Thank you NetGalley & Random House Children's for the ARC!

Silver in the Bone is an urban fantasy that follows mortal Tamsin as she searches for a ring to break her brother's curse, while serving rivals to lovers and found family goodness.

I found myself unable to stop reading it; Bracken's writing has an addicting quality to it, which is especially good because this book started off rough. In the beginning, the magic system isn't well explained; readers are thrown into the thick of it, making it especially confusing. While it is Arthurian inspired, it wasn't to the extent I would have liked it, more of something that's alluded to here & there but wasn't central to the fantasy element. My biggest problem was the dialogue: it felt forced and unnatural, with Tamsin's zingers being especially reminiscent of something a 2003 YA heroine would say.

Overall, an interesting premise that didn't quite deliver during execution. Many reviews say that this is a book that gets better towards the end, but there wasn't enough in the beginning that kept me wanting to read to the end.

SILVER IN THE BONE is a series opener that follows Tamsin Lark, a Hollower--one who breaks into ancient crypts for magical objects--despite not having any magical powers herself. She and her brother, who bears a dangerous curse, have been on their own ever since their guardian disappeared. When Tamsin finds out about a ring from the legend of King Arthur, one that carries the power to dispel curses, she goes in search of it only to uncover a terrible and dark magic that threatens everything.

I remember fondly enjoying Bracken's earliest books back in the YA dystopia craze (circa 2012). She blew me away with her 2021 book LORE. And now she's utterly destroyed me with SILVER IN THE BONE. 5 stars.

First and foremost, this book is only a retelling in the loosest sense. Instead, it uses the legend of King Arthur and his knights to set a background for Tamsin's story. Those going in thinking that this is a straight-up retelling might be a little disappointed with the way the story plays out. However, on it's own its a rousing fantasy adventure novel that's worth reading.

Living in modern Boston, Tamsin is completely normal but is painfully aware of the magic that surrounds her in a myriad of ways, from her brother's curse to the job she does. She and her brother are Hollowers who use legend and myth to find powerful relics, and sometimes that means working with sorceresses and people who have a touch of magic.

In a lot of ways, I felt like this was a true adventure story revolving around a quest. For Tamsin, her goal is the Ring of Dispel--a relic that appears in stories of King Arthur that is said to dissipate curses. It turns into a true survival story with a smattering of characters, immortal knights, and creatures of the night. Tamsin has a very strong character arc over the course of the story, and the secrets she discovers are absolutely life-changing.

The only thing I disliked? That cruel, cruel cliffhanger. Making me wait until 2024 for the as yet unnamed sequel is an absolute attack on my soul. Regardless, this is a book to put on your TBR right away.

Posted to Goodreads on March 21, 2023.

What I Liked:
Silver in the Bone is a story inspired by Arthurian Legend that starts in the modern world but soon travels to Avalalon. Silver in the Bone is way darker, bloodier, and creepier than expected. Avalon has been corrupted by dark, mysterious zombie-like creatures, which makes for a horror-type story that turned me off. I was not a fan of that at all, and the gruesome death scenes were also a big turn-off.
Final Verdict:
Silver in the Bone starts with an introduction to a fantastic world where humans have magic, except for Tasmin, tell she does. Parts of the story dragged but then picked up when we entered Avalon. I was surprised by the twists and violence in the last half of the book. I was not a massive fan of some of the parts of this story; I am intrigued enough by the ending and left with questions to want to check out the rest of the series.

I loved this book. The whole way through, from beginning to end, it kept my attention and had me wanting more.

This is a great fantasy with a lot of aspects taking place in our modern world and others in Avalon. Tamsin is an amazing character. I think she's incredibly dynamic. She has abandonment issues from the time her and her brother were left by their guardian at a young age. This left them both to scavenge and continue stealing magical artifacts for money.

When Tamsin decides to go after an important artifact for a sorceress that will pay well, she takes on a bit more than expected, and she finds herself in a completely different and very magical situation.

This book stopped at a major cliffhanger. Suffice to say, I will be waiting for the sequel and I'm so excited!

Out April 4, 2023!

Great start to a new series by this author! Can’t wait to see where this goes. I recommend and would purchase a physical copy.

Holy moly, this book was a wild ride!

I have to say, this isn't a favorite AB book of mine. It was a bit slow and I felt like the romance was too forced. BUT, with that being said, I also thought the Arthurian world was incredibly dark and surprising. I didn't expect it to be as gory as it was, but I loved every minute of it. Along with lovable side characters, magic, and lore, Silver in the Bone completely swept me off my feet.

