Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Ms. Cummings for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.
There are quite a few reviews decrying the mix of sci fi and fantasy. I actually LOVE well-executed sci fi. And I LOOOOOOVE a good fantasy.

That being said, my difficulty with this book wasn't the mashup of sci fi and fantasy and western AND medieval AND dystopian, it was more that none of the plots felt fully realized. I think right from the beginning, when I was totally hooked on Sonara's introduction in the prologue, and then the narrative abruptly switched to a different character, different time period, different planet, different style, I was thrown off-balance and never quite got back onto that proverbial horse. I think either Sonara's or Karr's story should have been the focus and that going for both was just a little too ambitious. The story had promise and good bones but there was just too much going on for my taste.

Sonara, the Devil of the Shadowlands, had an outsized nickname but never really came across as more than one of many outlaws. Her gift had some inconsistencies too. I have to be completely honest, I never felt all that invested in her character or any other.

This book was a struggle for me to get through. I just never felt any particular drive to pick it up and read it. I feel bad saying so. I will say this: the book blurb that promises that fans of Six of Crows, Throne of Glass, and the Mandalorian will love the book, and I think that MAY have raised my expectations (and hopes) a little too high.

I tried really hard getting into this one but sadly I couldn’t make it past 40%. I was.. bored. And I hate using that word in reviews!

It was a bit slow, and it just made me not be into the story. Nothing really grabbed my attention. This was a dnf for me.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I stuck with it until about 60% as I hoped that I would find the story picked up and caught my attention a little bit more. But, I just could not seem to get involved with the plot. This might be a book I pick up at a later date and try again.

I did enjoy the writing, the author gave vivid descriptions of the worlds and characters. However, it took forever to really even get to the plot of the story and since I never really connected to any of the characters by that point I had lost interest.

I’m not a fan of sci-fi, I wish the synopsis had mentioned that it played a role in this book.

Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings is a new SFF release that follows Sonara and Karr as their paths intersect on Sonara's quest for justice after her brother was taken by a spacecraft ten years prior. This book combines science fiction and fantasy elements, features multiple points of view, and details a three-part story in which Sonara must use the magical abilities she despises to figure out what happened to her brother all those years ago. While the description focuses mostly on Sonara, Karr is a major character in this story arc, and his storyline is what brings the science fiction elements to what would otherwise be a fantasy-only novel.

Unfortunately, this book was pretty disappointing to me. I read my first Lindsay Cummings book while I was in middle school, so I was excited to see this title (and cover) for a new release. The description really drew me in, and I love reading fantasy novels about young women learning how to use magical powers to disrupt the political norms of their fantasy realms. It seemed really promising, but it ended up falling short of my expectations. I felt the pacing felt slow despite being a very quick read, and it was really difficult to connect with the characters. The main characters felt a little flat and driven by only one or two elements of their personality instead of having a more complex character development arc that would really urge the reader to push forward through this book. A lot of the twists and turns were very predictable, and it felt like each chapter tried to end on a cliffhanger but ended up being overdone. On a personal preference note, I generally prefer when paragraphs and chapters are a bit longer in fantasy books, as I appreciate the world-building that that style provides in a way that was lacking in Blood Metal Bone. Ultimately, I think this novel just tried to do a little too much and may have been better off broken into multiple books so that each event could be better detailed and developed. I'm not sure how much agency authors have in writing the book description, but I also would recommend updating it to give a better preview of the science fiction elements (or Karr's storyline more generally) featured in this book. If this wasn't for a review, I likely would've DNF'ed this book. It ultimately just isn't my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360/HQ Young Adult for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. (Please note the digital version is already published, and this digital ARC review precedes the paperback release in May).

As a fan of Lindsay Cummings since The Murder Complex duology, I was very excited to get something more fantasy than dystopian from her this time, and the uniqueness of the setting did not disappoint. I just wish the story had served a few more surprises by way of the plot. Readers may see most of the twists and turns coming a mile away, and it took a bit of the enjoyment out f it. Wish Sonara, the Devil of the Deadlands, could have had a story equal to her promise.

Where to even start with this story…it was AMAZING! Words can’t even describe the praise I want to give to this book! As I was reading it, I could tell a lot of work went into this to make the plot just right. It flowed perfectly. I enjoyed every minute of it. I couldn’t stop reading and just wanted more. The characters and plot twists were so well done. The descriptions were beautiful and realistic. I loved the world-building and the ending was great. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Young Adult for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book sounded so intriguing, and it definitely had potential. Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me, for a variety of reasons. Although there were a few things that I liked, ultimately, it wasn't enough to redeem this book.

