DNF at 22%

I was stupid excited for this book. I loved the premise and hello there, gorgeous cover. Sadly it was quite a disappointment.

What I read of the story was quite slow. There are descriptions of everything. Literally. Full descriptions of people's clothing and what they looked like and their skin and the landscape and inch by inch mentions of where they were traveling to. It all got rather tedious.

Couple that with a back and forth POV of someone doing an interview of sorts with Tea when she's older and the eleventy billion realms/towns/people and I was just done.

I did like the relationship between Tea and Fox and wish it would have been more prominent. I wanted magic and necromancy and darkness. I got something that appeared promising, but I don't have the patience to see if it delivers. From the other reviews I'm seeing, it doesn't.

**Huge thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing the arc free of charge**

This was a slow burn of a novel. Every chapter was just another taste of a very detailed and atmospheric story. It’s written in a very old fashioned way of story-telling, through the perspective of a character retelling her experiences from memory, rather than as they happen. I found myself eagerly pushing towards the snippets of her present-self that is only glimpsed at the end of each chapter, rather than being caught up in the storyline that takes place in her past. It was heavy in the description of the culture and visuals of the world, which were gorgeous, but there just wasn’t enough action for me to focus on it for long periods at a time. However, the ending left me wanting so much more from this character and the world she lives in, that I am already highly anticipating the next book. If this was just a stepping stone to a greater plot, then I’m completely on board.

DNF at 15%.....for now. Unfortunately, I just could not get into this book, and believe me I desperately wanted too. The concept behind this story is so creative and unique. I loved learning about the powers these characters have, and the way everyone wears their hearts inside a necklace called a heartsglass, which allows our main character, Tea, to read their emotions. However, it is confusing and a bit slow and these factors made it difficult for me to concentrate on reading. And I know 15% is not a proper time to review a book, which is why I'm ending this here. I really want to learn more about this world and these characters, so I plan on coming back to it. Hopefully next time I'll be able to understand this first 15% more which will allow me to stay focused so I can continue with this fascinating story.

Before I read this story, I looked on Goodreads for what others thought about it and I was quite surprised by the amount of negative reviews. Most of them cited that the story was slow and not much happened in it, thus causing readers to lose interest. Bearing that in mind, I started to read.

What I discovered was a story with beautiful prose, rich in detail and character development. The book has been branded as a fantasy Memoirs of a Geisha, and I would have to agree with this description. The asha are very much like geisha in terms of the obligations they have to tea houses, and in the manner in which they dress. What makes the asha different, however, is there power and magical abilities. While I found the concept to be interesting and well-executed for the most part, I wish the asha had been given a more powerful or stronger image; it's great to hear about their singing and dancing abilities but I'd much rather have the asha also be admired for their fighting skills by their guests.

I really liked Tea's character. Her voice (not referring to her singing or anything, by the way) for this story was beautiful and spellbinding and I loved to hear all of the descriptions of different aspects of her life. I enjoyed reading about her internal struggles to keep the darkness at bay, and I liked that the love interest angle was not overdone. It was also really cool to have the story told from her present self's reflections of her past behaviour; it kept me wanting to know more about how she ended up in her present condition. I think the author did a fabulous job on that front!

The magical elements of this novel were fantastic. I loved everything from the runes to the undead demonic beasts to the mind control to the heartglasses. Everything was unique and important and it would always intrigue me enough to keep me wanting more!

Overall, I was quite impressed with this novel. It had a mature and lyrical tone and while it may have plied the readers with a great deal of detail, it allowed for the building of an intricate world and an intriguing story line. I would recommend this to anyone who was a fan of Memoirs of a Geisha (which I adored!) but with a teen fantasy angle. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series!

I struggled to read this book. I really wanted to enjoy it, and it has many aspects, from its inspiration in Zoroastrian mythology/ethos, to the presence of novel, seeming transgendered characters. But the characters a so... flat. So lacking in sparkle or humor or life. I felt like I was reading prose that was just narrative, which took itself too seriously to take risks. The one scene I enjoyed most, training with Lady Hami, was brief but lively action. The book opens with maps of islands but the differentiation between different countries/regions is pallid and verbose. I'm giving the book three stars because of the novel's general inspiration, which was so novel, but definitely not character development or world building. I made the major mistake of reading an excerpt from a forthcoming book of another author I love during the reading of this book. That digression immediately presented the strong contrast between characters and a world illuminated versus what I felt here. Rin Chupeco clearly has imagination. She needs to further her craft if she is going to explore her his sort of fantasy.

*HUGE thanks to Sourcebooks Fire, Netgalley, & Rin Chupeco for the eGalley of The Bone Witch

***4 STARS***

PLOT

The Bone Witch is a beautifully dark woven tale filled with dark magic, runes, tradition, sisterhood, greed, loss, and betrayal. We meet our protagonist, young Tea who has just been discovered as a Necromancer. In the very first pages she raises a familiar back from the dead & is cast as a Bone Witch. Feared but very much needed by her kingdom to keep them safe & away from the Daeva (aka beasts), Bone Witches are still few and far between. Tea is mentored by one of the most powerful Bone Witches in the land far away from her family. We follow Tea as she studies to become an Asha by taking lessons in the arts, history, physical combat, meditation, etc. which gave me Geisha vibes all the way. Tea starts off as a novice in a Asha-Ka where she must earn for the house she lives in & climb her way up to being a well respected & highly sought out Asha. Her training is rigorous & through a network of sisters she is taught the art of entertaining very important nobles, politicians, and royals. Tea however, won’t be your average Asha since as a Bone Witch, her calling is the Dark. Bone Witches are the only asha that can kill Daeva whenever they resurrect & the time spans for resurrection are different for all Daeva. Tea sees the task that Bone Witches take on for what it truly is…a sacrifice. For every Daeva that is slaughtered, the Bone Witch is physically & mentally drained. Their lives are spent hunting & killing Daeva for a kingdom that sees them as lepers because they are able to raise the dead.

CHARACTERS

The main protagonist Tea is a Bone Witch who is discovering just how powerful she is among the few Bone Witches that are left. She is young and has to depend on her new found Sisters to show her the ropes & teach her how to control her power. I loved that Tea was hungry to learn everything she possibly could to further her ascension in the ranks. I’ve grown accustomed to meeting female protagonists in YA Fantasy that tend to only be about self or having these GY-NORMOUS (totally made this word up lol) egos…Tea is none of that. She is humble enough to remember the kitchen staff as she grows in rank, seeing her sneak them food because she remembered what it was like to go without, spoke to her character. I ABSOLUTELY love that Tea is a POC (person of color) because they are so rare in Fantasy (YA or Adult) & like many of my fellow blogger buddies have mentioned, if you can create a whole host of supernatural beings then it can’t be that far fetched to include POC’s in Fantasy. Tea is mentored by Lady Mykaela who is known as the best of the best & was the person to personally seek a young Tea out when she sensed her powers at work. Lady Mykaella’s story is also told in bits & pieces, we get a sense that she’s suffered heartbreak & carries a heavy burden. I enjoyed seeing this female bond play out positively on the pages. We also get introduced to some of the asha who play supporting characters & those who work within the village selling all of the things an asha needs from head to toe (clothing, hair, magical potions woven into clothing). Of these my faves were Polaire who also serves as a Sister to Tea & made me giggle with her brash no hair on the tounge comments, Rahim who custom designed all of the asha’s Hua’s always brought color to the page, Likh who worked in the special hair trinket store is a boy who wanted nothing more than to become an asha & dance all of the traditional dances. I loved that Likh felt comfortable enough in his own skin to go for what he wanted & stay true to himself. With an array of characters of all ranges, The Bone Witch gave me a new set of characters to love & worry about haha!

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS

Ok, so here’s where it gets a bit tricky! I am a lover of lush worlds and if done right, I don’t mind the slower pace or the attention to detail. That being said, I did feel that plot was sacrificed a bit in place of characters & world building. It isn’t until the very end that we come full circle with what led to Tea being in her current situation (no spoilers). I didn’t mind the slow pace at all because I truly can get lost in a world & lose track of time as a whole when the writing is as good as it is in The Bone Witch. I also feel that The Bone Witch makes for a great Adult Fantasy even if it is YA Fantasy. I say this because of the complex magic system, AMAZING world building, and fleshed out characters that suck you in. This isn’t a book you’ll read in one sitting, I actually gave it my Junior’s Strawberry Cheesecake treatment…that is I savored it for as long as possible. Each & every time I picked it up, I sunk into the nearest recliner and shut myself down to the real world. This is very descriptive writing & if you enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha, then this is a must have! as a person who enjoys reading about other cultures, I enjoyed the Asian influences in this Fantasy setting. The story alternates between past & present. In between the chapters we are given brief accounts of Tea’s past in pages that are italicized, however they are being recounted in the present. Tea decided to call on an Asha whose specialty is that of a historian, to chronicle her side of the story. It is within the pages that are italicized, in between the chapters that we get Bard’s POV as he chronicles Tea’s stories. Being that this is book 1 in a series & since the author has hooked me in with her writing style, I know I will definitely be picking up the next installment. I also feel that we will see the action we wanted to see in this 1st book, in the next one. Tea’s story is far from over, I am super curious as to what she has planned up her hua’s sleeves cuz THAT ending!!! smh I need more 🙂

