Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC! I am very grateful and happy to explore everything this author will write in the future as well!

I discovered Martha Wells through her Raksura series - years before Murderbot - and did my best to go through her backlist at the time, but City of Bones, for whatever reason, was a book I initially bounced off of. Cue the expanded and updated edition, and I decided it was time to give it another go.

And I'm SO glad that I did! Everything Wells rocks at is here in spaces; superficially simple but excellent worldbuilding, incredibly compelling characters, and twisty, thoughtful plots that conclude in ways I never see coming. City of Bones is a book you can sink into like a warm bath, but it's also exciting; not non-stop action, but high-tension and mystery and full of secrets, double-bluffs, and flip-the-table reveals. And I simply ADORED the ending - the final pages went against everything a lifetime as a bookworm had led me to expect, and that simply delights me!

So, SO strongly recommended!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

I have to start this off my stating that this is very much an “it’s not you, it’s me” type of review. I am a big fantasy fan, and am used to the slow world building and complex descriptions. With that being said, I just could not get around that part of this book. I think that I am just not in the mood for the genre at the moment, and that I will enjoy it a lot more when I am in the mood for this type of read. This time around I found it to be a bit slow, boring, and not really memorable. This largely has to do with my reading mood, and isn’t an accurate description of the book itself. I will certainly come back around and try it again in the future, and give it a fair shot. For now, I will stick to Wells’ science fiction novels!

I love the Murderbot series and was excited to try the updated and revised edition of City of Bones by Martha Wells. I loved Khat, Sagai, and Elen and their adventures in the city of Charisat, a tiered monolith of the Ancients’ design, that sits on the edge of the vast desert known as the Waste. From the world-building to the characters, I was enthralled.

This was one of Martha Wells’ earliest books and it has been updated and revised in the author’s preferred text. I did not read the earlier edition, but absolutely loved the characters and world that lie within these pages.

Our story follows Khat, he’s a black market relics dealer and historian. Khat is a Krisman humanoid and his people dwell in the desert. He lives in the city with friends and is working off a debt and hoping to be free. Khat works with his human partner, Sagai and deals mostly with the Warder. When an opportunity to score big occurs, Khat accepts the risky deal and the story that unfolds held me spellbound.

Wells did a stellar job of building the world and fleshing out the characters. It’s a brilliant fantasy with magic, artifacts, and an underlying race to collect artifacts for a purpose that is slowly revealed. It gave the story a quest vibe. The story slowly built until I could not set it down.

The ending was brilliant but left me wanting more stories of these characters and the Waste. I was saddened to see this is a standalone, as I would gladly revisit these characters and world. Fans of unique landscapes, magical worlds, quests and engaging characters need to add this one to your reading list.

This is a good, solid fantasy novel. However, I do think I prefer Martha Wells's science fiction novels. While this book did have some cool worldbuilding, it was full of tropes without bringing anything new to the table.

“Charisat – where a beautiful woman and a handsome thief will try to unravel the mysteries of an age-old technology to stop a fanatical cult before they unleash an evil that will topple the City of Bones.”

Having LOVED her MurderBot series, and got bogged down by the world building in The Witch King, I wondered where this book would fall on my Marth Wells spectrum.

Smack in the middle, it turns out. Now, the world building is still fantastic in this one, but I didn’t need a whole chart to keep track.

While the characters, and the plot were both dynamic, it was the setting, to me, that really shown. I love when an inanimate object (in this case, a whole city) become its own character. Charisat is, at the same time, lush and stark. Glorious and grotty. My brain could SMELL and TASTE all it had to offer. Sometimes that was good. Sometimes, not so much.

I know that she has a new MurderBot story out recently, but I’ll also be on the lookout for another epic fantasy from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for this wonderous ARC.

I love Martha Wells writing style and pick up any of her books after reading the Murderbot books. Picking this one up was another great option and I can’t wait to get the next book by Wells to dive into it.

Martha Wells never dissapoints, be it in Fantasy or Sci-Fi, the world building is rich, original and captivating. It can be quite intense for those who've never read that style before but the if they're in for the ride, this is an automatic suggestion

I heard this described as Dune meets Lara Croft and I was like, say less.

This is only my second Martha Wells book. I've read All Systems Red, the first in her popular Murderbot series, with plans to continue. I also have a very fancy Illumicrate edition of Witch King sat on my shelf, waiting for me to get to it. So although I haven't read lot of her books yet, I do feel like I have a sense of her style now.

First thing I'll say, this is not one for the romantasy girlies - this is straight-up high fantasy so I'll save you some time if that's what you're looking for.

But how about those comparisons: Dune and Lara Croft.

Well, yes, we have a city surrounded by a sandy, desolate wasteland as the setting. Really harsh conditions and bad things living under the surface. So Dune for the setting = check!

The storyline involved relic hunters searching for ancient artefacts, so yes I can see the Lara Croft comparison.

I also want to throw one more in - Mistborn. I couldn't help but draw a parallel between the Krisman and the Skaa. Both are a race within the population treated as less than. It's even suggested Krisman have no souls simply because they cannot have their surface thoughts read by the Warders - robe-wearing magic users that live on the higher, more affluent levels of the tiered city of Charisat.

It's these warders who want to hire our Krisman main character, Khat, to help them survive out in the Waste while they try to unlock the secrets of the Ancients and potentially access more power. The Krisman are much better suited to the conditions of the Waste. They can last longer without water, survive the heat better, etc. So a Krisman that also knows a thing or two about relics? The perfect guide - whether he wants to be one or not.


What I loved:

I really enjoyed my time with this although I have to say, similar to when I read All Systems Red, it just takes me a minute with Well's writing style for me to fully tune into it and for it to flow. I really tried to put my finger on why this was because Well's writing isn't purple prosey in any way - something I'm not a fan of - but it is very intelligent and each sentence is pretty loaded. Once I got my groove, however, I flew through this.

I really felt for Khat. His life...really sucks. As a Kris he can't become a citizen of Charisat and as a non-citizen, he's not allowed to trade in coin, only tokens. Every day is a grind with next to nothing to show for it. He's also constantly being beaten up and as the lowest rung on the societal ladder, he's often used, abused and mistreated by pretty much everybody. Yet he still manages to maintain a dry humour and, although he does his absolute best to avoid any attachments, a sense of loyalty to those he deems worthy of it.

Other characters of note are his relic-hunting partner Sagai who has his back no matter what, and Elen, a young Warder determined to uncover the secrets of the Waste, even if they're not what anyone thought they were.

Overall this was a great read. Unusual, slightly weird in places (had me Googling kangaroo reproductive systems at one point - thanks for that🫠), but fascinating and with great plot, good pacing and realistic character development.

4 ★★★★
Advanced Reader Copy provided in exchange for my honest review.

I love Martha Wells and it's been cool seeing her other series! I liked the start of this one, although it was a bit long to get through. Def want to keep going through her backlog of books!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An exciting adventure in a world with magic, treasure hunting, and a socioeconomic hierarchy that leaves much to be desired, City of Bones is a book that I had a hard time putting down.

This book took a bit to get into, setting up a new world tends to do that, but by the end I had such a vested interest in the main characters that I just had to finish it.

I absolutely love this world and I would be thrilled to read more of it. It reminds me a lot of The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty and The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin, which I also absolutely loved. So, if you like either of those authors or not your typical fantasy books, you will love this!

For reasons I cannot fathom, Martha Wells should be the headliner on all things sci-fi fantasy. Her writing is just that superb. Enthralling plot lines and character arcs! The ending though. My goodness.

Full Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of City of Bones by Martha Wells from Tor Publishing Group via NetGalley.

This version of City of Bones is an updated and revised edition to reflect what Martha Wells originally wanted the book to be. The first version predates her Murderbot series. If you read that version, you could still read this one and might be interested in the changes. For those who haven't read it and know Wells from the Murderbot series, it is a very different type of book. This is more fantasy than science fiction. The sharp humor is still there although not as plentiful. The great writing and developed characters are there. It is more of a slow burn with plenty of world building. If you like Indiana Jones-type stories, give this one a read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of this title in exchange for this honest review.

I think i just need to admit that Martha Well's writing isnt for me unfortunately.

Earlier this year, I ventured to pick up my first fantasy read by the author after being introduced to her work through her sci-fi, Murderbot Diaries series. Next, I spotted City of Bones and was well-primed to enjoy another fantasy world and the author’s wry writing style.

I was unaware until after I grabbed it that City of Bones is a re-release re-write, and the book was actually among one of her first books ever written. I’m not sure what the older edition of City of Bones read like, but I was no ends of impressed once again with a clever worldbuilding, characters, and twisting intrigue of an exciting plot. This didn’t feel like an early effort, but was a solid fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world.

The star of the book, Khat, is a humanoid called a Krisman, a desert people, but not human. The kris were created by the Ancient mages with some extras that allow them to thrive in the Wastes outside the human cities. I had a Murderbot moment when I realized that this very created set up left his situation precarious with the humans who saw him as disposable, drawing a sarcastic humor out of him, and was the driving factor to work with the mysterious Warder when hired. Khat and his human partner, Sagai are artifact dealers and take on work outside the protection of the city. I loved Khat from the get go and wanted to see him get untangled from the trouble he’s in due to debt and staying out of the eye of certain humans.

While the world is all magic, desert fantasy, ancient artifacts that lead to the Warder and others scrambling to get their hands on certain pieces for a mysterious purpose, this was heist-style adventure, too. It took a bit to get going with a ponderous pace at first, but I was ready for that and eagerly awaited when things really got rolling showing twists and surprises plenty.

By the end, and this was a longer piece, I was disappointed to see it end. Sadly, yes, it’s a standalone, but one can hope for more in this world. I would say this is a good gateway for sci-fi lovers to get into fantasy since the world is post-apocalyptic and the adventures are treasure hunt-style making it have a wider audience appeal.

Having read Murderbot and enjoyed it, I looked forward to reading more by this author. The world building and conflict in this book is beautiful. I agree with others that it started off a little slowly, but overall a great read. I look forward to more.

My thanks to NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first "fantasy" book from Martha Wells and honestly what an impressive brain. To be able to seamlessly write sci-fi and fantasy is quite the talent.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Khat, a Kris relic hunter, was hired by Elen, a Warder to take a group out to a Remnant in the Wasteland to check if a particular relic she had possession of was related. Despite pirates and a mad Warder, they did find their answer. But one mystery solved just kept leading to other mysteries. Then there were the deaths that seemed to be happening connected with particular relics and unrest at the Palace. Khat, Elen and their changing cadre soon found themselves involved in an attempt to save the city and maybe the world from an existential threat. A nicely done fantasy with plenty of interesting characters involved in intrigue, problem solving, and archeology.

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!

I am a huge fan of Murderbot so I was excited to read this earlier work by Martha Wells. Charisat is the greatest city in a post apocalyptic world where food, especially water is the highest commodity. This city is built in tiers and where you live is determined by your social class. There are many interesting layers to this world and society. Especially Khat, who is not human and was made to survive in the desert the world has become. Although the book starts slow it definitely picks up and then you are invested. Thank you #NetGalley for my arc.

I know when I pick up a Martha Wells book that I am about to experience exceptional reading experience and City of Bones fulfilled that expectation. This book had amazing world building and character development, but the beginning was a little slow. Wells did an exceptional job with the post-apocalyptic fantasy world she has created and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a great standalone fantasy novel.