Week 12 Review: The Bone Orchard

From Goodreads:

Sara A. Mueller's The Bone Orchard is a fascinating whodunit set in a lush, gothic world of secrets and magic—where a dying emperor charges his favorite concubine with solving his own murder, and preventing the culprit, which undoubtedly is one of his three terrible sons, from taking control of an empire.

"A masterfully woven plot with refreshing narrators."—Publishers Weekly

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow.

Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain.

Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real.

Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself.

But now—Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire—by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil—her freedom. But she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart.

Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor's will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.

My Review:
This book was amazing! I loved everything about it, the characters, the world, the story, the writing! I just couldn't put it down, it was so detailed and so fantastic! This was so complex and complicated, and I loved watching it unfold!

First off, I have to say, this book is incredible confusing at the beginning, we're thrown into this world that is so interesting. We don't know how it works-and as the book goes on, we do learn, and that was such a fantastic journey to go on! 

Charm, oh, what a character! A madam who has so many secrets, even ones that she herself doesn't know. She's thought to be a very low ranking person. In comparison, the Lady, oh, how I didn't like he, she was deliberately naïve, and morally uptight. 

The politics in this book is complex-the former emperor had 4 sons, and Charm has to figure out which of them killed him. But she has her own motivations, and is pretty wily about maneuvering around the instructions that she was given.

That ending was pretty intense! I loved how all the pieces came together (literally, at one point!) And how all the knowledge gained played its part! It was so satisfying to read, and I loved where we left these characters! 

This was such a fantastic book, and I can't wait to see what Sara A. Mueller writes next! 

Author: Sara A. Mueller
Read: March 19th, 2022
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and it's a DAC Book, SAC 2022 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Tor Books 
Published: March 22nd 2022

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars