Alas, drop dead gorgeous covers tend to deceive more than not.

This book was so damn confusing. The instant opening immediately caught my attention, with Azul taking her dead sister's bones and bringing her back to life. But then the next chapter switches to the love interests POV, where the excessive info dumping immediately killed all my interest. Even as the worldbuilding got less in-your-face, I still for the life of me couldn't understand fully what was going on. There are lots of other characters who get their own chapters, and all it did was unnecessarily kill the pacing and muddle the story. It was just so confusing and boring that I stopped trying to get it nearly halfway through.

Azul was interesting in concept, but her death defying read as more childish and willfully ignorant than thoughtful and deep like the various convos she had with love interest made it out to be. This only makes her character weaker when you know she's nineteen, with everyone else in the cast confirmed, or presumed to be, older than her. Knowing she was inevitably was going to accept her sister's death was a given, but nothing about her made me care about the journey getting to that point. The only character who held any interest for me was Nereida, the envoy, but the side plot involving her and the aforementioned other POVs was so draining to read.

All in all, this was a very confusing and boring read. A shame, really, because I really love that cover.

A story about a young necromancer trying to get her sister back, an Emissary of Lord Death who is equal parts repulsed and intrigued by this power (and by the necromancer) and a web of characters who have their own intrigues makes up this exciting book.

There is some world/magic/religion building in the beginning of the story and once developed, the story unravels piece by piece in a way that always keeps you guessing what's next. The story has different timelines that slowly share events that have contributed to each character's personality, choices, and ultimately their mission. There is simmering tension between the Necromancer and Emissary and definitely a big enemies to lovers vibe. This book was captivating, intriguing, and based on the ending, it looks like it'll be a part of a series. I seriously cannot wait to get back into the story and learn more about what will happen to these characters. Highly recommend!

Let’s start by saying the description and the cover sold me on reading this. It’s definitely have a very interesting premise and ideas throughout the book. The characters were good but I feel like the connection and consistency was there for me. There were part where the story didn’t keep the momentum and that was a struggle for me. I know it is promoted more of a romantasy fiction but I didn’t get that from this so don’t go in expects so much romance in this fantasy fiction story.

Dense, vivid and often perplexing, MISTRESS OF BONES is unlike any fantasy I've read in a long time. The worldbuilding and intrigue was utterly fascinating, and many scenes had my heart pounding in my mouth! There were long stretches where I felt disconnected from the plot, and sitting down to write this review after having finished, much of the book is already slipping from my mind. I can't put my finger on exactly what made it difficult for me to immerse myself in this one. But I'm certain it will find readers who adore darkly romantic, clever fantasy!

I loved the idea of a necromancer having to try to save her sister but obviously, things go wrong. This book was super interesting and I am glad I got a go at reading an arc of it! The characters were fun to read about and I felt very connected to them and the overall plot of the book.

Thank you NetGalley, Mistress of Bones had all the ingredients for a story I should’ve loved: defying Death, morally gray characters, and a world where gods’ bones shape the very continents. The premise is undeniably rich and full of potential, and I was intrigued by the idea of a heroine fighting to reclaim her sister’s remains from the clutches of Death itself.
But despite all that, the story just didn’t manage to capture my attention. The pacing felt uneven, and I found myself struggling to stay immersed in the world. The characters, while interesting on paper, didn’t feel fully fleshed out in execution. I kept waiting for that moment where everything clicks and pulls me in, but it never comes.
There were glimmers of something powerful, a gothic, tragic romance and some creative world building but for me, the emotional stakes never quite landed. I wanted to care more than I did. Overall, it was a beautifully written concept that, unfortunately, left me feeling more detached than invested."

📖✨ Just finished Mistress of Bones and I am UNWELL 😭🩶 This book has everything:
🦴 Bone magic? CHECK.
⚔️ Rapier duels? CHECK.
🩸 Morally grey chaos gremlins I’d die for? DOUBLE CHECK.

Azul & Virel’s enemies-to-lovers tension had me screaming into the void 😩🔥 The vibes? Immaculate. The worldbuilding? Rich like ancient gold. The gods? Fickle, terrifying, and deliciously real. Medina, if you see this… please know you have ruined me in the BEST way possible 🖤🕯️

This was a really interesting book! The synopsis sounded really good, and the idea of this cat and mouse game between this two sounded really interesting! Getting to know these characters as they plotted and navigated others plans was so thrilling to read!

The way that this book was told, with a lot of the chapters starting with a period of time in the past, at different lengths away, then following that character in the present, it was a bit complicated, trying to pin down the timeline down, but it was certainly entertaining.

