Bonecaller: Book One by Logan Keys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

Raven doesn’t know she’s the most important player in a magical war.

Raven is a servant girl to the cruel witch Esme. She doesn't remember much about her life before. A young wizard cursed with old age also lives there. Raven and the wizard Sim become close friends and help and support each other through the witch's cruelty. One day Raven accidentally steals an old magic that the witch has been looking for. This sets off a chain of events that finally leads them away from the witch who has kept them captive for so long, but that doesn't mean they are going to be safe.

Across the sea John is a ship captain who has been running from his past. One day John finds the witch Mira stowed away on his ship and little does he know how drastically his life is about to change. Eventually the lives of these characters intersect and quite a few secrets are revealed.

Bonecaller is a young adult fantasy that could pass for adult as well. The writing style is easy to read, but the characters feel more grown up than most characters in young adult books. With the exception of maybe Raven who has to be at least 17 or 18 they all seem to be adults anyway so I'm not sure why this ended up being a young adult book.

I was drawn into this story from the very first page. The witches reminded me a little of the Fae at times with their elemental characteristics stemming from the seasons. I also really liked the romantic elements of the story. The relationship between Raven and Sim was a sweet one and I couldn't help but think of Howl's Moving Castle with the whole aging curse. However the relationship between John and Mira was more tumultuous, and though I liked them together some of the things John said and did irked me a little. Despite that I still couldn't help but like him.

At only 200 pages this is a very quick read and it was just what I needed after reading a very long fantasy. This ends with some of the characters still in bad situations and I have no idea when the next book will be released but I definitely want to continue on with the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book for review.



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