This book is both nothing like I thought it would be and, surprisingly, everything I didn’t know I wanted or needed.

It’s not a perfect book: the overarching plot line stumbles at times (as if the author has gone off on a bit of a tangent and then remembers there’s a whole other aspect of this book to write), and the large cast of secondary and tertiary characters can get a bit mixed up at times, sometimes disappearing and reappearing in a manner that can come across as all-to-convenient.

What I think is that there are two wholly different books inside this one book, and it was like keeping plates spinning without dropping them to get through this entire book without china crashing everywhere. There’s an intriguing political sci-fi/fantasy mystery novel involving a dying Emperor who, in the minutes before his death, charges his favorite mistress with solving his murder and ensuring none of his sons stay on the throne (or even stay alive); and then there’s a dramatic sci-fi/fantasy novel exploring being a kidnapped, violated, and imprisoned woman held in an opulent, gilded cage and left to her own devices and means to help stay alive in spite of a horrific case of post-traumatic stress disorder and how she compartmentalizes her captive and abusive life in order to survive.

Therein lies the problem: this could be two whole books all on their own and sometimes it feels like one whole storyline eclipses the other for a small amount of time, which makes for a disjointed story, when taken in as a whole.

The thing is: both of these storylines are so intensely interesting I couldn’t find it in myself to totally dislike it or stop reading. If Mueller had tried to explain the metaphysical/fantastical aspects of this novel in more depth I’m sure this would be a large mess, so I’m actually glad (for once) that the “magic system” wasn’t explored in depth. We knew what we needed to know, and that’s not what the story was about anyway, so it only becomes something to be acknowledged every now and again.

The protagonist… well, talking about her would be a spoiler-and-a-half. But I loved her. I love stories where a woman (or women) are so easily underestimated or easily dismissed they end up holding all the cards. But I’m a mad woman who thrives on chaos. Call this book what you want, but it was my kind of jam.

Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan Tor/Forge, and Tor Books for early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I thought the characters in this book were great. I do think the pacing suffered a bit, though, and I wish we got a bit more of the world-building because I felt like I was sort of having a hard time putting everything together in my head--there were a lot of things I just would have loved more explanation or more time with to really get into the story. Writing was great, though, but overall I just felt a bit confused by the story and wanted more out of the ending. I still think it's worth a read, though, it just wasn't for me!

The highlight of this read was definitely the characters. I think the pacing of this book was not as strong and also the world building was not as clear and it was confusing to follow but I really did loved the rep in this read. This story tried to do a lot and I think it suffered to much to focus on some specific elements. But really fun read and wild.

Book: The Bone Orchard
Author: Sara A Mueller

Review: The synopsis and cover of this book reeled me in, however, while reading I struggled staying interested and I was confused while reading. I thought the writing was beautiful, but this book just wasn’t for me. I really wanted to love it.

The Bone Orchard had a very interesting premise that pulled me in immediately. We get split POV between Charm and Pain through the whole book giving us a bigger look at what is happening in Boren. The kingdom has been waging wars on the surrounding kingdoms to attain mindlock and rejuvenation technologies. The mind locks keep those with psychic abilities in check and Rejuv keeps the user young forever, unless someone murders them. Our story starts with the death of the current Emperor. On his deathbed he asks for his Mistress Charm to come to him. He suspects that one of his sons is responsible and tasks her with finding out which one and avenging him. This leads to Charm and her bone ghosts getting tangled in the political machinations following the death of the Emperor.

I spent the first few chapters confused by the bone ghosts and their creation and how they're maintained and even the bone orchard itself. Once it all became more clear to me, I got into the story. Charm runs a brothel and her bone ghosts are her "workers" Each ghost embodies a different part of Charm; Pride, Justice, Desire, Pain, Shame. They each have their own specialties. Pain is very in tune with and respected by the Firedrinkers, the local psychic law enforcement controlled by mindlocks. She treats them like they're still actual humans and connects with them by easing their own personal pains.

Charm also shares her body with The Lady. She is the "scientist" who takes care of the bone ghosts and their bodies. She is also introduced as the "main personality" from which all the ghosts originate. The Lady herself is from Inshill, a conquered nation and was taken prisoner by the Emperor. The ladies all work together to discover the true murderer while trying to survive the reign of the Prince chosen to rule after his father.

The story ramped up a LOT after about the 60% mark. I couldn't put it down except to pass out. Charm got on my nerves at times as did the Lady. I really enjoyed Pain through out the whole story and her interactions with everyone in town.

Source: DRC via NetGalley (Macmillan/Tor-Forge, Tor Books)
Pub. Date: March 22, 2022
Synopsis: Goodreads

Why did I choose to read this book?

