Bone Crier's Moon Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Bone ​Crier’s Moon (Bone Grace #1)
Author: Kathryn Purdie 
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: March 10, 2020 
Publisher: HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen

Synopsis:

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.

Bone Crier's Moon is the first book in a new young adult fantasy duology that fans of the genre are definitely going to want to get their hands on. I was surprised at how much I ended up loving this book. The story touches on deeper topics like friendship, loyalty, love, strength, and doing what must be done (among other things) on top of the obvious plot and story line.

I really liked the three main characters in this book - Sabine, Ailesse, and Bastien. I found each of them to be realistic and easy to connect with early on in the story. They have their own small story lines, but mostly they are all intertwined by fate. Each of the three had strengths and weaknesses, flaws and unique traits that made them feel realistic. I loved getting to know each of them separately and also seeing their relationships with one another grow and change throughout the story. A huge aspect when it comes to a book is the writing style which can literally make or break a book for me. What I absolutely loved about this story was that we get three different main characters' viewpoints and narratives throughout the story. The book is divided up into alternating chapters between Sabine, Ailesse, and Bastien, which was a huge win for me personally. Each of the characters' chapters are written in the first person point of view, which is almost always my favorite. I think that this was a genius move by the author and a perfect fit for the story. We get to know each of them (Sabine, Bastien, and Ailesse) on a deeply personal level that only the first person POV allows. We get to see their hopes and fears, dreams, memories, yearnings, inner thoughts and feelings and everything in between. I love when a book is told in the first person POV, but when a story like this is done in the first person from three different main characters' POVs, it really makes it stand apart from anything else out there.

The plot was fascinating and definitely had a mix of fantasy, paranormal, folklore and mythology woven together to create a fresh story that kept me reading as fast as I could to see what was going to happen next. I'm a huge fan of anything that has to do with magic, so I was immediately drawn to this book and it's special kind of bone magic. I loved learning everything I could about the Bone Criers - their history, traditions, beliefs, and especially their bone magic and how it worked. I thought it was all incredibly fascinating and could've read an entire book based on that alone. Overall, this was a fantastic first book in a new duology that I highly recommend to fans of YA, fantasy, paranormal, mythology, folklore, and romance.

 

Kathryn is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the BURNING GLASS series. Her love of storytelling began as a young girl when her dad told her about someone named Boo Radley while they listened to the film score of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Kathryn is a trained classical actress who studied at the Oxford School of Drama. She also writes songs on her guitar for each of her stories and shares them on her website. Kathryn lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband and three children.

Win (1) of (3) signed hardback copies of BONE CRIER'S MOON, a set of two character bookmarks, and an 11x17 poster of the book cover (US Only)

Starts: March 4, 2020

Ends: March 18, 2020

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