The Bone Orchard

This is a weird book. But I devoured Harrow the Ninth, so I'm prepared for weird books that don't really make sense until the final third.

The cover art and title drew me in, the synopsis snagged me, and the immediate concepts it introduced really got me. 

I'm a huge fan of anything even remotely necromancy related, and splitting ones self into multiple individual beings that inhabit lab-grown bodies to avoid (religious) trauma during an invasion of an objectively evil empire was right up my alley. I really liked the concepts of the characters, and keeping track of exactly who was who and what they were like was a little tedious. 

Despite being from the perspective of a sex worker (though much more disparaging words are used), there aren't any on-page sex scenes (thank goodness), only brief mentions of their activities — the few good and, unfortunately, the large amount of bad.

I'm not normally a fan of “whodunit” stories, but this kinda kept me guessing. The reveal of the perpetrator was satisfying and the deaths of the awful, awful sons felt like a genuine relief with how awful they are. 

I did like how it wrapped up at the end. I don't want a direct sequel whatsoever, but I wouldn't mind seeing more in this universe. Maybe exploring the magic system? Or a prequel from the perspective of Inshil?

Oh, and a map would be lovely.