Bonesmith

June 5, 2023
Teens grapple with familial expectations in this rollicking duology opener from Pau Preto (the Crown of Feathers trilogy). Wren Graven—a bonesmith able to psychically sense and move bone—yearns to become a ghost-battling Valkyr like her father. After failing her trial, however, the House of Bone’s leader—Wren’s imperious grandmother—exiles Wren to the Border Wall, a defensive stronghold against both the Breach, a revenant-infested wasteland, and the soldiers of the exiled House of Iron, whose mining created the Breach that birthed said monsters. When House of Gold prince Leo Valorian visits the Wall, Wren accompanies him on his inspection, hoping to impress. But soon after his arrival, House of Iron soldiers attack, capturing Leo and abandoning ironsmith Julian Knight, who falls into a chasm with Wren. The soldiers flee into the Breach, prompting the left-for-dead pair to cooperate and give chase—Wren to save Leo and her reputation and Julian to unravel the apparent conspiracy against him. Pau Preto’s kaleidoscopic close-third-person narrative complements the swiftly paced, bombshell-strewn plot, which crescendos to an explosive finish. Wren’s friendship with fun-loving Leo adds levity, while her romantic sparks with broody Julian inject tension. The cast is ethnically diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Penny Moore, Aevitas Creative Management.

June 1, 2023
Take a dash of The Walking Dead, a soup�on of Game of Thrones, and mix in a '90s goth. In the Dominions, smithing makes and breaks nations. Long extinct ghostsmiths raised the dead, recently eradicated ironsmiths mined too deeply and rediscovered those undead revenants, and in the wake of that cataclysm, the bonesmiths, who utilize dead bone to fight the dead, rose. Impetuous Wren, an heir to the House of Bone, makes bad decisions in hopes of holding her father's attention. As a result, she's exiled to the Border Wall that holds back the dead--only to make another bad decision and take off without support to rescue a kidnapped prince. Ending up reluctantly allied with (not-so-extinct) ironsmith Julian, Wren becomes wiser and more moderate through the adventure and the tentative slow-growth friendship they share. Julian is also a teen with deep-seated family issues. Their journey uncovers new plots and players in the power dynamics of the Dominions, mostly revealed late in the game and making this feel almost like an extended prologue for the next volume. An overabundance of exposition alongside a lack of nuance in Wren's characterization don't do the story any favors, but eventually the original elements pull ahead. This, combined with the lack of resolution, means readers who make it past the slow start will be left with questions that can only be answered by the subsequent volume. Characters are diverse in appearance; race seems immaterial in this world. Neither spectacular nor unbearable. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18)

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August 1, 2023

Gr 8 Up-In this novel pitched as Gideon the Ninth meets Game of Thrones, Wren Graven is determined to become a valkyr who can make her father proud. The only grandchild of the Lady-Smith of the House of Bone and a bastard who ruined her father's chance to marry into the royal family, Wren is an excellent valky-but not good at the political machinations that come with House politics. When the plots of a rival student render her exiled to the Breachfort, a wall of stone and bone erected during the last war to keep out the undead, she can only hope for a chance to prove herself worthy of returning. When a visiting prince is kidnapped, Wren teams up with Julian from the denounced House of Iron to save him. Preto's story is heavy on exposition to establish the worldbuilding, but Wren's impetuous personality carries readers through the opening chapters to the Breachfort and beyond, where mysteries about Wren's family and birth begin to reveal themselves on an action-packed mission. Game of Thrones fans will see a number of plot points line up between Wren's House of Bone and the Stark family. The romantic tension between Wren and Julian raises the stakes of the adventure, as does Wren's growing friendship with the prince. Preto's character arcs are as carefully plotted as her adventures, exploring privilege, filial piety, and generational trauma. The characters and worldbuilding are diverse. VERDICT An expository opening turns into an action-oriented undead adventure. Recommended for secondary purchase.-Emmy Neal

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