Serena’s Review: “Bonesmith”

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Book: “Bonesmith” by Nicki Pau Preto

Publishing Info: Margaret K. McElderry Books, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Gideon the Ninth meets the Game of Thrones White Walkers in this dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.

Ready your blade. Defeat the undead.

In the Dominions, the dead linger, violent and unpredictable, unless a bonesmith severs the ghost from its earthly remains. For bonesmith Wren, becoming a valkyr—a ghost-fighting warrior—is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But when sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial, she is banished to the Border Wall, the last line of defense against a wasteland called the Breach where the vicious dead roam unchecked.

Determined to reclaim her family’s respect, Wren gets her chance when a House of Gold prince is kidnapped and taken beyond the Wall. To prove she has what it takes to be a valkyr, Wren vows to cross the Breach and rescue the prince. But to do so, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with one of the kidnappers—a fierce ironsmith called Julian from the exiled House of Iron, the very people who caused the Breach in the first place…and the House of Bone’s sworn enemy.

As they travel, Wren and Julian spend as much time fighting each other as they do the undead, but when they discover there’s more behind the kidnapping than either of them knew, they’ll need to work together to combat the real a dark alliance that is brewing between the living and the undead.

Review: While I haven’t yet gotten around to “Gideon the Ninth” (I knoooow, what’s my deal??), I have always loved fantasy books that deal with death/ghost magic and necromancy. Dark? Yes. But often that same darkness leads to a lot of delicious action and plot! “Sabriel” by Garth Nix was probably one of my first introductions to this particular subgenre of fantasy, and I’ve been a convert ever since! All of this to say, I knew the moment I saw the awesome cover for this one and read the description that this book would be right up my alley. And that it was!

So, I read and reviewed the first book in Preto’s first YA trilogy, “Crown of Feathers.” It…wasn’t my favorite. But I do love to discover that either an author has improved their style, or that the first go around was just a fluke disconnect in taste! Without having read the second two books in that trilogy, I can’t say whether I would have liked them more due to more confidence in the author’s style or what. What I can say, is that I absolutely loved this one and will be lining up for more as soon as possible!

This book had so many things that I liked. The world-building was interesting, with a history of magical “smithing” families who have different connections to substances like gold, iron, and, of course, bone. What’s more, their land is plagued by the fact that the dead will rise again if they are not put to rest by bone smiths. Such is our protagonist. Wren is everything I love in a heroine. She’s brave to the point of foolish, a bit selfish, but also has the skills to back up a lot of her talk. Naturally, her story is one of finding a balance between her more thoughtless tendencies to rush in without thought and the need to sometimes step back and wait. She also comes from a supremely dysfunctional family, and I loved the unravelling mysteries to be found in Wren’s past.

The pacing and plotting were also tight and fast-paced throughout the story. I picked it up and never wanted to put it down! There were some excellent action scenes, as well as some descriptions and perils that were verging on horror. I was able to guess a few of the twists, but there were also genuine surprises to be found in this story. What’s more, there were several moments where the story walked right up to a YA trope or pitfall, seemed to stare at it a bit, and then neatly sidestepped the issue that I was all geared up to hate. I love it when authors manage this!

I also really enjoyed the love interest and side characters. Julian was stoic, competent, and also had a lot to learn about his view of the world. More importantly, this author took advantage of a writing choice that I REALLY wish authors would utilize more often. The book is told from Wren’s perspective for 95% of the story. But sprinkled throughout, we have two or three chapters from Julian’s perspective, and even a few from the captured prince’s. Why don’t authors do this more often?? This choice was so much more effective than had the author tried to make this the ever-popular, and often unfortunate, alternating dual POV story. So rarely is there truly enough story to justify two equally balance POVs. Instead, you often have characters repeating things that were discussed or dealt with in the previous chapter. Or you have one compelling character who has a legitimate story arch and then….another character who’s just kind of there. Instead, Preto gave us a few needed glimpses behind the curtains that clued the reader (but not Wren) in on what was going on in the heads of both men, but didn’t cut into a story that was, at its heart, Wren’s own. It was a very restrained decision, and one that I think speaks very highly to the skills of the author to know what is (and isn’t) needed to make the story sing.

Overall, this was an excellent read. I had a blast reading it, and I think it has the sort of cross-over appeal that will make it great for both YA and adult fantasy fans!

Rating 9: Darkly brilliant, this story plops you down in a fantastical world chock full of wonder and horror. You probably wouldn’t want to live there, but man, it’s a blast to visit!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bonesmith” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on something like this list Popular Necromancy Books.