Watching as the story built, of the different desires, and the history of these characters, how they got to this point, was just great! There were a lot of hidden motives, and we slowly got to understand them and their actions as the story progressed.

I really hope that this becomes a series. The way things ended, with all the plot points, there's plenty left still to do, that I really want to watch happen! Like the deal that she made, or that bit with ? and her brother. Plus the opening mentions how the gods might not be happy about having given up their bones for the humans, and then it wasn't an obvious part of the story. Maybe it'll be motivations, which I really hope we see in this theoretical sequel.

Loved reading this book, and I really hope that it becomes a series!

I did not finish this book. I made it to 40%. This book is overly complicated with a confusing timeline and a bunch of characters with very similar names, making the story difficult to follow or care about. Further, I’m all for authors trusting readers to pick up on context and not be spoon-fed world building. That said, in this book the reader is plopped into a very unique world with little explanation as to how everything works. No element of the book kept me interested enough to tough it out.

The concept of this book was what intrigued me in the first place. I love stories that revolves around necromancers and death-related magic. And while the premise was promising, I find the execution for this book fell completely flat.

First of all, the world, while we get a good enough background at the start, was not fleshed out enough for me to read this and understand everything. It felt like there were so many holes missing and it made the reading experience quite frustrating. Aside from that, the plot itself doesn't flow well. It became interesting, and then nothing happened and it would feel so stagnant for a big chunk of it. The cast of characters was also a minus point because none of them felt like they were properly fleshed out, and I'm not particularly fond of the main character. She just reads like the usual empty-headed but arrogant kind of character while being out of her depths, and she's serving up nothing to me.

Overall, this book falls victim to a great premise but lacks the execution. I appreciate the author for writing this and anyone else who likes it, but this just wasn't for me

Necromancers are not normally known for practicing white magic so building cities on the bones of the dead does not seem like a wise way to appease the g-ds. So bringing your sister back from death seems like a smart idea. I really liked the concept of this story but it was a bit confusing sometimes. Which made it hard to immerse myself into the world. In some places I got so confused that I started to loose interest.

Overall the concept is brilliant but it just fell flat for me. I can see why some loved it though.

Mistress of Bones was an entertaining story about Azul's quest to get her sister back in a world where the gods had influence but are now gone, their bones holding up the continents and stopping humanity from falling into the void. In terms of world building, I thought this book had a very interesting premise - floating continents, dead gods, and a necromancer trying to save her sister. In Mistress of Bones, Azul brings her sister back to life when they're younger, using a power she keeps hidden, just to lose her once again and have to try to find a way return her to life for a second time. Unfortunately for Azul, this happens while they're traveling to the Lord Death's continent. Here her gift is particularly reviled and she ends up attracting the unwanted attention of an Emissary of the Lord Death who is now doing his best to prevent what he sees as a perversion of his god's will should Azul be successful.

I enjoyed our leading cast of characters. Azul could be impulsive at times and didn't always make the best decisions with the information that she had, but she was admittedly young and hadn't gone out of her way to engage with people other than her sister for most of her life. She was foolhardy and driven, not afraid of doing whatever was needed to reunite with her sister. Virel Enjul, the Emissary of the Lord Death, was also an interesting character. He was imperfect while trying to maintain the illusion of total control, and his surety in the Lord Death's plans created an interesting push and pull between him and Azul. Their attempts to see eye to eye despite having wildly contrasting views on the gods, death, and the value of life was something I enjoyed a lot.

One character I took a long time to warm up to was Nereida De Guzman. She maintained her own council for almost the entirity of the book, not giving up information on her motivations or plans until nearly the end of the novel. She is a character I'm not sure if I like, but anticipate will play a larger role in subsequent books now that she's been more fleshed out. I look forward to seeing where her story goes from here.

Finally, the area where I felt this book fell a bit short was in the initial establishment of the world. We got a lot of information right away at the beginning of the book, but until the characters were moving through the world and interacting with people, it was hard to put the information we had into context and truly grasp the larger themes of the setting that were in play. I had a hard time putting together many of the locations and understanding the scope of the world and its politics until later in the book than I would have liked. It gave me a similar feeling to the couple of instances where I accidentally jumped into the second book of a series rather than starting with book one. As an avid fantasy reader, I'm used to the world building that has to happen to give a story room to take place, but this one gave me a run for my money for the first chunk of the novel. I got there, and I still really enjoyed the world Medina built, but I wish we had eased in a little bit more and accumulated some of that initial world building information more gradually.

Would I recommend this book? Yes
Will I read the other half of this planned duology? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for the chance to read and review this story!

I was so intrigued by this book - an emissary of death trying to capture a necromancer? Sign me up! Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

However, I really struggled with this book. The various jumps back and forth through time in the same chapter was both confusing and redundant, and it was coupled with a wide cast of characters that felt underdeveloped. The time jumps caused the pacing to be all over the place.

The ending left a lot of questions left unanswered. It does open it up for a sequel. The world itself was interesting and I feel that itself could have driven the story. I would have loved to learn even more about the gods and the Anchor, but that maybe explored in a later book.

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved how absolutely unique this story is. It was just so much I didn't know I needed. The world building was great and really helped me visualize this world. The characters were all charming however there could have been less side characters. I also think the flashbacks threw off the story at times.

Mistress of Bones was an overall fun read. The story itself was a bit different than what I expected after reading the synopsis, but not in a bad way! I loved the concept of a necromancer story, since we do not see many of those available right now. It felt a bit like a side of fantasy that has not been deeply explored yet.
Like many other readers, I did find the world building to be a little confusing, but intriguing. I did like how many of the chapters started with flashbacks and switched character point of views often. I do think maybe labeling each chapter with the character would be helpful, though.
I do feel like not much information is provided about each of the main characters, but I am hopeful that this was done intentionally to create character growth in the next book!
The twist of who the second necromancer was really shocked me! I can generally predict what is going to happen in a book, but this one got me!
Overall, I found Mistress of Bones to be a unique and fun story to read and would recommend it to my friends and family.

I wasn’t a big fan of this book and only pushed through so I could give it a fair review.

The concept is super interesting but the story itself was too slow and confusing for me. There are too many characters to keep track of and the author switches between their first and surname too often that I was often lost.

I did enjoy how the chapters jumped around through the different characters and timelines, however maybe it would have helped if the beginning of each chapter stated which character it was centered around.

Lastly, I know that the romance isn’t a big part of the story and I was fine with that, but the few bits of “romance” that we did get felt random and out of no where. There was nothing in the story that showed me the main characters had any real feelings for eachother and I think it should have been left at platonic.

Mistress of Bones is a dark, atmospheric fantasy that will immediately grab the attention of readers who love necromancy, gothic settings, and morally gray characters. The eerie world building pulls you in immediately, and the magic system is fascinating. As a bookseller, I can see this book appealing to fans of dark fantasy and horror-infused storytelling. It has a strong, compelling protagonist, plenty of intrigue, and just enough twists to keep readers hooked. Plus, the cover is absolutely stunning!

I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I think I was expecting this book to give me something different, unfortunately I found it hard to read. I still do want to see what other work Maria puts out. I think the idea of the book was fantastic, but unfortunately I like many other readers found it hard to follow.

I am still very thankful for the opportunity to read the eARC and will keep an eye out for future work from Maria Z Medina!

I’m grateful to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an advanced copy of Mistress of Bones.

Now, this is a challenging question: did I enjoy the book? Eventually, I did. It took me until I reached the 28% mark to genuinely become interested in it, but from then on, I was thoroughly hooked.

However, the beginning of the book was quite confusing. It felt like the author was throwing information at me without adequate explanation, as if I was expected to have some prior knowledge. Additionally, there were too many characters being introduced in a short span, making it difficult to keep track of who was who.

Until the 28% mark, I found myself taking frequent breaks to scroll through my phone because I was either uninterested or confused by the unfolding events. Fortunately, the book picked up pace, and it became truly enjoyable.

Y’all, the plot twist with the identity of the second necromancer? I WAS SHOCKED. That was a good one, I was thoroughly impressed.

Let’s talk about characters real quick. Our main girl Azul, well… she’s kinda boring! She lacks a real depth beyond wanting Isadora back, but maybe we’ll see more of her character emerge in future books (I’m assuming there will be more). Enjul, on the other hand, exuded an air of mystery, and I felt like we were only given a few crumbs of information about him. Despite this, their tension was palpable. Nereida stood out as the most intriguing character to me. I found myself particularly drawn to her.

Overall, Mistress of Bones was a good book once it gained momentum. However, there are several unanswered questions that leave me eager for the continuation of this series.

This book was a bit of a mixed experience for me. On one hand, it was difficult to follow with its shifting timelines and large cast of characters, but on the other, those same characters were deeply compelling, each with layered and complex motivations. At times, I felt like there were simply too many names to keep track of, and the story didn’t spend enough time making them distinct, which, combined with the non-linear structure, made things even more confusing.
That being said, I really appreciated how Azul’s determination to resurrect her sister remained a driving force throughout the novel. It felt natural rather than forced, and her persistence gave the story a strong emotional core. The plot itself was engaging, full of twists that kept me guessing, even if I occasionally felt lost along the way. Despite its challenges, there’s a lot to admire in this book, and I can see it really clicking for readers who enjoy intricate, multi-layered narratives