I had a terrible time getting into this book. I will not be reviewing it on my blog, as I do not find it fair to the author. I did not finish the book because it didn't capture my attention, so I don't feel like I can write an honest review. Every book is not for every person and this book just happened to not be for me. I had a horrible time following the characters and the storyline. I wish the author all the best of luck in her future endeavors.

Truly,
Jennifer Willis

Chupeco’s latest novel follows Tea as she first discovers her abilities as a bone witch and undergoes an apprenticeship, and years later as an adult. Secretly I am in love with The Young Elites by Marie Lu because Adelina is a villain and The Bone Witch is honestly similar because Tea is basically a villain.

It is a slow book. There are lots of descriptions and world building, but the book definitely picks up a notch later.

* 3.5 stars*

While I loved the plot and non-linear storyline, this novel fell flat for me. I liked the world-building and the Asian mythology, but I could have done without the characters info-dumping about the different kingdoms and cultures.

Furthermore, I was distracted by the overwhelming number of secondary characters, and the slow pacing in the middle of the novel almost made me set this down a few times.

Overall, I thought it was enjoyable and I may continue on with the series, but it's not high on my list.

I absolutely adored this book. I hadn't read a Rin Chupeco novel, this is my first time, but I've heard so many good/great things about her and her books. And it didn't disappoint.

This book takes place in this fantasy world where people get glass hearts and magic and some of them are seen in a wrong light. Tea, our protagonist, is like this. She is a bone witch, she can awake the dead, and she does this by awakening her dead brother. She goes into this journey with a much more older and wiser witch where many things happen. In between, we get another perspective and it's Tea's but older. We know she did something bad and she is seen as a villain, so it made me more excited to see what was going to happen in the other timeline.

I love villains stories. I love how they got to that point where people saw them as villains and how they were feared. This happens to Tea. I see it as The Name of the Wind meets The Young Elites, mainly for Adelina. Tea reminded me of that journey Adeline has to become the villain, the anti-heroine. And it has that side of The Name of the Wind where Tea tells this person all about her previous life, the previous years, where people began to know about Tea and her powers, and how she became a person people fear. It was so amazing and magical. Rin Chupeco has a way with writing that many don't have. It's powerful and interesting and it drags you into the story very easily.

I'm happy that we get main characters of color in a fantasy book. We get so much cultures in this book. I do think maybe the book should have specify some things but overall Rin Chupeco got me for the next book. I'm so excited about the sequel!

DNF- I was unable to get into this book and was turned off right from the beginning when Chupeco tried to set up the world building. I also did not like the back and forth between the two points of view that Chupeco chose. This book was just not for me.

A very new and original world that I'm interested in exploring further! It's good to see an Asian-inspired fantasy that is done by an Asian author, as well, since the market is flooded with Asian-inspired fantasy by non-Asians. I did find the plotlines and the flashback framing device a little confusing--I came away with a better sense of setting than of the plot or what happened in the book, but I am tempted to read it again and see if I understand better.

This is one of those books where you either love it or hate it or are somewhere in the middle.

I really wanted to fall in love with this book, I have heard a lot of good things about it!

So the writing of this book is amazing, there were times when I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of everything. Rin Chupeco has created one of the most beautiful worlds that I have ever come across. It felt inspired by Asian culture, so that was really cool as well. But beautiful worlds alone aren’t enough to make this book a five star, and for the first half of the book I enjoyed it immensely.

The Bone Witch is also really long, and sort of slow. It takes awhile for anything to happen. You’re caught between loving all the words on paper, and then realizing you’ve been reading for two hours and very little has happened.

As far as the characters go I enjoyed Tea (pronouced Tay-uh), her powers to raise dead beasts were badass, her life was interesting. The book is told in flashbacks and present time. In present time Tea is telling her story to a bard, and I had a hard time seeing how Tea from the past became Tea in the present. It was confusing, but I also wanted to know more.

Things I wasn’t quite as happy about were just some minor details, and a lot of confusion in the second half. I felt like the bond between Tea and her brother wasn’t explained until way into the book, and it should have come a bit sooner. I also felt like the romance between Tea and the prince was a little weird because it just sort of was, but Tea hardly ever spent time thinking about him or even really seeing him. Maybe it was supposed to be more of a crush on her part, but then the book compared it to her teacher’s love and so I wasn’t sure.

And then the end. What happened in the end? I’m not sure, I felt like it was a mixture of not explaining clearly what was going on and making a few things too easy.
That said, I do want to read the next book in the series because I feel invested in the world and in Tea. I want to see her burn the world down. 😀

I give this book 3.5 stars.

