You know that feeling when you finish a book, close it, and have to take a deep breath to compose yourself because it was so good? Silver in the Bone is absolutely one of those books!

Tamsin and her brother, abandoned by their foster father, are struggling to make ends meet. Despite working in a world of magic, Tamsin is without. Relying on her brother’s abilities and her research skills, they manage to take the magical odd jobs to get by until one lands in their lap that would give them a comfortable life and cure Cabell of the curse that afflicts him. This job throws them into a magical world they thought only existed in legends and threatens their lives at every turn.

Honestly, this book was absolutely amazing! The twists and turns were perfect and unexpected. The story moved at a great pace and kept me wanting more. The hope and heartbreak build you up and tear you down again and again. This book is my top read of the month so far and I can’t see that changing. If you like YA fantasy, put this book on your list and bump it to the top!

Cool concept, poor execution. I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly likeable. Tamsin in particular infuriated me. The plot was also extremely predictable.

4.25/5⭐️

In this YA fantasy series starter, our heroine Tamsin was left as a child by her unknown parents with Nash, a devil-may-care guardian and her beloved adopted brother Cabell.

As they hire-out to search for magical treasure to pay the bills, they are also searching for a talisman to break Cabell’s dreadful curse. Nash mysteriously disappears at a search site, and seven years later brother/sister travel to the fabled Avalon following clues to his/the talisman’s possible whereabouts. They find horrific dangers, powerful priestesses, more curses and a dying isle. They must wade through secrets, lies and legend to try and discover the answers they (and Avalon) need.

I enjoyed this. I really did. Tamsin showed growth along the way (she started out a bit annoying to me), as she began to trust and overcome abandonment issues. There’s also the promise of discovering exactly what her true power is. The brother and sister dynamic was strong and supportive. Emrys, the son of a wealthy but cold power player in the magical world, is an interesting and complex character that I look forward to seeing more of. And the Avalon priestesses were well-drawn and heroic.

However I also had a couple of things that weren’t great for me. First, at 500 pages it needed more editing…it was really just too much. And secondly, I had trouble keeping straight all the magical terms/talismans thrown at me…too much, too fast, and I actually felt it often interrupted the flow of the story for me.

On the plus side, there’s a great cliffhanger with lots more that can be explored in future books.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House/Knopf Books for providing the free early arc of Silver in the Bone for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

This book was amazing I love her writing style and she’s an author I’ve been wanted to read for a while I must check out her backlog

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Pub for this earc!

This book was amazing! It’s been a minute since I’ve read a book by Alex Bracken and this is a great one to come back to. Bring back all the good YA!!!

Honestly, I liked so much about this book. It’s fast pased, with an amazing plot that keep you on your toes, very complicated relationships and some insane plot twists

Tamsin was an amazing choice for the lead: the girl without power in worlds where powers are basically the only thing keeping you alive. I found it super entertaining that she has a photographic memory. Always make it interesting to see what random information will come up. But let’s be honest, the only thing I need to know is where this girl ACTUALLY comes from. I need to know this yesterday.

Tamsin’s relationship with her brother Cabell is complicated to say the least but after this ending??? Will Cabell be the bad guy in the sequel? Will we see him come back? Will his cuse be removed? So many questions

Nash. We only saw him for about 30 seconds but that guy has some serious explaining to do.

Emrys. My boy. My broken boy who better have a GOOD explanation for what he did because I am still very much want to see him and Tamsin together because there is NO WAY “I’m here” scene and “I want you” scene were a lie. NO WAY. These two are meant to be. If they don’t figure it out in the next book, I will be very unhappy.

We also have a lot of girl power in this book and I cannot wait to see more of that in book 2

Now, let's talk about those late 50 PAGES because WHAT. HAPPENED. THERE? I love a good plot twist as the next girl, but killing off basically EVERYONE? That was just mean.

