So I received an ARC e-book of this title from NetGalley and to be honest, had a really hard time getting into it and staying with it. I made it about a third of the way through but was feeling like I was slogging until I saw it was newly available as an e-book through my library's Overdrive system and decided to try it that way. For me, it was a big improvement. The world that the author created is very detailed and having the narrators talking me through it, made it flow much more. So my 3 stars rating is combined for the audio book (3.5 stars) and the print book (probably 2.5 stars).

Tea is a bone witch who accidentally raises her brother Fox from the dead when she is twelve. He becomes one of the undead and is tied to Tea for life--almost as a familiar of sorts. Because she can do the magic of necromancy, she is taken by Mykala, another bone witch for training. The training for bone witches or ashas (by the way it's not a respectable magic trade in Tea's world) includes learning magic but also a geisha-like training, done away from family that includes learning to serve and entertain and to fight large terrible beasts called daevas. It's a complicated world. ;-)

The story is told from Tea's POV, as well as the POV of a "Bard" who comes across her and asks for her story. This is the first book in a series and perhaps the level of detail (there is a glossary "The World of the Bone Witch: The 8 Kingdoms in the back explaining the kingdoms) is there to set up for future books. I think having a few less Kingdoms and less detail would have helped the story move along and think it could have benefited from being shortened down. That being said, I enjoyed the Tea (and her brother Fox) and learning about her world and I would try a second book--via audio book again.

From the intriguing title, to the stunning book cover, I yearned to read this book from the moment I saw it on NetGalley. Aside from the too-open ended finish, this book did not disappoint.

What I Liked:
Narrative Style:
The book alternates chapters between two first-person narratives. First, a bard (we are never told his name) is compelled to travel to a desolate beach where an older Tea is preparing her revenge. He asks her questions about her life, and witnesses her preparations for her revenge.

The other narrator is Tea reflecting on her training as an Asha and laying the groundwork for why she is seeking revenge.

I've never seen a book organized in this way. It was unusual and compelling.

Setting:
A significant portion of the book happens in The Willows, a place much like that of the Geisha district in Kyoto, Japan. I lived in Japan for several years, and I immediately understood the type of atmosphere the author was trying to convey. The world of Asha (witches) is run much like Geisha. The Asha train for years in more than spells. They must be adept at singing, dancing, musical instruments, and conversation. Then they set about entertaining important people at tea houses in The Willows.

Fashion:
I loved the descriptions of the clothing, and accessories of the Asha. This may seem superficial, but the clothing of each Asha was an important part of their lives. I made a Pinterest board to show what I think the fashions may have been like:

Characters:
I loved Tea, the main character of the book. She was someone who was constantly being controlled by others. She struggled to find the strength needed to break free of everyone else's expectations and be her own person. I also liked that, although her Asha abilities were rare, she wasn't a Super character. She was not great at everything she tried (particularly singing!). I get very irritated when the main character is perfect, and Tea is far from that.

What I didn't Like:
Ending:
While I understand that this will be a trilogy, I was frustrated by the huge cliffhanger ending!

Yes, the main problem of the book was solved. But there were so many unanswered questions, that I was extremely frustrated! I had to take half a star away from my rating to reflect this.

Overall, this was an exciting beginning to a saga I will be following with great interest in the future.

The concept of the book felt really cool-- I haven't found many YA books that deal with necromancers, but unfortunately it just fell flat to me. The author writes very beautiful descriptions of everything, but that is all we get. We don't get a lot of character or personality. We don't get a lot of plot or action. We only get description. Needless to say it wasn't interesting to read when I don't care about the characters and nothing happens.

Loved this book! I was unsure at first, the beginning was interesting, but was unlike anything I have read in a long time. After a chapter or two, though, I was hooked. It was like diving into a beautiful world of magical "asha", the revered wielders of all elements. However, the book follows a young girl, Tea, who has the less respected powers of the Dark. This "bone witch" is a quick learner and thinks for herself, although the teachings of the elders do not allow the latter. A bit of a passive rebel at first, she has romantic feelings for someone above her, which is nearly forbidden as the local history has had terrible results from a similar situation. Lady Tea strongly advocates for changing some of these ways--in a kind of American cultural reflection--to allow acceptance for her friend who does not fit the outdated gender roles. Beautifully written, The Bone Witch describes--with vivid detail--every nuance of this imaginary world and all of its kingdoms. I loved being there and I wanted more, but unfortunately, the book ended abruptly--so I am looking forward to a sequel! 😁

I enjoyed this book. The concept was new and it was exciting to see how Tea grew and integrated into the asha community. This book did a lot of world building, and was a little light on the overall story arc plot. You see glimpses in the in-between chapters, but this book definitely reads like a setup for the rest of the series. Not bad, I need the next book to really know what's going on.

