Stones And Finger Bones

Stones And Finger Bones
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of NetGalley

Aurelia Barone, Jewel of Starry Stone, harbors no illusions about the purpose of her life as heir to the throne. But after two failed betrothals, she starts to feel like nothing more than a pawn being moved aimlessly about a game board.

Until the night she loses everything.

Kidnapped by a wise-cracking mercenary with more than one identity, Aurelia embarks on a mission across land and sea to avenge her father’s death.

But an evil is rising from the ashes of memory. Insidious magic is stirring. The dregs of a once-powerful nation are thirsty for blood and revenge.

They seek to harness Aurelia. To tempt her. To manipulate her.

And if necessary, to destroy her. 

Well, this book has left me broken hearted after a certain character death. I can't even. Then the cliffhanger, I just really need the next book now to be honest! I found this book to be so enchanting and rich and full of emotion I can't get enough! It actually reminded me a little bit of Game of Thrones but easier to follow and with less confusion and a bit more romance going on. 

I was drawn in from the prologue and I loved the little bits out of the narrative that broke up said narrative and kept you feeling refreshed as you read and included some nice intrigue to keep you going. The book was easy to read, because it was simply written, with no faffing about, yet still managing to create lively characters and a vivid world. 

I enjoyed the characters a lot, they were an interesting bunch and each had something different about them and plenty of depth to keep you on your toes. Aurelia managed to somehow stay kind throughout everything that happened to her which is no mean feat! She was an incredibly strong character, but she still had some weakness about her, she just kept it hidden, which made her all the more realistic to me. That and the flaws and insecurities that pretty much everyone can relate to made her incredibly believable and realistic and made it so easy to connect with her and root for her as you're reading. 

There were different PoV's but I feel we got to know Aurelia a decent amount for a first book and came to understand her. I mean I'm fully on board the revenge train, I'm right there with her, I can understand her motivation and her need for revenge. It was brilliantly written, it doesn't seem pointless or just there as a plot device, you fully understand why she needs to do it. 

Kostadin reminded me a little bit of a certain character from The Grisha. I won't say which one, but when you read you'll know who I'm talking about but if I say who it is, it'll give too much away. He was literally perfectly evil and charming. It's an odd combination but I couldn't actually bring myself to dislike him. He also made me chuckle...ethically unfettered. I shall be using that one at some point no doubt, but like in a less evil way. 

Rycen, how I loved Rycen. We had BETTER have more of him in the next book and I don't care how you do it! I can't say more without giving too much away but I felt some serious feels. He was a perfect combination of handsome, brave and smart, and just to make him that little bit more real, he was kinda selfish, but then aren't we all kind of selfish in our own little ways? 

Marel is kind of the perfect villain really. The interesting thing about Marel is that we get his point of view, and so you kind of get this understanding of him as you're reading, it was odd because you wanted to hate him but at the same time you get his PoV and it's fascinating to see how his mind works. Also there's the whole "I know something the heroine doesn't" aspect. 

The book, like I said, was very vividly written, I was fully enveloped in the book and it's plot and it's characters. I enjoyed the world created and the magic. I could picture everything vividly. Like I've just described, the characters are colourful, interesting and help to make the book engrossing. The plot is fairly complex, there's a lot going on, I kind of feel like maybe the book could have been split in to two because it did feel kind of rushed at a couple of points but at the same time, I enjoyed it either way. I'd love to know more about the characters and the world and I'm assuming that will happen in book two. Which I can't wait for because I'm excited to see where this is going to go.