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A review by theamyleblanc
The King of Bones and Ashes by J.D. Horn
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.