The Bone Maker – Sarah Beth Durst

Synopsis:

Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived. 

Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.

She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.

But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.  

Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”

Review:

First, I would like to say thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Queue the Lady Gaga gif, amazing, brilliant, incomparable.

I have never read a Sarah Beth Durst novel but I had heard from many people that she is a stand out author and her plots were expertly laid out. I would have to agree. The subtle hints in her foreshadowing ensured that nothing seemed to come out of nowhere. Bit and pieces are dropped along the way to plant small seeds of doubt and intrigue with every page.

I am also a fan of Durst’s magic system. It is thought out with many consequences and ways to manipulate the magic. I do believe I will seek out more works with bone magic in the future.

As far as character building goes, Durst again has surprised me. Often in books the arc of the novel will lead toward the greatest moment of character growth and it is an abrupt shift. In this novel, the character’s growth occurs in a very natural way. I found this to be highly refreshing and a welcome change of pace from a “chosen one” trope.

I also liked that while we were dealing with a band of former heroes, none of them felt like the “heroic” stereotype. Again, all of the characters felt like real people with real issues and real trauma post-war.

The ending is incredibly satisfying. While nothing goes exactly how anyone plans, there is something to be said about sacrifice and costs of war that no one realizes.

I highly recommend this to any fantasy fan.

NO QUOTES DUE TO NETGALLEY ARC

Recommendations:

Hall of Smoke by H.M. Long

The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

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