“Some of us are better at hiding it than others, but we are all broken. You can’t live without breaking a few times. But that doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. It just means you’ve lived in the world.’ […]’What matters is you keep living in it, despite your broken bits—or even because of them.”
A hero’s journey is always worth telling. A myriad of adventures, people to save, and evil villains to defeat; we all know how the story goes. But, what happens after their quest is fulfilled? Why do heroes’ lives seem to end once they have saved the world? And what happens when they grow old and people still hold them to the standards they met on their youth?
All these questions are explored thoroughly in Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel, The Bone Maker, released March 9th 2021. In this standalone fantasy novel, we follow Kreya in her quest to bring her husband, killed in the battle against an evil magician, back to life. But that is just the beginning of the story. In her journey, she rekindles her relationship with not only her former crew of heroes—Zera, Marso, Stran, and her husband himself, Jentt—but also with one of her biggest enemies, who…surprisingly might be seeking redemption?
To begin with, the magic system is quite exciting. Divided into three guilds, Durst creates a bone-based type of magic that reads both as creepily eerie and darkly fascinating. Of course, due to the rather macabre form of magic, several ethical and moral barriers arise. Where does one set their limit? Is it okay to practice necromancy only once if it is to bring a loved one back? And should you make these decisions regardless of what the dead person may think?
Sadly, both the magic system and the fantastic environment of the novel seem a bit shallowly explored. As a result, the worldbuilding is a bit sparse and does not allow the reader to create a fully-fledged mental picture of the surroundings and background of the story. Of course, writing a standalone fantasy novel with an average page number is quite complex as it does not allow as much room to focus on small details as a fantasy saga or a lengthy fantasy book. To a certain point, that lack of exploration is understandable, especially considering the careful attention paid to the characters’ relationships, as we will discuss later.
Nonetheless, The Bone Maker is an astoundingly refreshing exploration of the tradition of the hero’s journey, as it is not common to see heroes go through maturity. Leaving your heroic past aside is one difficult task when people are writing songs and legends about you, and for Kreya, becoming a hermit is the only way to do so. Zera, on the other hand, relishes on her fame and past. Stran has swiftly moved on to become a father and Marso is completely broken. All of them show the many outcomes of the passing of time, and all of them are lacking something: each other.
The way the five heroes interact with each other is definitely the novel’s greatest strength. The five getting back together is so organic and realistic that you just can’t help but root for their relationship to flourish again. Friendly banter, brief moments of shock at how much they all have changed, but also instants of easy connection…the constant comparison of their past and present relationships show how they all adapt to each other again as a team and embrace both the traits they knew and the new quirks they developed over time. And still, the five of them still work together as the cogs of a clock. Their bond is so strong that some of them only begin to learn to manage their grief and heal from the trauma of war once they all come back together; and that is one powerful message to send.
Through the character development of Kreya, the main character, we also come to understand what it truly means to trust your intuition as you grow older, but also to compromise with other points of view. Time and experience truly make you wiser and for Kreya, that is an eye-opening revelation. While the five members of the crew seem to be stuck in the past, the only way for them to become better heroes is to accept the passing of time and understanding that their new lives—even if not ideal—add that little something that they lacked when they were younger.
All things considered, The Bone Maker is quite a fun read and a great way into the fantasy world for those who are not quite used to the characteristic density of the genre. As a light read that still maintains the best traits of high fantasy, Sarah Beth Durst’s latest novel is a great pick for older and younger readers alike as it shows that age is no impediment to life, but an asset of wisdom and experience. Life does not end at 25, on the contrary: maturity turns heroes into human beings. So, get ready. Test the limits people will reach to save a loved one and discover whether you would be willing to cheat death by killing another person… for your loved one to live. For fans of Morgan Rhode’s Falling Kingdoms saga, The Bone Maker is a wonderful, entertaining novel you don’t want to miss.
The Bone Maker is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of March 9th 2021.
Will you be picking up The Bone Maker? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
From award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, a standalone epic fantasy set in a brand-new world of towering mountains and sparkling cities, in which a band of aging warriors have a second chance to defeat dark magic and avenge a haunting loss.
Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived.
Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.
She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.
But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.
Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”
