BOOK DESCRIPTION; The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.
Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.
Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.
I must admit that I did not finish this book. I made it to 68% and I may at sometime in the future finish it, but I really doubt I will do so. the younger readers will most likely love this although I think even they are going to be expecting something that has a little more action, character
interaction and a lot less filler.
As I said in my update on this novel: "I am having a hellacious time reading this book. One thing happened so far. ONE!!!
I know that this is a YA book, but the synopsis reads as if it would appeal to adults too. Not this adult.
But I will persevere -although I abide by my thoughts on this: you don't need to drink the entire glass of milk to know that the milk is spoiled.
I shouldn't have to read this far to be pulled into the book."
This was at 50% and as I found myself trying to finish I did realize that there are some aspects that are interesting about this otherwise boring novel -I liked the fact that the author took so many cultures (Japanese, Indian, Iranian and most likely more) and melded them into this work. However, the fact is that up to the point that I stopped, NOTHING happened...NOTHING!!!
What we did get was an interesting look into what must have been a school for Geisha's that also taught some magic and self-defense. (which makes me want to read [book:Memoirs of a Geisha|929] ). We got a brief look at Tea raising he brother from the dead as well as some rats and a murder victim.
Have you ever read Laurell K Hamilton and noticed how she can take pages and fill them with the most useless trivia, mind numbing descriptions and repetitive filler? Well this author is doing the exact same thing...and even does it better than LKH.
Perhaps young teens will like this book, but I think an older mind will want to pare this down into something more readable. It is a shame that I just couldn't force myself to finish, because I can see that this has the potential to be an interesting series -but not if the author keeps writing just to fill the pages.
*ARC supplied by publisher.
