Rin Chupeco has been on my radar for several years, and I was happy to finally pick up The Bone Witch! The audiobook is quite popular on my libraries’ Libby apps. Whenever I search “Chupeco,” it’s a coin toss whether any entries in the series are available.

In a fantasy continent divided into eight kingdoms, Tea lives in a remote village and minds her twelve-year-old business. That is, until her brother Fox dies. The heartbreak triggers her latent necromancy abilities, and Fox rises from the dead. A fellow necromancer senses the disturbance and whisks the pair off to the glittering capital. Like all mages above a certain level of talent, Tea must undergo magical training and become an “asha,” who serves the kingdoms. Necromancers, often called Bone Witches, are feared and revered for their rare abilities. Someone has an eye on Tea’s power—and will do anything to get it.

While my experience with The Bone Witch is 99% positive praise, I have my quibbles with the world—mainly, the place of the asha in it. I’m putting it behind a spoiler for those who don’t want to wade in the thickets.

 

My immersion broke from how easy it is to poke a certain hole in the world-building. Asha are the top magic users on the continent. Succeeding them, dark asha have mind control so OP that they can order the monstrous daeva to die. With mind-control on that level, a dark asha could take over a country with one conversation. While the later two books address this issue, The Bone Witch offers a meek defense. Mykaela is too polite to take over the world. The male mages don’t think about conquering their own governments, because they’re too busy being child soldiers fed to the daeva-shaped meat grinders. The remaining asha prefer to be party entertainers. This choice threw me through several loops. With a magical beginning like Tea’s, I went in expecting wizard battles between god-kings. Instead, the asha are like pre-WWII Shanghai courtesans, who parents hire for birthday parties. Again, Heart Forger and Shadowglass address this plot hole. As much as it distracted me in the first book, maybe I should admit not all readers play as much politics-heavy tabletop games as me. 

I’ve read more than my fair share of Young Adult high fantasy, so I can say with confidence that Chupeco’s Bone Witch represents much of the best of the genre. Ignoring the one glaring hole, the world-building and magic system are solid and expansive, with tempting depths. The coming-of-age themes are at once incredibly specific to a bookish necromancer and universal in the struggle for understanding. The characters and their relationships develop slowly, at a pace organic to them. The majority of them are brown! Familial, platonic, and romantic love are equally valued. “Good” and “evil” are messy, complicated concepts. These are messy and complicated people, who are allowed to re-direct thwarted love into fear, rage, and grief. As Tea grows, she becomes more aware of the centuries-long court intrigues, which are compelling to those new and old to “fantasy court intrigue” tropes. The audiobook narrators put on a wonderful show. Chupeco’s use of parallel timelines is a fascinating, brilliant performed experiment. There’s a constant tension between the present and past Tea—how did a young girl with such good intentions end up on a hill of bones?

At the time of writing, I’ve finished The Bone Witch trilogy. It’s safe to say I enjoyed Chupeco’s work immensely. If you like YA high fantasy, treat yourself to a copy.