Title: Bone Crier’s Dawn

Author: Katheryn Purdie

Pub. Date: March 30, 2021

Pages: 448

Pub: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Goodreads

Love is a matter of life and death.

Bone Criers have been ferrying the dead into the afterlife for centuries, a dangerous duty only possible with the powers they gain from sacrificing their amourés the men destined to love them and die. But Bone Criers Ailesse and Sabine—along with Ailesse’s love, Bastien—are working to chart their own course and rewrite the rules of the afterlife. If they don’t break the soul between Ailesse and her amouré, she could die—just as Bastien’s father did.

Sabine struggles to maintain her authority as matrone of her famille—the role always destined for her sister—even as she fights to control the violent jackal power within her.

Bastien is faced with a new dilemma as the spirits of the Underworld threaten the souls of his friends—and his father.

Ailesse attempts to resist her mother’s siren song as she’s drawn into her own version of the Underworld. How will she save her friends once she’s cut off from their world?

This pulse-pounding follow-up to Bone Crier’s Moon is a story of love, sisterhood, and determination as three friends find the courage and power to shatter the boundary between the living and the dead.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible and while I loved it, I wish the male narrator’s voice hadn’t been so much louder and full of bass. It made it hard to understand him. Either the volume had to be down to hear the words, but due to where I work, I had to turn up the volume and basically blew out my eardrums. Other than that, I did like how he voiced Bastien. I loved the narrators overall, and thought they did a fantastic job bringing the characters one step closer to life. It’s probably also highly unhealthy how much I love Bastien.

Like, he’s up there with Thomas Cresswell. I love him so much and jfc I wish he were real. 

Overall, this was a fantastic conclusion to this duology, this world, these characters. I wish there were more books because I don’t want to say goodbye to this world or these characters. I loved them so much. I think this is definitely going to be a reread duology for me and I can’t wait. I’m going to go shove them at my bestie now, because she needs to read them. 

I will say that it took me a moment to really get into the book. Based on where book 1 left off – shit has gone down and characters are in various situations and extreme circumstances.

These situations and extreme circumstances lead them into making some absolutely terrible and questionable choices That Annoyed The Hell Out Of Me.

I got to a point where my favorite character from Bone Crier’s Moon was my least favorite character. I couldn’t stand her.  I understood what was happening, why she was making the choices she was, but omfg I just wanted to reach into the book and shake sense into her.

That goes for all of them – I understood why they were making terrible choices, but I was so annoyed. Things weren’t happening like I anticipated, and I wasn’t happy. I kept wondering where the magic I felt reading book 1 had gone and I was more than a little disappointed. The characters felt like ghosts of themselves and it was frustrating.

I even went back to read my review for Bone Crier’s Moon to make sure I was remembering my feelings correctly, because it was so confused as to why I wasn’t enjoying it. I was such an anxious mess that character relationships would implode and I would be left heartbroken – and I think that’s were most of my aggravation with the beginning of this book stems from. 

It took a while, but eventually I was hooked again. I had no trouble remembering what had happened in the first book, which was a definite bonus – since it’s been a year. I couldn’t put it down. Like, anytime I had to stop listening at work, I was anxious and dying to start listening again. Ailesse and Bastien are so fucking perfect. Sabine’s arc was so, so satisfying. Even Cas was super enjoyable. It was a rough start, but as the characters started to grow and discover what they actually wanted things became much more enjoyable. And like I said, I can understand where they were coming from – the stem of their insecurities and fears.

And then things just kept happening – so much action, such high stakes. Now I was anxious for other reasons lol. 

I really liked the ending – other than the fact that it was the ending. I actually hate that this series is over. I could easily read more books – I want to know what Ailesse and Bastien are doing, what Cas is up to, and Sabine. I want to know more.

But I found the big final battle to be cinematic – it played out beautifully in my mind. I loved it. I loved Sabine in that moment. Ailesse was a fucking badass. Bastien was incredibly, and Cas was beyond strong and enduring. For how badly everything could have gone, I’m pleased with the ending. It was wonderful. 

While this book was a rocky start for me, I once again fell in love with the world and the characters. I’m happy with how it was all wrapped up and how much the characters grew and changed over the course of the two books. This is definitely a duology I would recommend. If you’re interested, you can check out my review for Bone Crier’s Moon – here – and make sure you go pick up your copies and dive into this wonderful world Katheryn created. You won’t regret it!