I really wanted to like this YA described by the publisher as “Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind.” It opened with great promise, and it has many things going for it. I loved the idea of an evolving relationship between the heroine, Tea, and her brother, Fox, after she inadvertently brings him back from the dead. The author gets kudos for a non-Western setting. There are lots of details about the city, the school, the monstrous and occasionally draconic daeva, and so forth. I loved the idea of heartsglass that changes color and reveals much of who you are, although I was perpetually confused about how it worked (also the geisha “asha” and why sometimes a bone witch – necromancer is one and sometimes not). There are a number of wonderful characters like Mistress Parmina (a most un-Japanese name) and Likh, who longs do dance but who is male and so is destined to become cannon fodder for the Deathseekers) and a sense of history and tradition. Unfortunately, the development of intriguing ideas fell short. The relationship with the brother happened slowly, almost as an afterthought or something pinned on. At first I thought how cool it was to have a Japanese Hogwarts, but the culture did not ring true. Attitudes and speech patterns felt Western, and the seemingly random inclusion of elements (like cuisine) from other areas of the world created a slap-dash patchwork instead of a seamless whole. The major problem though, was that there was no clear goal or threat that built to a climax. The result was a story that felt flat and episodic. The hazing from other students had as much emotional weight as the threat of the Faceless (a generic, all-purpose enemy who seem to be evil for its own sake). The utter absence of sex, even sexual feelings, was a jarring omission. These young women are being trained as hostesses and entertainers; it is impossible that the issue of intimate favors for their patrons never comes up. Even if the younger ones are protected from forming liaisons, surely the questions must come up for the more mature asha. It’s ridiculous to thing that a YA novel must exclude all references to sex when it is so important to teens in real life. Discerning older readers may well give this one a pass.

The Bone Witch is the first installment in author Ren Chupeco's The Bone Witch series. To really get into the story, you must first understand Tea's beginnings. For that, author Chupeco flips the script back in time to when 12-year old Tea (Tey-uh) Pahlavi shockingly raises her own brother Fox from the dead and binds him to her with his consent. This shocking turn of events throws her entire village and family into turmoil. After all, Tea is from a family of fairly mundane and respected witches, one a Forest witch, the other a Water witch.

But, no one could have guessed that Tea would be a necromancer (asha/bone witch). In raising Fox, Tea faces a difficult challenge in being accepted for being what she is. Her journey starts in earnest after the arrival to her village of Mykaela. Mykaela becomes her mentor, and her sister. During the journey from the Kingdom of Odalis to the Kingdom of Kion where she is forced to start at the bottom of the ladder, Tea learns about monsters called Daeva and the Faceless and the Fake Prince who apparently controls them.

"I followed her, my heartsglass heavy with questions. Of everything I had heard, I had not expected her to be so young. Seventeen did not explain why she stood on that strange graying beach, alone, with monsters' corpses for company."

In the present, we meet the mysterious bard who will tell Tea's story from start to finish. He has traveled far from home in order to find to the girl named Tea of the Embers. The girl who has been exiled to the ends of the world. Banished for reasons we do not yet understand, but hopefully we will in the next installment. Tea recounts her beginnings and her rise in a society of spellbinders called asha. As a bone witch, her powers of necromancy make her feared and shunned by the populace, but tolerated for her abilities to slay daeva – fearsome beasts that plague the kingdoms. But there is more to the girl than she first appears. Soon the bard begins to suspect that there is more to her tale than what she claims, and that he has a far greater role to play in her story than even he realizes.

One of the more curious aspects of this story is the use of
Heartglasses which can be forged by heartforgers using memories. Younger Tea volunteers to give away some of her memories in order to help make heartglasses for those who either don't have them, or need them replaced. Tea, like Mykaela, can read other people's heartglasses which also comes in handy. Tea's friend Likh is also an important cog in her life. He has a silver heartglass but, in this world, he can't become an asha. Only women can become Asha's. He, like other men are forced to serve the army as Deathseekers.

I dare say that the ending of this book damn near killed me. We get through a bunch of trials and tribulations, and then we are hit upside the head with a two ton heavy brick. Is Tea really a good person, or has she really become that what she has been charged with? Where did the innocent and positive Tea disappear to? The one at the end of the book is ready for a bloody war and has created her own army of dangerous creatures. Who is this Tea who once had lots of potential and may be even stronger than her own mentor?

This book definitely catches the imagination with a very creative world, and secondary characters who key to events that play out. There are similarities between this book and Memoirs of a Geisha. After all, each asha is trained in various studies from fighting, to dancing & singing, to dining with famous and influential men. I do look forward to the sequel. I am steadfast in learning what pushed Tea into becoming the person at the end of this story.

