*Castles in Their Bones* by Laura Sebastian offers a story of royal intrigue, magic, and complex alliances as three princesses navigate a web of deception and ambition. With an emphasis on court politics and betrayal, the novel unfolds a carefully woven plot, appealing to readers who enjoy fantasy with strategic twists and scheming characters.

In the book’s synopsis, readers are told “Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens.” We are also told that: “Daphne is the charming one, Sophronia is the brainy one, and Beatriz is the pretty one.” From this, I gathered that Sophie was sweet, Daphne was untrustworthy, and Beatriz was a puzzle to be solved . . . complex, cunning, complicated, feisty, clever and corruptible, never clueless. By the adjectives I’ve given them, I’m sure you can guess my favorite of the bunch (and it’s definitely not Daphne). Sophronia is Bubbles. Daphne is Blossom. Beatriz is Buttercup (these are PowerPuff Girls references). Daphne is Sam. Sophronia is Alex and Beatriz is Clover (from Totally Spies).

Right off the bat, this book started off much better than any of the author’s previous books. We are quickly clued in as to why Beatriz is so gutsy, while Daphne is so cold-blooded and Sophie is completely innocent. We learn that Beatriz is Sophronia’s protector. We learn that their mother is stone-cold—ruthless—and she has raised them to be a bunch of killing machines. Obedient robots that say “yes, Mother” as they slaughter their husbands in order to acquire more power for her. We learn that, to these women, love is power. Imagine that— a mother raising her three kids to be weapons. How shameful.

It becomes immediately clear that Sophie is the weakest of the three sisters because she doesn’t share her mother’s or her sisters’ conniving temperaments; she is totally pure and wholesome at heart. Unfortunately, having a soft heart does one no favors in this cruel, vicious, cutthroat world. One must be brutal in order to survive, not empathetic. Empathy is a burden, a liability, more than it is an asset, when it comes to court politics. When everyone schemes and plots and kills callously for the throne in order to attain an edge over someone else, or wrestle enough power away to conquer/seize the entire kingdom or queendom.

Beatriz is hungry for power. If anything, she will be the one to take it from her sisters. Daphne is far too confident she will inherit the throne. She mistakenly thinks the throne is hers already because her mother has promised it to her but she should know better—her mother has taught them that love is callous and power can be easily and aggressively stolen at once. Beatriz could easily maneuver her way to the throne her sister so desperately desires. One should not count her out.

But one can’t forget their mother’s meddling ways. Who’s there to stop a woman who wants power for herself without thinking of the costs to others? A woman who would tamper with the stars and the gods to alight her fate is nothing to be messed with. These girls call her “Mother” when they should call her “Nemesis” or “Murderess.” Margaraux calls it love, I call it murder. She’s a murderer before she’s a mother, before she’s even an Empress.

I did not finish this book. I tried to get into this book but I couldn’t. Not even the fact the girls mother is so cold with them intrigued me or the magick. Something was missing for me and I just couldn’t connect with the book.

I was a bit intimidated by the size of this book, but finally decided to pick it up! And I am so glad I did! This was a really enjoyable book, with a really good plot. The 3 storylines were a tad confusing in the beginning, but once I knew who was who and who belonged where it was a breeze! Definitely a recommendation from me.

Triplets trained from birth to extend their family's territory of influence. These three princesses will marry on their 16th birthday and take the first step into their mother's plan to dominate the countries that border their homes. A planned trilogy.....three princesses, three books......it will be interesting to see how Laura Sebastian moves the chess pieces.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

I wanted to love this so badly but I just could not get into it and finally, two years since the book came out, I have to admit it's just not for me. It is well written, but the characters feel distant to me and I'm not quite sure why.

Wow! I did not expect that ending at all. I enjoyed this different take on court life and how their mother prepared them for her manipulation of the surrounding kingdoms. I am excited to continue to read the series.

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Really great book I have had so much reading this and getting to know these lovable characters will definitely continue to read books by this author

Castles in Their Bones has many positive elements. However, it ultimately didn't leave much of an impression on me.

I honestly had a hard time separating each of the sisters storylines. They didn't seem all that distinguished from each other and so I didn't find myself being attached to anyone or their plotline.

I did love the friendship that developed between Beatriz and Pasquale, and the book's ending was wild, but that's about the extent of what I enjoyed from this read.

I would maybe be interested in picking up the second book, and I think this series' trajectory is setting up for a strong sequel, but I'm not overly eager to get my hands on it right away.

I have read several of Laura Sebastian's other books, and I am definitely a fan of hers. This one was just a miss for me!

“I’m here because I want to be. Because you are lightning– terrifying and beautiful and dangerous and bright all at once. And I wouldn’t wish you were anything else.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Press for a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Content warnings: death, sexual harassment (including pedophilia), violence/blood/war/murder, emotional and physical abuse, alcoholism, confinement, classism, homophobia

I first discovered Laura Sebastian when I saw Ash Princess in the library half a decade ago and thought the cover was beautiful. I still have not managed to get to Ash Princess in all this time, but I did read an ARC of Half Sick of Shadows, which was okay. My main complaint was that it was slow, so I almost didn't request Castles in Their Bones because it was over 500 pages!!! I thought I'd spend months reading it, but Delacorte Press is one of my favorite imprints, and the cover and synopsis were so intriguing I caved. Wow, am I glad I did!!! I finished this book in 10 days!

