BOOKS | Review: Bone Crier's Dawn by Kathryn Purdie

Name: Bone Crier's Dawn (Bone Grace series #2)

Author: Kathryn Purdie

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

Date published: March 2021

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance

Pages: 437

Rating: 4/5

 

 Love is a matter of life and death.
Bone Criers have been ferrying the dead into the afterlife for centuries, a dangerous duty only possible with the powers they gain from sacrificing their amourés, the men destined to love them and die. But Bone Criers Ailesse and Sabine - along with Ailesse’s love, Bastien - are working to chart their own course and rewrite the rules of the afterlife. If they don’t break the soul bond between Ailesse and her amouré, she could die - just as Bastien’s father did.
Sabine struggles to maintain her authority as matrone of her famille - the role always destined for her sister - even as she fights to control the violent jackal power within her.
Bastien is faced with a new dilemma as the spirits of the Underworld threaten the souls of his friends - and his father.
Ailesse attempts to resist her mother’s siren song as she’s drawn into her own version of the Underworld. How will she save her friends once she’s cut off from their world?

- From Goodreads.

I enjoyed reading this sequel and conclusion to Bone Crier's Moon and sped through it quite quickly. However, I think I was expecting something slightly different from the plot, as it felt like the first part of the book did not move on much from where the ending of the first book left off and the characters were almost stuck going in circles with their conversations and emotions.

I also felt that too much time was spent on certain relationship conflicts when if those had been cut down, simplified or executed in a different way then there could have been more time to develop other relationships and plot points to make them more satisfying. I would have especially liked to see more time for Ailesse and Sabine to connect and talk about what they had been going through and to work together.

Unfortunately while I still really liked the main characters and rooted for them as I did in the first book, they were not always written as strongly as I felt they were in the first one and felt weaker in some ways. The characters often made foolish decisions that were frustrating to read, and while I could understand emotions clouding judgement to some extent, some of the choicess they made were so clearly going to lead to bad circumstances that it did not seem believable that the characters would make them, no matter what their emotions were. The characters kept holding each other back, fighting over things that seemed very small in comparison to the larger problems, miscommunicating and being insensitive to each other's pain, and a lot of the time never seemed to even try looking at things from each other's perspective or from the bigger picture. A lot of these things were used to create conflict in the story, but mostly they seemed unnecessary or just too frustrating, which kept the story from being fun to read at parts.

On a more positive note, the writing style was very easy to read and the descriptions all made the story and world clear to imagine and picture in my mind. The mythology and legends of the world were also fascinating to read about and now that I had the understanding from reading the first book, learning more about how the Bone Crier's work and seeing all the revelations about their magic was really interesting.

Overall, even with the flaws in the story, the ending was satisfying enough and I was relieved when the characters found their happy endings and was pleased with where they ended up. I just think it would have felt even better if the journey to reach those endings had achieved its potential and taken a few different routes. It was absolutely still an engrossing and thrilling book with a lot of great ideas, but there could have been a bit more work done to make both books a really solid and cohesive duology.

Despite the parts that I did not like, I think I will read this again someday. I think I will enjoy it more on a second read, as I did with the first one, and perhaps I will change my mind about the weaknesses when I read it knowing that things are going to resolve in a way that I like.

BOOKS | Review: Bone Crier's Moon by Kathryn Purdie

Name: Bone Crier's Moon

Author: Kathryn Purdie

Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

Date published: March 2020

Genre: Fiction, young adult, fantasy, romance

Pages: 453

Rating: 4/5

Bone ​Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.
Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.
Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.
Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.

- From Goodreads.

The beginning of Bone Crier's Moon was a little cluncky, with all the exposition and explanation of the world and magic system that it needed to do. It was a lot to take in all at once and I was a little confused at first and had to read slowly to make sure I was remembering everything.

However, once I got into the book, I really loved Sabine and Ailesse's friendship, they were so sweet and joyful around each other, really cared for each other and would do anything for each other. They worried so much for when the other was in danger and I could really feel for their love for each other so strongly.

I really felt heartbroken for them when they were treated badly by Odiva. They both so badly wanted a caring mother, and she was so awful to them. My heart especially broke for Sabine, who was so often made to feel like she was not good enough. She was so sweet and had such a good heart, it hurt when people did not value that.

It was enjoyable to read the slow growth of romance between Ailesse and Bastien, how they gradually developed from truly hating each other and wanting to kill each other, to learning more about each other and their lives, until eventually they came to care about each other and love each other.

The plot was full of twists that I did not see coming and had plenty of action that kept me turning pages. Sometimes the pacing felt a little strange but overall I enjoyed the plot and found it engaging.

One of the characters introduced towards the end of the novel seemed very interesting and I look forward to seeing how their character develops and what their role will be in the sequel. In general I think I will enjoy the next book a lot more now that most of the explanation of the magic and the gods and how all that works is done and I will have a better understanding of everything at the start of the next one.

Overall, Bone Crier's Moon was a fun and thrilling book with characters that I really liked and became attached to. If you enjoyed Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin then I think you will really love this one too. I definitely did and I am excited to read the next book in the series, Bone Crier's Dawn.