Tamsin is a Hollower, even though she doesn’t possess the magic that everyone else in the profession does. Her guardian left Tamsin and her brother, Cabell, several years ago, and she still hasn’t forgiven him for it. However, Tamsin thinks he was searching for something that might help break Cabell’s curse.

I loved this book. Tamsin is such a wonderful character, with a bit of cynicism and judgement that makes her so likeable. I also loved her relationship with Cabell and how she was willing to do anything for him.

The Arthurian inspiration is such a unique idea, and I loved seeing how Bracken was inspired by source material yet created her own Avalon for the story.

These characters are so dynamic, and there are so many twists and turns. I loved this so much, but I need book two now!

🏰 Arthurian Legend
🔮 Magic
⚔️ Fighting

Unique mix of horror, Arthurian legend, and urban fantasy combine with timely touches of humor, a dash of romance, and a fast moving plot all combine for a satisfying young adult fantasy. Tamsin's strong female character brings Avalon vibes as she embarks on a quest to save her brother.

I was captivated from the very beginning! There wasn’t a moment that I was completely absorbed in this story! A very good read!

I recieved an arc through NetGalley and this is my honest review.

So much packed into the book. I know very little about King Arthur other than a few stories and so I am not a judge of how true to the stories it is. This book is busy. So much packed information and works building packed into it and keeps you on your toes. The assortment of characters is a nice balance. There is some romance and it is the typical ya "bad boy" romance. But it's still fun to read the tension! The plot at times was hard for me to follow but the author would "recap" which I found as a relief due to me not knowing a lot about King Arthur. Fun adventure to read!

Alexandra Bracken's Silver in the Bone is a YA urban fantasy with some Arthurian elements thrown in. To be honest, the book started slowly and only picked up near the end. Those who are interested in Arthurian legends will most likely gravitate towards this book.

First I want to thank NetGalley, Alexandra Bracken, and Knopf Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. I am not one for the mythology surrounding King Arthur but I love Bracken and her easy writing style so I was actually foaming at the mouth for this book. Now onto the review:

“The problem with siblings, I decided, was that they spent years gathering up all these little knives of observation and learning exactly where to slip them between your bones.” -Chapter 6

In a world filled with legends and treasures, Tamsin Lark finds herself magicless and yearning for the day she and her brother, Cabell, do not have to just survive. Tamsin and Cabell, may not related by blood but are very much related by the circumstance of their childhood. Cabell has been cursed since the day Tamsin and their guardian, Nash found him. And through no control of his own, he shifts into a massive beast anytime he experiences high emotions. Tamsin has looked for anyway to break this curse, Tamsin's final attempt to break his curse has lead them to their final destination, Avalon. Tamsin attempts this adventure alone but ends up joining forces with Cabell, Emrys (her biggest rival and who very much annoys Tamsin), and Neve (this strange girl who would never leave Tamsin alone). Their time in Avalon uncovers mysteries long forgotten, and forces Tamsin, Neve, and Emrys to grapple with immense death, betrayal, and a fearsome evil god.

This story by the end will leave you gutted. I loved Lore, s0 seeing Bracken releasing a series based of mythology got me so excited. When I first started this book it was all I could think about and I just wanted to spend every moment reading it. The band of Misfits that this story surrounds consist of Tamsin, Neve, Emrys, and Cabell. All characters have immense trauma of their own that being in Avalon eventually helps them work through it.
I really did not know how Bracken was going to take it but I was sad by the ending but still thoroughly loved the pain. I wish I did not have to wait so long for the next book as the end is a FREAKING CLIFF HANGER!!! And a good one at that. The shock that I felt in the last 10 chapters of this book had my gripped and up into all hours of the night reading this book. I cannot tell you the last time a book had me this gripped.

What I disliked the most about the book was:
*The world building was slow and felt a little lackluster as they spent most of their time in Avalon so I see why it was not necessary to lay out the setting of Cabell and Tamsin’s mortal home.
*Tamsin and Neve fought a lot and it seemed that they left Cabell out of a lot which I felt like led to why he chose to do what he did. Tamsin’s character I love now but HATED at first, along with Neve. They are polar opposite characters but their friendship and how self-righteous they both were drove me CRAZY!! But I came to love them both at the end.

What I loved most was:
*The Priestess and the twist the Bracken threw us with them.
*And most of all the foreshadowing! The ending was foreshadowing in one of the first chapters and I was shocked at the end when all the pieces connected and the puzzle was solved.
*The ending actually I loved the most. Even though I wish I could have had more I love that I am left wondering what will happen next.

Thank you NetGalley for helping facilitate this.

I'm on the book tour with TBR and Beyond Tours and will be posting my review on the 9th of April.

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.