Castles in Their Bones follows a set of triplet princesses, all sent off to their assigned betrothed prince by their mother. The Empress has been scheming since before they were born and plans to use each of them and their specific talents to sow chaos and discord in the three kingdoms until she can sweep in and claim the entire continent. Can Sophronia convince her boy king husband to go to war, can Beatriz seduce a foreign diplomat into adultery, and Daphne use her skills with poisons without anyone catching them?

The characters in this book were so interesting! From the start, I could already rather easily tell apart the triplets in each of their POVs. I really enjoyed learning about their princes and the other members of each court as well. It felt like a YA Game of Thrones getting to see the perspective of so many warring kingdoms and factions at once. I'm excited to learn more about worldbuilding in the future and will keep thinking about this trilogy for some time. The plot ends on... not a cliffhanger per say, but immediately after a large event. It felt like an incredibly dramatic season finale. Normally, I like to wait a month as the bare minimum before continuing a series, but I would pick up the next one immediately if my TBR allowed it!

My intrigue for this book was so high that I essentially stopped reading all my other books for this one! The audiobook narrator was enjoyable and had me not wanting to pause this story. I'm not sure if Half Sick of Shadows was just a miss for me or if Sebastian's writing just improved so vastly in a short amount of time, but I eagerly await Stardust in Their Veins!

I'd recommend this book to readers who enjoy court intrigue, arranged marriages, high fantasy with subtle magic lore that grows as the book/series progresses, and interesting relationship dynamics!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I loved Sebastian’s debut trilogy and was so excited for this new series. While the twist and the end was rather shocking and unexpected, I found I didn’t care for any of the sisters. The story dragged at times and I really didn’t look forward to anyone’s chapters in particular. It just didn’t grab my attention unfortunately and I don’t think I’ll be continuing with this series.

Castles in Their Bones has an intriguing premise. One that I couldn't wait to dive into. Triplets who were conditioned to be the perfect brides so they could take down the monarchies and reign over the entire continent. I was prepared for drama and so much politic jumpery and yet, this all fell flat for me.

Each sister had their own POV and I was consistently struggling with knowing which sister I was reading about. They all sounded the same and had the same thoughts and seemed to be going through the same struggles. There was very little to tell the sisters apart and figure out which was which besides looking at the header and a few other things which as the book dragged on, the header became the only thing for me.

For three different courts and royalty, I was prepared for so much drama and struggle as the sisters met bumps in the road that they were expecting, but there really wasn't anything like that. Nothing that made me gasp and eagerly await what would happen next. I felt this story struggled to find it's footing and drama, relying on the romances and the sisters relationship with their mother when there could have been so much more that would have really brought this world to life.

I think Castles in Their Bones could have been wonderful. It could have been amazing even, but it fell flat. I struggled to figure out which POV I was reading without looking at the header. As it went on, it only got harder as all the POVs blended together even more. Beyond that, the plot wasn't enough to keep me intrigued and eager to pick up the neck book (even after that ending).

This is the tale of 3 daughters born to an Empress and raised/trained to accomplish their mother's goal of getting all the land under her rule. They are betrothed to princes from 3 countries and sent out to marry and make sure they do whatever is needed to get their respective countries back under their mother's rule. Daphne arrives to find out her prince (who'd been ill) had died, but the king decides to make his bastard son his heir and she is betrothed to him in the meantime. Sophronia is betrothed to Leopold, and his father had died and he is actually already King with his mother by his side. Beatriz is betrothed to Pascual and his father is a man who has tempers and likes drink and young girls...if you deny him he will have you executed. As they get to know their new homes and new people some of their mother's plans go off the rails. Oh yeah, and they are rumored to be the result of "stardust"...or they are the result of magic.

I really enjoyed this story, although for a little while it was hard to keep everyone straight and already have book 2 on request from the library!

Such a lovely book. This author is always wonderful to read. I'm hoping to reread this in audiobook form so I can finally read the second book(even though I hate the new covers).

First off, this cover is gorgeous. Like something I need to buy asap so I can just stare at a physical copy in my library.

"It is said that the stars shine brighter on the princesses’ birthday, but the princesses themselves think that is balderdash. The stars look the same as they always do, and this year, on the night before the three of them leave their home and one another for the first time in their lives, everything—the stars included—seems far darker" There is just something about star quotes in fantasy novels that I just absolutely adore.

I absolutely adored everything about this book. I think the pacing, the story telling the complexity of the characters and their relationships was absolutely perfect. If I had to critique anything it would be that because of the amount of added letters in the names it made it a little like scrabble for my dyslexic brain, but that is obviously a personal thing and not a real criticism lol.

Overall I just really liked this authors writing and overall story, and I cant wait to read more by her.

I really enjoyed this. Yes, it took awhile to get into and despite being long I'm still not convinced I fully understand the magical system or each country, but once I got into it I really got into it. Definitely has shades of Three Dark Crowns which, hey, I'm not mad at more books about morally grey ladies. I'm excited to read the next one and see where it goes.

Due to some health issues, I was unable to get this book read and reviewed in a timely manner. I apologize.