I seem to be on a necromancy kick this year. An orchard made of bones? Awesome. Plus this is a debut, and I like to provide a review for a debut author who is doing something weird and different.

What is this book about?

This is an excellent question that I thought I knew the answer to before I started reading, and now that I’m done, I’m not sure I know at all. The book and the promos and the synopsis make this sound like it’s a mystery/fantasy where a whore has to find the killer of the emperor and choose his replacement. I can tell you very emphatically that this is NOT what this book is about. I think that’s what Mueller wished it was about, and toward the end she seems to try to make it be about that again, but this book took on a life of its own, like the boneghosts of Orchard House.

This book is about how we compartmentalize our trauma to survive, how we put our best faces forward and our bad faces upstairs. This book asks what the proper balance between living and imprisonment is, and whether longer life is worth giving up control of your mind or your body. All this is explored through the eyes of a whorehouse madame and her artificial whores, which are parts of herself that live outside of her to save the real woman from experiencing painful and difficult emotions.

I guess a good way to sum up what this book is about would be the phrase “Where do you draw the line?” or “When is enough enough?” Honestly if this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that you can absolutely go way farther than you ever thought, especially emotionally/mentally.

What is notable about the story?

I love a story that follows a woman that is ten times as smart as everyone around her and is simultaneously radically underestimated because she is a woman (and often for other reasons too). Charm isn’t the absolute smartest (there are things at court and in Uptown that she has to absorb through the wealthy patrons that visit Orchard House) but she’s good at working a mark and playing up her femininity in real black widow style. It was interesting to see her work her way up to the palace and closer to the emperor’s murderer.

The magic is rooted in psychic abilities that manifest in different ways. The emperor is a telepath and has developed something called a mindlock that helps more powerful psychics manage their power so they don’t burn out, go mad, or destroy everything around them. Charm’s ability seems to be necromancy and the ability to implant portions of her personality into the skeletons that she reanimates. She’s also able to grow plants and trees from bones, hence The Bone Orchard. It’s a different take on natural abilities that I was glad I read, because I saw yet another way that I can incorporate “abilities” into my own stories.

Was anything not so great?

While full of excellent explorations this story suffers from a couple of issues. First, there is a lack of focus. The emperor dies in the first couple of chapters and then it’s almost the entire book and the ascension of a new emperor before we get back around to “oh yeah, I’m supposed to figure out who killed that other emperor” and even then it’s morphed from that to “I guess I’ll just kill all of his sons to be sure.” The middle part of the book is still good in its own right, but in terms of staying true to the central motivation of the main character Charm, it goes quite a bit afield of before slicing through the trees back to the path again right at the end.

Second, and more serious in my personal opinion, was the backwards style reveal process surrounding Charm, her boneghosts, and how she came to be at Orchard House. Mueller makes you wait until almost the very end until everything is revealed, and it prevented me from becoming fully invested in any of the characters. You never really know who anyone is outside of their titles, you’re only provided glimpses of the war and events that came before the start of the book, and this lack of depth in the worldbuilding also prevents any of the characters from having depth as well, since who they all are is because of the war. I am notorious for quitting books because I don’t care about the characters, so it’s saying something that the story was good enough to keep me reading to the end despite this drawback.

Third, and more of a content warning than something I have any kind of quibble with, there is a LOT of violence towards women in this book. Beatings, rape, mutilation, suicide, murder – I was surprised that the book jacket or a forward of some kind didn’t give a bit of warning ahead of the first chapter. It is 2022 and at this level of trauma I feel like a small “um, watch out” wouldn’t have been out of line here.

What’s the verdict?

This one is a solid 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. There’s too much here that isn’t explained or explored, and my investment in the characters wasn’t deep enough to warrant 4 stars. It was a good story that probably either should have either been another 100 pages, or perhaps split into a duology to allow all the information to get fleshed out. If you’re into weird magic and exploring trauma with a take charge, flawed main character, definitely add this one to your TBR pile.

I really enjoyed this book. The story is compelling and made me want to keep reading. Having said that some of the pacing was a bit off and I still have some questions about certain characters? The ending also felt a bit rushed to me… 3.5 rounded up to a 4. Overall enjoyed this one would still recommend but I do think it needed some polishing.

I wasn’t really sure what to think of this book at first. It all seems of jumbled when I started. But as the story went on it made sense. I really enjoyed it and I hate it when I had to stop reading it, I really loved Charm and Pain and Pride and Justice and even Shame. All the female characters in this book or so strong, even when they were weak. I love the way this book locked you through trauma and the damage that it does in the way that you can feel like split personalities with trauma. This was a very well written book and I was truly sad when the story actually ended because I wanted to continue on with the characters.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of The Bone Orchard, a gothic fantasy where Charm (the MC) is a captive psychic necromancer turned madam with an implanted mindlock device. Pain, Justice, Desire, Shame and Pride the girls in the brothel were grown from the bone trees out front. (i.e. boneghosts made to look like humans). When her sole customer, the Emperor himself, ends up dead she seeks to fulfill his last request: determine which of his sons murdered him, take revenge and then she can be free. All of the sons are unlikeable for one reason or another and the government of Borenthal wouldn't mind replacing the heir apparent with an elected official.

