Review: The Bone Queen by Alison Croggon

The Bone Queen (The Books of Pellinor, #0.5) by Alison Croggon
Published by Candlewick Press on June 13th 2017
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 416
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Seduced into sorcery by an agent of the Dark, the promising Bard Cadvan of Lirigon recklessly unleashed the terrible Bone Queen, bringing destruction down upon Annar. Cadvan, cast out of the Schools of Barding for his crime, now lives in exile, burdened by memories of his dealings with the Dark. At Cadvan’s former home, his mentor, Nelac, and his rival, Dernhil, begin to suspect that the Bone Queen may yet lurk in Annar, and a young Bard, Selmana, is plagued by an ominous presence and an unsettling new ability to step between worlds. With darkness gathering and Bards giving in to fear and paranoia, a guilt-ridden Cadvan must earn back the Bards’ trust and Selmana must gain control of her newfound powers to bring peace to the living and the dead.

Cadvan of Lirigon is running from his past. Once one of the most powerful Bards in Edil-Amarandh, he made mistakes in his arrogance and youth that unleashed an unspeakable evil on the world. Realizing his mistake, he helped to recapture the evil and accepted his banishment from the world of the Bards. But it turns out that the evil they all thought defeated has not been fully recaptured, and Cadvan must join with the people he betrayed to finally put the evil spirit, The Bone Queen, to rest.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that so thoroughly and richly created a fantasy world, but Allison Croggon is, first and foremost, a world-builder. THE BONE QUEEN is a prequel to an epic fantasy quartet published in the last decade, and there were times, especially in the beginning of the novel, when I felt like I was missing some important details about the world, not having read the original four books.

But the longer I read, the more immersed I became in the world, the characters, and the story. The characters really are at the heart of this book, and they are beautifully complex and flawed, and I love the relationships drawn throughout the story. Cadvan is a man weighed down by guilt and regret, who wants nothing more than to escape his past. But circumstances won’t allow that, and circumstances in fact force him not only to confront his past, but to confront and work with the very people he hurt. And those people must learn to forgive and understand the mistakes of Cadvan’s past.

This isn’t a book to reach for if you want a light read. Understanding the rules of the world requires a lot of mental focus. This book is a dense read. But fans of richly built fantasy worlds will find a new favorite with THE BONE QUEEN.

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