Gorgeous and deeply entrancing, this fantasy novel of a young woman coming to grips with her powers, is an unique and satisfying read.

I couldn't get into this book, I tried multiple times.

Overview:
This is one of those books that takes you a while to get into, but once you do you don’t want it to end. I think part of the reason for this is that it’s a series (which I didn’t realize when I requested it) and it takes place in a world very, very different from our own, which meant that it required a lot of worldbuilding. Plus, Chupeco uses a lot of flouncy, descriptive imagery in her writing, which makes me vaguely nauseous at times and reminds me of the reason that I wasn’t a huge fan of Jane Eyre. It just felt like there were some paragraphs that took FOREVER to read, just to describe a girl’s hua (a type of apparel with Asian roots)

That being said, I still adored the story and gave it 4 stars because the characters were magnificently developed, and the plot was interesting. It kept me going throughout because I desperately needed to figure out what would happen to Tea. The book follows her story, so it is sort of a fantasy coming of age novel, which is something that I appreciate. Plus, there’s elements of (semi-unrequited) romance, evil beasts which must be defeated, and a girl struggling with her identity. It’s perfect.

While I read, I was reminded a lot of the book “Memoirs of a Geisha” mainly because the life of an Asha, which is what Tea was training to be, is basically like a magic Geisha who at times has to go out and slay beasts. Since I always found geisha life mildly appealing (don’t judge please) now my main goal in life is to be an asha. Anyways, back to the review…

Characters:

Tea, the MC, was super cool. And her name is pronounced Tay-uh, which I didn’t know until about halfway through when some minor character had trouble pronouncing her name. Not only could she use magic to raise the dead, but she was totally badass and a strong character, which made me love her. There was no “I need a man to save the day” whatsoever in this book, which was one of my favorite parts ever. I thought Tea was very very well developed and relatable, because you never saw her as just one thing. From the opening scene, she was this super powerful Asha, but also had some weaknesses, strong family ties, and wasn’t immune to what other people thought of her. Chupeco made her this incredible female lead while still showing that she was vulnerable, which made me relate to her more than I would have otherwise. She was also super dynamic, because she went from being somewhat more nervous, frightened girl to someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer, which is exactly the type of progress that I love to see. And this is only book one. The fact that it isn’t going to take Tea the entire series to become “tough” is a testament to the writing and makes me wayyyyy more excited to read the next books in the series.

There are virtually no men in this novel except for the love interests, and Tea’s brother Fox, whom she rose from the dead. I think that made it very women’s empowerment-y because it was women that were teaching and helping Tea “come of age” without the influence of a male role model to help her.

All of the minor and side characters in the novel had strong backgrounds and you could see how they became the people which they are today. You wanted the best for all of them, especially Mikaela, Tea’s sort-of mentor.

Plot:

Hmmmmm…. what can I say here. The plot was very very good, but at times I felt like Chupeco put the story on hold in order to write overly detailed descriptions. And I don’t mean there wasn’t a lot of action in parts, because there was always stuff happening, and Tea developing, but there were a lot of paragraphs of description that almost made me ditch the book in the opening parts. I don’t understand why there had to be so much flouncy detail. I think part of it was Chupeco wanting to make the reader understand teh worldbuilding aspect better, but the bottom line is that it put me to sleep and caused me to move very slowly through the book, since I just didn’t want to pick it up. That being said, I felt like it got better– or I just got used to it– as it went along, and the story itself makes it worth pushing through the beginning.

The plot contained flashforwards every chapter or two to Tea on a beach after she has already gone through a lot of her story. In the whole book, the story lines never intersect, which is weirdly cool.

The ending has a sort of present-timeline plot twist which is confusing to everyone (I think) even if you had guessed that it would come, because Chupeco doesn’t really explain it at all. That being said, I think it’s coming in the sequel and that we haven’t caught up in the past timeline plot yet.

A lot of this story had a coming of age, geisha training vibe. I wouldn’t recommend this book if you’re looking for a tale of adventure and defeating monsters. It’s not that. It’s more about Tea’s emotions and the way which she develops both as our protagonist and in her feelings and confidence. I think the next book will have more of a defeat the system feel to it, but this book did not, so bottom line is you won’t enjoy it if that’s what you’re looking for.

What's To Love:

I think I’m going to make a list, because listing is fun and why not.

