The Bone Witch

Today's post is on The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. It is the first in her Bone Witch series. It is 411 pages long and is published by Sourcebooks. The cover is dark purple with a lone girl sitting on a mountain. The intended reader is someone who likes epic fantasy. There is some mild foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this book. The story is told in ways from third person of the bard who is listening to Tea and from Tea's first person perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.
Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

Review- Chupeco's first foray into epic fantasy mostly hits the right notes with some minor flaws. The world building is solid but a lot is left unclear, I hope that in the next book Chupeco does more with this world. The magic is great and very mysterious but I wanted to understand more about how and why it works but unlike seeing more of the world I can live without. The characters are the best part of her story. Tea is a compelling main character, she is powerful, she is young, and she wants more than what her society thinks that she should have as a bone witch. Add in the unusual but very affective narrative style with the story being told in two ways and this book does so much right. Using a two fold narration style gives the reader a different way to see Tea and her mission, I liked it because when she is controlling the narration, Tea is overwhelming with her strong personality and her story but seeing her as a young woman with a lot power and a plan as the bard interviewing her does is very clever. I look forward to seeing where Tea's mission is going to take her.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.