Breeana Shields

I absolutely loved this from beginning to end! The plot-twists are so good, and I like the somewhat strained relationship between Saksia and her mother. That woman really loves her beneath the iciness. In addition, I enjoyed the tattoos with different meanings and bone abilities. Major spoiler: and this book had the guts to kill off Saskia in the alternate timeline. whoa! it felt like a bad ending in a videogame. I'm impressed.

I'm eager for book 2!

A teenage assassin kills with a single kiss until she is ordered to kill the one boy she loves..

Marinda has kissed dozens of boys. They all die afterward. It’s a miserable life, but being a visha kanya, a poison maiden, is what she was created to do. Marinda serves the Raja by dispatching his enemies with only her lips as a weapon.

Until now, the men she was ordered to kiss have been strangers, enemies of the kingdom. Then she receives orders to kiss Deven, a boy she knows too well to be show more convinced he needs to die. She begins to question who she’s really working for. And that is a thread that, once pulled, will unravel more than she can afford to lose.

MY THOUGHTS:

I was sent this book in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, when I researched some of the things I struggled with in this book I found many, many poorly researched issues and inaccurate Indian references. When my uncle married an Indian lady, we were introduced to a beautiful culture. She educated us about many things to do with living in India and its folklore/myths. It inspired me at the time, to research religion and caste belonging to the East Indians. I also write fantasy, science fiction, so this was difficult for me to read without cringing…

First, suggesting that all women of India wear saris is like suggesting that all African Americans prefer to wear their hair as Afros. It’s insulting and a bit over the top lumping a group of people together because of stereo-typing.

My aunt’s daughter who was fifteen, at the time, did not wear a sari and in fact, her and her Indian friends wore blue jeans and sweaters. My aunt explained and showed me how to put a sari on and trust me, it’s a very involved process that takes a lot of time. If writing about a culture of the past, or even a mythological past, it’s important to research religion, language, culture, fads, clothing, etc. especially if the book is written in the fantasy genre. I just didn’t see enough of this or see accuracy with what was done.

Seriously, stereotyping a culture as a whole is a sure sign of the author not researching the culture she’s writing about and frankly, she shouldn’t attempt it unless willing to take the time needed to be accurate with what she shares with her readers. There are spelling mistakes too when referring to language that she uses in her book, and some words are used in the wrong context or for the wrong purpose. This is why fantasy writers, such as Tolkien, make up a whole new language for their characters. I think the author could have done this and kept the lore value she’d chosen for her story. She chose not to and wow, what a hot mess. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more disgruntle Indians who have read this book leaving comments.

If you are going to create a fictional world but base it on a real folklore/myth… DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Otherwise, create your own myth, your own world, your own cultures, your own language… see where I’m going?

Where on earth has there ever been a country, city or place of ONE CULTURE? This is virtually impossible to achieve… No matter where you are, there will be many sub-cultures within a larger one. There will be a division of languages and ways of life, beliefs, styles, etc. How can the author create an Indian culture that is made up of only one? There is no such thing as ONE Indian culture, one Indian religion and never mind languages which are often different based on the caste that’s speaking it. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the author did this?

The whole issue of how the Indian culture looks at love as it’s written by this author is ridiculous. Seriously, how people address each other alone is wrongly depicted in the book, let alone how seduction is looked upon. I just can’t say anything more about this without turning this review into a rant…

Using a culture simply just for the purpose of creating a story and depicting it inaccurately and insultingly, boy… I can’t help but wonder if she had chosen a western culture to exploit inaccurately, if she would have gotten away with it. I doubt it.

When learning about what it takes to write about myth/lore, cultures and eras, a writer who chooses to write a historical fiction/cultural fiction, needs to sound like an expert of the subject matter.

