Book: Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie

Published March 2020 by Katherine Tegen Books|480 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: Bone Grace #1

Genre: YA Fantasy

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.

This book was really cool!  The world is different but there’s something familiar about it too.

I really liked the idea of Bone Criers, and how they use animal bones to ferry dead souls.  I don’t know why, but it made me think of Greek mythology.  The fact that they use strengths from the animals is pretty cool, and I like that there’s a purpose to it.

Bastien was interesting- I get why he wanted revenge, but by taking revenge on Ailesse, he finds himself in the same position as his father.  He and Ailesse end up in a very interesting position and I’m curious to see how it works out with what happened to Ailesse at the end of the book.  The second he crossed Ailesse’s path, I knew it would change things drastically.  I wasn’t wrong, and my predication ended up being right.

I felt for Sabine, and from what we see about the Bone Criers, I don’t blame her for not having the stomach for it.  I wouldn’t either, honestly.  But after what happened to Ailesse, she doe change her tune a little bit.  It’s obvious she wants Ailesse to be okay, and she really will do anything for her.

What Odiva does…it really changes things for their whole family.  I’m not completely sure that I like her, but she is interesting, and I kind of wanted to know more about her.  I don’t know that we’ll learn more about her, but we might get bits and pieces.  I’m not going to lie, I did want it to be connected to Bastien and his friends somehow.  I think it would have thrown another wrench in things, but we definitely get enough of that in this book.  Still, I really would have liked that.

I am looking forward to the next book.  I really want to see where things go, and how things work out for both Ailesse and her family.

I actually liked the multiple narrators in this book.  Sabine, Ailesse and Bastien take turns narrating, and I thought it worked well.  Given they’re all on different paths, we get see what’s going on with each characters, and the reader has a better idea of what’s going on than the characters do.  Ailesse and Bastien do spend a lot of the book together but I liked seeing what they were thinking.  Since they do spend some time apart, it also means we get see what they’re doing when they’re not together.

3 stars.  There’s a lot I liked and I have a lot of questions.  I didn’t love it, but I’m still looking forward to the next book.