Tea’s development and the way she was always portrayed as just as strong, if not stronger, than men
Mikaela and the motherly yet all powerful role she played in the book while still having weaknesses
The wordbuilding. Let me tell you that it was amazing. Like, so unique and vibrant and real. You literally wear your heart in a necklace, and have to kill this unkillable monsters called daeva on a yearly basis. I felt like I was really in the world, and could imagine it just as well as I can my own. (That’s actually why I put Chupeco in my dream worldbuilding panel, if you were wondering)
Likh’s whole story line was perfect, but I can’t really explain without including spoilers so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
The plot twist at the end of the past timeline was so so so good
All of the side character’s personalities and yet realness. Nobody was a one dimensional character, not even the “mean girl”, thank gods for that.
The geisha-ness

What's to Hate:

Another list, you ask? Why not, I say!

The excessive description
The romance aspect that wasn’t really going anywhere but just felt like two people who had a crush on each other but neither would admit it but not in the awkward tension kind of way, just in the “we’re too little to be in a real relationship” way
Not much else!

Diversity:

This whole book drew a lot from Asian culture, and the MC is a PoC, which is great and super rare in the fantasy genre as a whole. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on the culture, but I do think that it made the book more real than it would have been otherwise.

There was a minor character, one of Tea’s friends, who ended up being transgender and coming out over the course of the book, which is really awesome because of how accepted and the fact that Tea never once thought that it was anything out of the ordinary.

Triggers:

The dark asha (so basically Tea and Mikaela) cut themselves in order to draw their runes in the air, which I’m not really sure is a trigger or not, but I figured I’d include it.

Favorite Quote:

“I would much rather remain undetected in the shadows than saunter out into the light, with my flaws out for all to see.” (chapter 11)

Summary:

Once you got past the over description, the book was really solid, and I’m very excited to read the next books in the series when they come out. I think the worldbuilding was incredible, and would highly recommend to fans of YA fantasy who don’t mind it being minimally action-y.

This was a DNF for me. Couldn't get into the story at all.

I liked the concept of the story and quickly got used to the style where the author moves the reader back and forth between current day and the past. I did have some difficulty reading the book straight thru. I found it easier to read a chapter and then switch to a different book then return to this one. I wouldn't blame the book for not keeping my attention and rather where I was mentally at the time. This story requires that you be able to pay attention and I was mentally exhausted.

I'm sorry, but I won't be able to read this. It makes me sad to think about death and resurrection right now.

Many people have powers, but few raise the dead. Tea is a young girl whose brother has died in battle and she refuses to let his body go into the grave. With an uncanny will she brings her brother back from death, but he is an animated corpse. He can talk and think, but is stiff and ungainly. They can communicate in their heads without speaking a word. Tea’s abilities quickly draw in a group looking to teach her to control her abilities before she unleashes mayhem. Fans of Harry Potter and Divergent will revel in this unique tale as Tea gains control of her gift and learns to survive attacks from monsters. The way the story ends make you feel there is sure to be more to come about Tea and her abilities.

Just read it. You won't be disappointed! This unique fantasy takes you on a wild ride and leaves you desperate for the sequel. Our main character is tossed into a new world, where we see her develop, as we simultaneously see the ultimate cost the new life has cost her. Enchanting, memorable, and provoking.

The Bone Witch wasn't quite what I was expecting but then again, I probably couldn't adequately describe what I was expecting. Inside this YA fantasy tale, the reader will find a heady mix of genres: supernatural thriller, coming of age tale, political intrigue, witchcraft with a well-crafted magic system, zombie raisings, espionage intrigue, mystery and a few others I'm probably forgetting at the moment. The book also includes post-chapter flash-forwards which hint at what's to come in future volumes, including revenge and epic battles---conclusions based upon events we aren't quite privy to in the first book but can anticipate learning about in the next book. It's quite a juggling act. Chupeco is a skilled author, adept at world building.

I don't know why, but I really struggled to get through this one. Things I enjoyed: The links to Geisha Culture, and the kinds of magic used. Things I didn't enjoy so much: Whenever the story would go to "present day" or whatever you'd like to call it, it really ruined the flow for me. I would get really into the plot of what was happening with the bone witch and her training and her brother... and then it would get interrupted. At those points, I would put the book down and not pick it up for a few days.

I wanted to love this book (the cover is so pretty). Never judge a book by its cover. The Bone Witch starts out promising but slows down and nothing happens to drive the plot forward. There is too much description and not enough plot. Maybe the book had an amazing ending, but I will never know. I put it down after reading about 60%.