When I first heard of the Bone Witch, I was intrigued - a stunning magical backdrop that has both light and dark magic, with a system in place, and all kinds of various magic users all sounded incredibly fascinating and right my alley. Then add in the fact that there's something called a bone witch, someone with the ability to resurrect the dead, and I knew I would love it. Sometime between my excitement for this book, and finally diving in, it seems some of the magic was lost along the way. I'm not exactly sure where or what took it away, but I do know part of it lies in the execution.

The first, I don't know, maybe 60% of this book was so incredibly slow-moving that I found myself setting it down and not really looking forward to picking it back up. Granted, the action and the plot does pick up...eventually, but that first incredibly slow half was enough to damper my enjoyment. I'm an avid reader of fantasy, I know it's not easy to introduce magic systems, the world surrounding the magical community, and everything in between and some authors are able to throw it out on the table without slowing down the pace. Such wasn't the case here, and I often felt the narrative was incredibly bogged down by the sheer amount of information necessary for the story to be understood by the reader. Had the pace in that first half been a bit faster, a bit more exciting, and need-to-know info been delivered in a slightly less dry manner, this book would have been magic for me.

With all of the above said, I am willing to give this book another shot, thinking maybe I missed something, maybe the atmosphere at the time I read this wasn't right, maybe the sun was too bright...whatever it was that made this book not connect with me the way it should, I went ahead and purchased the hardcover (it was honestly a steal on Amazon for $9.86 for a brand new book!), and I will give it another go. I want to love this book so much, and I'll probably read it until I do.

I'm neglecting to post a public review because my review doesn't seem very favorable. I want people to love this book, much like I'm hoping to someday, and I don't want my less-than-positive review to sway them.

DNF @14%
The book was difficult to get into, so I gave up on it.

A truly original YA that deserves every single star! The world building is brilliant and the characters are well thought out!!!

30095464
Alright so I have finally finished this book and while I thought it was okay, it was hard to get through.



I liked the cover of the book. I also liked the style of Rin Chupeco's writing and I really liked Tea, the main character. I felt like the story wasn't bad but for some reason, it was lacking and I just couldn't get sucked in. I wanted to. I mean the blurb...wow.

It says:

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.

What?! That made me want to just dive in and never come up for air. And it made me think that I would feel like I couldn't get enough and devour the story in a sitting. But that did not happen. Not even close. I enjoyed the whole story behind the dark Asha and the daeva and the characters were fine too but certain things about the story irked me. One, the alternating time in the chapters. They appeared to be going back and forth in time from when Tea was training and then to when she was a full fledged bone witch. I don't know about anyone else but it was a bit confusing for me. Then the huas. Oh my gosh. Chupeco felt the need to describe what each Asha was wearing with the most detail and it kind of took away from the story because of the emphasis on the clothes. I know the has have magic stitched into the fabric but I don't know why I needed to hear every color and design for every single person wearing them. The whole part with Tea's brother in the beginning was weird but I thought it was cool that he was arisen and would be her companion despite not being a living person. That was gnarly. Since she's a necromancer basically, of course having an undead sidekick sounds cool. However, Fox wasn't really badass like I hoped he would be. He was just ok. Most of the characters were just ok. I give the story a 3/5 and that is because the ending was actually interesting and the pace really picked up. I saw that alot of people dnf'd this book or just took forever to read it. It has been two weeks and this book was a thorn in my side and I'm just glad it's over. To be honest, I'm confused because I feel like I didn't like it but I did. Lol. I would be willing to read a sequel but I wouldn't be at the edge of my seat for it. Great premise for a story but it was not well executed.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this review before it is released and for no charge. My opinions are my own though.

"Maybe Norbert would enjoy a play date." Hagrid, Harry Potter

This is first book of the year I really felt compelled to finish and the first of those I have reviewed here to break the 4.0 barrier. The Bone Witch is a dark, high fantasy style novel with elements of Japanese/Geisha tradition woven in a magical, midevil setting. The story is narrated by a Bard, who relays the story HE is hearing from our Bone Witch, who is telling the story as she prepares to enter a quest of unknown purpose. The book is a look-back, prequel, origin story about our Bone Witch and only time (and sequels) will tell if we learn the reasoning and outcome of the unnamed quest. Don't worry, the story is satisfying in and of itself.

The world building here is delicious, not hackneyed in any way. The magic has reasonable rules and its use takes a cost that is very reasonable and fair. The local mythology is gently introduced but clearly plays an important role in the day to day affairs of the land. The author's voice is clear and seems effortless. If I had to find fault it would be in the use of some banal vocab (biriyani) while the majority of the culture seems based on new vocabulary (hua). Consistency would be nice.

Overall, a book fantasy readers will enjoy. Though it did not quite bust the 4.5. ceiling, I wouldn't be surprised if it was optioned for the screen. So read it soon!

