The Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch #3

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: March 5th, 2019

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Emma @ Miss Print

Format: ARC

Pages: 449

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Summary (from Goodreads):

In the highly anticipated finale to the Bone Witch trilogy, Tea’s life—and the fate of the kingdoms—hangs in the balance.

Tea is a bone witch with the dark magic needed to raise the dead. She has used this magic to breathe life into those she has loved and lost…and those who would join her army against the deceitful royals. But Tea's quest to conjure a shadowglass—to achieve immortality for the one person she loves most in the world—threatens to consume her heart.

Tea's black heartsglass only grows darker with each new betrayal. And when she is left with new blood on her hands, Tea must answer to a power greater than the elder asha or even her conscience...

The Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco was easily my most anticipated book of 2019 (which I think says a lot considering there was already an Alexandra Bracken release this year). I adore this series with my whole heart and this finale absolutely lived up to the hype I made for it.

This book is told in the dual timeline format again with the bard in the present and then Tea's story leading up to how he found her on the Sea of Skulls. In the bard's perspective, Tea has just finished up her business in Daanoris and is leading her army of daeva toward Drycht to finish what she started. She won't take him along because of the danger to him so she gives him a stack of letters to complete her story.

In her story they are learning more about the blight that is causing people to turn into daeva-like creatures and trying to figure out what secrets the elder asha are hiding regarding the Dark asha and what they can actually do.

This book was a RIDE, let me tell you. This book has everything. There's betrayal, there's an air of mystery, there is crushing heartbreak. There are wonderful friendships and wonderful romances.

I literally just want to reread this series over and over and over. I loved it so much. If The Heart Forger hadn't landed Rin Chupeco on my auto-buy author list, this book would have definitely cemented her spot.

I love all of the characters in this series. Tea and Kalen. Fox and Inessa. Likh and Khalad. Shadi and Zoya.

I love Tea and Kalen's relationship. They are kind of enemies-to-lovers. They are like... fictional couple goals, in my opinion. Like, they have their disagreements, things aren't always wonderful for them, but there isn't like a big fight or some other circumstance that separates them in the book at any point, which is something I like. I hate when couples have big misunderstandings that are blown out of proportions or are separated for huge chunks of the book. I love me a power couple that can work through their problems and still adore each other through it all.

Like I believe I mentioned in my review for The Heart Forger, there is the f/f pairing of Shadi and Zoya (who I don't recall being a huge part of this particular book, it has been a few days since I finished this book because I just needed to bask in its gloriousness).

I believe I mentioned in that last review also that there was the m/m pairing of Likh and Khalad, but that is not correct. In this book, Likh gets to finally become a full fledged asha apprentice and is frequently called Lady Likh, she always corrects people when they say that. But in this book Tea reads in Likh's heartsglass that she would like to be Lady Likh and from that point on Likh is referred to as she/Lady Likh and there are no more corrections or anything like that.

Anyway, I love Likh and Khalad, they are/were both so clueless about how the other felt about them. I don't remember at what point in the series they finally got their act together and realized how the other felt because I binged this whole series over the course of several snow days and I don't know where one book ends and the other begins at this point.

I could sit here and gush about this book and its characters for DAYS, but I think you should just go read the series for yourself and then come flail with me!

For real, I have been WAITING for the resolution to this series since I started the first book! I finally have all the answers to my questions I had since the beginning! WHO is in the grave on the Sea of Skulls and WHAT happened to them?

This series has definitely made my top three favorite series ever. If you like necromancy and squad goals, you will probably like this book too.

Have you read this series yet? What did you think of it?

Review // The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch #2

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: March 20th, 2018

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: #booksfortrade

Format: ARC

Pages: 400

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Summary (from Goodreads):

In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection―now she's after revenge...

No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life...and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her―and took the life of her one true love.

But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea's dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can't kill someone who can never die...

War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe.

Bear with me as I struggle through this review. I am not entirely positive that I have good enough words to describe how I felt about this book.

The Heart Forger is told in the same way as The Bone Witch was. There is the present day point of view of the bard who is following Tea around while she takes care of business. And then the flashback portions where Tea is telling her story to the bard.

I was so enthralled by this book. I think that this one might be better than the first one. If only because it felt to me like it had more action. The story takes place over a shorter amount of time and focuses less on lessons and parties and learning the basics of being an asha.

Tea has now taken over Lady Mykaela's job of putting down daeva because she has grown far too weak to do it herself. She can't even leave Odalia because the nearness to her still missing heartsglass is what is keeping her going at all.

The plot of this book surrounds the Faceless going after the the direct descendants of the Five Great Heroes with their sleeping sickness. Prince Kance is the last to fall to the sleeping sickness and the old heart forger has figured out a cure, but has also mysteriously gone off the radar after going to Daanoris.

So the part of this book that is Tea's story basically is their journey to Daanoris to find the heart forger and save Prince Kance. And the present part of this story, if you recall from the end of the last book what she was off to do, was to overthrow Daanoris.

So what did I love about this book? First of all, the characters. This book definitely contains squad goals. Tea, Kalen, Fox, Zoya, Shadi, Inessa, Likh, and Khalad all go to Daanoris to find the old heart forger. I really liked this whole little group! I liked how they worked together and trusted each other. They were all just so fun to read about! I love them.