Lavish in detail, The Bone Witch weaves a tale of dark fantasy and necromancy where a young woman discovers she has the power to raise the dead.

THE BONE WITCH weaves a dark and opulent tale of magic and monsters. Rin Chupeco creates a world beset by dark beasts and kingdoms tottering on the verge of war. The Eight Kingdoms are filled with elemental magic, intrigue, and rich historical traditions. It is here readers meet the protagonist Tea, a young, untrained witch who discovers her abilities of necromancy after accidently raising her recently deceased brother from the dead.

Known as Bone Witch, Tea is both feared and revered for her unique powers and finds herself thrust into the world of an Asha, learning to control her dark elemental magic. With war looming between the kingdoms and dark beasts rising up from the dead, Tea knows she must masters her skills while navigating courtly intrigue.

“Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there’s anything I’ve learned from him in the years since, it’s that the dead hide truths as well as the living. I have not been a bone witch for very long, whatever the stories you’ve heard, but this was the first lesson I learned.”

Told from two intersecting threads, past and present, Chupeco, known for her tales based on Japanese myth, The Girl From the Well, weaves in rich details of courtly arts and her training as an Asha. Clothing, dancing, and weaponry are detailed as well as the various forms of the Asha and the magics they can perform. At times the writing comes to a languid pace with all the attention to details, yet readers who persevere will be rewarded with the transformation of Tea’s character into something truly fierce and admirable.

"The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer."

Magic, especial that of a Bone Witch, extracts a terrible price, and Chupeco creates a beautiful, if solemn, story, about transformation and sacrifice with Tea’s character. In the traditions of a high fantasy, the world with its demon beasts, magics, and elementals are all fantastically crafted and the ending ensures readers will want to read more with its twisty ending.

“I understand now why people fear bone witches. Theirs is not the magic found in storybooks, slaying onyx-eyed dragons and rescuing grateful maidens from ivory towers. Theirs is not the magic made from smoke and mirrors, where the trap lies in the twitch of the hand and a trick of the eyes. Nor is theirs the magic that seeds runeberry fields, whose crops people harvest for potions and spells. This is death magic, complicated and exclusive and implacable, and from the start, I wielded it with ease.”

Though the languid pace and high attention to details hinder the story’s flow, I found this world and Tea fascinating. This is a read for those who enjoy an intimate narrative style, one revealing the internal struggle and journey, Tea's character goes through surrounded by a vivid world. I found myself setting this down after reading it in smaller portions but quick to pick it back up again - the writing is a lovely mix of haunting and lyrical and I find myself needing more of Tea’s story and anxious for the next installment.

Unfortunately, this one just missed the mark for me. I found myself unable to read this for long periods of time just because I couldn't get engaged enough in the story. I felt like there was a lot of telling but not a lot of showing, and a lack of action when it came to the plot in general. I think others may enjoy this more and I may have just not been in the right mindset for this, but it was not one that I found myself loving as much as I had hoped.

Fantasy novels like this are not my thing to begin with, so I am not the best judge and when there are more than several characters, especially with deep pasts or seers and witches that come from a history of it, I find it hard to keep track and therefore understand just what is going on and that is the case with this book.

While I can appreciate the storyline and Tea being able to raise the dead, the history was too complicated (despite the maps and extras at the end) to be able to truly get what was going on.

Update: I tried again but ended up skimming through the pages.

I really was looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, I got 29% of the way through and couldn't take it anymore. It just wasn't my kind of book. I was bored and just couldn't get into the story. Fantasy is evidently not a genre I enjoy.

