I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Grace Logan and the Goblin Bones by Pam Binder is Teens/YA fantasy novel. I was excited to read this book because on reading the blurb I thought it would be a retelling of Tam Lin, with a strong heroine who doesn’t want the life that she’s expected to lead. I found it to be confusing, not that well written and did not enjoy it very much sadly.

A young woman that has always wanted to be what her father is and sail the high seas is thrown into a magical world shortly before her 15th birthday. To find out that all the fairy tales you had heard as a child are true. That there a wicked scary gobblins, dragons unicorns, & fairys. Leads grace on a quest that will change the world

HONESTLY, I ONLY FINISHED IT BECAUSE IT WAS SO SHORT

Normally I am a great fan of everything related to fae, which was my main reason for picking out this book. But really, there was nothing positive about it, sadly.

THE BAD STUFF

The world: Really, I wanted to just write <u>the book</u> just now, because I really don't know how else to name this problem. I was so confused throughout all of this. The book combines fae lore with celtic mythology, two things I actually know quite a bit about, but the story was just so rushed, to messy and so confusing with names, mythology, lore and history thrown about willy-nilly that it just felt all over the place and very esoteric. There were so many terms and names just thrown in there with no explanation whatsoever and hardly any relations to the (almost non-existent) plot, that it just blurred the story even further.

The characters: The characters of this book are, essentially, just names on pages. They have no personality at all. If you asked me to describe any of them, I would not be able to find even one word to use. None!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This novel had an interesting premise because it is based off of an Irish fairytale. The writing is the best part of the novel for it is filled with vivid imagery. What made me dislike the book was that it was repetitive, and there was no plot. Thus, it had an interesting concept, but was not executed well.

Honestly, this was a really weird read for me. there were times when I was having so much fun and loving the setting in Ireland and what not, but this plot just had no direction. it was all over the place, the magic system wasn't defined or even explained and random creatures kept entering the story and they could have done without. I think this could do well if it was cited and condensed into a middle grade book but as for someone who reads lots of fantasy this was a miss.

Grace Logan and the Goblin Bones by Pam Binder
Actual rating 1 star

I thought that this book was going to be an amazing read, however, this was not the case. From the very beginning I struggled to get into this book. The biggest reason I struggled to get into this book is due to the writing style. This book is supposed to be set in 16th century Ireland and the language used by the main characters was no where near how a 16th century person would speak. Now I understand that it would be incredibly difficult to write in a manner that almost identically replicates how the average person in 16th century Europe would speak, however, I believe that an author ought to at least attempt to make the dialogue sound somewhat how a citizen would speak. I also found that some of the etiquette expressed by the main character was incredibly unlikely for a girl in 16th century Ireland. Once again in most fantasy novels some liberties are taken when it comes to proper etiquette, but I also believe that there should only be a few liberties taken in order to preserve the atmosphere as much as possible. I also found that some of the folklore was lacking in my opinion.

I personally would not recommend this book due to the shortcoming I have expressed above.

I received a free ARC version of the book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own. The review will be posted on my blog, the Romance Dragon on 12/09/2018.

This book is so much more then I expected. As with all fairtale like adventures, our heroine goes on an unexpected journey. And through this journey we find there is magic, there are goblins and immortals and selkies and more. It was fabulous. It's rated for Teens and YA but I believe older adults would also find the book to their liking (I enjoyed it).

It is however, not a romance. It has hints of romance in future books but not in this one. I'm a little disappointed in that as I thought there would be as the book was advertised under romance, but I'm ok that there isn't any. I am hoping that our heroine does end up with a certain guy (you can guess who after reading the book).

Will I read future books by this author? Yes. Definitely. I will recommend this book to pretty much anyone who likes fantasy. This book needs to be read.

This book is a poor excuse for a story: it's full of irish stereotypes, it seems written by a person who did, like half a day of research about Ireland and its land and history. Does the author know that Ireland was Christian in the sixteenth century? The only thing about that century that she seems to know is Henry VIII...
Tha characters are poorly drawn, not compelling at all.