And that ending?? Speechless.

While I wasn't as invested in the characters and plot as I was for Lore, AB has created another specular and unique world. I can't wait to see how she builds on it and what's going to happen next for Tamsin and her crew of misfits.

in this arthurian-inspired fantasy, tamsin struggles as a thief and with taking care of her cursed younger brother. her rival, emrys, suggests that a powerful ring could break cabell’s curse, but they’re far from the only ones going after it.

this was my first alexandra bracken book and i will definitely be reading more in the future. i loved how action-packed this book was. although i really don’t know much about arthurian mythology, i thoroughly enjoyed the lore. i also loved the characters and cannot wait to continue their stories in the next book!

I really enjoyed this book. It did take awhile for me to fully understand the world; it is slightly over complicated with a lot of terminology and subgroups to learn. The characters are fun and well developed. I really enjoyed Tamsin, the reluctant hero of the story. And Cabell, Emrys, and Neve were really enjoyable side characters who brought a lot of personality. I appreciated that this book involves elements of both an urban fantasy and an "other realm" fantasy.

I do think this was a bit long and could have been edited down more so that the plot was more straightforward. There were a lot of offshoots what were not strictly necessary and bogged down the plot. I'm definitely interested in seeing where this goes from here, I just hope book 2 is a little more focused.

Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing an ARC of Silver in the Bone!

First, thank you to NetGalley for providing me an e-arc to read this.
This story started a bit slow for me, but I was soon wrapped up in it and enjoying each twist and turn. However, I’m going to need the next book asap bc that ending! Holy cliffhanger! UGH!

great book and such great characters. I enjoyed the mystery and some romance. I also enjoyed the journey of the characters. I didn't know what to expect with this book but I enjoyed it .

I like the premise, but my interested flagged as I kept reading. The pace is deathly slow, and I couldn’t see it being worth continuing.

Out of respect for the author I will not be posting a review for this book.
I will not be finishing it. I'm at 64% and I've been bored the whole time and I truly have no idea what is really going on. The pacing is super slow. The background is lacking. The plot is confusing..
I love Bracken and her writing, but this book totally missed the mark for me.

thank you so much to netgalley and knopf books for young readers for the arc of silver in bone! I loved Lore so I was very excited to read this book, and it did not disappoint! i would give it an overall 4/4.5 rating! i loved the characters in the story tamsin is someone i loved and was annoyed by, but its only because it takes a little bit to fully understand why she is who she is. and as a whole i adore her- she goes through a beautiful and developmental arc in the story. i also loved the supporting characters in the novel they were phenomenal- the nine were these all powerful and courageous women. i adored learning about them and all that they have done, it was a story i was previously unfamiliar with and i loved it. all of the lore used in the book was so well done and so interesting, it was nothing like any of the other books i have previously read that involved the story/lore of king arthur. the take on avalon was so so good, i felt truly transported their during the story. bracken does such a great job with world building. at times i did get a little confused with some of the magical elements- i understood the whole big picture but some of the details were a little too similar for me to fully get the difference between little things, however this did not take away from the story for me. i also loved the romantic subplot it was so fantastic, i was enchanted by the little enemies to lovers dance tasmin and emrys did. lastly the cliffhanger at the end of the book absolutely destroyed me. i believe cliffhangers should be illegal honestly because i need book two right now! overall this book was wonderful and i very much enjoyed reading it! i can’t wait for it to come out so i can purchase a physical copy!

I'm a tough critic of modern fantasy. I think the setting makes it really hard for me to be fully encapsulated in a fantasy setting. That being said, Silver in the Bone has exceeded my expectations and much more. When I first picked up this book, I definitely wasn't expecting the setting to be what it was, but I make it a rule not to give up on a book just because it's not what I expected. I'm so glad I didn't give up on this book. This book was nothing like I expected. It shattered all expectations, and might even earn the title of one of my top books of 2023.

After the first few chapters, I was hooked. Tamsin and her brother Cabell, are hallowers, people who have the power to see what the normal world cannot, and use that gift to steal magical relics. The only problem is Tamsin doesn't have the gift of sight. After being abandoned by her caretaker. Tamsin and her brother are left to fend for themselves, ruthlessly trying to make it in a world that is unkind to her. When a sorceress has a job for a hard to find item, Tamsin and her brother must go against other hallowers to find this one of a kind relic. But wait there's more. Here's where the story really comes into its own and becomes un-put-downable.

The world Bracken has created was simply enthralling. I found myself unable to put this book down, my mind wandering to the characters during moments I was forced to adult and unable to read. One of my tell-tale signs of a 5 star book. The world building was incredible as were the complex characters she created. There were so many layers to these characters and every few pages, we got another suprise or another peek at what made those characters tick.

Sometimes, it's hard to be surprised in a story, plots often predictive or overused, but this book literally had jaw dropping twists and turns that I didn't expect. It was such a fresh take on a fantasy, which is a very hard skill. I'm already counting down the days until book 2!

Thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of Silver in the Bone!

It took me a while to find my pace with this book. The opening scene threw you right into the midst of things with no idea what was going on and a lot of terminology you had to quickly figure out. I feel like this was something the author did in Lore as well, so if you struggled with it there, be aware going into this!

There is a time skip after the opening scene and I feel like the pacing of information to answers works a lot better as we get further into the story.

Tamsin Lark is surly and has a chip on her shoulder the size of Avalon. She trusts no one and lashes out at anyone who tries to get close to her. She is exactly the type of character I love to read about, so this worked really well for me!

The last 10% of the the book was just one jaw-dropping reveal after another and I am so excited for the next book. (If Alexandra Bracken wants to send me each chapter as she finishes it, I would be over the moon)

Because of the slower start, I rated this 4.25 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Silver in the Bone to review!
Alexandra Bracken's new fantasy series follows Tamsin Lark who is a Hollower(a mortal with no magical abilities but someone who knows about the Arthurian Legend and magic that runs through the world). When Tamsin hears of a new task that might be very risky but also might save her brother Cabell from the curse that he has had to fight his entire life she cannot pass up the opportunity. Racing head to head with Emrys on this task to find a coveted ring that went lost 10 years ago, Tamsin finds herself getting pulled through worlds to ultimately find the ring that can save her brother. Filled with romance, twists, and betrayals I recommend this to anyone who loves Shadowhunters, Legendborn, or anyone who is looking for their next new Urban Fantasy novel. Look no further!!
I unfortunately had VERY mixed feelings about this book. Coming from someone who read and LOVED both the Darkest Minds series and the Passenger series this is very disappointing to admit. I don't know if it was a me problem and I was just never fully invested in the story but I felt like the book took A WHILE to get going and only ever got mildly good. I think that because there was a lot of structure that needed to be built it took us a while to get anywhere with the story until like 1/3 of the way into the book. Because of this I just felt like a good portion of the book felt very slow and like I couldn't identify what the main point we were attempting to reach was. My other main issue (and again this might be a me problem because I had the same issue with Legendborn) was that the Arthurian Legend just did not interest me. I don't know if I'm just not getting it but I feel like this story would've been significantly better if it did not draw on Arthurian Legend and we just made up a completely original magic system instead. The King Arthur stuff just does not draw me in or spike my interest in any way and that issue really hurt my enjoyment of the novel. I really liked all the members of our main squad but I thought their personalities could have been fluffed up just a smidge(especially Cabell).And I thought that Cabell, Emrys, and Neve all brought very unique traits and I kind of wish we got to see a little bit more of them all working together. I really liked the romance and I thought that it was perfectly balanced with the rest of the plot. I think that the twists at the climax and the cliffhanger at the very end of the book are really what made it for me. Throughout the first 85% of the book I had zero interest in finding out what happens in the next book but as soon as I got to the end I now desperately want to know how the events of book 2 unfold. Overall, I thought that this book was mostly just very average for me with a few bits and pieces that kept me intrigued enough to keep reading.

While the premise of this novel sounded appealing, Silver in the Bone did not quite live up to its hype. The beginning was slow to capture my interest and I almost DNF this fantasy that incorporates Arthurian legend. What I often do when a novel fails to grab my attention after several chapters is that I start to skim through the novel and read the final chapters to see if the end justifies my reading time. In this case, I decided to continue reading.

Overall, I found that the plot was slow-moving and uneven with no sense of urgency until the last third when the storyline picked-up the pace. There were inconsistencies with the characters and with some of the details of the world in which this story takes place. There is a cliffhanger ending that left me curious as to what happens next, but I’m not sure if I’m willing to slog through another novel in this world to find out more about Tamsin’s situation.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am usually 100% sold on any Arthurian legend/hint of a retelling, and an Indiana Jones type-story? Even better. Unfortunately, this particular one was a bit of a miss for me, and while I didn't completely DNF, I did skim the last 50-25% of this book.