* I received an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I have mixed feelings about The Bone Witch. On one hand, it was a unique read, blending fantasy with political intrigue and exciting worldbuilding. Watching Tea grow from an innocent girl to a morally questionable Dark asha kept me turning the pages. When the sequel releases, it's something I'll definitely pick up to continue the adventure.

However, it wasn't a perfectly smooth read. My issues stem from the mechanics Ms. Chupeco used in her writings, not the story itself. The novel alternated between short glimpses at 17-year-old Tea, exiled from society, and full-length chapters recounting Tea's first two years as an asha apprentice.

The short glimpses should've created intrigue for what was to come, for what made Tea's heart turn black (literally). While they sometimes did, they were more often unnecessary. I would've preferred three or four longer flash-forwards to Tea's future than short one-pagers. The constant flickering to the future made the majority of the story - which took place when Tea was 15 - feel stagnant and false. Like none of it really mattered since I knew how it would end.

Despite its flaws, I'm interested in hearing the rest of Tea's story. The flash-forwards annoyed me at times, but a few were compelling enough to leave me wanting more.

I have noticed that this one is getting a lot of mixed reviews. I think the main reason for this is because the story is very slow-paced and it's super wordy. I personally loved the wordiness of the writing and I felt it was beautifully descriptive and found the character and world building to be captivating. There wasn't just one major climax to the story, instead it ebbs and flows with a few peaks here and there that ultimately lead to a reveal and a cliff-hanger. The Bone Witch reminded me quite a bit of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale in that they were very descriptive and beautifully written and felt based heavily in folklore and mythology. However, while I really enjoyed this book, I didn't feel it was quite up to par with Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale as it just didn't have the excitement and action that they had. Overall, I liked the book quite a bit and look forward to seeing where this series is headed.

I think that The Bone Witch is a book that not everyone will enjoy. It's incredibly slow and there really isn't a lot that happens throughout the first 75% of the story. The information can be overwhelming since there are a lot of characters and places and names that are provided with very little context in some cases. But for me personally, I really enjoyed it once I hit the twenty percent mark. I couldn't stop myself from continuously picking it up.

I have to state that this book is very similar to Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Tea's asha training led her to dancing, singing, tea ceremony, and etiquette classes. Asha are often summoned to be entertainers at tea houses or parties for expensive clients. There are even apprenticeships and debuts and extravagant dressings for asha, all similar to geisha. There are even scenes that reminded me of scenes from Memoirs of a Geisha such as the scene where Tea is tricked by some older asha. That being said, this wasn't unenjoyable for me, but for the eerily close similarities I do feel that I can't give this book a full five stars.

Aside from that, though, there were a lot of things about this story that I really enjoyed. I thought that the magic was interesting. I liked the idea of hearts being contained in vials that have their own magic and properties. I was constantly eager to learn more about the daeva and bone witches and asha magic in general.

I was also very fond of several of the characters. I liked Tea as a main character. I found her naturally easy to root for even if she was by no means perfect. She did suffer from being a "chosen one" character but I felt like she responded well within the environment of the story. I also liked Fox, Tea's brother, and Mykaela, Tea's mentor. I liked Likh, the young apprentice who wishes to be a female asha, and the large gay dressmaker, Rahim. I liked that there was basically no romance, though there was set up for some in later books, and I like that the inklings of romance weren't what they seemed to be.

Lastly, I was very fond of the narrative style of this book. It's confusing at first and it took me a few chapters to understand what was happening. Basically the story is told from two points of views, Tea's as she is becoming an asha, and Bard's as he is meeting an exiled Tea two or three years into the future after some tragic event has occurred. Bard's chapters often shed light on previous chapters or provided foreshadowing for future chapters. I also liked how this broke up the heavy prose and little action of Tea's own chapters. I hope future books contain this same writing style.

Overall I know that not many people will enjoy this book, but I have to admit that I really did.

I thought this would be interesting for my 1st foray into YA, but I just wasn't interested. I'm sure it's no fault of the story but more so that the YA genre is just not for me.

Please see link to book review.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book but I was drawn in immediately. The story goes back and forth between present day as Tea talks to the Bard who has come to learn her story and the past when Tea first learned that she would become a Dark Asha.

