A River of Golden Bones
Ratings5
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings5
Average rating3.4
A sleeping curse. A fallen court. A secret twin.
From bestselling author of the romantasy sensation The High Mountain Court comes A River of Golden Bones, the first riveting, enchanting novel in an all-new romantic fantasy shifter trilogy, which begins a journey of self-discovery, romance, and adventure for a young heir as she/they comes out of hiding to save their sister from a malicious, powerful sorceress and her dangerous sleeping curse.
Twins Calla and Briar have spent their entire lives hiding from the powerful sorceress who destroyed their kingdom…and from the humans who don’t know they are Wolves. Each twin has their own purpose in life: Briar’s is to marry the prince of an ally pack and save the Golden Court. Calla’s purpose is to remain a secret, her twin’s shadow . . . the backup plan.
No one knows who Calla truly is except for her childhood friend—and sister’s betrothed—the distractingly handsome Prince Grae. But when Calla and Briar journey out of hiding for Briar’s wedding, all of their well-made plans go awry. The evil sorceress is back with another sleeping curse for the last heir to the Golden Court.
Calla must step out of the shadows to save their sister, their kingdom, and their own legacy. Continuing to hide as a human and denying who she truly is, Calla embarks on a quest across the realm, discovering a whole world she never knew existed. Outside the confines of rigid Wolf society, Calla begins to wonder: who could she be if she dared to try?
Full of adventure, love, gender exploration, and self-discovery, A River of Golden Bones follows Calla’s journey through treacherous Wolf kingdoms, monster-filled realms, and the depths of their own heart in this thrilling romantic fantasy.
Featured Series
2 primary booksThe Golden Court is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2023 with contributions by A.K. Mulford.
Reviews with the most likes.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
Actual review close to 3.5 stars. I loved that there was LGBTQ+ representation with the characters. However, the beginning was a bit confusing to start and had instalove which kind of set the tone for the rest of the story me. I'd much rather see a relationship develop can be done, even with fated mates. The language used in the spice scenes was a little weird lol.
This story follows Calla, a young wolf princess whose existence has been kept a secret from the rest of the world. She and her twin, Briar, have finally come of age, and Briar has been tasked with marrying Prince Grae of another wolf kingdom. Briar will become queen, and Calla will remain as her shadow. When her twin is cursed to sleep for eternity by the same Witch Queen that destroyed their kingdom, Calla leaves her new home and her mate to rescue the one person who can wake her sister.
The concept of this book was interesting enough to pick up, but the urge to put it down was so much stronger. It felt like the author had a vague idea for a story and then had a bunch of boxes to check off with very specific character descriptions. There were also many moments where I could see what the author was trying to do but was not able to successfully convey it on the page.
The checklist probably looked like this before they sat down: ✅Spice ✅Fated Mates ✅Wolves ✅Sleepy Beauty Retelling ✅Queer Character(s)? ✅Howl's Moving Castle Caravan
The world-building fell very flat for me as well. It was hard to discern character motivations, and for a while, I thought this might be an intentional choice to add an air of mystery. However, after finishing the book, I concluded that there was no true build-up to anything.
Our main character was very much “not like other girls,” especially not like her sister. She often looked at her sister and wished she could be as pretty, prim, and prepared to take the throne as her. This thought occurred multiple times per chapter.
Toward the end, Calla was having a crisis when it came to her gender identity. Usually, I welcome this sort of exploration, but I found this to be out of place. It seemed like this fantasy world was 100% okay with anybody being anything and loving anyone, even to the point of the Moon Goddess, herself, choosing a sapphic mating pair in front of the royal court. This crisis felt like another box to check, as it was shoehorned in at the end without a convincing buildup to these issues.
I also found the romantic pacing to be unrealistic and, at times, frustrating. The Fated Mates reveal was just as dramatic as it was sudden. Considering these characters were Wolves, Calla couldn't stop mentioning that she and her chosen mate were “mates” and how intense the Mating Frenzy was. However, there was no pining, no slow burn—nothing that made me believe they were truly crazy for each other. Usually, when the “Mating Frenzy” comes up in books, you expect a real spicy treat. Instead, it was just tiring to repeatedly read about how bad it was not to touch each other. When it came to the spice, it was concentrated in one chunk of the book, it was more overwhelming than it was rewarding. I found myself skimming the pages to get through it all.
I also love politics in fantasy, as I believe it adds an extra exciting element to world-building and gives us a real glimpse of what it's like in this world. However, the politics in this book were as simplistic as “This King is bad, this Queen is bad.” Maybe the next books will dive into this a little more and clear a few things up, but I don't think I will be there for that journey.
So if you like wolves, limited worldbuilding, and a main female character who is always stressed for the wrong reasons, this book might be for you.
I've received an e-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, feelings and opinions are my own.
In this book you will find: fated mates, LGTBQA+ characters/relationships, secret heir, best friends to lovers, caste system, on screen deaths, fairytale retelling, and shifter fun.
I've read the other series by this author, and generally thought they've gotten better book to book and for a first book in a series I really liked this one. It's not the same shifter stories that I'm used to reading and I really like the use of the fairytales in this book.
The relationships were solid, it read like it was opened for future books, but not dragged out at all and you could stop at book one and be perfectly fine. I will be following along with this series as well.