I loved the romance in this book as well. I love Tea and Kalen together. This book kinda tells you where in the first book they started falling for each other and now I want to go read The Bone Witch AGAIN just so I can see if I can tell. This is a book where pretty much everyone ends up kind of paired up, but I liked all the pairings! There is an m/m pairing and also an f/f one.

I need the conclusion to this series SO BADLY (I'm assuming it's a trilogy??) to find out what Tea did to find herself in the situation she is in. Because whatever it is, I'm positive that she is being framed or something because I feel like she hasn't done anything bad so far that wasn't called for or justified or somehow excusable.

Ooh! I loved the azi too! I thought the connection that Tea had with it was so cool. I thought the other daeva were cool too in the bard's point of view, but the azi was definitely the coolest.

This book is faster than the first one, it has more action, it has squad goals, it's got a little bit of heartbreak thrown in at the end, and this book ends in much the same way as the first one. Basically, Tea is leading her daeva on to another kingdom that she's got beef with and we still don't know what happened to Kalen.

I would definitely recommend this series if you're looking for books with necromancy, politics, magic, and did I mention SQUAD GOALS?!

Have you read The Bone Witch? Are you looking forward to this sequel?

Waiting on Wednesday // The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch #2

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: March 20th, 2018

Pages: 400

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection―now she's after revenge...

No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life...and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her―and took the life of her one true love.

But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea's dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can't kill someone who can never die...

War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe.

I absolutely L O V E D The Bone Witch!! I'm so excited for the sequel! I NEED to know what happens next!!

What books are you looking forward to today? Let me know in the comments!

Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch #1

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: March 7th, 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: Audible

Format: Audiobook

Pages: 400

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Summary (from Goodreads):

The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I just waited so long to read it that I just decided to get it as an audiobook and listen to it.**

Since I listened to this as an audiobook, I literally have no idea how to spell anything. So I am pretty much just going to apologize right here and actively try to avoid using words and names that I don't know how to spell.

The Bone Witch is told in two different points of view. The first POV that we see is of a bard, who had a dream that led him to a 17-year-old Tea. This is the present day point of view of the story where he has come to get her story about what led up to her being exiled by the asha community.

The second POV is from Tea, where she recounts her story starting from the point where she discovered that she was a bone witch by accidentally raising her brother from the dead at his funeral. She tells of her initial use of magic and the after effects and of how she came to become an asha apprentice.

Tea from her point of view and Tea from the Bard's point of view felt like two very different characters to me. Granted, Tea's POV takes place over the course of several years, starting from when she is like 10-12. I don't remember exactly how old she was. The Bard's POV takes place over only like a week and she is much older and more confident and sure of herself. She obviously goes through a LOT of growth in this book to get from point A to B, but we don't get to see all of it in this book.

I loved reading about the struggles that Tea went through as a bone witch, one of the most despised types of asha. She is so tough and handles everything as well as can be expected from someone her age, I feel. I had a hard time keeping track of how old she was in the flashbacks. I kept wanting to think that she was older than she was and it got a bit confusing for me, but that could just be a side effect of listening to an audiobook.

I really enjoyed all the relationships in this book. Especially the relationship between Tea and her brother that she brought back from the dead. It seemed like they had a pretty solid relationship while he was alive, but it was made even stronger when she brought him back.

A lot of the characters in this book I really didn't care for in the beginning. Mostly just for the reason that I didn't like most of their attitudes, not necessarily because I found anything wrong with any of them. Surprisingly, all of them grew on me over the course of the book. I really can't think of any character that I just didn't like by the end of the book. I feel like that's surprising for me.

The romance in this book was kind of a mystery throughout the whole thing. There really wasn't any romance in the book but it's mentioned that there were two people that Tea found herself crushing on. Only one of them becomes obvious in the book. During the flashback portions of the book, there really isn't any romance beyond the crush that Tea harbors for one of the two. Most of the talk of love happens in the Bard's point of view.

Despite being a little bit confusing and entirely frustrating because I WANTED TO KNOW, I really liked how the romance was done. I thought it was interesting and it kept me on my toes. But now I'm sad because the book is over and I want MORE!!

There are only two things that bugged me about this book. One was the passage of time in the flashback portions. Mostly because it confused me and it was probably and audiobook problem over a real problem with the book.

The second problem was that I just really don't understand the asha. Maybe I'll get to see more of what their purpose is in the next book, but at this point they just seem like glorified performers to me. They have all this magic and power and training at their disposal and what are they used for? To entertain paying customers at "parties". What's the point? The parties basically consisted of a group of men in a room drinking and eating and requesting certain girls to come talk to them and dance for them. Throughout the whole book, at every party, I was expecting the men to get handsy with the asha because like... they're going to a 'party' and requesting for certain girls to hang out with them in a private room? It feels like a situation where things get handsy. I did really enjoy this book and learning about the asha, but it felt like a really dumb waste of potential for such powerful people.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I need to buy myself a copy of this one because I loved it. And I want to know how to spell things. I would definitely recommend it and I absolutely need the next one because I am dying to know what happens next!

Have you read The Bone Witch? What did you think of it?!