Chupeco has created a rich world with many layers and political intrigue. Magic is common but the gift of the Dark Asha is looked at with fear and disdain. Tea's back story is interesting and slowly builds you up to present day. You watch her grow from a scared 12 year old who accidentally raises her brother from the dead to a skilled kick ass woman at 17.

As the story unfolded I became more and more invested in the characters and really wanted to get to know a few of them a bit more. Since this is the first book in a series I'm hoping that more will come from some of these other characters that Chupeco has given us a taste of.

Everyone in this world has a heartglass and the color of the glass tells you how you feel and also determines what you will be. There doesn't seem to be any room for someone to make choices of free will in this world since you are pushed in the direction your heartglass leads you.

There are many different themes throughout the book that really seem directed at following your own heart and not so much what society thinks you should do.

I really liked this book and look forward to the rest of the series.

This book started off a little confusing until I realized it was the traveler telling the story . There were many new expressions and categories that kept me on my toes. The world in this read definely had me thinking feudal times and I was not real attracted to the treatment and "assignments" of the witches in training. Felt like they were taken to a brothel and the "Madam" profited off their entertainment of the men who ruled the lands. Good world building but not really my cup of tea.

This book's a little difficult to rate. I struggled to get into it a little at the beginning, and found it slow in places, but also really enjoyed it? It's also hard to describe. It's something like a villain's origin story or Memoirs of a Geisha meets AHS Coven (but YA, obvs)?

The book uses a nice framing technique, Tea (the protagonist) is telling her story, while setting up for the sequel, so there's a bit of foreshadowing and hinting going on from the start. The flashbacks (the main part of the story) cover the period of Tea's training and apprenticeship as a Dark Asha. Because of this, sometimes the story has quite a 'and then this happened, and then that happened' feel as it covers day-to-day activities, day-in-the-life type stuff. You feel even without the 'present day' elements, that this is a first instalment, setting up for the action of a sequel.

On the other hand, the low action plot doesn't matter, because you'll be too busy admiring Chupeco's writing. The language itself is beautiful, full of elaborate descriptions of drool-worth foods and stunning clothes. Especially the food, oh my gosh, the food! The Asha culture, politico-social structures and magic system is also really well described and interesting to see. The more inter-country politics are a lot broader, and gone into in less detail, but there's enough to really set the context of the Asha and Tea's place in the world.

There's also some great relationships in this book. My favourite is Tea's relationship with her dead brother, Fox. There's an understanding and supportiveness between the two that I don't see often in books so I really enjoyed that. Tea also has great relationships with her mentor Mykela and the other asha (although there is the stereotype 'high-school' bitch too...) Oddly, although Tea's romantic relationships are really stressed in the 'current day' as her motivation (meeting her two love interests on the same day, 'the man she loved' being killed) for action, it doesn't really play much of a part except in passing. It's pretty obvious who they are, but what little we see on page is nicely done.

This review will go up on my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on 5 April 2017.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/review-the-bone-witch

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In every chapter we have 2 points of view: Tea in the present, telling her story to a bard, and Tea in the past learning to become an asha. The premise is interesting and immediately as you start reading, you wonder to yourself about Tea's situation. You will not get an answer to the question that forms in your head in this installment, just so you know. The end of this book really pulls you in, but I wish the momentum that I felt at the end started a bit earlier in the book.

The story is very slow building. We follow Tea in her studies, which is very similar to a geisha or gisaeng, I think. She learns how to sing, dance, play instruments, but she also learns self defense and attack skills as well as ways to hone her magical abilities. Men hire her at tea houses for conversational and artistic entertainment and the more renown she becomes, the higher the price they pay for her company. Also, part of what she earns at the tea houses goes to paying back what her asha-ka, or the house that she belongs to, has already paid for her training. Reading how Tea learned these techniques and how she rises up the ranks was interesting, but it wasn't enough to glue me to the book until I finished, at least not until the last 10% of the book.

I do believe that if some of Tea's journey to becoming an asha were condensed, it would've propelled the story a bit faster. Part of what slowed me down is that there isn't a lot of action in the story. Nothing really pulled at me to come back to the story and I would step away from it for days at a time. Another thing that bothered me was that more than half way into the book we're told that Tea's name is pronounced Tay-uh. Personally, this was very confusing and I couldn't get myself to pronounce her name the way it was supposed to be pronounced. If this pronunciation was introduced at the beginning of the book, this wouldn't have made me stumble every time I read her name after that pronunciation was introduced.

