The Bones of Ruin (496 pages) by Sarah Raughley
I just loved this book, and the characters from beginning to end. Some of the elements reminded me lightly of Henrietta Lack’s story.
It’s a bit of historical fiction that meets magical realism with a little X-Men on top for whipped cream. The story doesn’t skirt past the racism and sexism of the era. For instance, the story relays that a man called Iris a horrid name without writing it, but you could put together the pieces. None of it is done in a way that’s triggering. That’s so refreshing!
Oh, and the characters! Iris was a fun main character with some edge. She was so innocent, clever, and ruthless when she needed to be. A whole bunch of characters are ruthless and gutter actually. Jinn (so especially him, the book’s handsome prince) and Max were so sweet! Jinn had banter with Iris, but it wasn’t the usual mean-spirited, degrading type often present in YA fiction. This is the type of love triangle I like where both guys are equally lovely. Max’s ragtime runaways’ group was also likable from their first introduction. I liked the whole gang.
Finding out the backstories of the big events and characters kept me furiously turning pages. The story unveiled the mysteries slowly in layers, but the narrative didn’t feel laggy. I ate every bit up. Every character here has their own demons to face, and it’s so enthralling to read. One mystery gets revealed just to beget four more. There are also some trope subversions that had me surprised in a good way.
Only one thing kind of bugged me. Iris kept blushing, but she is black. I don’t think she was light-skinned either. It’s possible that she was physically blushing, and it wasn’t visible but it’s something I noticed.
Either way, this book was quickly 5-star territory for me. I devoured book two and can’t wait for the ending of the trilogy.
Read Book two’s review: The Song of Wrath
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