I wanted so badly to like Broken Souls and Bones, but it was just not for me. I had seen that people have compared it to A Fate Inked in Blood and was wary of that since I didn’t love that one, but I should have heeded that warning. It took me a while to get into. Keep reading my book review of Broken Souls and Bones for my full thoughts.
Summary
Lyra Bien intended to live a quiet life to avoid the attention of the magic-obsessed king in the fortress of Stonegate. Until Roark Ashwood—the prince’s silent guard and rumored killer for the crown—invades her village and uncovers the truth behind the silver scars in her eyes. To save her best friend from death, she’s forced to reveal her abilities, and is immediately claimed by the crown as the next melder.
To be the King’s melder is to be revered and feared in equal measures, but above all it is a slow death sentence. Lyra is determined to find a way to free herself and her friends from bondage. But first she must get more information from the silent, brooding sentry who first took her captive: Roark.
As Lyra gets closer to Roark, she soon learns he’s nothing like she assumed—and in fact everything she needs. The more they work as allies, the harder it becomes to ignore the growing passion between them. After a sinister truth is revealed, Roark and Lyra must choose to stand against all they know, or accept their dark destiny.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I wanted to fall in love with Broken Souls and Bones, it just wasn’t happening. For one, the pace I found to be super slow at the beginning. I know with book ones in a series, there’s a lot of foundation to set up. And while that’s certainly one factor, I also felt like the pace of reveals and just action in the story was also pretty slow? Lyra doesn’t really know about her powers or even how to use them. And while she has tons of secrets, she doesn’t share those in her internal narration. For me, that’s always hard to get into.
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I personally have trouble with a character that keeps their secrets too long from the reader. I get keeping them from other characters, but for me the reveals lost the momentum. Additionally, I didn’t love the captor power dynamic Lyra and Roark had. I know that’s personal taste, but I guess I was expecting it to work out differently. For some readers, this relationship set up is their cup of tea, but for me I was expecting there to be a different working through to make that more of my cup of tea. The dual POV helps, but both our characters keep their cards close to their chest and so for me, it just wasn’t enough for me to work on.
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