As with most Durst books I enjoyed a lot of this; the characters, the dialogue, the use of familiar tropes given new life. Somehow or another I've been reading a lot of "post-saving the world" type books, though none that are this far past (a few decades) or wherein the main character is closer to my age than not.

I admit the use of bones creeped me out at first, though maybe not as much as killer trees that want to suck the blood from your body for the giggles.

Seriously, Durst has been finding new paranoias for me to find with each fresh novel.

As always though, the strength of Durst's novels relies on her characters. How they interact, how they banter, how they exist with each other. Here they are old friends who defeated the Big Bad and then lost touch as they each tried to deal with the fallout. Seeing them reconnect and deal with those wounds (often at inconvenient moments) underscored how deep the trauma was they each struggled to move past.

And for those worried, standalone! No fuss or wait, a complete tale in one book. Isn't that lovely? ( )

*A Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. This is my fair and honest review*

Hello Fellow Readers

I was really hyped up for this book, the thought behind it seemed pretty epic and I settled in to what I hoped would be a five star book, I did not get that. The book isn't bad, the story is actually pretty interesting even if it was a little slow, which was disappointed as the beginning felt very fast paced. I think my disappointment stemmed from the fact that the main character Kreya just did not connect with me. The book did change POVs once in a while and I really wished they had focused on the other characters more rather than Kreya as I found them way more interesting.

Overall, the book was okay and may be for someone who would like a slower fantasy. ( )

Very well written. Nuanced, unique, and flawed characters. Interesting magic. Immersive worldbuilding. Good, if slow, pacing.
What more could you want?

Sadly there is one flaw that, combined with the slow pacing, killed my willingness to keep reading.
Stupidity.
It's not even that bad really. This is not a case of horrible tstl. Everyone is just stupid enough for the antagonist to conveniently stay one or two steps ahead.
The frustrating part about it is that much of the very slow-moving plot revolves around the cast desperately trying to metaphorically catch up to the antagonist and the one thing preventing them is their own simplemindedness.
It's like an imperfection on a computer screen. If you are just casually using the screen it doesn't really bother you but if you sit in front of it and stare at the imperfection for hours, day out and day in, it will drive you mad.

The book has a sad atmosphere revolving around loss, the fear of loss, dread, and helplessness which drew me in very effectively (I'm a sucker for this) but the core plot is a classic fantasy defeat the bad guy.

Keep in mind that I only read 60% of the book so there might be a major twist I missed because of my impatience. Looking at the very high quality of writing and characterization I wouldn't put it past the author entirely to pull something like that off but I would be surprised.

Without this major irritant, this would've been a strong 4 stars easily. I still feel like giving it 4 stars, but it just feels wrong to rate a book that annoyed me enough for me to drop it, more than 3 stars. ( )

I really enjoyed the world building in this novel, all the different types of magic and how they can be used was interesting. I love how this story wrapped up, Sarah Beth Durst did a great job of showing that all the information in a war is accurate, as the soldiers only get the information being given to them by their superiors.

Overall, an enjoyable read and a great stand-alone fantasy novel. ( )

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.”

The low-key premise reminded me of Roshani Chokshi's Gilded Wolves—obviously I was intrigued by this fantasy novel because of that alone and overall, this novel wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be.

Generally speaking, it was not terrible. Nor great. In layman's terms—meh...?

There was great potential there and I am a little surprised the author decided not to expand this to a series considering how each character brought something unique and fresh to the table, and of course, the short description below that initially won me over when picking up what I originally considered a gem:

“You’ve all heard the legends. There were five of us, tasked by the guild master to eliminate the threat posed by the rogue bone maker Eklor.” She held up one finger. “Kreya, our bone maker, a rising star in the guild, chosen for possessing a power that could rival Eklor’s— if she lived long enough to hone it.” A second finger. “Zera . . . that’s me, my loves.” Her audience cooed appreciatively, and Kreya rolled her eyes. “Bone wizard. Unknown until then, but soon to be unrivaled.” Third. “Marso, a bone reader, with a unique gift of seeing the truth of the past, present, and future that far exceeded the skills of other bone readers.” Four. “Stran, a warrior with experience in using bone talismans to enhance his already prodigious strength.” And five. “Jentt, a reformed thief, who specialized in using talismans of speed and stealth to win his battles.”

“The legend says that the guild master tasked five, but he did not. He tasked only one. Kreya. She chose the rest of us. All that befell us is her fault. All the glory, and all the pain.”

That sounded good on paper, right? But the author, in my opinion, didn’t deliver. I felt like I was just going through the motions when reading this and truthfully, I was a bit bored by the halfway point despite finally meeting the rest of the original crew besides Kreya, Zera, and recently resurrected Jentt, who are each dealing with their own struggles/new lives after their disbandment and war.

More so, what made this a somewhat taxing read was the main character, Kreya. I honestly didn't care for her. And more times than not, my primary focus was on Zera, Marso, Stran and less frequently Jentt. I understand her husband died but for her to just abandon her crew/”best friends” after his sudden death (that she caused btw) and to then—after 25 years—go out to seek them for help/guidance in bringing back her dead husband and to save the world (again). Yeah no. I wasn’t feeling that. I would have gladly told her to fuck off.

Altogether, what I disliked—Kreya, slow-going storyline, lack of perspective of the other characters minus MC, did I mention Kreya?, lack of world-building, the abrupt ending (WTF was that?!) that could’ve been more fleshed out, and despite it being an adult fantasy (40’s 50’s aged team), the strong YA vibes I got was not my cup of tea.

One of the few positives of this book that I really enjoyed was the concept of bone making, bone reading, magic, special use of talisman, etc. The magic system really intrigued me and it was something I haven’t seen in other adult *cough*YA with older characters*cough* fantasy books I have read thus far. I hope to see more of this in the future.

( )