Let me start by talking about the things that I did like. One of the biggest things that stood out to me was that there wasn't any current romance in the story. While incorporating a romance into a story often works, I think it would have detracted from this story, and I was so glad to see that it didn't devote any energy to that. There was mention of past romance, but it didn't take up any space in this story. BMB also makes use of one of my all-time favorite tropes, found family. Despite her inability to fit in with her birth family, Sonara manages to find herself a small family of her own. I also loved the connection between Sonara and her steed, Duran. It was beautiful to see.

Now to the part I'm dreading - explaining why I didn't like this book. And I'm dreading it because I truly wanted to love this book. If I didn't think it was going to be good, I wouldn't have requested it. Unfortunately, the promising premise of the story just didn't work well for me.

The first thing that I noticed was the pacing, since it was incredibly slow for so much of the book. And hand in hand with the pacing was the genre-mashup. This book initially seemed to fall into the fantasy category, but the second chapter threw us into a completely different storyline and genre, this time sci-fi. I've never read a fantasy/sci-fi combination, and while it had potential, the two different storylines took so long to mesh, and never fully integrated.

While I wanted to love the characters, they never really felt developed enough for me to actually love them. Each of them came across as kind of flat, without the nuance that really sucks me into a story and has me empathizing for the characters. In addition, there's so much telling rather than showing. We're told that Sonara is "the Devil of the Deadlands," but we never really see her doing anything that reinforces that nickname. The side characters never felt fully developed, and we don't learn much about their motivations, history, or personality quirks. Instead, they're just kind of there.

One of the major issues with creating a fantasy world is making sure that concepts from a different world aren't incorporated into it. And while the sci-fi aspect of the story stems from Earth, the Dohrsaran world has developed completely uniquely. The Dohrsaran characters don't seem to have any formal kind of religion, more just praying to the mother goddess, so it was especially confusing when they kept referring to Hell and burning in Hell, when it wasn't any part of their belief system. I could let it slide when the space characters did it, giving them leeway, but when the other characters did, it took me right out of the story every time. In addition, there's so many grammatical and editing issues that made the story difficult to read at times. Repetitive phrasing and mixing up characters in a conversation (where the character listed as speaking wasn't even present) made it even more hard to read.

The plot was predictable. Most of the major twists were easy to see coming, and those that weren't just didn't really surprise me or get me to react, since as I said earlier, I wasn't very invested in the characters or the story. Another issue was the magic system - Sonara is said to be able to taste emotional auras, but her power seems to change according to the situation. She can do far more than taste the auras, and it was especially confusing when sensations came across as tactile, and not really following the descriptions of magic as laid out in the story. These magical powers just seemed to wax and wane as needed, going above and beyond what they were said to be able to do, making the reading feel incredibly inconsistent.

Overall, this was a long read, and if it wasn't an ARC, I definitely would have DNFd it. In fact, I'm kind of disappointed in myself for actually devoting the time to finish it, since it wasn't worth the time or effort.

I usually love sci-fi and fantasy rolled into one but I just don’t believe that this book was for me. I don’t love to not finish books, but I had to put this down. That does not mean this book won’t be another persons most favorite book ever, it just was not for me.

I am a huge mood reader, so maybe if I were to try again in a few month I might feel differently.

Thank you to the author and NetGallery for providing me with arc for an honest review.

When a strange metal beast takes Sonara's brother away, her Queen mother accuses her of his murder. She exiles her to the Abyss—surely a death sentence.

However, she survives. She becomes cursed as a Shadowblood and joins a group of others like her in the Deadlands. There she lives life on outskirts as a thief and outlaw. The Devil, they call her, and she's forever determined to find her brother.

Blood, Metal, Bone by Lindsey Cummings is an ambitious, genre-bending YA that blends sci-fi and fantasy with mixed results.

I’ll start with what I liked. One, I did like the curse-based magic system—especially Jaxon's ability to control bones and shoot bone missiles. The dynamics and rapport between Sonara and the rest of the Shadowbloods are fun as well.

However, the story's organization feels messy and disjointed. The scene transitions are jarring, quickly jumping between time and place and characters. I wish the story had been smoothed out and went through a few more rounds of developmental editing so it’s less disorienting for the reader.

