I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Bone Maker on March 9, 2021 Buy on Bookshop
From award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, a standalone epic fantasy set in a brand-new world of towering mountains and sparkling cities, in which a band of aging warriors have a second chance to defeat dark magic and avenge a haunting loss.
Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived.
Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.
She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.
But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.
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.”
I finally did it, you guys. I finally finished a Sarah Beth Durst novel! This is not the author’s fault. The publisher has been sending me ARCs of her books for a while now. I received the entire Queens of Renthia trilogy, plus an eARC of Race the Sands. I just couldn’t get into the former (My fault, I was interested but it just didn’t grab me enough to read in print. I rarely do that anymore.) And the latter came at a time when my brain was just not going to allow me to engage with any new media. (Hello, pandemic anyone?)
So I’m quite happy that I was capable of finishing this one. If you’re one of those people who bemoan (rightfully) the lack of grown-up protagonists in fantasy novels, then you should definitely pick this one up. ALL of the main characters in this story are middle-aged and up. It’s a refreshing change from that same old hero’s journey we’ve seen dozens of times. Once you’re past your twenties, a teen-aged hero can be as annoying as they are engaging.
Kreya was the leader of the motley crew of heroes who saved the world twenty-five years ago. At great cost, they defeated the necromancer, Eklor, and his skeleton army. That would be the end of the story in some worlds, but in this one, it’s just the beginning.
The tank has gone on to live a life of obscurity as a farmer with his wife and children. The mage has broken his mind by looking at truths that no one else is willing to believe. The support has leveraged her fame into a life of luxury and idleness where she can be properly adored by her fans. The leader is now a recluse, breaking the laws she once upheld just to recapture a bit of happiness for herself. And the thief? He’s dead. Most of the time.
Now, after 25 years, they have to start over again. Not as young and optimistic heroes, but as aging citizens with all the baggage that growing up involves: paying the bills, taking care of the kids, old betrayals, lost loves, and one-time mentors that aren’t the perfect image they once seemed…
It didn’t change my life or anything, but The Bone Maker is a solid novel that stands out from the crowd enough to be worth the time and is engaging enough to keep you reading until the end. It was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of days. Pre-order it now, so you’ll have it in March, as a Pandemic Birthday gift to yourself.
