Alex Bracken is one of my all time favorite authors and I was so excited for another fantasy from her. This is a book I'm probably going to have to read again to fully catch every detail and I can't wait to dive back in with a finished copy. The romance was great, but I didn't love the characters as much as I love her other books. As always, she's a master of worldbuilding and always thinks of the tiniest, most intricate details to set her story apart. And can we talk about that ENDING? I can't believe I have to wait over a year to find out what happens next.

I desperately wanted to love this, but it just never worked for me. None of the characters captured my heart. I can see this being exactly what some readers are looking for, but alas it wasn't for me.

I have a love hate relationship with all Alexandra Brackens books. Usually its because I love the tension she builds but hate the wait for the next installment ;)

This might be my favorite Bracken book to date. We’re talking relatable and lovable characters. A magic system that works and is easy to understand. Evenly spaced out small info dumps that aren’t overwhelming. Overall a very promising and entertaining start to a new series that I will definitely keep reading as soon as the next installment releases.

I feel like no words will really describe how well done this book is. My only complaint would be I’d like to see more of the Arthur lore being utilized. This isn’t a retelling where a character is Arthur nor is Arthur a ‘’present’’ character. Rather this is set in Arthurian myth which is still fun but not quite the Arthur retelling I thought it was going to be based off the description. But maybe we’ll get more of this in the next book.

King Arthur lore
Magic
Enemies to lovers
Love hate FMC
Betrayal

Mind the cliff.

I love Alex Bracken's book with my whole heart, and I was expecting to love it the same, but this book was different for me.

It took a while for me to warm up to the main character and root for her, but in the end she managed to capture my heart, with all her flaws and edges.

The world building was excellent, not that I expected anything less from an author such as Bracken, but it's important to reiterate.

The plot also took a while to develop fully and capture me, but the ending is *mwah* chef's kiss. I can't wait for the second book already!

All in all, an amazing read to start the year with!

I wanted to love this book. It has good reviews by other people who got advanced copies and I was excited for it because I love fantasy books. However, this book just wasn’t for me. It is inspired by the King Arthur legend which I am not familiar with so maybe I would’ve liked it more if I was. The story didn’t suck me in like some of my favorite other fantasy stories have in the past. I found the story a little hard to follow and a bit slow so my interest wasn't held throughout the book. Based on what other reviewers have said about the book, it seems like I am in the minority and the book just personally wasn't for me.

Fantastic. I cannot wait to own this book. It was a great story and wonderful read.
10/10 would recommend.

This book had potential, and what should have been an interesting plot. I liked, the main character, Tamsin, she was an interesting character that had character development. I liked the other characters, but I felt Tamsin was the best character. The plot was easy to follow. The book struggled to catch my attention and I believe that comes from pacing issues. I came into this book wanting a King Arthur myth, but it felt more like it was used to get people to pick up the book.

It took a while to get into the story because the world-building was non-existent. I love Aurthurian mythology, but other than Avalon as a setting, it was weirdly absent. This book was also pretty dark and depressing and that's where I think I may be the problem. I get that this is a series, but there were a lot of pages in this book where everything just continued to get worse and worse and then it just ended. I need to feel like the characters have a chance if I'm going to continue the series. Honestly, this book felt like a whole lot of reading for nothing really to happen and to set the characters up for the next stage of their journey. The first person narration also didn't really work for me. It made it difficult to connect with any of the characters.

OH MY GOODNESS, ALEXANDRA BRACKEN CONTINUES TO DO NO WRONG. My heart was happy, shattered, confused, ecstatic, and many other emotions throughout this book. AND THE ENDING, how am I supposed to wait an undetermined amount of time for the 2nd book?! I will absolutely be purchasing this for my collection. Thanks for the eARC, NetGalley!

I enjoyed a lot of elements of the book: Neve is wonderful, and it had a different interpretation of Arthurian legends than a lot of media I've seen, so it was cool to read a fresh take on old stories. I liked that Tamsin was prickly and genuinely unlikeable, and that it was clearly connected to her trauma and fear of abandonment. However, her connection with Emrys fell flat for me. The reveal about his father felt a bit cliché, and I disliked the choice he made at the end; it felt out of the blue and not earned. My main critique of the novel is that many plot points didn't feel adequately connected or foreshadowed. The mystery about who the main villain was jumped around so much that it felt choppy and disconnected, and several plot points toward the end just seemed unnecessary.

