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jaxness's review against another edition
ameserole's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely had my ups and downs with this book.
The King of Bones and Ashes really did intrigue me. However, once I dove into it I would go through a roller coaster of emotions. From being excited to bored to intrigued was a bit draining on me. I honestly have no idea how many times I paused this book because I just wanted to do something else. I mean, it took me about 10 days to read so … that's a shit ton of pausing.
Now the characters were interesting - I don't necessarily have a favorite though. I just feel like I lost track of a lot of things - whether it was putting this on hold for too long or just way too many things happening all at once. Maybe I just thought it was going to be about something entirely different and that's why this book was just okay to me? I don't really know and I am a bit disappointed about it.
Overall, the ending got me a little bit interested in carrying on through this series. I'm just silently praying that I don't end up pausing it for too long or DNF-ing it.
The King of Bones and Ashes really did intrigue me. However, once I dove into it I would go through a roller coaster of emotions. From being excited to bored to intrigued was a bit draining on me. I honestly have no idea how many times I paused this book because I just wanted to do something else. I mean, it took me about 10 days to read so … that's a shit ton of pausing.
Now the characters were interesting - I don't necessarily have a favorite though. I just feel like I lost track of a lot of things - whether it was putting this on hold for too long or just way too many things happening all at once. Maybe I just thought it was going to be about something entirely different and that's why this book was just okay to me? I don't really know and I am a bit disappointed about it.
Overall, the ending got me a little bit interested in carrying on through this series. I'm just silently praying that I don't end up pausing it for too long or DNF-ing it.
wildfaeriecaps's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so good! I picked this up.. on a whim? When it was on sale? Someone recommended it to me? I have no idea. But I had it and I'm so very glad that was the case. I read some reviews shortly after starting it and saw people complain that it was slow, boring, hard to get through. I 100% disagree. It was great! It may not have been non-stop YA action pacing, but that's.. not what this book was meant to be. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Definitely a new favorite!
theamyleblanc's review against another edition
3.0
I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I LOVE the title and the cover! I was so excited to start reading this because they seemed to promise a great story.
I like this book. I liked it enough to consider reading the sequel. But it's definitely a solid 3 stars for me. It had lots of elements I liked, like witches and magic and French and history. It exposed me to new things like voodoo and New Orleans. And I enjoyed the characters a lot. There is a rich personal and interpersonal history behind all the players here, major and minor.
But I was left at the end of the book with a feeling of.....ambivalent confusion. I'm confused because I'm not sure I really understand what happened. I'm ambivalent because my confusion prevented me from investing in the story and what was happening to the characters. There were too many questions left unanswered - or only vaguely answered, or answered in such a convoluted fashion - that I didn't have energy left to really care about the characters.
I also took issue with parts of the actual storytelling. I love a good story with an unreliable narrator. I adore plots with lots of twists and unexpected turns. But for those techniques to be effective, the reader needs to believe they know what's going on and what's going to happen next. We need just enough breadcrumbs for us to happily lead ourselves in one direction when BAM! we're met with a twist that throws us off the course we've come to expect. With this, I felt like I never had a strong enough grasp on what was happening for the plot twists to have the intended impact. I didn't have enough breadcrumbs; I was always playing catch-up but never actually got there. It was a bit disappointing.
I'd recommend it but it probably wouldn't be my first recommendation.
I LOVE the title and the cover! I was so excited to start reading this because they seemed to promise a great story.
I like this book. I liked it enough to consider reading the sequel. But it's definitely a solid 3 stars for me. It had lots of elements I liked, like witches and magic and French and history. It exposed me to new things like voodoo and New Orleans. And I enjoyed the characters a lot. There is a rich personal and interpersonal history behind all the players here, major and minor.
But I was left at the end of the book with a feeling of.....ambivalent confusion. I'm confused because I'm not sure I really understand what happened.
Spoiler
I know that magic is dying and that the bogey man is involved. I know that Alice's father has attached himself to the bogey man and is responsible for the damage done over the last number of years. But I don't really understand why. I didn't get that depth.I also took issue with parts of the actual storytelling. I love a good story with an unreliable narrator. I adore plots with lots of twists and unexpected turns. But for those techniques to be effective, the reader needs to believe they know what's going on and what's going to happen next. We need just enough breadcrumbs for us to happily lead ourselves in one direction when BAM! we're met with a twist that throws us off the course we've come to expect. With this, I felt like I never had a strong enough grasp on what was happening for the plot twists to have the intended impact. I didn't have enough breadcrumbs; I was always playing catch-up but never actually got there. It was a bit disappointing.