My Bookish Peeps, those of you that have read The Bone Witch please drop your thoughts or links to your reviews down below. I’m curious to see how it fared with you all & do you plan on continuing with this series? If so….are you team Kance or Kalen? BAHA! I kid I kid! 😉

This is a slower paced fantasy because the magic and world are incredibly descriptive and fairly complex. It delves into the lives of witches, and others with magic, and their training, more specifically on Tea, our lovely little bone witch. This focuses greatly on character development than anything, building up to the magic (like a learning witch would), and then allowing us out into the world.
What keeps the book compelling is the back and forth between past and present, which is Tea telling the story of how she was exiled and how her heart turned black. (I really loved the colored heart idea and how it can tell if someone contains magic, if they are sick, and if they can give it away and the complexity of the hearts. The present is a tease of what is to come, and there are hints of a lost lover.
There is what seems like a set up for a love triangle, but it never comes to that, which worried me. If there will be one in the future, I can tell it won't be necessarily a love triangle, but more of a change in heart, which is realistic.
Also, did I mention there's a dragon. BONUS POINTS!

My only real complaint is that this world has a lot of its own terms and the names are complex and unpronounceable (to me). I kept losing track of who was who and what each term meant; I learned over time but I also did start to keep a list to keep myself straight. This could have been more of a personal problem than anything.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will be buying a copy for myself when it releases! Can't wait to see what the rest of this series has in store because I can tell it will be one hell of a ride!

This is a story about a girl named Tea.
No, not like the drink, but “Tey-uh,” instead.
She loved her brother, Fox, so much, that she raised him from the dead.

Now necromancy is not a praised trick.
Instead of being in awe of her magic,
Her village called her a bone witch.

Though her witchcraft could help heal sickness and hearts,
A bone witch was feared most of all,
Because no one understands their darkness and their art.

Tea is forced to leave her village, family, and friends.
She is taken under the wing of another bone witch,
Where she starts a new life with a darkening power to spin.

Summoning the dead can be seductive and dark.
Tea is told by strangers that she is soulless from the start.
But our heroine is fierce and remains protective over her heart.

With the rare gift of death magic, Tea can control others’ minds.
She has the ability to conquer monsters, dragons, the Faceless, and spies.
But her gift comes with limitations, and love and trust is not easy to find.

Although this story is very slow in pace,
It is the love interests that might keep you vested and make your heart race.
Or maybe you will fall for the boy who loves to dance and dress in lace.

Tea’s story is filled with twists and turns; a bewitching tale so deep.
She’s infatuated with a Prince, so prepare yourself for a romance that slowly reaps.
And I promise you this, when you begin The Bone Witch, you will find no time to sleep.

Unfortunately, The Bone Witch was a did not finish for me. I got 10% in and just couldn't get into the story. It was very detailed and descriptive, and I liked that about it but that's it.

I loved this book. The Bone Witch was an amazing book, that I could not put down. I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I love the characters- they are relate-able in their struggles and likeable. I also loved that the book kind of ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. I can't wait to read the next book!

The dual narration of this title was a huge draw, giving glimpses into the title character's future and wondering how it happened, what brought her there. At the start of the book Tea is a frightened young girl who recently suffered the loss of her brother and by the finish, she is a strong and capable warrior, ready to take on the monsters who plague her world.

I definitely recommend this title, for the dark hints, the beautiful descriptions, and the wonderfully likable and real characters.

