to explain things to each other. For each of them it might be some very fundamental aspect, but their experiences have been so disparate as to feel like a different world.
Because Toma was raised by undead for a large portion of her life, there are a lot of things where her reasoning gets her to a workable solution by a very strange route. Her traveling companions don’t usually try to correct her, as her worldview is so fundamentally different from theirs they might not even know where to begin. In matters of the undead, she eventually gets them more comfortable. In matters of society, war, and prejudice, the tsar and the commoner tend to vehemently disagree while Toma listens to them both and makes up her own mind. Vanya is part of a persecuted minority, his situation made more precarious because he has magic. This would be fine if he were noble, but commoners with magic are thought of as unclean or cursed, somehow fundamentally different than nobles with the same powers.
I enjoyed the array of undead types who appear late in the book. The timing means that the worldbuilding as far as human society and the current conflict are well established before the differences between types of undead begin to matter in the story.
Toma and Mikhail travel for a while before meeting Vanya, which helps with balancing the interactions between them. Toma and Mikhail establish a rapport, then Vanya finds his place in their trio. Toma is the only point-of-view character, but in at least one instance she overhears a discussion between Vanya and Mikhail which makes it clear they have built a friendship separate from and in parallel with their friendships with her. It never feels like an infodump because the three main characters have legitimate reasons to explain things to each other. For each of them it might be some very fundamental aspect, but their experiences have been so disparate as to feel like a different world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Self harm, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment
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