4.4/5

4 for reading it all the way through in one sitting
5 for story arc as the three individual story arcs (the religious mythology, the Bards', the Bone Witch's) are all cleverly intertwined ultimately
4 expanding my horizons as I enjoyed both the Asian influences and the high fantasy style though neither are my usual preference
5 for cleverness and richness, story was well laid out, well presented and yet had no excess fat that I could see
4 for voice as the author's word choice and tone kept me in the story and engaged

I feel really bad but I had to DNF this one. There wasn't anything keeping me interested and every time I put it down I dreaded picking it back up. This was one of those cases where the writing was really pretty but it couldn't make up for the lack of plot. There was a lot of really nice descriptions but it got to the point where there was too much. It felt like that's all the beginning of this book was. I honestly couldn't tell you what was happening at all because the things that needed to be explained weren't. I actually caught myself skimming through pages just to get them over with. It was just too boring and there was no hook to keep me interested.

Tea has the extraordinary ability to raise the dead, which is revered and feared in the land. Asha are women capable of wielding elemental magic, and the Dark Asha can control the dead and destroy the creatures roaming throughout the eight kingdoms. The training to be an Asha is long and fraught with dangers, and ultimately Tea will have to decide where her loyalties truly lie.

The influences from Japanese and South Asian cultures is very clear in the book. The training the Asha go through is very much like that geisha had done in Japan, though there is just as much focus on defense and martial arts as there is on music, diplomacy and the arts. Much of the food descriptions and clothing descriptions lend themselves to various cultures in our world, but the blend is a seamless one as Chupeco build the world and the magic that the Asha are capable of wielding. The monsters in this world aren't just the creatures rampaging and killing, but the politicians, nobles, and jealous Asha in training. There's the sense of a tragedy in the making, especially with the tale-within-a-tale format that the book takes, and it heightens the tension in reading about Tea's training.

I had actually stared at my Kindle in shock at the end of the book and nearly howled at the unfairness of it all. Quickly finding Rin's website and Tumblr online, I saw that this is book one of a series. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. I can't wait to see what else is in store for Tea, the nameless Bard she is telling her story to, and the rest of the eight kingdoms.

Review - The Bone Witch
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

* Read via NetGalley for review

3 gnomes out of 5 gnomes

This book was perplexing and vexing at times but also I just had to know what was going to happen next. It was a hard book to get through but I had to see what would happen. The story structure was something I both love and hated because it really made you feel like you were missing something because you’re never sure how Tea became who she is now.

I don't know how a book can feel like so much is happening when really almost nothing is happening. It kind of felt like a fantasy history book mixed in with a really dark future for the characters.

I liked the mythology and history of the asha. I did want to know more about all of the magic. What we do learn though is more than interesting.

The characters are all strong, especially Tea. I just wanted more of the story filled in. The whole past and future thing makes you wonder WTF happened over about two years.

That ending though was the truly infuriating part. When things are just getting good, like I don’t want to put down the book good, the story just ends.

I'm only a fantasy-dabbler. I usually hesitatingly dodge in and out of the genre, so my comfort level with some of the themes (general magic, mythical beasts, ashas) is pretty low. I really appreciated the thoroughness of the explanations - without them, I would have been lost!

The book is told from two perspectives - that of a bard who's met our heroine, Tea, at some point in the future, and that of Tea's witch-awareness and apprenticeship. I found the Tea apprenticeship story to be very intriguing. It wasn't all action, but I wasn't expecting it to be. The plot moved along at a tolerable pace (a little slower than I'd prefer). On the flip side, I thought the future-version story was really, really slow and almost unnecessary to the story - aside from creating a small mystery surrounding why she's there in the first place.

All this being said, I really did enjoy the book and will definitely be reading the next one (because there most certainly will be another book!) whenever it comes out.

This book was beautifully written. The prose was excellent, the world building superb. However, the plot moved along SO very slowly, I had an extremely difficult time staying with the story and staying involved. At some point I will finish and post a full review.

DNF at 11% I just couldn't get into it. The cover and description were amazing but the actual book fell way short for me. The writing was good and the premise was one I was very interested in however I couldn't continue. Too much description on things that had no purpose and didn't really move the story along.

The Bone Witch has an interesting premise, and though I do not normally read modern books with witches (aside from Practical Magic and HP), I liked the idea of a witch with a rare magic that would make her an outsider within her own community and what conflict that would cause for her as she tried to learn and master her gift. Necromancers (or asha in this world), those with power over the dead, are nothing new to the fantasy genre (see The Hobbit and any other number of books) and yet they are not introduced often and even more rarely as a main character. Anyway, I was in.