**I received an ARC of this book from Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**


After reading the synopsis and seeing the beautiful cover, I knew I had to read The Bone Witch. The premise of the book was so interesting and there was so much potential for this book..... But nothing happened. I was intrigued at the beginning, but the more I read on, the more I felt like the story wasn't really moving anywhere and I ended up having to force myself through the rest of the book. Usually when reading a book, especially for a review, I don't read other people's reviews until after I have finished it because I don't want them to cloud my judgement. But about halfway through The Bone Witch, I had to stop and read other reviews, just to see if I was the only one having a problem with feeling like the book wasn't doing anything. Thankfully (or maybe not so?) I was not the only one who felt this way. And that made me really sad, because I was so sure this book was going to be a big hit. It had a very interesting story behind it, which is why it had so much potential, and another thing I loved about the book was that the story is told by the main character in retrospect to a storyteller so that they could tell her story to others. I have never read a book like that before and I found it really interesting. The author just needs to not focus so much on describing every little thing Tea (pronounced "Tay-uh" I think) sees, and focus more on the plot of the story, and that will make the book so much better.

A young village girl discovers she is a Bone Witch when she accidentally raises her brother from the dead. An older Bone Witch takes her under her wing, and takes her to be trained as an Asha. Asha training is much like Geisha training - music, dancing, and other social arts, with additional training in magic and fighting. If you are looking for an action packed fantasy novel, this may not be the book for you. But I enjoyed this story of Tea, her world, and her journey to be an Asha. She must navigate an unfamiliar world of people, politics and power, learn to use her power, and eventually fight to save that world. This story is indeed a little slow in parts, and ends with a form of cliffhanger - almost like a very long set up to the real action that surely must happen in Book 2. But I enjoyed the ride, and will most definitely be looking for Book 2 as I am very curious about what happens next! Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for letting me read an ARC of this great story. 3.75 stars!

I really wanted to love this book but it unfortunately just didn't work for me. Chupeco's writing is beautiful, and the descriptive passages vividly laid out this world of 8 Kingdoms where main character Tea lives as she trains to be an asha. There are several different kinds of asha, all of whom can weave spells to a certain degree, and Tea is what is called a dark asha (or Bone Witch), one who can bring the dead back to life. Tea learns that she is a dark asha when she accidentally raises her brother from the dead at his funeral and then immediately leaves her home because she must be trained how to wield the dark asha magic. I was totally into the story at this point because it was such a unique premise, especially because the newly resurrected zombie brother now follows Tea around and is considered her familiar.

Where the book lost me is pretty much right after that because it didn't feel like much else happened. Tea spends what feels like forever working as some kind of indentured servant before she actually starts training. Then once it is determined she can finally start training, more time is spent describing a shopping spree to buy her the proper hua (robes) and jeweled hairpins than is spent describing what she's learning.

And this continued to be an issue for me throughout the book. Every outfit that each asha wore was described in such great detail, but yet a battle that kills 20 soldiers is just a blip on the radar. I felt like I was waiting for something to happen that never really did.

I did like the way the narrative was framed because while the bulk of the story focuses on Tea and her training, there are small bits inserted throughout the novel that are present day. A bard has come to a deserted island and found Tea there. We learn that she has been banished there and is plotting revenge. That revenge doesn't happen though and by the end of the novel, it's still unclear to me what has caused her to be banished. Since all of this was left so vague in this first book, I feel like the second book does have potential to be a great read in the sense that I'm sure many of the missing details would finally be revealed. I just wish the first book had given me more.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and Rin Chupeco for providing me with an e-galley of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Star rating: ★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Format: ebook galley

Summary: Tea discovers she is a rare type of asha, a bone witch who can raise and control the dead with dark magic. In a world where undead creatures terrorize the kingdoms bone witches are in high need.

Review: I received an ebook galley from NetGalley for a review.

I was so excited for this book, it sounded so interesting and cool. When I got down to actually reading it though, it really fell flat.

I spent the better part of this first half of the book struggling to plod through all the world building Chupeco was throwing at me. There was hardly any plot it felt like most of the time. A lot of nothing happened. There was a bit of action and plot but it felt like overall there wasn’t much at all. I’m all for a lush and rich world but this was too much, it was almost info overload and made it hard for anything about the world to really stick.

The concept of asha as these geisha like witch-warriors was great in theory. But in application they were… Kinda boring. They mostly just did geisha like things with dancing and entertaining and as far as the warrior aspect? There was very little, like almost nonexistent. They just stay in their city and be pretty. While reading about asha and their whole culture that I couldn’t stop wondering why they were even a thing.

The two timelines made it confusing. Tea kept talking about how she’d been betrayed and thrown out of the asha community but we never get to that part of her past storyline. So it’s just really unsatisfactory overall. There’s hints at a love triangle but we only see who she chose in the future but not the events leading up to that.

