The Bone Witch: Bone Witch #1 Hardcover – 7 Mar. 2017

Tea had no idea she was a Bone Witch until the day she accidentally raised her brother from his coffin in the middle of his funeral! She didn't quite bring Fox back to life in the traditional sense of the word but his spirit is back and his body is now much more indestructible than it was before. Although people often seek out Bone Witches when they are in need of help they are also treated with suspicion in most villages so Tea is lucky to be accepted as an apprentice to another Bone Witch called Mykaela. Tea and Fox travel with Mykaela to the city where Tea will begin training in magic skills to become an Asha.The story is skilfully told in two parts, there is young Tea who is a little naive and desperately trying to find her place in the world, she is eager to learn and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals, then there is an older Tea, one who has obviously seen more of the world and who has become jaded because of it. She is a harder character and one who is set on revenge for the wrongs she has suffered and she is telling her story to a travelling Bard. The two stories unravel alongside each other and it was really interesting waiting to see how the younger version of Tea would eventually become the older one.I've seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book but I enjoyed every minute of it. The main complaint amongst my friends has been that the story was a little slow to unfold and they struggled with some of the language but I personally though the writing was absolutely beautiful. Yes this is a fairly slow story but the world building is so rich and detailed that I just loved spending time exploring it. I can definitely see why the story is compared to Memoirs of a Geisha because Tea's apprenticeship was very similar to Geisha training. This is a fantasy world but it's definitely based on Japanese culture and I think Rin Chupeco did a brilliant job bringing those two elements together.The Bone Witch is a very promising start to a new series and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel to find out what happens next.

Don’t be put off by the necromancy /raising the dead element. When I read the synopsis I assumed it would be more along the lines of ‘Gideon the Ninth’ (skeletons, death, creepy, light horror) but it has a more standard fantasy vibe which I enjoy far more.The world building is phenomenal, its intricate and detailed, beautiful, well thought out and has enough originality for me. If you literally wore a representation of your heart around your neck, would you give it away to someone?! Not sure I would!This book clearly has a heavy Asian influence throughout the story and I loved that! The author is a Chinese Filipino, so that makes sense however the description of clothing and the Asha lifestyle sounded very much like the Geisha traditions of Japan, whereas the Daeva, I believe, comes from old Iranian languages ( Yes I googled that!) Additionally she has taken inspirations from Filipino Witch doctors for her Dark Asha. (I also googled that!)The format really works for me. It starts set in Present time with a Bard meeting our Main character and she is going to relate her story to him, therefore the bulk of the story is actually flashbacks of her life. There is a present day narrative in between each chapter which worked so well. At the end of each narrative there tended to be a sentence that just forced you to read on and foreshadowed some really interesting things to come!!!Characters- I think the author focused more on the world and history building than the individual characters, which I’m hoping comes out more in the sequels. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of this book at all, but now that I think back on it I don’t have a lot to say about them. Additionally the romance is limited but it’s been set up nicely for more to happen in the sequels, which as Tea is only 12-15 in this book works fine for me!Plot- some people have found it a little slow, because there’s a lot of world building and descriptions, I can see their point but personally I was never bored, because the things she was describing were so damn interesting. The ending was amazing (and makes me want to reread it now to see what I’d missed!)I was gripped throughout, finishing this very quickly as I didn’t want to put it down. It’s not perfect but I’d easily read it again and ordered both the sequels before I had finished it. I think the negative are nit picky and depend on your preferences, i loved it so it gets 5 stars from me!

The Bone Witch is a book that kind of challenged me. It took me a few months to read because of the detailed scenes. The writing style is interesting, the way the POVs change, because it's sort of a story within a story - I know there's a term for it but I can't remember it - kind of like Wuthering Heights, where Nelly tells Mr. Lockwood the story of Catherine and Heathcliff.See, the heroine, Tea, tells the story of how she became a witch - a bone witch, one with a stigma the other type of witches don't have - to a sort of bard, who not only listens to her, but also gets to witness her in action - resurrecting monsters.So Tea accidentally resurrects her brother, who was killed by one of these monsters. That is the trigger for everything that would happen after: she must leave with another bone witch to apprentice and learn how to master her powers - which happen to be out of control and that's dangerous for everyone.To be honest, while I did like the novel and all the characters, I felt that the entire book was this huge prologue - world building, things are explained, characters are introduced - because we don't really get much of Tea's journey, just the mere drop from the ocean.Why? It's because of the ending that I say this. An ending that definitely had me adding books two and three to my TBR - I'm hoping to get to them, soon!4 solid stars. Again, that ending!