The first half of the book really delivered in building the world and getting to know Tea. I really enjoyed her relationship with her brother, Fox. I found the setting to be gorgeous and her apprenticeship to be well-detailed. The book does, however, switch between two points of view. Switching POV for me is a double edged sword. It works when it works, and when it doesn't, it's a little uncomfortable. For me, this was somewhere in between those two options. At times it was fine (probably because I'm reading a lot of multiple POV stories lately), and other times it was disjointed.

The powers of the other witches were elemental - fire, water, earth and wind. This seems true to a lot of what I've read about witchcraft in the past, but not so similar to other currently popular magic-filled worlds. What was even more unique was the heartglasses. Without giving too much away about them and how it effects the dynamics of relationships, in short, they are almost a way of wearing your heart and emotions on your sleeve for all to see... if they know how to read and use them. It was just an interesting magic element that sounds like a mood ring, but goes much beyond that.

There is a ton of description, which if you love that, you will really enjoy this world. With lots of description comes a plot that is not as fleshed out. I feel like the characters could have used a little more action as they are made to be women and men of power and adventure. But, that being said, I believe there is going to be a second book (if not a series?) so maybe this is building everything up for a lot of action in the next book.

Overall I would give this a 3.5 out of 5. Somewhere between like and really like. I will definitely want to read the next book.

Note: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. The Bone Witch is currently available, having released this Tuesday, March 7, 2017.

Tea comes from a family of witches, but her magic is like no one else’s. She can wield the magic of necromancy and is considered a bone witch. Because she holds a powerful magic, most people are either scared of her or other witches like her. Tea must leave her family and village to train with those older and wiser. Can Tea learn to control this magic? Will she be able to help her kingdom as war bubbles in the kingdoms around her?

The Bone Witch is the first book in a new series by the same name. Although the premise of the story holds a lot of merit, the execution was missing the magnetic pull of a good fantasy story. Tea’s plight would pull me along and then drop me unexpectedly in the next chapter. Chupeco left an ending to make readers curious about the next stage in Tea’s life, so I will try the next volume in the series and decide at that time if I will continue further.

2/5 stars

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother at his funeral, she learns that she is a bone witch.
She must leave her family to begin her training and understand how to control her powers.
Bone witches are feared because of their dark abilities and their numbers are dwindling.
Will Tea complete her training?
Will she be able to stop the darkness that threatens the kingdom?

I was intrigued by the premise of The Bone Witch - a young girl that can raise the dead - but reading it I found myself disappointed.
Tea was an okay protagonist but none of the characters really stood out to me.
The plot was dull in places and seemed to drag out. I often found my attention wandering.
I liked the similarities between the asha (those with elemental magic) and Geisha - asha also had to learn dancing, music etc.

Unfortunately, this wasn't for me.

The Bone Witch is a deeply immersive tale that high fantasy lovers will really enjoy. Because of the detail in the world building I think it will work for adults as well as teens. Though, it is a different kind of storytelling, weaving back and forth in time and it is best not to come into the story with expectations about what you think will happen and who should be with whom.

Tea has lived all her life in a small village with her family. Then, when she is thirteen, her brother, who had been called to the army to help protect the kingdom from fierce monsters called daeva, is killed in battle. The anguished Tea refuses to accept his death, and in her grief, she raises him from his grave. It seems that Tea is a necromancer, a dark asha (witch). Fleeing from the superstition and fear of her neighbors, she journeys to the schools at Ankyo where she can learn to harness her powers.

The lessons at these schools (called The Willows) resemble a geisha’s training more than anything you’d find at Hogwarts. Tea learns singing, dance, flower arranging, and how to pick out the perfect hua (magical outfit). She does also learn healing and combat, but the focus is certainly more on the refined arts and entertaining dignitaries.

When the school is attacked by a fierce daeva, Tea knows she is the only one with a chance of stopping the carnage, but the price that must be paid could mean the sacrifice of all she holds dear.

Right off the bat I’m going to stay that this book wasn’t my cup of tea (pun, sorry). I found the focus on the more mundane aspects (like flower arranging, etc.) to be a bit dull. When the action finally hits, the book is nearly over. That is not to say that this book is bad. There’s quite a bit of good world building here, and the magic system is actually pretty neat, and interestingly done. I feel like this book will appeal more to a true YA audience than me (being old and curmudgeonly). As this is the first in the series, I would be curious to see how the future books pace out. I think the second book will be worth a chance, when it comes out.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Bone Witch will be available for purchase on March 7th, 2017.

I tried really hard to finish this but I eventually had to give up. The plot is so slow and I just didn't connect with any of the characters. The writing is decent, and you may enjoy it if you're in the mood for a fantasy that forces you to stop and smell the roses.

I may try it again, but for now, I'm setting it aside.