The first in a new series about a teenager who aspires to be a paleontologist and finds what appear to be dragon bones on a dig. I thought this premise had promise but it didn’t really live up to the synopsis for me.

Great dinosaur lore including some slapdowns of common myths and misperceptions!

If you like an in media res opening, this is not that book. It reads rather like a B-movie action adventure, missing all the grounding of character development and setting that would be evident in a film from camera angles, costumes, etc. It isn't clear what audience this book is written for. The chapters from the point of view of a 16-year-old dino-obsessed girl, while okay in themselves, will not interest most adult readers, and the chapters through the eyes of bitter or smug middle-aged men will turn off teens and many adult female readers. Also none of the characters are readily identifiable when a new chapter shifts into their POV; we're often left guessing for several paragraphs or even pages.

Aside: historians and curators alike will be outraged when Oliphant _pulls_ a 200 year old commonplace book toward him without waiting for the gloves that the museum curator offers him.

If this was a movie I'd watch it and enjoy it. As a book, not so much. Readers like me who love the dinosaur bits and the easy-to=visualize dig setting will be frustrated by the absence of clear storytelling markers.

I really wanted this to be a riveting book. I realize the writer put a lot of work into it. It just doesn't work for me. In a way I feel like this is comprised of all the notes for the background of what could have been. This is the invitation to a series instead of a solid book. My first problem is four narrators who all sounded the same. It would have been much better to just have a single voice instead of this. Molly started out strong but then became the active person in the group when she should have been the person to be led by the so-called experienced characters, the actual scientists and fossil hunter.
Next, readers are pushed forward with a major devastation to treasured fossils and on to a whirlwind trip around the world. The group magically finds parts and pieces to a mystery with side commentary against religion that just gets out of hand. I feel badly. It could have been so good. There truly was potential.
I received the advanced reader's copy of this book and, sadly, this is my unsolicited opinion about it.

***1.5 Stars rounded to 2***

DNF @ 43%

The Good: The premise and Idea of this book was really intriguing (I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a kid). I really like the Cover.

The Bad: The execution of this book was just not there. Between the characters, plot and well, just about everything it was difficult to stay engaged and care about the over all story. I think that this needed a bit more time in development and edits to make a more cohesive flowing story.

***I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Inkshares in exchange for my free and honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early #TheBoneWars #NetGalley***

This writer definitely head a passion for the subject matter. Though I won't brew able to provide an accurate review because it is a bit too much for me so I stopped reading and am finding it hard top dog back in. The covert is amazing and the hook is awesome so I bet a lot odd people who ate looking for this style novel will really enjoy it.

DND ::: I could not finish this book, it was not for me. I got about 30% in and still could not be interested in the story line. It dragged a little for me. However, I do have to say that this book would be for those who have a love of Dinosaurs and Palentology. The book was very dry in the beginning, very technical in the degree of digging and no storyline as of yet. Nothing to sink your teeth into.
Your main character was a 16 year old named Molly who gets an internship to do a dig. I thought this would go somewhere eventually, but things still felt so unrealistic, that it turned into a big bore.

I really liked the premise of this one when I first heard about it, but I think some of the execution of this book fell pretty flat for me. I am an earth scientist (geologist), so there were several things I appreciated about this tale, like the detailed descriptions and science included about paleontology (A lot of reviews have been talking about archaeology which is a different field entirely). However much this story tried to weave action and adventure and science, some of those more intricate details dragged the pacing down. As I think this is Evan's debut book, I'm interested to see how Evan's writing progresses in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an advanced reader's copy of this title. This did not affect my review in any way.

This was a very well-researched and interesting story. It reminded me a cross between Jurassic Park (although with fossils) with the Da Vinci Code.

Historical, archeological, and international intrigue combined with mythology and interpersonal drama. Some relationships are overly wrought, and a few things are just too convenient but the story generally moves quickly and the structure works. ,

I picked up this book because I definitely went through a huge dinosaur phase when I was a kid. This book definitely delivers on paleontology and dinosaur facts. I enjoyed learning more about the history of paleontology vs what it looks like today, and the fossil fun facts were interesting.

Unfortunately, both the plot and characters did not deliver. The story is told from multiple perspectives, all of them indistinguishable from one another. When I paused and returned to reading, I often could not tell whose perspective it was (until process of elimination by which characters were named). One of the characters is grating to read because of how inexplicably perfect she happens to be at everything--which is continually repeated by other characters to an annoying degree. The plot was predictable and too easy. The writing makes an effort at being a thriller, but the elements of secrecy, mystery, and discovery are often handed to the group or awkwardly juxtapose aspects of mysticism and reality.

Although the premise of this speculative fiction is promising, the characterization ultimately hampers the reading experience.

Multiple timelines, secret organisations, palaeontology and a fierce main character!

This was a riveting and fast paced read that jumped between different timelines and had both depth and character to it. II enjoyed the straightforward plot, and the cast of characters. The writing felt very easy to read and transported you to the world and time that the author was aiming for.

In conclusion, this is the kind of immersive read that you need on a rainy day!

1/5 stars! I think that archeologists would probably find this book palatable but nothing about it was useful for the average reader. The content was so slow and overly descriptive that I found myself rubbing my eyes and yawning repeatedly. It was a genuine challenge to get through this book.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This one was an interesting read.
I felt like the bones of the story were really cool and interesting, but the execution was a tad off.
I really wanted to love this, and it fell a little short.
I would recommend it to someone who is a history buff and likes more historical books, but it wasn’t for me.

What a fast paced, intense story! Once you start reading it you won’t wanna put it down. If you like stories like National Treasure or Indiana Jones you will love Bone Wars.

I’m truly surprised by the negative reviews on here as I found this book really intriguing! I’ve never had much of an interest in dinosaurs or fossils myself, but I really enjoyed this novel.

Sixteen year old Molly joins palaeontologists Sarah Manning and Derek Farnsworth on a dig in Montana, where they come across something surprising. Shocking. Potentially life changing. It turns out what they have discovered is something that someone wants to keep a secret…

The story unfolds through the eyes of Molly, Sarah, Derek and ‘celebrity palaeontologist’ Dr. Sean Oliphant, with each chapter being from the point of view of one of the main characters.

If you consider this book to be simply fantasy and science combined, then you will likely enjoy it much more than if you want it to be some kind of historical fiction. Personally, I will look forward to the Pirates of Montana #2, as this story will definitely continue.

Also, I bloody love Molly. She’s feisty and gutsy and needs her own series when she’s older and taking over the world.

My only complaints about the book are 1) sometimes I got a little confused if I hadn’t double checked whose perspective the chapter was from; and 2) the scenes featuring British people hurt my poor little British soul… we don’t talk like that. Please get a Brit to proofread your British characters.

Other than that, it was a really enjoyable read. 4 stars.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC.

Unfortunately, I will be DNFing at 60%. This book just isn't really doing it for me which is unfortunate due to my excitement over the premise.

It starts strong but quickly drops off into a bit of a mess. The infodumping felt too bland, the conspiracy angle was dry, and the characters just didn't make me excited. I just didn't care. The characters were often staggering into the plot and it was hard to be so grounded in realiy but also to be suspend disbelief to think Molly was the saving grace of these top-tier scientists. It jsut didn't work for me.

I think part of this is simply that this book is not for me. For someone younger, maybe between 12-17, might engage with this differently - it reads more towards younger YA than older YA.

I wanted to love this... I might have 15 years ago. But as it stands, this just wasn't a book for me.

From the title, you can roughly figured out what happened through out this book. Yes, it talked mainly about bones. Well..., a quest to search for dragon bones to be exact. In this book we follow a grup of scientist who found bones that looked like dragon bones. But dragon is only a myth, right? Or is it?

When i first read it, i have two expectation. First, it will be informative. Second, it will be entertaining. Let's talk about the informative part. Yes, this book is really informative. It's so informative that it feels overwhelming, especially at the beginning of the book. I can tell that the author really passionate about dinosaurs. But don't worry, because in later chapters we get more action that information dump. But you have to hang in there. The good part of this book is happening after half of the book when they travel around the world and a lot of interesting things happen. It's really entertaining... Almost made up for the 'information dump' part. Almost.

This book has some Indiana Jones vibes in it. So, if you are a dinosaur enthusiast looking for a easy read with some adventure, this book is for you. I have to emphasize the 'dinosaur enthusiast' part though. Because there's a lot of information about dinosaurs in here. Like, a lot. If you get past that, this book is really good. I have a fun time reading it.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for providing this book.

This is a fun adventure story that will appeal to budding scientists, dinosaur fans, sff readers, and more.

Sixteen-year-old Molly receives a paleontology fellowship from a high-tech Japanese company to join graduate student Sarah's Montana dinosaur dig. There she meets Sarah's childhood mentor, Farnsworth, a local fossil hunter who dreams of opening a museum. But things quickly go sideways when they discover black bones that don't look like an dinosaur known to humankind, which is quickly stolen--along with all their materials--by a mysterious group that pretends to be government officials just long enough to pull off the theft. By then they have been joined by Sarah's graduate advisor, the vainglorious Oliphant who Molly idolizes due to his TED talks and Farnsworth hates due to Oliphant having committed various scholarly crimes against him during a past collaboration.

Upon being left with nothing, they receive a mysterious clue in the mail. This begins a globe-trotting adventure where they follow the clues and try to outrace their mysterious foes to finding another skeleton which can prove their discovery is real... a discovery that Molly quickly dubs a dragon.

The mix of scientific info-dropping and mythological stakes make this a great, fun read (with bonus science education along the way) that should have wide appeal.

I requested this ARC earlier this year and started it almost immediately after. Now, at the end of the year, I'm still having a hard time coming up with what to say in a review.

The concept was very promising and I picked the book up because of its premise, which excited me. But I was struggling to get past the first chapter. It took me a really long to make any progress at all because I didn't click with the writing style or character voice. DNF'd quickly after that.

I think there's someone who would like this book, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.