Truthfully, this book took a lot longer to get through than I thought it would. I feel though that now that the story has gained momentum, the next book should move much faster and I am interested to see more of Tea's journey and get an answer to the question that I have had since the beginning of this book. I did enjoy this, despite my issues above, and am looking forward to the sequel.

The Bone Witch caught my eye because I loved Rin Chupeco’s writing in her The Girl from the Well stories. She has this way of making things have this haunting feel to them that really brings the best out of stories like these. I really enjoyed her writing once and again as well as the story itself.

I love how this story is told. Present Tea is relating the story of how she got to where she is to a bard. It was interesting to go back and forth because you start to see Tea in a different light as things begin to match up. I loved her as an MC. She was just such an interesting character, especially for the fact she often mentions that it feels good to draw from the dark magic. As the story goes along you start to wonder what side is she one. Is she good or bad? The lines all seem blurred. I loved how intelligent she is, even if at times she can be impulsive. I love her fondness for her brother and her Asha sisters. I also really like that Tea wants to do the right thing by her friend, who is a boy but loves to dance and sing more than be a soldier. She understand why he has to be forced into a role he doesn’t want.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read Memoirs of a Geisha, but I have to say the Willows reminds me of that a little. I guess the Asha are similar to Geisha except of course they have magic. They also have their own political world outside that of the kingdom politics and each House is kind of like it’s own kingdom. The Asha system used to be a bigger part of the political game I think but then they started to veer off in their own agendas. We spend a large amount of the story with Tea learning to be an apprentice and the ins and outs of the world. It’s very intriguing. I also love the time that is taken to describe all the different outfits and adornments. An Asha’s Hua can tell a lot about her.

I find the relationship and the Oracle to also be intriguing. It’s only lightly explored in this book but I’m curious to see how much more details there are in the next book. As Tea walks this line between what is considered to be good and evil (I think the considered is important), I want to know what part the oracle is really playing.

There are some other great side characters. Like the Heartforger and his apprentice, the different shop owners and of course other Asha. Of course there is the light love interest, again it’s not deeply explored...yet.

So the ending….leaves you like, okay I need the next book. It’s a cliffhanger of sorts. I really liked it though and am looking forward to see more of the story.

The first time I saw this book was on a Goodreads giveaway. The description looked enticing and I really enjoy reading about women necromancers. -cough- "Sabriel" -cough- I also read somewhere, maybe from the author, that this was supposed to be like "Memoirs of a Geisha" meets "The Name of the Wind." I totally felt I had to get my hands on this book after reading that.

That being said... I did see certain aspects of these two books in "The Bone Witch." It certainly was about a kick ass geisha who travels to a distant land to learn how to be a proper bone witch. (So geisha and magic school- covered.) She also travels with her dead brother, whom she raised from the dead. The whole book is basically her not-so-humble beginnings to being a witch and a small gimps to the present where there are hints of wars and fighting to come, but the majority of it was left for, hopefully, a second book.

This book was extremely descriptive. The author really put a lot of effort into the world-building. Sometimes I felt the need to have a master chart and descriptions of things next to me so I can reference it when certain things came up in the book. For example, I almost had to make a chart with the heartsglass color meanings. It took me to almost the end of the book to have them memorized. I loved the concept, but it got a little confusing at times. I love a lot of description, so this didn't put me off.

I really wanted to enjoy the overall plot. It had a lot of potential, but I felt that there wasn't complete development. Also, there were a few aspects that confused me and left me with questions. Some of these aspects might be covered in a second book, but if there were more to the plot in the this book then it wouldn't be so confusing. Also, Tea's love interests put me for a bit of a loop. Not that I'm against the choice at the end of the book, but I was totally surprised... in the confused way. Plot twist? Who was she channeling when she wrote that, M. Night Shyamalan?

Everything considered, I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of aspects I liked, and with a bit more development in the plot it would have been 4 or 5 stars. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and hope that it will provide more clarity on the confusing aspects of this book. (I could write a essay of questions for Rin Chupeco, which I think she'd answer because she seems pretty cool.)