Book Name: Silver In The Bone
Author: Alexandra Bracken

Stars: 4
Spice: 1

- Book 1 in the New Unfinished Series
- YA Perfection
- Low Fantasy
- Similar Vibes to Mortal Instruments
- Magic System and World Built on Arthurian Legends
- Lots of World Building
- GREAT Characters
- Engaging Storyline
- Fast Paced
- Who Did This To You Trope
- Sharing The Horse Trope
- All The Tropes!!!
- Enemies to Lovers
- Found Family
- Cliffhanger Ending
- SO GOOD
- Must Read and Counting Down the Days till Book 2

I've been a sucker for anything with even a hint of Arthurian in it since I was young, so obviously Silver in the Bone greatly appealed to me. I like that this novel focused on the latter parts of Avalon and King Arthur's legend instead of the usual story we are familiar with. It gave the book a fresher take, though don't expect too many components of King Arthur here. While it is a part of the story and definitely inspired the setting, King Arthur and Avalon serve more as background elements that actual driving plot points. This does not deter from the overall story, however, which has a great magic system and likeable characters.

There were parts of this that I found predictable and other parts, surprisingly not so. The plot is engaging with just enough mystery to keep you going, but not enough to hook you until the latter half of the book. Once it gets going, it really gets going, however, and ends in a way that will have you cursing for the next book (yes, that means cliff hanger, ugh).

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Silver in the Bone is a YA urban fantasy inspired by Arthurian legend with epic battles, a unique found family, lies, betrayal, curses, romance, and so much more. I love the author’s writing style, use of dialogue, and interesting characters, but I struggled a bit with the world building and pacing.

The setting was a bit hard to define. It has the feel of the traditional fantasy setting, but it also seems like it is in the present, so I was a bit confused with that aspect of the story. I think I didn’t expect it to be an urban fantasy going in, so it threw me off a bit. I liked the lore and mythology, the magic and curses, and a lot of the other fantasy elements, even though there were some inconsistencies and some parts confused me, but the world-building was clunky. We are thrown right into the story with little information or context, which I didn’t enjoy, especially because the start was so slow. Later, there were a few passages that felt like info dumps, but some others left me confused and questioning.

The last third of the book was brilliant! Dark, twisted, suspenseful, and surprising, it was more violent and gory than I expected, especially in one particular scene (which also broke my heart into a million pieces!). I feel like the rest of the book was much slower-paced and set up a lot of what happened in the last third, and as much as I thought the pacing was off, the slower parts were totally worth it for that epic ending!

Tamsin often frustrated me with her stubbornness and unwillingness to change. She makes so many bad decisions, and she pushes away all of the people that try to help and support her. Sometimes, she is her own worst enemy, and I wanted to shake her. I understand how events and trauma from her past affected how she is now, and she showed growth by the end of the story. I think her relationships and what she experienced in this story will affect her and change her in the next. And I’m dying to find out about some of the other characters. There were several jaw-dropping things that happened, and I need answers!!!

I also love the found family element. Neve, Tamsin, Emery, and Cabell are all interesting characters, and I liked learning about each. I really want to find out more about Neve and Emery’s backstories, and I have a feeling both will come into play in future books in the series. The foursome’s journey together, and their developing relationships, were one of the highlights of the book. The sibling relationship between Cabell and Tamsin is wonderful, too. I love their staunch devotion to each other and how hard Tamsin fights to protect Cabell.

My favorite part of the story is the amazing enemies-to-lovers romance between Tamsin and Emery. Oh my word, do these two have chemistry! Their banter, the push and pull between them, and the way they fight their feelings before eventually succumbing to them are fantastic. I can’t wait to see what happens between them, and I have a feeling there is way more to Emery than meets the eye. His character is shrouded in mystery, and I am really questioning his actions and motives at this point, so I’m eager to see how his story and his romance with Tamsin play out.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/ Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lore comes a stunning new Arthurian fantasy - the tale of a teenage girl who seeks her destiny in the cursed ruins of Avalon, driven by love, revenge, and pure adrenaline!

