Book Review: Broken Souls and Bones
What’s it About?
Lyra is nothing like the other girls her age, and it’s not because she’s a servant in the home of a politically prominent lord. She’s special. She has abilities
that make her more then just powerful, but potentially dangerous. Because of this, and the because she knows that if she’s found out something bad will happen, she has spent her life hiding who and what she is and relying on the very few closest to her who know the truth to help her. So when she realizes that the King himself knows what she is, she’s terrified. Unwilling to allow those she cares about to be harmed, she agrees to go to the castle and work for the king, though she knows that she’ll be walking a dangerous path. Now she’s stuck living in the palace, guarded from a man who is supposed to be her enemy, but is he really? Or is he something so, so much more than that? Could she fall in love with him?
My Favorite…
Favorite Character: Lyra. Lyra’s a strong, powerful female character who knows right from wrong, even when she feels forced to do what she doesn’t want to. I liked that she was fairly accepting, though she was suspicious of some.
Least Favorite Character: The king. I understand his motives for the most part, but I don’t agree with them. I’ve never been a fan of power hungry characters who will do anything and everything to get what they want.
Favorite Part: This is a hard one because I liked so much of the book, it’s hard to pick out favorites but I’m going to go with the battle from the tree house. I found it humorous and kind of fun. I feel like it’s a moment when you get to know the characters on a different level.
Least Favorite Part: The boat ride. Not because there was something wrong with it, just it was slow and didn’t interest me as much as most of the rest of the book.
Other Thoughts:
Honestly, I was drawn to this book because of the cover. I mean, did you see it? How could you walk past that? Of course, synopsis on the back didn’t hurt my need to read it. And it was a need. The story sounded good, but I didn’t expect everything else I got. This book totally had Shadow and Bone vibes (and I loved Shadow and Bone!)just with more spice!
I will say that, while this is a strong start to a duology (or maybe series?), I’m not sure I was loving the way in which everything happened. Particularly the romances. I hope that they do some more explaining and exploring in the next books.
However, I loved the representation in the book! First of all, Roark is non-verbal. To communicate, he uses a form of, what is essentially, sign language. Not ASL (American Sign Language)but this world’s form of language spoken with the hands. I also appreciated the way others around them respond to Roark’s condition (for lack of a better term. For, he’s not deaf, he just can’t use his voice). He lives in this world in which few people actually know how to understand him when he speaks. Most people don’t bother to learn the language, just enough that they can understand the bare minimum to get by. And, while some see him as more incapable than others because of it, he still holds a prominent position of power in the kingdom’s military.
Not only does Roark offer some rarely seen representation, but there’s also LGBTQIA+ representation as well, which isn’t as rare but I always love finding different portrayals of love other than just straight monogamous relationships.
I truly enjoyed this book and was really disappointed when I returned it to the library to realize I’d read the dates wrong and the second book won’t be available until March. It was a fun journey with a different magic system then I generally see. I’m intrigued by the twists and turns the story took and I can’t wait to see what more about this world we learn. (You can pre-order the second book, Heir of Twisted Lies now). I think I’m also going to explore some of her other books while I wait for Heir of Twisted Lies to hit my bookshelf.
My Ratings:
I give this book a
7
out of
10 Souls
But that’s just what I think. What did you think? Did you love the cover? Did you like Roark? Are you excited for the second book, too? Let us know in the comments.
