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A review by alexandrian_arxhives
The Bone Way by Holly J. Underhill
4.0
Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book
I have bumped this down to a 4 from a 4.5 after further thought.
Τhis was a very wonderful sapphic novella reminiscent of one of my favourite Greek myths, that being the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Unfortunately, while this was a fun, short read, I would have longed for it to be longer. Underhill creates this incredibly interesting world with witches and princesses and destruction (or so everyone thinks) but doesn't really build on it. Had it been a non-established relationship, perhaps the Teagan's quest to save Cress might have been more believable, might have made me believe more in the power of their love. We do get flashbacks which help understand how the couple met and what led to Cress leaving for the Shadow Realm and Teagan following behind. There is a spoiler section, feel free to scroll down past it for the rest of my thoughts.
In addition, for a being as feared as the Shadow Princess, her story arc fell sort of flat.
**Spoilers ahead**
I really thought there would be more to the Shadow Princess and their deal instead of just her (Shadow Princess) having a very selfish ruler of a husband and her not wanting to be his crown jewel and therefore she gets her revenge by putting this whole Shadow Realm between her and the other people of the world. Also the deal? Her saying that T and C can't touch each other and then showing up at the end and then one of them saying "you only said it for so-and-so road' was a bit of an easy win.
**End of Spoilers**
I think this novella would have benefited from seeing parts of the journey from Cress' perspective and part of it from Teagan's. In result of the 3rd person POV centering on Teagan, I didn't feel much connection to Cress and while I could see that Teagan did love Cress, I wanted to see that same love, that same feeling from Cress as well.
I think that is all I can think of for this novella. This was a fun short read, as mentioned before and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC.
I have bumped this down to a 4 from a 4.5 after further thought.
Τhis was a very wonderful sapphic novella reminiscent of one of my favourite Greek myths, that being the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Unfortunately, while this was a fun, short read, I would have longed for it to be longer. Underhill creates this incredibly interesting world with witches and princesses and destruction (or so everyone thinks) but doesn't really build on it. Had it been a non-established relationship, perhaps the Teagan's quest to save Cress might have been more believable, might have made me believe more in the power of their love. We do get flashbacks which help understand how the couple met and what led to Cress leaving for the Shadow Realm and Teagan following behind. There is a spoiler section, feel free to scroll down past it for the rest of my thoughts.
In addition, for a being as feared as the Shadow Princess, her story arc fell sort of flat.
**Spoilers ahead**
I really thought there would be more to the Shadow Princess and their deal instead of just her (Shadow Princess) having a very selfish ruler of a husband and her not wanting to be his crown jewel and therefore she gets her revenge by putting this whole Shadow Realm between her and the other people of the world. Also the deal? Her saying that T and C can't touch each other and then showing up at the end and then one of them saying "you only said it for so-and-so road' was a bit of an easy win.
**End of Spoilers**
I think this novella would have benefited from seeing parts of the journey from Cress' perspective and part of it from Teagan's. In result of the 3rd person POV centering on Teagan, I didn't feel much connection to Cress and while I could see that Teagan did love Cress, I wanted to see that same love, that same feeling from Cress as well.
I think that is all I can think of for this novella. This was a fun short read, as mentioned before and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC.