Title: Bone Weaver
Author: Aden Polydoros
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Publication date: September 20, 2022
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Summary
Toma has been living separated from the turmoil currently happening in the Kosa empire. As civil war wages on, the empire is on the edge of being torn apart. She lives in the outskirts with her family of the undead. At least, she did. Until she meets Vanya, an accused witch, and Mikhail, the dethroned Tsar.
The three band together to help Mikhail to restore his magic and hopefully take back his throne. And hopefully find Toma’s sister as well. But in order to defeat the revolutionary leader, Koschei, Toma will have to dig deep in order to discover her own power. If she can’t find her power in time, the entire empire will be at the mercy of Koschei.
Review: Bone Weaver
Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an advanced copy of Bone Weaver to review! Polydoros’ debut, The City Beautiful, was a top read for me last year, so I was excited to dig into this new fantasy. There is a lot to like about this fantasy/horror combo!
If you like your fantasy with a lot of world building, this is definitely the book for you. Polydoros based a lot of the mythology in this book on Slavic mythology. Especially religious and cultural unrest, which definitely comes through the story. I found myself looking up some of the monsters and things included in the book, and I learned a lot! Honestly, I can’t think of a lot of YA books that are based in this kind of mythology.
That being said, there were moments in time where the story itself felt a bit dragged down by the amount of world building there was. It almost felt Tolkien-esque, in a way? In that there tended to be a lot of description about things, which isn’t always a bad thing. Just not necessarily my cup of tea.
Despite this, the characters were well developed, and the different uses of magic were interesting and well done. It’s definitely a dark horror/fantasy, so I would keep that in mind when reading!
All in all, this is going to make a great book to have on any fall TBR!
3.5 stars
I do love a lot of worldbuilding and am looking forward to this. I also really want to read Polydoros’ other book – which I think also has a lot of worldbuilding, so I think it’s the author’s trademark.
Yeah, you’re definitely right! Complex worlds definitely seem to be his thing.