This book is stuffed full of potential.

There's a great story here with so many interesting elements, but I just couldn't connect with the prose and by extension, the characters. It reads very YA market for me with simple, repetitive sentences/dialogue but is obviously not made for a YA audience with our main characters being firmly adults and dealing with mortality and complex adult relationships. I really loved the beginning section and thought the set up was really good. But this story just never got to the level of depth and nuance that I was hoping for. :(

The Bone Maker has one of the neatest concepts I've seen in a book: what happens after the 'chosen ones' vanquish the great evil? Kreya and her companions are middle-aged, but that doesn't stop them from being completely badass. Kreya's relentless love for her husband was one of the main things that drew me in, and I felt so sad for her when she couldn't be with Jentt. Her friend Zera, although very eccentric and prideful, was such a good friend to her and I loved her personality. The Bone Maker really explored the nature of evil, as well as love and forgiveness, in such a unique way. I always love books by Sara Beth Durst, and although this wasn't my favorite, I did really enjoy it and loved how it drew from and built up the chosen one trope.

"Some of us are better at hiding it than others, but we are all broken. You can’t live without breaking a few times. But that doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. It just means you’ve lived in the world."

The Bone Maker is a standalone adult fantasy, set in a society nestled in the mountains of Vos where magic comes from bones, usually animal bones. It is set 25 years after The Bone War when a corrupt bone worker broke the fundamental rule of their society and used human bones to animate his machines. We pick up with Kreya who has spent the last 25 years in isolation learning how to use this forbidden art of human bone magic to resurrect her dead husband. Kreya is unable to overcome the obstacles she encounters on her own and so turns to her old team from the war days for support.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really engaging premise and magic system with entertaining characters. One of my favorite things about this book was that these characters are all seasoned humans. These aren’t young guns just dying to defeat the baddie and go out in a blaze of glory. We follow a band of middle-aged folks. Zera is a successful and established businesswoman, Stran is a family man, Kreya has become a complete hermit who is incredible at what she does and has experienced intense loss, and Marso has had to deal with so much trauma he feels broken beyond repair.

What worked for me:
- I loved the magic system in this book. There are three different ways that bones can be used, and while there are rules around each of the “trades” within the guild of the bone workers, we don’t necessarily learn them all. It was fun to see the different ways that they were used and to discover more about it as we went. The setting was also very different from what I usually see being completely built on different mountains and having some types of technology. This is something that I would have loved to see a bit more exploration of, honestly.
- The characters: Zera was my favorite. She was sassy and funny and completely her own person. I felt like it was a different dynamic than we usually get between teammates because they have such a past history together. It was really enjoyable to see older characters and to see the different perspective that they had on things as adults.
- I thought that the pacing was excellent throughout and that it never seemed to drag. There was always enough happening that I was engaged and looking forward to whatever happened around the next bend.

What didn’t work for me:
- My main complaint in this book was that there were some points that became somewhat repetitive and came to feel a lot like telling rather than showing. I felt like Kreya had some major realizations about her personality, her style of leadership, and how she relates to other humans throughout the story, and while most of it felt organic when she first made the realization, many of these were repeated multiple times. When these repetitions came up, it started to take me out of the story and took away from that characterization for me.
- Character development: Kreya is our main character, and I thought that her character was fleshed out pretty well for the length of the book. We got to see her make several big realizations and to grow as a character. We also got to see the team come together again as adults, which was fun. For brief periods of time in each chapter we are given a limited 3rd person POV from the other characters. While this was enjoyable, it did set my expectations that we would see each of those characters fleshed out more in their own right rather than just seeing them as characters from Kreya’s perspective. Because of that, I personally just didn’t get the depth from the other characters that I usually like from my characters if we are given their POV.
- I touched on this briefly earlier, but I would have loved to get more background on the world and the culture. I absolutely loved what we got, but I felt like we only got brief snippets of the world. I would have loved to get more info about the culture and society as well as to learn more about the world that we saw. I thought that the descriptions that we got were fantastic. So this isn’t really something that didn’t work, I just wish I had more!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would probably read it again, so my rating is a 3.5/5. While it didn’t hit an overall 4 for me, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed some of the characters.

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The concept of this book was interesting. The world itself was like nothing I had seen before. Of course, I’ve seen necromancy and bone magic- but never a world in which that is the only magic. Additionally, this felt like the aftermath of a YA fantasy where they save the world. I really loved the idea of this and how it was executed. The heroes have aged quite a bit, and each has dealt with the trauma in individual ways. These ways were not always healthy, but they were what they had to do. This book made me feel so many emotions. I cried over characters I didn’t expect to and I was proud of characters that initially I wasn’t interested in. Durst did a fantastic job of developing the character growth of both their past and present and developing a world that was amazing to read about.

ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review
Having read The Deepest Blue by this author and thoroughly enjoying it, I had high hopes for this book. The blurb had me intrigued but unfortunately I never really got into this book. I felt dropped into this unknown world that I really wish was developed more. I’ll be honest my mind has been on holiday mode which perhaps contributed to my lack of connection with the book but really I started lost and it took like a third of the book for things to make sense. The heroine was part of a group, let’s call them bone magicians, who all in their own way read, speak to, share power and manipulate bones. Years ago in the midst of a battle against their realms worst enemy Kreyas husband is killed and she basically just abandons everyone and everything she knows, for around twenty five years-if I remember correctly. Through this time Kreya has used her bone powers to give life to things, most importantly on occasion her husband (his time ‘alive’ is always limited). 😳 Long story short Kreya needs the help of her old friends to once again save the world. Parts of the story were fun and enjoyable but in a general sense it was a bit predictable. I also wasn’t a fan of the end which wrapped up far too quickly for my liking. [I hated that after being denied and turned away time after time from trying to help, the group returns, saves the world and then they run away in fear without receiving so much as an apology or thank you. It didn’t sit right with me after all they went through. (hide spoiler)] While I never really connected with the book it was a very unique and interesting story, I think characters being able to use power from bones is a fascinating concept.

As soon as I read "....created an inhuman army using animal bones...." in the synopsis for The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst, I knew I had to read this novel, it turned out to be more amazing than I had anticipated. The Bone Maker is a legitimate Epic fantasy, with a cast of bone witches all past their glory, we meet Kreya, who loved her husband so much.... that she reanimated him from scavenged bones. And the rest of the cast is just as fascinating.

Having our heroes presented to us well into their adulthood gave them infinite levels of nuance and complexity. My investment in the fates of my heroes was deeper because they felt so real. The world building, the magic system, and the story are all so special and singular. Please don't sleep on The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst, it'll be on your favorites shelf guaranteed.

A Charming Tale about a group of friends who had fought together in the Bone War against a corrupt and evil Bone maker who used his talents to create hideous animated creature from animal parts and bone who they destroyed. The tale begins with the fact that one of the five was killed in the War. His wife has preserved his body and used forbidden bone magic to bring him back to life for short periods of time. She is running out of resources and reaches out to her old friend to obtain more talisman to be able to go on a quest to get enough bones to resurrect her husband completely. The talisman gives strength or speed or the ability to fly which will help make the journey easier. Unfortunately during the journey they also discover that the evil bone maker they believed they killed is very much alive. The five friends band together to fight evil again but will they be able to finish what they started???
This was a fun adventurous read blending dangerous circumstances with breathing fallible heroes. The friendship and camaraderie is enchanting. The world-building is perfect for a fantasy story.

The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst was PHENOMENAL. It sucked me in from the first chapter and didn’t let go even once.

This story is a refreshing mix of “heroes save the day” combined with some taboo magic and found families. Sarah did a fantastic twist on a typical hero story, instead telling us a story of what happens after the heroes save the day. It was delightful to read and I stayed up entirely too late in order to finish it.

As a stand-alone, I felt it was remarkably done in that it managed to answer all my questions about the past without being too bogged down in flashbacks, while still staying very much in the present actions that the heroes were going through. It left nothing unanswered and nobody was left hanging at the end!

It also explored some powerful commentary on what war does to a person and how society can often forget the humans behind the heroes, which was very poignant and emotional. The characters were fantastically developed and realistically flawed. Sarah’s character development is beautiful.


A big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Bone Maker is not a usual story. It doesn’t start out with one character—or even a group—being slowly introduced to their allies in the story and the readers outside it as they face a new enemy. Instead The Bone Maker reunites a group of heroes who know each other and who each already have their scars from the enemy they must fight again. In some ways, it was a great look at what happens to the heroes after they’ve won (as they thought they had), but in others, it was a challenge for readers to see the characters as they obviously must see each other.

One of the first big points of the story is that Kreya has been using illegal magic using the taboo ingredient of human bones and needs her old friend Zera’s help to obtain more. Their culture hinges upon using animal bones for magic, but human bones are burned specifically so that they can’t be used. The taboo is so ingrained that Zera pukes when she finds out Kreya has been using them. Yet, within the same chapter, Zera agrees to help Kreya get more. As a reader at this point, I wasn’t invested enough to feel the emotion of this change (if there was any), and through to the end, I didn’t know the characters’ history enough to understand it, and that was certainly an issue.

Mostly, that sums it up. I liked everything in The Bone Maker all right, but the world and it’s history weren’t delved into enough to make me love it.

I was given access to an e-copy of The Bone Maker in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley.

This book feels different from the other Durst books I have read, but this one still delivers. The story starts off with an action sequence and spends a good amount of time describing the magic system and the character's motivations. It later on becomes apparent that the character, who first presents as a type of rogue thief, is actually something else, and has a history as a famous person within this world. To me, the story lagged a little bit in the middle as it was setting up it's pieces for the last 40% of the book. When the main antagonist came onto the scene, the plot started to really move. Back story was exposed and there was plenty of court intrigue presented as well. What seemed like a love story became a love story within the context of a larger struggle-and that romance took a back seat in the second part of the novel.