Overall, it's refreshing to see a fantasy sci-fi YA book, but the story’s elements ultimately seem more like a kitchen sink of ideas than a cohesive novel.

The premise of this book sounded really good but I had a hard time with it. I usually love blends of scifi and fantasy. I did enjoy the characters and the writing but felt it very slow reading.

#BloodMetalBone #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher of this novel for the E-Arc copy. I am rating this book based on my own personal opinion and was not given anything in return. I am not leaving a entire review because I read so many at a time that I physically cannot right now.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nope, not for me. Between the heavy exposition and the generic characters, this just felt to similar to things I've read before. The sci-fantasy aspect was cool, but check out Mark Lawrence's Book of the Ice series for a better example of that concept.

i'm a little confused with the way the story went. the beginning really caught be off guard with the way it quickly switched from fantasy to sci-fi. i'm all for the mixture of the two but in this case it just didn't seem to mesh well together. i will say though that the writing was truly great and i wish i liked it more!

I had a really hard time with this book. I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into it, The combination of 2 totally different genres just wouldn't fit together in my head. It was like part Star Trek, part Mad Max, and part death magic. The futuristic space travel Sci-Fi part was just so discordant from the Fantasy magical part. It seriously felt like 2 different books and I could only get into half of the story. The stories were written beautifully and I wish that the book had been separated into different ones. I would definitely read other things that this author writes, as the writing is very good. Unfortunately, this one just didn't work out for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper 360 for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Blood Metal Bone is a mixed blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I requested the book for the cover initially because it's a gorgeous cover and I couldn't resist the temptation of a great looking cover. The story though, I was a little blind to what the story was about.

I did love the book and thought the dark, twisted world of Blood Metal Bone was thought out and intriguing. However I almost DNF'd a few times due to pacing issues but I powered through because I did really like the weird blend of genres. Sonara is a fun character to follow and the world building is well-written. I was reminded of how I felt while reading The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner.

4.5 stars

Sadly this was a DNF for me. The start of the book was just too slow for me to really get into wanting to read more. The main character was rather flat and far too abrasive to want to know more about. The writing was absolutely lovely as well. I honestly don't find this the book's fault, it was just not my particular jam.

But if you like slow-paced space westerns, you will likely enjoy it!

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for giving me a free Arc in exchange for a review.

I love sci-fi and I love fantasy, but the two blended together in this book did not work for me. I felt that the sci- fi part of this book ran parallel to the fantasy for a majority of this book. The characters seemed already developed from the beginning as opposed to being developed throughout the story.

The magical elements of this book I really did enjoy as well as the world that was built in this story. I did like most the characters in this book. Overall I did enjoy most the book but ended up skimming the parts that typically involved sci-fi.

This is a Young Adult novel that has a marvelous venture into the fantasy/Science Fiction genre. I loved this book. It is the perfect combination of fantasy and science fiction together into one fantastic read. The charcters are all richly drawn to the story . I can honestly say I was unable to part with this book until it was completed. The author artfully crafted so much action that you will be compelled to keep turning pages, lose sleep and tell all your friends.

The creation of Sonora is brilliant She is a outcast living outside her society surviving any way she can. Her beloved Brother taken from the earth she never stops seeking a way to find him. Her family blames her and cast her out. She finds a rowdy gang of thieves to be part of to steal to survive. I loved her tenacity to reinvent herself in spite of her hateful family. She finds she has magical powers and uses her powers for her survival. Her magic proves useful and she works to steal from the King, is jailed and freed by her gang and their amazing dragon. She is accepted in her band of thieves and good at her craft.. She is simply a amazing charcters. This was such a fun read I wish it was not a stand alone. Well done to the author .

Thank you to Net Galley and to the publisher. A fantastic read I highly recommend.

I went into this book blind, so I did not know much about the plot, but I was pleasantly surprised. However, I struggled with the first few chapters because they seemed to end without any transition or setup for the next chapter. This caused confusion because I thought I was missing some pages. Aside from that, I truly enjoyed the plot, the characters, and the world-building. I had questions from the beginning to the end, and I was even hoping that this would not be a standalone because I wanted to know what happened next!

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Young Adult for granting me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The book has fantacy, mystery, but sadly no romance.

The plot isn't very indebth band the mystery isn't much if a mystery. I became bored about half way having figured it out. Nothing seemed to happen in the lives of our characters. They were rather poorly developed. A little bit more about who they were would have kept my interest.

Nothing I would go out and buy. Just ho hum.