It’s very disappointing. I can’t stop shaking my head. The premise was incredibly interesting and I couldn’t wait to get the book. Then, all this… These issues are a huge faux pas in the writing world…

If you add all this to the many tropes involved in this book, the unlikable main character who grates on your nerves and the unexplained elements that leave you lost throughout the book, including magical healing fruit, two girl seduction team, and ya… This is just a mess of what could have been fantastic. show less

So very impressed with this book! It took me a few chapters to really settle into the way that Breeana Shields wanted to tell this story, but once I was there I was hooked. Saskia's life has has always been dictated by bone reading. Each moment painstakingly created so that she'll stay on the path to her happiest life. That is, until it's her turn to find her true calling. I can't remember if I knew that this book was about to split into two stories, or not, but I can tell you that it's a show more wonderful way to navigate Saskia's journey.

First off, let me be the first to assure you that there is no love triangle in The Bone Charmer. You have no idea how happy that made me, since that's one of my pain points in YA lately. Instead, there are two very seperate romances here. As Saskia's life splits off, one road leading to what she believed she wanted and one road leading to what her mother believed was best for her, these two romances grow in very different ways. I absolutely loved how Shields doesn't shy away from putting Saskia through all manner of trials. As she follows each of these paths, she learns more and more about herself, her mother, and the two boys who she has been matched two. The idea that we don't always know what is best for us, even if we are so sure of it, is heavily featured in this story. It's perfection.

It's honestly tough to say too much more about the plot without giving anything important away, so I'll start focusing on the world building instead. In Saskia's world, as I mentioned above, bone readings are part of life. Matches, both with jobs and with romantic partners, are an essential part of a person's future. It was fascinating watching the way that this played out, in a place like Midwood. Much like our own world, the people with the most money always seemed to have an advantage over those who were poorer. The fact that Saskia's mother, the bone charmer herself, was so upset about that made me smile. This book speaks of "wild magic" and how it used to grow without monetary interference. As I found my way through Saskia's story I saw how that could both help, and hurt, a civilization. There's a lot of deep thoughts in this book, hidden in a way that almost makes them invisible. I loved every minute of it.

Was this book perfect? Perhaps not. There were a lot of things I wished for more of. I wanted more time with Saskia's potential matches. I would have loved more background on Saskia's family, and especially on her amazing mother. While the magic system was fairly well fleshed out, I also wished there would have been more time spent with Saskia as she learned to grow her abilities. I do believe that this is the first book in a series though, so I have hope! There's still time for all of this to become a reality.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my read through of this book! I'd recommend it to those out there who love "sliding doors" stories, and are looking for something without a love triangle. You might just enjoy it as much as I did. show less

Marinda wasn't expected to survive as a baby as she was bitten by snakes in order to become the visha kanya or poison maiden. After many painful and horrific treatments, she can be ordered by the Raja to kill anyone anywhere. Marinda hates it and only copes by repeating to herself that these are enemies of the state and people she doesn't know while she keeps her sickly brother healthy. She's finally ordered to kill someone she knows and likes, which causes her to question much of what she's show more been told, unravelling their secrets.

Poison's Kiss is an interesting fantasy that infuses Indian folklore into the story. Marinda is a sympathetic character who would do anything for her sickly brother Mani, who she cares for like a mother. Her handlers threaten him constantly to make her comply. Other than that, I had nothing but problems with her character. I found it a little unbelievable that she never asked questions about anything until now, but I guess curiosity was taken from her through such an abusive, extreme childhood. Unfortunately, her reaction to almost everything is sitting and crying about it at length. I liked that the books went into much darker places than I expected with assassinations and living gods.

However, it was balanced by Marinda's flatly good outlook on everything and apparently her inability to figure out anything at all. I wanted inner conflict and an antihero, but she had very little agency throughout the book, just going with the flow. Another problem was Marinda's role in the assassinations. Even though she had to kiss to kill, she never really seduced anyone maybe to keep her "pure" in a totally outdated, backwards way. Ilya is the girl who seduces for information (which is an arrangement that doesn't really make sense) and Marinda views her as more terrible for some reason. Marinda was the only part I really had a problem with, but she's the main character, so I don't feel enthused to read the next book. show less