Overall, is book 2 written yet because i NEED IT

**3.5 STARS**

Content Warning: violence, gore, death

I wasn’t sure what to expect when requesting this book. I enjoyed Lore which is from the same author. So I thought the concept for this one was intriguing. Here is what I thought:

+ Once I got my bearings in the story, and things started to gel a bit better I was really into the action parts of this story. It’s quite an adventure that Tamsin goes through in this book. It’s urban fantasy so it starts off in the modern world and there is magic, portals and yes Avalon. So I enjoyed all the places this book took me, it’s quite a journey.

+ I liked the characters. Tamsin is that girl who has abandonment issues, doesn’t have a traditional family, doesn’t have anyone really except her brother Cabell. She keeps people away with a gruff, pessimistic front which means she’s not the easiest to be around. Cabell is dealing with some things! Neve is this cool and kind hearted girl who is a sorceress and then there is the gorgeous Emrys who is a rich boy but he has his own issues to deal with. And then there are all the characters in Avalon that were fun to get to know.

+ I mentioned the action but can I say I didn’t expect this to get a bit scary/creepy too? There are zombies in this one and they are relentless and vicious. I actually enjoyed the scenes when they were fighting them even if it got bloody and gory.

+ The ending is a cliffhanger but wow, how the story leads up to it is pretty exciting. I think the second half of this book was the best part, there were a few plot twists that were unexpected. I need to know what is going to happen with Cabell, what is going on with Emrys and I am rooting for the girls to do what they need to do!

~ It took me awhile to get situated in the beginning of the book because I was thrown into it. I didn’t know what Tamsin was, what a Hollower was, if this was fantasy, if this was contemporary. I kind of wish I was lead into it a bit better.

~ Pacing – at times this book was going really fast, because the action is really great and then once it would get good, it pulled back. I had to check a few times how many more pages was left in the book because I was hoping I was near the finish line. It definitely felt like 480 pages.

~ The zombies or Children of the Night are reminiscent of the Whitewalkers in Game of Thrones. They are afraid of fire, they are freakishly scary and want blood, and come out at night. It’s what I totally pictured in my head when I read the scenes with the Children of the Night. Also the bodycount factor reminded me of GoT also! The author wasn’t afraid to kill off good people in this story – it was a heartbreaking scene but definitely makes me want to read book two. But anyway if you aren’t into zombies – this might not be for you.

Tropes: found family

Why you should read it:
*King Arthur legends, adventure, zombies, magic
*the enemies to lovers romance between Tamsin and Emrys
*you like urban fantasy

Why you might not want to read it:
*you get thrown in to the story, pacing is all over the place, it’s kind of chaotic until you get your bearings

My Thoughts:

I found this book very entertaining for the most part! The pacing issues made it feel laggy in some places but the action was really good especially in the later part of the book. I will definitely read book two because I want to know what happens to these amazing characters.

Be warned. This book is a wild ride and ends on a huge cliffhanger.

That being said, Alexandra Bracken creates a tense, tightly-packed story that uses Arthurian legend while imagining new elements of these familiar stories.

Tamsin Lark and her brother, Cabell, are Hollowers - people who look for magical artifacts to sell. The problem is that Tamsin has no magical abilities, their foster father disappeared, and Cabell is being consumed by a curse. Then Tamsin hears rumors that her foster father found a magical ring from Arthurian legend, a ring that can break curses. She sets off to find the ring while being chased by greedy and dangerous Hollowers. To add to an already fraught story, Tamsin has to partner with her nemesis - spoiled and wealthy Emerys Dye.

I had trouble following all of the magic and spells, and at times, it seemed as if Bracken wrote a scene that would reveal something important but ended up yielding a dead end. However, Tamsin is such a well-developed and complicated character, and even if I felt that the story was flat, Tamsin's journey eclipsed the plot holes.

Absolutely loved this story and can't wait for the sequel!! The first few chapters were a bit of a struggle to get through and felt a bit disjointed but once it hit its stride I couldn't put it down!

This twist on Arthurian legend was fantastic, not enough stories are told about the women in Arthurian tales and Silver in the Bone was just the ticket. The author does a wonderful job melding modern magical times with the world of Avalon. While I would have liked a bit more world-building the cast of characters is what makes this story truly engrossing.

It had just enough romance, mystery (it kept me guessing until the very end), adventure, magic, and heartbreak that I had to sit back and take it all in after I'd finished. There are so many unanswered questions that I will be impatiently awaiting the sequel.

Thank you NetGally and the publisher for providing an ARC for an honest review, this will be a book I buy for my nieces.

Silver in the Bone is a new Arthurian inspired story by Alexandra Bracken that I truly wanted so much to enjoy. This is my fourth book by this author and I believe it will be my last. I just don’t connect to her writing at all. Which is completely a me thing as a lot of her books are very well loved. It’s unfair of me to keep trying to read her books and rating them low because they just aren’t for me.

I dnfed this at 30 percent. I’ll give it a three star on here because I don’t think there is anything actually wrong with the book, I just didn’t enjoy it.

I absolutely loved this book! King Arthur isn't my favourite setting for fantasy novels, so I wasn't sure what I was going to think about it when I started it, but it was so well done. As much as this is marketed as a king Arthur retelling, the story of King Arthur doesn't actually play a large role. Rather, the names are the only significant part of the original legends. The lore of the world is still present but the twist on the original story was a nice change. The world building was really well done too. I could clearly imagine the European setting as well as the isle of Avalon

Tamsin's character was fantastic! She’s a badass who knows how to take care of herself. She's the only human in the school who doesn't have the One Vision so she already struggles to fit in with her peers, but her murky history just adds to her struggles. Her relationship with her brother, Cabell, was fantastic to see. I also really loved the reverse grump/sunshine trope between Tamsin and Emrys. The academic rivalry, the banter, the fighting of feelings👀😩 and the scene in chapter 39 *swoon.* I liked getting to know a bit about the inhabitants of the isle of Avalon alongside Neve, as well. I really liked the concept of the Hollowers and their role in the magic system. They're like a guild of magpies, always collecting treasures.

This one was easy to follow and it had me hooked from the beginning. I will admit that the twists were a little easy to guess but it didn't pull anything away from the overall story. And after the last 10% of the book, I really need the next book! Overall this one was fantastic and I highly recommend checking it out when it releases April 4th 2023!

Review can be found on my Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/25250667-maegan-maeganisreading

Fantasy novels are my favorite. But one of the things that I struggle with the most when starting a new series, is the world building. In this book, the world building is very complex with a lot of characters names that I found myself having trouble keeping up with I did like the connection to Arthur, I also liked the touch of modern fantasy where cell phones and computers were being used. I do think this book for the most part of it was very slow, but once I got to the end, it picked up and read much quicker.

Alexandra Bracken has been one of my must-read authors since 2012 (wow), and I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since she started sharing hints on Instagram. I’m usually not that interested by Arthurian-inspired premises but after Lore, I was excited to see how she incorporated this mythology into our world. Bold and mysterious, Silver in the Bone opens a door to a unknown world as a girl sets out to find a mythical ring to save her brother from his curse.

Tamsin Lark and her brother Cabell are Hollowers, people part of a magical guild that hunts down legendary treasures. Their foster father seemingly abandoned them ten years ago, and in the present, they’ve discovered that he vanished with a ring from Arthurian legend that can break any curse. Tamsin is determined to be the one to find the ring so she can break Cabell’s curse, so much so that she reluctantly teams up with her rival Emrys. When the three of them, along with Neve, inadvertently stumble into a new land, they must uncover dark secrets and magic before they can return to their lives.

Bracken has really immersed us in a new world in this book. This isn’t an Arthurian retelling, but rather, exists in a world where all those legends were real, with Avalon disappearing from our world to another realm. Cunningfolk—people who have a magical ability—and sorceresses are left in our world, along with legendary treasures. Tamsin doesn’t have any magical ability nor does she even possess the One Vision, which would allow her to see past glamours and curses. Cabell’s gift is that he can clear curse magic, except that of his own curse. There’s more to the world that we’re introduced to, but I won’t get into it since it’s spoiler-y.

Tamsin is a departure from Bracken’s past protagonists, in that she’s a little mean and so pessimistic that the other characters often question what’s going through her brain. She’s like this because she’s grown up thinking that it’s her and her brother against the world, especially after their foster father abandoned them. She’d do anything to keep Cabell safe, without even questioning whether he needs her help or not.

I also liked the other characters in our cast! Emrys and Tamsin have a bad relationship, to say the least, and they spend much of their scenes together bickering. There’s clearly more to why he’s looking for the ring, and the two of them gradually build up a rapport. Tamsin is also distrustful of Neve, who is pretty much the opposite of her with her optimism. I liked seeing how Tamsin slowly but surely starts letting more people in other than her brother throughout the book.

My biggest complaint about this book is that the characters’ relationships felt underdeveloped and more told than shown. We know that Tamsin hates Emrys but I feel like there wasn’t enough groundwork laid there for us to really believe it, so that their bickering fell flat most of the time. I also know that a large part of Tamsin’s character is that she’d do anything for her brother, but I feel like Cabell is just sort of there for much of the book and doesn’t reciprocate to the point that I wasn’t really feeling their close bond.

All the relationships did feel more developed by the end of the book, so I do think this will be better in book two. I just feel like character dynamics is one of Bracken’s strong points, so I was surprised by the fact that I wasn’t convinced by a lot of them in this book. I also think the middle of the book dragged a lot, but I did enjoy the last 20% a lot, hence a slightly higher rating.

In the end, I did enjoy Silver in the Bone besides a few sticking points. The world building really set you in this world, and I liked the characters. The ending threw so much at us, and I desperately need the sequel after the last chapter. If you’re a fan of Bracken’s other books and/or Arthurian-inspired books, I think you’ll enjoy Silver in the Bone!

I was lucky enough to buddy-read this with Dini and Julie. I always love when we receive the same arcs and can discuss our thoughts as we go. There were a lot of thoughts on this one!

This is a retelling of King Arthur and the legends that go with him. I felt like it was a very unique take on it and really enjoyed it. Sometimes it can feel like the retelling doesn’t have much imagination and that’s not the case here. I think that Bracken chose a very cool aspect to run with. With that being said, there were a lot of issues with world-building. From the very beginning, we get thrown into this magical world with no explanations. It made it difficult to follow along so I started to just ignore my questions/concerns. There are many instances that we were confused or had to see if the other person found any clarity. It makes the pacing of the book slow down a bit too.

Although, there are a ton of issues with the world-building the characters and their relationships are amazing. They really make this book and it becomes hard to stop reading. There’s one gripe that I have with the MC, Tamsin, and it’s that she is so cynical. She’s extremely rude to everyone around her. While I understand that it’s a coping mechanism, it’s hard to keep reading repeatedly. I felt bad for all those around her and she didn’t seem to care. She took it on as a personality trait like it was a valid piece of armor. I did love the relationship she had with her brother, Cabell. They are against the world and there’s nothing like your found family. Emry is Tamsin’s love interest and he’s my favorite thing about this book! He brings a lot of humor and really starts to bring Tamsin out of her shell. There’s a lot going on with him that I would love to dive into more. Mabe a novella or something because there’s so much there we don’t get experience.

The supporting characters in this book really make a huge impact too. Since you don’t really know what is going on and who is the “bad guy” you question everyone. Throughout the book, you really start to fall for them and really hope it’s not them.

Overall, the characters and relationships saved this book. The world-building, pacing, and all the unanswered questions, in the end, leave you wanting more. I’m still planning on reading the second book because I need to know what happens.

Many thanks to Knopf Books for Young Readers & Netgalley for an arc to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

The best thing about this book was the cover. This failed to grab me through the entire story. I swear I have the same issue with all of this author's books. The start is amazing but once you get to the middle it falls apart. It gets stagnate and boring and you just want to toss the book across the room. This one was actually a little better during the middle sections but overall it just wasn't enough to keep me reading. The world building needed more and the characters were kind of boring.

Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5

“Anytime you doubt that, anytime you start to worry you did the wring thing, I’ll tell you that. And even if we’re old and gray and I can barely remember my own name, I’ll remember this and I’ll still tell you the same.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Silver in the Bone is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy inspired by Arthurian lore. It has an incredible cast of characters, lush and atmospheric writing, and multiple plot twists that are guaranteed to leave your mind reeling.

There are so many things that I enjoyed about this book. I loved our protagonist, Tamsin. She was gloriously pessimistic, but she also had the dedication and drive to do whatever it took to save her brother, Cabell. Their relationship in this book felt so authentic, and my heart breaks for what they’ve gone through together.

I adored the romance between Tamsin and Emrys in this book. It’s a mild enemies to lovers complete with witty banter, a high stakes competition, and a sprinkling of “lets cuddle to warm up, definitely not because we’re attracted to each other.” After that ending, I can’t wait to read more about them in the next book.

I also really enjoyed the friendship that grew between Tamsin and Neve. It starts off with them butting heads slightly, but the utter chaos that is the last 100 pages of this book brings them much closer and solidifies their bond.

I can’t really say much about the 8 billion plot twists (this is a conservative estimate) at the end of this book without spoiling, but they were executed perfectly. I am someone who often gets confused with complex fantasy books, but that wasn’t the case here at all. It was new reveal upon new reveal, and by the end of this book I was screaming and nearly crying because of how good this ending is. Trust me, you won’t want to miss reading this book.

Silver in the Bone is out April 4th!

Silver in the Bone by A. Bracken will be a mega-hit when it is published in April 2023. For fans of “The Once and Future King” series by T. H. White, this will also be a favorite. As an educator, I look for books that will inspire children, teens and YA to have a passion for reading books, and this contemporary fantasy is one of them! Diving into the story of Tamsin Lark, we find an underdog to root for, as she tries to save herself and keep her brother, Cabell, alive, in this tense thriller. As a fan of Arthurian legends, I found the world building to be spot-on. I could identify with the legendary locations, and magical details from many other Arthurian books I have read. This book will be a strong “book of the year” for ages 10 and higher, because all of us want to be a hero-in-the-making, and now we can live that through this story. A strength of this book is the descriptive settings (as I said earlier), and following the adventures and mystery along with Tamsin. A limitation for this book may be it is slow to build in the first few chapters. But once it takes off, the magical realism, with contemporary themes is pure energy when mixed with likable characters, strong action and a huge ending. I hope the sequel comes out fast. It will be needed! I highly recommend this to be on every school library shelf as fast as librarians can get it.

Many thanks to Random House Children’s and Knopf Books for Young Readers via NetGalley for this arc. I read it voluntarily and all opinions are my own. Five out of five stars, and by the way - I LOVE the cover! I plan on purchasing this in hardback. Review will be posted according to timeline publisher recommended.

It took me a long time to get a general understanding of the world and the characters (I still can't remember more than half of them), and I think I need to do another read in case I missed anything in the beginning, but I think this is the case for a lot of fantasy series. By the last third of the book, I was completely invested. The story started picking up and I was really enjoying the world and the characters. I wish there was a little bit more in regards to the Arthurian retelling but the author did a great job with all the twists towards the end of the book.

Tamsin is an interesting character to read. She gets a little frustrating sometimes but it's understandable considering what she's been through. She's a strong character and her character development was done very well as we get a better sense of why she acts the way she does. I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens with the other characters, especially Emrys. Silver in the Bone is full of adventure, complex characters, and twists that leaves readers eager for more.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Random House Children’s Books for giving me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Silver in the Bone is a YA Fantasy novel inspired by Arthurian legend. We follow Tamsin Lark who is a Hollower. As a mortal with no magical talent, she was never meant to break into ancient crypts or compete with sorceresses and Cunningfolk for the treasure inside. But after her thieving foster father disappeared without so much as a goodbye it was the only way to keep herself--and her brother--alive. Ten years later, Tamsin is on the hunt for a powerful ring from Arthurian legend in the hope that the ring could free her brother from the curse that threatens both of them. Silver in the Bone comes out on April 4th and is available for preorder now.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started this novel to find that the first part of the story is more of an Urban Fantasy which eventually makes it way into a more traditional Fantasy setting. I always enjoy when the magical and fantastical can exist in a world that usually feels pretty boring. I also loved seeing Tamsin and co. find their way into a more common Fantasy setting. Those are the two things that I really think the author did an A+ job with: the settings. I could see exactly what Tamsin was at every moment and I felt like I could settle myself into those worlds pretty well. I found the characters to be likable for the most part. Though, some of the characters were lacking the depth I really wanted. Seeing a mostly female centric story when most Fantasy tends to lean heavily male was fun. I liked seeing these magical women deal with the problems that popped up throughout the novel. My favorite character was definitely Neve which was pretty unexpected given how we meet her originally. I found that the plot hit a lot of points that we see in most Fantasy so it wasn’t as compelling as I would have liked, but I found that I still enjoyed following Tamsin as she tried to unravel the mystery in front of her. I also really enjoyed the last ten pages of this one. Which sounds so random, but we get a chance to see a reversal of the earlier Fantasy setting swap which was just generally fun and a comic relief that was needed after everything that came before it.

As I said earlier, parts of this novel was pretty predictable. I felt like there were a lot of familiar beats in this one which made it a little harder to get invested. I also struggled to figure out, based on everything we know about this character, how the betrayal happened in the end. Maybe it’s just that we didn’t get enough of this particular character before it happened. Or maybe the writing isn’t clear on why this person would betray the other person. There were a few moments like that in the novel where I felt like the writing wasn’t clear enough on the point the author was trying to get across. I spent a few chapters trying to understand what the author meant about a magical object and it was only cleared up when the main character had to finally use it. So, that wasn’t great.

Overall, I think this is a fun and surprisingly fast read given how long the novel is. I think it’s going to be best for readers who have read a little less Fantasy than this 33 year old woman who reads a hundred books a year. I think this is also great for fans of Arthurian legend.

I thought the writing and the folklore of this book was really good and interesting. Quite honestly, the writing itself was wonderful. However, I wasn’t a fan of the “modern” world and I just couldn’t get into the world itself of this book.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Knopf Books for Young Readers for my complimentary arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Silver in the Bone was a fantastic retelling of the Isle of Avalon and King Arthur's Legend. Alexandra pulls the reader in from the very first page and we are off on a fantastic adventure. You cannot help but be drawn into the fantasy world of King Arthur and Avalon. I enjoyed "watching" the story unravel inside my head. This is why I never see a movie or show based on a book I have read; the imagery on the screen never matches what I have conjured up in my imagination.

Tamsin and Cabell are brother and sister, who have been abandoned by their "father" after he fails to return from Avalon. They set out on a quest to find him, and an artifact which may help Cabell fight his life long curse. Will the inhabitants of Avalon be able to help them? Or is nothing as it seems on the fair isle of Avalon. Do not let your guard down for one minute.

There is plenty of action, magic and battles to keep you turning pages long into the night (ask me how I know this) and it all culminates in a blockbuster ending that will leave you begging for more. I mean come on! When is the sequel coming??