In the end I’m not sure that I’ve read anything. It felt like a very long book with very little happening or resolved. I loved the concept but it really did not deliver. It’s a real shame, I don’t think that I would read the rest of the series after the disappointment of this first book.

Recommendation: I don’t think this book is terrible but it’s also not great. If you think the mostly descriptive writing would bother you it could be worth a shot but if not then I think it’s safe to skip.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco is a wonderful story that was told in a not so great way. The story begins when a girl name Tea accidently raises her brother from the dead through sheer force of will and then starts off on a journey to become a bone witch. Fascinating, right? And it is. Only the author takes a lot of the enjoyment out of the telling of this tale by over describing nearly every detail of the setting and fashion. Only a few chapters in my eyes began to glaze over whenever I got to the descriptions of what people were wearing.

The other issue I had with the book was how slow it was. Tea is a bone witch in training but spends the first year of said training being basically a maid and it was boring to read about. In addition the novel constantly jumps back and forth between the past and the future. It is told as though the main character is being interviewed and is telling the interviewer (in this case a bard) that story of what happened. These interludes were more interesting than large parts of the story and I can see how they were put in to tease the reader with what would happen in the future. For me though I didn’t enjoy trying to learn about the future world Tea lives in while still imagining the past. It pulled me out of the story instead of making me want to read more.

Overall I give the book 2.5 starts out of 5. I liked the writing style and I think the author had some unique ideas. I hope that the sequel is written with telling and far more showing.

A vivid, lush foray into a new fantasy world. When Tea accidentally raises her brother from the dead, she discovers that she is destined to become a bone witch, a sorceress charged with culling the great beasts called daeva that threaten the eight kingdoms. But before she can begin her work, there is a great deal she must learn of fighting, magic, history, and even the arts. And then there's the matter of her brother, who now lives a half-life as her familiar. The narrative is interspersed with glimpses into Tea's future--a future that seems so much at odds with the Tea we know, that it fills the reader with a yearning to know more.

If anything, the world of The Bone Witch is at times *too* real, with so many details and invented words that the story occasionally bogs down, slowing the pace. But having reached the last page--and learning the identity of the boy in the grave--I can say that I'm highly anticipating the next book.

The Bone Witch is high fantasy at its best. Run Chupeco delivers an amazing descriptive vivid well structured world of magic, witchcraft, kingdoms at war and forces of magic fighting to protect and restore balance. The story opens with young Tea bringing her brother Fox back from the dead. I was hooked from the description of the book alone and knew this was something I would enjoy reading. I was compelled and engaged by the dual narration of Tea telling her story of obscure rural girl to becoming a Dark asha of great power and the more present narrative of the Bard who shares with the reader that Tea is exiled. That awareness that something big, dark and unforgivable has happened in between keeps the reader fully engaged. I must say that loved the world building and histories in this narrative told with such great attention to detail that as an aspiring writer myself I am in awe of Rin Chupeco abilities.

Anyone who loves magic, high fantasy, a complete departure from our regular world will love to escape into the Kingdoms of the Bone Witch.

This book seemed well written and prose was easy enough to read. The beginning of the book was tedious and disorienting for me. Coming in on the first scene you don't know if you're in a world, a dream, or a netherrealm. The most likely seeming to be a netherrealm. The first quarter of the book is tedious and spends too much time in description of mostly irrelevant things. Much of the description doesn't really help establish what the world is like we are experiencing, it describes more mundane things. I had a desire to drop this book and move on, but it started to pick up in the middle and I hung to the second half where it actually got interesting. The last third, or so, of the book kept my attention and I really wanted to finish it at that point. Though, when I got to the ending, it seemed anticlimactic. There seemed very little being brought to a close in this book and what was brought to a close only really came to relevance in the last third of it. It is definitely setup as an opening to a series, though I fear how the series might drone on, given what has occurred in the first book. The thing that bothered me most through the whole book was that character development outside of Tea and Fox was very thin. We never really get to know any characters well enough to have any affinity to them. You could kill off everyone and it would have little effect on the reader. Even the main character seemed underdeveloped at times, with some cases of odd behaviour conflicting what was already being established. I felt this book would be liked better by women than men, only due to the repetitive describing of dress, jewelery, makeup, and the like. That part really bores me quickly. I would consider it a 3 star book for me, but can see it getting more than that from many readers. Though, many readers may also drop it unfinished and give it a much poorer rating than if they were to finish it.