The exploration of the two sides to Charm/The Lady was probably my favorite part of the book. There's a fair amount of trigger warnings in the book, given that the patrons of the establishment know that the boneghosts aren't actually human...let's just say the women aren't usually treated humanely. It was a little light on the magic/fantasy elements and very heavy on political intrigue. Some parts gave me a Westworld vibe which I enjoyed, but other parts were a bit all over the place. Concept was great, execution a tad underwhelming for me personally.
Rating 3 stars.

Special thanks of NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of the book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Bone Orchard was a really fascinating and mysterious read. Charm is the emperor’s mistress, charged with an impossible task upon his deathbed. She must use all her resources to find the person who killed him and decide how or if she will hold the empire together. It deals deeply with trauma, shame, and power dynamics. I found myself unable to look away as the tale unfolded. This is truly a story unlike others that I’ve read, especially in the way it combines innovative science fiction, rigid court politics, and gender expectations.

One of the most interesting things about the book was how it invites readers to take a closer look at the parts of themselves that they may try to hide or divorce from themselves. How do we deal with shame, desire, and pain? Is it a part of ourselves that we own or that feels separate? I especially loved watching Pain and Charm’s evolution, as they both go on very different journeys from beginning to end.

I would recommend this book if you love convoluted politics, a truly original magic system, and twisty power dynamics. The Bone Orchard is a book that will undoubtedly stay with me for a long time. I can’t wait to see what Sara A. Mueller writes next! The Bone Orchard is available now. Thank you to Sara A. Mueller, Tor Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review

2.5 stars. I struggled with this one so much more than I expected to. When I had read the premise I instantly made grabby hands at it. The main character is described as a necromantic (witch) who runs a brothel and is asked by the dying emperor to solve his murder. It's described as a gothic fantasy. I was completely intrigued. Also, that cover?!

Unfortunately, the book fell flat from that. One of the main things I struggled with was the absolute lack of world building. As a fantasy reader, you usually go into a fantasy novel with a few expectations. I'd honestly rather get info dumped on than not have anything to engage with. I was lost and confused about things more often than not. There just wasn't enough substance for the book to stand on. There were just casual pieces of fantasy tossed about and it never was enough for me.

My other big issue was with the main character, Charm, and everything surrounding her. It was all just off and weird to me. I could never feel for her or her boneghosts because there was never any really character building or personality implemented. Honestly the whole being a whore and running a brothel thing never really even mattered all that much. There was no substance here either. I'm not saying I need on screen sex or nudity or anything to prove she's a madam but there was no sense of anything. It was like there was no autonomy whatsoever. So what was the point?

The writing was well done and there were intriguing parts of the mystery but, in the end, it just wasn't enough for me. I rounded up to three stars on the rating because the writing was well done.

The Bone Orchard is a solid debut fantasy. I felt the close circle mystery very intriguing.

The reason why this did not totally work for me was the world building. It felt like there was so much missing that I could not fully get into the story. I felt lost at times and I wanted more.

I want to revisit this in the future, but I did enjoy my time reading.

3 stars

This book has such an interesting premise, and I love the cover and the overall aesthetic of the tale. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and learning about the mystery through the eyes of undead characters, or "boneghosts." I think I may have enjoyed this book more if it was a bit shorter, so I know there will be others who enjoy this book more than I did. I definitely recommend this book to people who are looking for a medium-slow paced plot that has strong and distinctive characters and are in the mood for a unique paranormal story!

A huge thank you to Tor and Netgalley for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book.

While I think the concept is utterly phenomenal and unique, I do not think the execution was to my personal liking. I've read a lot of scenes with brothels in my time as a reader, and obviously, plenty of times where women's bodies are akin to a discarded tissue after a single sneeze. But for some reason the severe lack of autonomy just made me uncomfortable. I don't know if it's what my personal life is currently going through that made this book feel this way. I truly don't know, which is why I'm making this note because this may very well be a wrong read at the wrong time.

Charm is an extremely morally ambiguous character. She runs the Orchard house, which is the brothel, and essentially makes all he decisions. I'm all for morally grey characters, but Charm just felt different because while she says she is protecting her women in the house... yet she also takes advantage and even coerces them constantly to whatever she desires for her brothel. It's hypocritical in my opinion, and it gave me a bad taste in my mouth. I kept waiting for all of it to be negated, but it never was.