The author may be channeling some frustration with current government into the writing but an interesting take here is that this book occurs AFTER an alluded to but not depicted earlier battle with the main antagonist. You don't often get much about what happens afterwards in a story and in this case, it was written like a novel length epilogue to a story, with a middle aged female protagonist, yet you still got to go on the hero's jouney with her. Durst fans will like this, of course, and I think there will be a strong crossover with Naomi Novik, Tad Williams and Fran Wilde readers, and they should pick up this novel. Well done. This definitely has a fresh feel to it.

This is hands down the best book I have read this year. I loved it so much! There's so much story and adventure packed into this book, that by the midway point it felt that other books would have just been ending. There is not a single bit of boring storytelling in this and I found myself really taking the time to imagine the scenes (I know it's sort of lazy I guess when I don't, but in other fantasies I have read it's just tedious).

I had started reading this after trying to read two other popular fantasies and being immediately put off by the main character being eighteen years old. I get it, YA is having a time right now and that's great, but I wanted a story where the heroes are my age and this book was it. It is so refreshing to read a book this good, in the fantasy genre, that had characters in their thirties/forties!

The story is about five friends who have already saved the world and must do so again. Kreya, the logical leader who makes bone constructs (think bones and whatever other material that can be combined to make a robot, whether it's wood, fabric, or metal). Jentt her husband who acts as the thief and scout for the group. Zera her best friend who can carve talismans from bones to make people and constructs fly, gain speed, be stealthily. Stran their big lovable boulder of a friend and finally Marso, their bone reader who can read the future and past in the bones.

Zera is my favorite character, her personality was fun, sassy, loyal, heart warming. Honestly I'd love to see another story in this series and if not based on the Five, then based solely on her.

Below are some quotes I pulled out.

"As she descended the spiral stairs, she paused on the third level to check on her husband. He lay, as always, carefully wrapped in white linens. “Tomorrow, we’ll watch the sun rise together,” she told him. “You’ll say something that will make me laugh, and I’ll make willow tea that you’ll ruin with too much honey. And then we can do whatever you want. Walk in the woods. Mend that step you’re forever tripping over. We’ll have time.”"

:O

"It was comforting to be surrounded by so many books, as if the past experience of all the authors could protect her from the unknown future."

Although I have never felt protected, who can't say they haven't felt comforted by being surrounded by books?

"Twisting in the saddle, Zera tried to check, but the horse’s fur blocked her view.The horse snorted until she pulled herself back up.“You’re a fussy one.” She decided that meant it was a boy."


"Opening her eyes, Kreya noticed that the other rag dolls were clustered around, some on the bed and some by her feet. She gathered them into her arms, and they swarmed all over her, patting her hair and stroking her back.
----------------------------------------------
She looked down at the little crushed scout in her arms. "


Why did these little creatures have so much personality to them? I wanted to cry reading that!

"Without thinking about whether he could or not, she asked, “Marso, any predictions?” “Death and doom,” he replied. “I don’t need bones for that.”"


Thanks to the author Sarah Beth Durst, Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are mine.

Sarah Beth Durst does it again. She has quickly become my favorite author with Race the Sands, The Queen of Blood, and now, The Bone Maker.

Durst has an exquisite skill for creating an entire world within the first five pages of her books. (No really, read the first five pages of each of the books I mention above.)

Durst writes books for all ages, and The Bone Maker is adult fantasy for people who love YA Fantasy for all the right reasons. The pacing is quick and suspenseful, the characters are well-developed, and the dialogue isn't overwrought. I laughed out loud at the wit of some of the characters and I teared up at least a few times.

Durst brilliantly captures the story that happens after the story concludes. I was worried it might read like a sequel to a book I hadn't read, but my worries were misplaced. Our hero is 25 years past her prime and glory, and we get to go along on her journey of discovering what it means to save the day in a much more mature, measured, but no less badass way.

If you still read YA Fantasy but are looking for a more complex level of self-reflection, moral crisis, and love/partnership, The Bone Maker is a great read. However, it may miss the mark if you are seeking pages and pages of scenic descriptions, a ton of "will-they-won't-they" sexual tension, or levels of plot complexity which require notes or diagrams to follow, which, to be honest, usually bore me or bother me.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC, which I received in exchange for this honest review. And thank you, Sarah, for writing another inspiring world which has lit so much up in my imagination.

Sarah Beth Durst is an author who's rapidly becoming an insta-read for me. The Bone Maker features many of the things that make her books so strong: unconventional older heroines, worlds that are just developed enough to be interesting, and appealingly standalone stories. Despite the somewhat dark subject matter (yes, bones are the magic source) there is no gritty grimdark here. Great found family dynamics, interesting characters and worldbuilding, and overall a very enjoyable read.

"The Bone Maker" is a new standalone epic fantasy featuring a bevy of witches who use bones and spells on talismans to save the world. Twenty five years after saving the world, the five witches are in sad shape with one sort of dead, one who isolated herself in a tower among constructs made of bones and her late husband's corpse which like Dr. Frankenstein she reanimated with stolen human bones, and others not surviving too well.

Although marketed as an adult fantasy, this one hovers more closely around young adult fantasy in genre. It's a world that seems rather primitive except for the cable cars and the magic crawling carriages. Bones are what makes everything work here from mechanical contrivances to corpses. Overall, a bit disappointing.