For some reason the characters didn't really work for me, and things seemed like they were kept mysterious purely for the sake of driving the plot along and being mysterious. I can definitely see how this might work for others, especially anyone driven to read this because of the hints of Arthurian legend, and I will say that aspect of it was different than any other that I've read, but I didn't love this and ended up giving it three out of five stars.

Tamsin is a Hollower, but was never meant to be one. She doesn’t have any magical talent or the all important Sight, unlike her brother, Cabell, and the man who mentored both of them, or any of the other Hollowers. Instead, she makes up for her lack of natural ability with grit and a great deal of determination, even after her mentor vanishes into the mist and abandons her and Cabell. Now, Tamsin only has Cabell with her, but he’s been dealing with a curse for years, and it’s getting much worse. When Tamsin hears about a ring that might cure him, and that her mentor had been searching for it on the night that he left them, she comes up with a plan to find it. Helping Cabell overcome his curse is what matters most to her in the world, even when she finds herself deep in over her head, with the boy she finds most infuriating there to watch her struggle.

I received an advanced reading copy of Silver in the Bone in exchange for an honest review.

Silver in the Bone is a young adult fantasy novel by Alexandra Bracken. I’ve read some of Bracken’s books before (The Darkest Minds) and knew she’d written some fantasy as well, but I’d never actually read any of her fantasy books. When I heard that Silver in the Bone had Arthurian mythology in it, though, I knew that I had to pick this up.

I’m actually finding it so hard to review this book without spoiling it. I will say that whatever I expected from this book, it wasn’t this, but in a good way! There were so many twists to it, from where the story would go, to what would happen next. I was constantly pulled to the edge of my seat, especially because there was so much action involved in the story too. We have so many battles, and so many moments when the characters are in grave danger, and reading about all of that was exciting!

But I also appreciated how we also got to know Tamsin quite a bit throughout this story. She has a lot of issues, and many of them hold her back throughout this story. I just love when misbeliefs (that’s a writing term there, but it basically means that it’s something the character believes even if it might be wrong) end up influencing the character’s decisions, and kind of messing stuff up for them. Here, Tamsin is convinced that Nash, her mentor, abandoned her and her brother, and maybe it had something to do with her. (Not a spoiler, it comes up pretty early in the book.) And so, even while dealing with dangerous magic and horrifying situations, she also has to deal with some pretty severe abandonment issues.

We also get to know a bunch of other characters (although I will say that at some points I started losing track as to who was whom, especially since we do get a lot of characters introduced to us at one moment), and many of them also have emotional baggage. First, and most obviously, we have Cabell, Tamsin’s brother. He has a literal curse he is carrying around, and one that if he doesn’t overcome, might lead to some pretty horrifying things. Other characters pop up too, and about the frustrating boy I mentioned in the summary above, that would be Emrys. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty excited when I read that name, because I was a huge fan of the Merlin BBC show in my teens, and just reading the name Emrys brings up good memories of that. I really should rewatch that, it’s just so good! Anyway, Emrys also has a lot of baggage, and becomes a pretty interesting character in his own right, although I did kind of guess at some of his baggage.

Speaking of guessing, while so many of the twists were so wild they had me actually gaping my mouth at them, a couple of my other suspicions did pay up, and I was pleased about them. What I didn’t expect was that ending! I’m just, I’m kind of still in shock at that, but obviously I can’t reveal what happened.

Luckily, Silver in the Bone will be released on April 4. You can pre-order it from Knopf Books for Young Readers here, and when you read it, you should let me know what you think of the ending in the comments!

Content Warnings: Death, gore, blood, violence, body horror, and animal death. Mention of: abandonment, parental neglect, and child abuse.

Wow. That was a ride. When I started the book I really didn't know where it was going to go or how it would need more than one book...well I still don't know exactly where the overall story will go [I'm so excited to see though!] but I definitely see why more books are needed.

It was easy to relate to Tamsin and her feelings of abandonment, lacking, and her fierce drive to do whatever it takes to protect and save her brother. Growing up Tamsin was shown time and again that the only people she could truly rely on was herself and her brother. Knowing that connections to people just delays the inevitable pain when they abandon her, like so many have done before, she actively prevents connections from occurring.

This was such a fantastic read, I loved the lore and storytelling aspect, and I cannot wait for the next installment so I can see where Tamsin's journey takes her!