Born without a trace of magic, Tamsin Lark is no match for the sorceresses and Hollowers who populate the magical underground of Boston. But when the only parent she's ever known disappears without so much as a goodbye, she has no choice but to join in their cutthroat pursuit of enchanted relics to keep herself - and her brother, Cabell - alive.

Ten years later, rumors are swirling that her guardian found a powerful ring from Arthurian legend just before he vanished. A run-in with her rival Emrys ignites Tamsin's hope that the ring could free Cabell from a curse that threatens both of them. But they aren't the only ones who covet the ring.

As word spreads, greedy Hollowers start circling, and many would kill to have it for themselves. While Emrys is the last person Tamsin would choose to partner with, she needs all the help she can get to edge out her competitors in the race for the ring. Together, they dive headfirst into a vipers' nest of dark magic, exposing a deadly secret with the power to awaken ghosts of the past and shatter her last hope of saving her brother...."

I am here for ALL THINGS Arthurian!

Here I am, still getting sucked in by the covers with hands holding up swords. Not to say that I was swindled by this book, just that I'm a sucker for marketing, even when that marketing is starting to reach max capacity, I'd imagine. However, with this books focus on Arthurian legend, which, of course, heavily features a fabled sword, I guess I can give this one a pass on not just cashing in on the trends. But enough about that, let's get into the review!

While devoid of any magic herself, Tamsin has grown up in the world of Hollowers, those adventurers who seek out and raids the highly warded crypts of ancient sorceresses. But after she and her brother were abandoned by the Hollower who raised them, she's had to forge a life for herself however she can. And while participating in a dangerous world that she can only halfway understand would be more than most would choose, Tamsin has another goal: saving her brother who is struggling with an ever more debilitating curse. So when gets wind of an incredibly rare relic that could be the answer to her brother's curse, Tamsin will do anything to claim it for herself, even going so far as teaming up with the boy who has been her rival for as long as she can remember.

First of all, I want to note how surprised I was to find that this was a contemporary YA fantasy story. I mean, I guess there were no clear indications one way or another, but that cover image sure does look "second world" fantasy to me! The average modern teen isn't walking around with delicate, silver hand bracelets like that, that's for sure. So I was fairly taken aback to start this novel and be immediately confronted with cell phones, cars, and the like. I do wish the marketing (either the cover or the book description) had made this more clear, as I had to work hard at the beginning of this read to recalibrate my expectations. It wasn't an obvious attempt at misrepresenting a book, but I do think the overall affect obfuscates the kind of story readers are actually getting.

Preferences, of course, always lead my to picking up the "second world" fantasy over a contemporary story, so on one hand, I was glad that this book essentially forced my hand into something I wouldn't typically read. And, overall, I do think it was a fun read. The book is absolutely brimming with new ideas and magical concepts, many of which I thought were very original and intriguing. However, the sheer number of fantastical elements also began to overlap one another in ways that I think began to confuse the issue. I was never quite clear on the history of the sorceresses, or some of the basic details about how their crypts were set up. I think it was meant to read as a combination of something like the tomb raiders of Egyptian burial sites and Arthurian legends. But as I read, I became more and more distracted by some of the details. Just how many of these sorceresses were there? How did they all manage to create these elaborate, curse-riddled hiding places before their deaths? How is there still such a thriving "business" in the raiding of these places? And on top of these questions, there were the curses themselves, the magical items, the potions, the portals. It was just a lot. So, while there was never a lack of ideas, I do think that the story could have used a good polish. A few fewer ideas that were more developed and fleshed out would have been preferred to the overwhelming number of ideas, all of which were very loosely explained.

I did like Tamsin as a character, especially in the first part of the book. I thought her history, her relationship with her brother, and the cobbled together life that she had built for them was interesting and full of nuance. She's clearly not a perfect character, trying to hold together her small family through sheer force of will, sometimes to the extent that it's clear she doesn't fully understand those she loves most. I also really liked the idea that she operated in a magical world that she, being nonmagical herself, couldn't fully see or experience. Unfortunately, the book chooses to "solve" this problem for her fairly early on, and I thought this was a big turning point to the negative for me. I would have vastly preferred to read a book that held true to that original premise rather than setting up this entire concept only to "magic potion" (quite literally) the entire problem away.

