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A review by fishy27
Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I don’t even remember where I found out about Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros, but oh my goodness, I can’t believe that more people aren’t talking about it!!!
We follow our main character, Toma, who is living what she believes to be a normal life with her undead adoptive family. When Tsar Mikhail ends up injured in her backyard and her sister is taken, she goes on a journey to retrieve her sister and return Mikhail to safety after he had been overthrown in a coup. Along the way, we meet a charming commoner named Vanya.
Because I can’t remember where or when I found out about this book, I had no idea what it was about. I was immensely pleased to find that this book takes place in an Imperial Russia-inspired world and incorporates Eastern European/Slavic folklore and mythology. This story has really great worldbuilding that clearly sets up the political and social tensions that arise across the empire, and the fantastic elements are woven in really seamlessly. While this story generally follows the “MCs travel through spooky, enchanted forest where mythical creatures lurk, and you meet each one as they try to kill the MCs,” but it doesn’t feel so formulaic as to bring you out of the reading experience.
Although this book is single POV, I really loved how well developed each of our three MCs are. They are unique and distinct, but they’re not tokenized or reduced to identifiable traits. Their relationships among them develop almost without you even realizing it, and I adored each of them. This book is deeply emotional, and I was crying at work while I listened to it. I developed attachments to these characters without even knowing it.
I am generally a fan of open endings like this book has, but my complaint here is that this felt a bit too open for me. I really thought this book was going to end up being poly, and I think the author absolutely had room to allude to such an ending and chose not to. That was a bummer, but I’ll get over it. I felt like the political strings were left a bit loose, and I really wanted Galina and Toma to have a more solid sense of comfort at the end. Overall, I think this book would’ve greatly benefited from an epilogue.
This book was such an unexpected pleasure, and I will certainly be on the lookout for other stories by Polydoros.
We follow our main character, Toma, who is living what she believes to be a normal life with her undead adoptive family. When Tsar Mikhail ends up injured in her backyard and her sister is taken, she goes on a journey to retrieve her sister and return Mikhail to safety after he had been overthrown in a coup. Along the way, we meet a charming commoner named Vanya.
Because I can’t remember where or when I found out about this book, I had no idea what it was about. I was immensely pleased to find that this book takes place in an Imperial Russia-inspired world and incorporates Eastern European/Slavic folklore and mythology. This story has really great worldbuilding that clearly sets up the political and social tensions that arise across the empire, and the fantastic elements are woven in really seamlessly. While this story generally follows the “MCs travel through spooky, enchanted forest where mythical creatures lurk, and you meet each one as they try to kill the MCs,” but it doesn’t feel so formulaic as to bring you out of the reading experience.
Although this book is single POV, I really loved how well developed each of our three MCs are. They are unique and distinct, but they’re not tokenized or reduced to identifiable traits. Their relationships among them develop almost without you even realizing it, and I adored each of them. This book is deeply emotional, and I was crying at work while I listened to it. I developed attachments to these characters without even knowing it.
I am generally a fan of open endings like this book has, but my complaint here is that this felt a bit too open for me. I really thought this book was going to end up being poly, and I think the author absolutely had room to allude to such an ending and chose not to. That was a bummer, but I’ll get over it. I felt like the political strings were left a bit loose, and I really wanted Galina and Toma to have a more solid sense of comfort at the end. Overall, I think this book would’ve greatly benefited from an epilogue.
This book was such an unexpected pleasure, and I will certainly be on the lookout for other stories by Polydoros.