I'd recommend it but it probably wouldn't be my first recommendation.
lalala123987's review against another edition
5.0
The beginning of this book spends a lot of time on character development and backstory, while the action starts very late it is so worth it. It’s a fresh take on New Orleans and witches. The world building is wonderful. The majority of the action took place in the final quarter of the book and at one point I found myself writing out the characters and how they related to each other trying to guess who the mastermind was.
I wasn’t even close!
I wasn’t even close!
stephanieviolet's review against another edition
4.0
Good, long, mostly good. The pacing was off because the MC conveniently has all the history of the area memorized and enjoys dropping info bombs.
thedekker's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly, I was bordering on frustration for the majority of the book. Every single character spends 3/4ths of the book bitching and moaning about this, that, and the other thing. The main characters are almost too similar in a lot of ways and not entirely described enough to differentiate or to establish a recognizable silhouette as it were.
We're teased with a story early, then left to hang out with the four main characters just going about their days for far far too long, occasionally peppering in a piece of crucial information when the author felt the reader's eyes might be glazing over.
One of the main focal points of this story is one particular monarchic family among this community of witches, and yet, other than one of the POV characters, we as readers interact with that family a handful of times. Despite this, every other character never stops talking about them. They all seem to be a massive collection of assholes too, not that that's a mark against the book, it was almost fun having a book full of people who weren't necessarily the shining beacon of morality.
Just when I was nearing my tolerance of the lethargic pace, the climax not only ramps the excitement up to incredibly fun levels, but each piece we were drip fed over the course of the story had a purpose and pay off. The son of a bitch did it. I completely came around at the end, I don't know if I can truthfully say it was satisfying. It has a bad case of "Trust me, this is a trilogy" sickness that is the rule rather than the exception these days.
In the end it won me over, despite its failings in the majority.
We're teased with a story early, then left to hang out with the four main characters just going about their days for far far too long, occasionally peppering in a piece of crucial information when the author felt the reader's eyes might be glazing over.
One of the main focal points of this story is one particular monarchic family among this community of witches, and yet, other than one of the POV characters, we as readers interact with that family a handful of times. Despite this, every other character never stops talking about them. They all seem to be a massive collection of assholes too, not that that's a mark against the book, it was almost fun having a book full of people who weren't necessarily the shining beacon of morality.
Just when I was nearing my tolerance of the lethargic pace, the climax not only ramps the excitement up to incredibly fun levels, but each piece we were drip fed over the course of the story had a purpose and pay off. The son of a bitch did it. I completely came around at the end, I don't know if I can truthfully say it was satisfying. It has a bad case of "Trust me, this is a trilogy" sickness that is the rule rather than the exception these days.
In the end it won me over, despite its failings in the majority.
missyansell's review against another edition
3.0
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%.
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%.
eloisebell's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this read and being one of the few people that hold world building of greater importance than character development this book was right up my ally, because.. WOW the world building!!
Saying that, the varied cast were brilliantly entertaining as well as the wizards and cat-ish people, WIZARDS AND CAT-ISH PEOPLE!
By no mean was this a quick read for me, although I do take longer when reading fantasy but that is purely because I didn't want to miss anything.
Yes, this is part of a sequel series, but I had no clue until about half way through, and it definitely didn't take anything away from the story.
I especially enjoyed all the varied influences; steampunk and asian/middle east. as well as the travelling and varied settings. It really was a great read.
Saying that, the varied cast were brilliantly entertaining as well as the wizards and cat-ish people, WIZARDS AND CAT-ISH PEOPLE!
By no mean was this a quick read for me, although I do take longer when reading fantasy but that is purely because I didn't want to miss anything.
Yes, this is part of a sequel series, but I had no clue until about half way through, and it definitely didn't take anything away from the story.
I especially enjoyed all the varied influences; steampunk and asian/middle east. as well as the travelling and varied settings. It really was a great read.
annarella's review against another edition
2.0
This books contains all the elements that makes me love a book: New Orleans, witches, a family saga.
Unfortunately it was so slow I was not able to finish it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and 47thNorth
Unfortunately it was so slow I was not able to finish it.
Many thanks to Netgalley and 47thNorth