However, I did enjoy the reading experience itself. While I had questions about some of the fantasy elements and was disappointed by the character turn for Tamsin, I thought the pacing and plotting was very solid. It was a fun, fast read, and I think it will appeal to a lot of YA fantasy fans, especially those who like contemporary fantasy. I liked the way the Arthurian elements were woven throughout the book, and I thought for a topic that is very, veeeery well-covered, this book did a good job of standing out from a very crowded room.

Rating 7: Perhaps suffering from a case of a few too many ideas, this book still stands out as a fun, unique contemporary fantasy story that tackles the Arthurian legend in an interesting way.

Link will go live April 14

Synopsis:
Born without a trace of magic, Tamsin Lark is no match for the sorceresses and Hollowers who populate the magical underground of Boston. But when the only parent she’s ever known disappears without so much as a goodbye, she has no choice but to join in their cutthroat pursuit of enchanted relics to keep herself—and her brother, Cabell—alive.
Ten years later, rumors are swirling that her guardian found a powerful ring from Arthurian legend just before he vanished. A run-in with her rival Emrys ignites Tamsin’s hope that the ring could free Cabell from a curse that threatens both of them. But they aren’t the only ones who covet the ring.
As word spreads, greedy Hollowers start circling, and many would kill to have it for themselves. While Emrys is the last person Tamsin would choose to partner with, she needs all the help she can get to edge out her competitors in the race for the ring. Together, they dive headfirst into a vipers’ nest of dark magic, exposing a deadly secret with the power to awaken ghosts of the past and shatter her last hope of saving her brother. . . .

Review:
Silver in the Bone was gripping and engaging from the beginning. If you are a fan of King Arthur myths or just adventure and magic you'll love the first book in Bracken's new series. Tamsin is a Hollower, despite not having any magic, she and her brother hunt down magical items from sorceresses while they look for their missing foster father and Tamsin tries to hold her remaining family together.
Once we are introduced to Tamsin's rival, Emrys, and a sorceress friend, Neve, the story really takes off and soon we are on the mythical isle of Avalon, but its not the paradise we were led to believe. It's been overrun with dark magic and they must help the tower survive before they can find the relic they came for to free Cabell's curse.
Bracken does a great job of incorporating differnet Arthurian myths with a more modern day world where magic is more common but with new twists and dangers. The characters and interesting and all of them feel unique and interesting.
My only complaint would be that the last two chapters undid some of the established information from earlier in the book, and so much of it sets up for book two and I don't have that yet.

This book is phenomenal! I finished this so fast because I just couldn't put it down. The characters are beautifully written and the world building is fantastic.
Tamsin is a Hollower someone who searches for lost magical artifact's but unlike most Hollowers she is not blessed with the one sight allowing her to see the magic around her. She is merely human unlike her brother Cabell who posses's magic that allows him to counter curses to keep them safe. After being abandoned by their adopted father they have to find a way to take care of themselves. Rumor starts to swirl that their adopted father disappeared with a powerful Aurthorian ring made to break the most powerful curses. So Tamsin and Cabell go in search of the ring but along the way they pick up Emrys Tamsins rival. Emrys ends up being a blessing in disguise so together they go in search of the ring. Facing untold dangers along the way they learn secrets they never expected to uncover.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley for the opportunity to read the eArc of #SilverInTheBone.

That ending! I loved the reveal at the end, and yes, it could be seen as a cliffhanger, but I didn't mind at all. It just makes me eager for the next book.

"Silver in the Bone" should appeal to any YA fantasy fans with a fondness for Arthurian legend. It's a fresh-feeling, wholesome adventure. Like the Folk of the Air series does, this series blends a contemporary setting with a fantastical hidden isle. However, it has more of a girl-power vibe than enemies-to-lovers, though there's a bit of that too.

I absolutely love this new YA fantasy. Bracken's take on Arthurian legend, artfully combined with Celtic lure made for a wonderful and alluring read.

The author had me hooked with the opening chapters. The characters were well developed and their stories kept me intrigued. The magic system was also well developed. There were plenty of twists that I wasn’t expecting. I am very much looking forward to the sequel after the cliffhanger ending.