I am sorry it’s taken me so long to read this book, but it was worth the wait. The world building was intricate and obviously layered in with great care. At first, I felt like I was thrown in the deep end–as it is quite immersive–but I quickly started to tread water and found a world quite unlike any I’ve encountered in fantasy before, which made it refreshing. It was also an engaging read. The heroine was determined and easy to root for and her penchant for uncovering more and more secrets–and get into trouble because of it–kept up the tension. I was a little distracted by the character named Nat, only because one of the oldest characters I ever created is named Nat. So I kept wondering if the author was inspired by the same fictional Nat as me–the Nathaniel (Nat) from The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a book I absolutely adored when I was in 5th or 6th grade.

I’m looking forward to reading the other books set in the Bone Universe and whatever else Ms. Wilde writes in the future. She was kind enough to sign this copy (tbh, my copy has a different cover, but I like the one shown here better) for me at Balticon a while back and we actually have an acquaintance in common, so I’m definitely rooting for her success. I’m also excited because I think this might be a good comp for my WIP, but by the time I get it ready to go, Updraft might not be recently published enough.