I'm giving this a three star rating because I do find Sara's writing style to be incredible. The descriptions are so lush I could sink my teeth into them, so I had to give credit where it is due. Plus, even though I didn't enjoy how the other women were treated in Orchard, they were given lots of dimension. The side characters, overall, sometimes became the one's I rooted for over Charm. It was an interesting dynamic.

This was such a unique idea. There are few YA books to even compare this one too and while there were certain things I really liked, there was also a fair amount that didn't work for me. I liked the cast of characters, the story idea and the underlying political commentary. However, the book also felt like it wasn't really finished. I felt lost reading large portions of it. While I waded through the majority of the book, the ending felt rushed and not quite satisfactory. I think that the story could have used more polish.

3/5 stars. It was a very unique read for sure. If I had to put it in a box, I’d call it a political intrigue sci-fantasy. There were lots of moving parts to the court and layers of plotting by multiple people.

Instead of a pure magic system there were elements of sci-fi technologies being used in conjunction with the natural gifts of the mind, so to speak.

The reason it’s not ranking higher for me, is that I just never felt that the stakes were that high or entirely real for our main character. It felt like things were happening around them instead of to them. And the prose flowed well but was fairly simplistic, I felt like for this world and concept a bit more of a “purple prose” style would’ve worked better, for me, especially when it came to descriptions of the garden or the world at large.

3 out of 5 stars (3 / 5) Charm is a necromantic worker, a witch and a madam. She takes care of the Orchard House and those that live within.

This story is very unique. So much so that I had a hard time understanding it. The women are interconnected and grown from a vat. Their own minds are connected through a mindlock. The mindlocks are used to communicate but for some to also control. Soldiers have mindlocks implanted for the control.

Being grown in a large container confused me. They were healed there too. The synopsis called them Charm’s children? I never got that impression. These women are referred to as boneghosts. I think my confusion didn’t come from lack of description, but more that my brain just couldn’t grasp it. They were in one body at times – like The Host? Or completely different? When Charm was punched, another boneghost, Pain, felt it. Charm and the women refer to “shared skulls” and more. Is it symbolism? Real? I just couldn’t grasp it. I’d reread passages multiple times. Ultimately, if I stopped trying to figure it out, I’d enjoy the story. But someone explain this to me!

Charm is hunting for the killer of the Emperor. Her methods and what she was willing to endure for the truth was admirable. She was shrewd and calculating. The people in the story accentuated Charm and her personality but also brought out such goodness. Charm really has some great character development at the end and I grew to really admire her. It became a story about determination, life and love.


Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for the gifted copy!

The book releases March 22, 2022.

I can see why people would like this but to be honest, I was bored from page one. It just throws into the story right from the start and nothing is really explained until far into the story which just didn’t work for me- I put this down to read something else and had to start over when I came back to it. Nothing stayed with me, and the characters fell so flat. I didn’t care about the mystery or the romance or any of it

This book was amazing! I loved everything about it, the characters, the world, the story, the writing! I just couldn't put it down, it was so detailed and so fantastic! This was so complex and complicated, and I loved watching it unfold!

First off, I have to say, this book is incredible confusing at the beginning, we're thrown into this world that is so interesting. We don't know how it works-and as the book goes on, we do learn, and that was such a fantastic journey to go on!

Charm, oh, what a character! A madam who has so many secrets, even ones that she herself doesn't know. She's thought to be a very low ranking person. In comparison, the Lady, oh, how I didn't like he, she was deliberately naïve, and morally uptight.

The politics in this book is complex-the former emperor had 4 sons, and Charm has to figure out which of them killed him. But she has her own motivations, and is pretty wily about maneuvering around the instructions that she was given.

That ending was pretty intense! I loved how all the pieces came together (literally, at one point!) And how all the knowledge gained played its part! It was so satisfying to read, and I loved where we left these characters!

This was such a fantastic book, and I can't wait to see what Sara A. Mueller writes next!

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for this ARC. I did not think it was possible to go from wanting to DNF a book to completely falling in love with it but here we are.

The first four chapters of this book felt like hard times and endless suffering. Almost nothing made sense I was fighting for my life trying to get through it. But once I did I became absorbed in the uniqueness of the story and the complexity of the characters, even the ones I hated.

This book follows Charm, a brothel owner and a prisoner of the Emporer. Charm never leaves her brothel but she's also never truly alone because within the Orchard house are her ghosts that she grew herself, Pride, Shame, Pain, Desire, Justice and sometimes the Lady. You get to learn about all these characters as well as others who live in Boren.

This book contains a murder mystery, political fantasy, an analysis of the psyche and strangely enough a soft romance. I can’t say much more without giving away the plot (and understanding Charm and her ghosts as you read more is part of the experience). I loved this in the end and I’m happy to have finished it.