My Five Word TL:DR Review: Entertaining, fast paced, bit shallow

Okay, I will say that I had a very good time reading this, it was a lot of fun and definitely entertaining.  It has a certain’set up’ quality to the story but I enjoyed the way events unfolded and I would love to read more from these characters.

The Bone Raiders, similarly to other raiders, are being slowly wiped out by the new Khan.  As we begin the story we meet Sayana, one of three povs but clearly the leading character.  She’s come a bit unstuck during a scouting mission and finds herself in a prickly situation – shortly to become much worse by the arrival of an araatan – a fire breathing lizard that’s bigger than a house.  Managing to avoid death in the most spectacular way imaginable gives Sayana a big idea and so begins this new adventure.

I don’t really want to say too much about the plot.  I found the story really entertaining, for me there was never a dull moment and I really enjoyed the banter between the raiders.  To be fair, I had a brief moment where I felt like I shouldn’t really be enjoying the Bone Raiders’ company as much as I did, at the end of the day, as funny and high spirited as these characters may be, they’re not exactly living the life of a hero.  They take from others and they kill those who try to defend themselves – although they do keep their killing to a minimum and their fearsome reputation does much of the work and prevents bloodshed – but, make no mistake, they raid villages and kill those who oppose them, wearing their bones as trophies.  And, one of the other characters from the story goes to lengths to point this out.  So, be aware, these characters are not really the good guys – and yet, I enjoyed their story and had fun reading about their exploits.  They’re all a bit bats**t crazy and take terrible risks, made necessary by the fact that their numbers are so depleted.

In fact the characters really make the story.  This little bunch of ‘found family’, all original with different back stories and motivations.  My absolute favourite was Khun – don’t ask me why.  She’s always muttering and doing strange things but she stole the show for me.  For a bunch of raiders this story has a surprising amount of ‘heart’ and I really did find myself becoming attached to the characters and fearing for how this would all end.

In terms of the setting, the world building is perhaps a little bit light, in fact I mentioned above that this feels a little shallow and at first I thought I might struggle a little but my fears were unfounded as I very quickly became immersed in the read and the Bone Raiders’ adventures.

A highly entertaining story with amusing characters, plenty of action, a little bit of ‘How to train your Lizard’ and a heap of creativity, plus a touch of double crossing and a ‘nasty’ antagonist.  I really did have fun with this one – come for the fire breathing lizard and kick ass females (of which I hope for much more in the future) and stay for the framily feels.

I received a copy through netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars