Book Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

I received a free ecopy of this book from Netgalley and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Bone Witch
Author: Rin Chupeco
Series: The Bone Witch #1
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: March 7, 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Format: ebook
Source: Netgalley

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Synopsis: 

When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she's a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training. 

In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha -- one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles... and make a powerful choice. 

Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Name of the Wind in this brilliant new fantasy series by Rin Chupeco. 

My Thoughts: 

Tea's sisters are all named after flowers, but she isn't. They are all asha, but she isn't. Not exactly. She finds out what she is when her brother, Fox, is laid to rest and she hears him calling to her. She finds out that she is a Bone Witch when she raises him from the dead. Soon after, Lady Mykaela takes her away--Fox in tow--to train her in the ways of her art. 

And that's where I basically lost all interest.

I really wanted to like this but I had such a hard time with it. I felt totally out of my comfort zone and element with this book. I felt like I had been thrust into a new culture without any prior knowledge of it and without any means of learning about that culture. I could not for the life of me figure out what the heck was going on the majority of the time. There was so much description and extensively vague worldbuilding that I found myself wanting to skim through it but I knew that I would be so lost if I didn't read every single word. Then again, I was still lost, even when reading descriptions over and over. It really didn't help that the plot seemed to come to a grinding stop at about 20%. 
A few things I did like:
- The cover (Sooo gorgeous!)
- The  necromancy 
- The monsters 
- Heartglass 

Heartglass was a very interesting concept in which an asha or Bone Witch could draw a person's 'heart' or soul out into a glass necklace so that they could give their heart away to whoever they were in love with. But in doing so, you gave the person control over you. Better hope whoever you fall in love with has the best intentions. 

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for not finishing this book because I do not like to DNF books. Maybe this just wasn't the right time for me to read this. Perhaps I will come back to it in the future and try again because there were a few things that really stood out and had me interested in the first place.