Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format: E-book, Audiobook

Genre: Fantasy

When you tell me that a book is “Gideon the Ninth (one of my fave books of all time) meets Game of Thrones” I’m going to have insanely high expectations. Aside from the bone magic, I wouldn’t really compare Bonesmith to the Locked Tomb. Bonesmith has a much more straightforward fantasy vibe with its themes and conflict. I think I ended up being a bit impatient at the beginning because of this comparison, so that’s my fault. 

This book had a mix of good and not-so-good for me. The characterization, magic system, and atmosphere are all solid. I went back and forth on whether or not I liked Wren or found her annoying, but by the end I think her characterization and growth worked well. I liked Leo and Julian a lot, also. It was unfortunate that their POVs weren’t introduced until about halfway through the book. I enjoyed both of them and would’ve liked to have had more of an equal split between our main characters’ perspectives. The magic system for the different smiths and elements was very cool and a unique take on necromancy. The atmosphere of the Wall and the ghost-infested forests was immersive and I felt like I was there in the midst of danger alongside Wren.

Now for the not-so-good. There is a solid amount of lore-dumping in the beginning that hurt the pacing and made me struggle to get invested. Again, having Julian and Leo’s POVs earlier might have let us be shown more of different aspects of the world instead of just being told. I also didn’t really buy into the romance. The majority of the book takes place over the course of about a week, so the romance moved too quickly for me. I think that we could’ve spent the whole book just building relationships and maybe have the romance culminate in the second book. 

I was pretty conflicted on how I felt throughout most of the book but around the 70% mark things started to fall into place and I was excited to see the stakes start to ramp up. The twists??? The threads that came together??? I was SAT for the ending. Based on where things left off, I will definitely be reading the second book. This was a flawed book, but it wasn’t bad at all. There is a lot to enjoy here, especially for YA fantasy lovers.

Also, I swapped between the e-book and the audiobook and the audiobook narrator SLAYED. I loved her accent and delivery. Highly recommend the audio.