Bone Crier’s Moon Review

Release Date : March 3 , 2020

Pages : 480

Series : Bone Grace Duology

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.

I had to look up and read a lot about Stockholm syndrome before writing this review. And…. I suspect Aileese might actually have Stockholm syndrome. Let’s look out for this in the upcoming books.

Bone Crier’s moon by Katherine Purdie is the first book of her duology “Bone Grace”. Following Bastien who’s father was killed by a Bone crier and he seems revenge and Aileese who is a bone crier who’s meant to kill her “Soulmate” as a rite of passage.

Love isn’t love if you never show it.

Let’s start with the world building.

The world building is scatteredly inspired from Sirens , Mermaids and wailing women. Bone Crier’s are a women only gang who help the souls cross to heaven or hell. Their right of passage includes

killing three animals and acquiring their strengths (by wearing their bones as ornaments)
Luring their soulmate by singing , dancing with them and conceiving a child and then kill them.

Sounds harsh? Yeah it is.

These star-crossed soulmate thing is a trap too.

If she doesn’t kill him , both of them die.
If she does kill him , he dies
If he kills him , both of them die.

I loved the world building which had so much potential.

Second ,

The Characters

Aileese , your kick ass heroine with a softie heart.
Bastien , your nasty hero with ambition to kill .

Both of the MCs were pretty cliche and I don’t really have anything to say about them.

The squad or sidekicks were the important and attractive part of the story.

Deprived of soft girls? May I present?

I’m not weak. I’m not a coward.I’m tired of everyone believing I am. I’m tired of believing it myself

Sabine , shown as Aileese’s sidekick who’s soft and can’t fight in the beginning , has a lot of character development through out the book and is a vital part of the story.

Soft Brilliant dude with a kick-ass sister? May I present

Marcel , who’s the essential part of Bastien’s trio with a heart of gold and thirst for knowledge. He’s totally like Kaiyan from Descendant of the Crane.

Kick-ass sister with a wise ass brother

Jules is a character with a lot more scope we’ve yet to discover.

Honestly , Bone Crier’s moon feels like a start to a series rather than a duology with sooo much conflicts.

The Plot

This is where it all came crashing down. The plot was started with who’s gonna kill whom with a doomed romance. But Katherine has managed to elevate it to a deep level of politics , mystery and loads of unanswered questions , which are capable of shattering us .

Writing

Wellll the writing was good. But it dwelled too much on the romance which frankly , was more Stockholm syndrome than anything.

It was brilliant to add Sabine’s pov and give her a seperate storyline which was the only thing kept me through the book.

The three seperate point of views were totally different and not identical. I listened the ARC , and it wasn’t much of a problem to me.

Ending

I feel like the second book might be amazing given the stakes and where the characters are left off , but there is a pretty good chance I might not pick it up at all.

I don’t know for sure if I might pick up the sequel , but this was kinda fun.

Wanna start epic fantasies with high stackes ,

Try Bone Crier’s moon.