Rin Chupeco

Armed with the ability to tame and control the monstrous daeva, Tea enacts her revenge against the royals who wronged her, but she's hampered by her disapproving brother and pursued by enemies wishing to use her dark magic for themselves.

The Heart Forger

Wonderfully paced, lovely writing, entrancing character development.

Charlie Winchester 

Katy

Better than the first book but still not quite a five star read? Not even sure if this qualifies as a four star but the last 50 or so pages bumped it up to four stars. I'm intrigued by this plot, Tea's character and her development. Her relationships with her brother Fox and everyone else. But there's one thing I didn't like and I had this issue in the first book too.

That being the italicized text at the end/beginning of every chapter. I found myself just skimming those few pages, just because I couldn't really focus on them. I got the point of it, but it just made me care a little less about the glimpse of that particular plotline.

Otherwise, I'm looking forward to the ending of this fantastic trilogy.

Savannah Winchell

honestly could not tell u why i didnt like this one lol

I found myself liking this book more than the first! Whether that’s the product of simply knowing more of the ties between the timelines or not, however, I can’t tell! 

I really enjoyed this book. I am quite the fan I think of magic that isn’t often portrayed in  main characters, like necromancy, and that play between dark and light in a person. And while not incredibly drastic, the small cliffhanger at the end of this book simply left me wanting more. 

Tace

I found myself liking this book more than the first! Whether that’s the product of simply knowing more of the ties between the timelines or not, however, I can’t tell! 

I really enjoyed this book. I am quite the fan I think of magic that isn’t often portrayed in  main characters, like necromancy, and that play between dark and light in a person. And while not incredibly drastic, the small cliffhanger at the end of this book simply left me wanting more. 

Vilde

4.5

I adored The Bone Witch, and I loved The Heart Forger. If I thought I knew where the book was going after The Bone Witch, I was definitely off-track. There were several plot points that took me by surprise in The Heart Forger, and all welcomed. As noted in my review of 
  The Bone Witch
, it was definitely a set-up book. And I'm very grateful that the narrators were the same as the ones in The Bone Witch, I just hate when they change up the narrator(s).

Laura Kehoe

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, although I felt like there were some issues. But with this book, I thought things came together so beautifully! I absolutely adore Tea and really everyone in this book. And now I’ve added daeva to the list of creatures I need in my life ASAP! I feel like the story really came together in this book. I’m so excited to dive into the last book!

Sahi K

Ughhhh... I’m just so upset that I took so long to pick up this trilogy. I can’t thank the hosts of YARC enough for encouraging me to pick up more Asian authored books and I can confidently say that I’ll be continuing to read them long after this challenge is over. And I also have to thank my dear friend Krisha @ Bookathon for gushing a lot about this trilogy and finally making me read it. I’m so glad to finally have joined this bandwagon because The Heart Forger is truly brilliant.

The plot is so much more interesting in this book than it’s predecessor. We get to know more about the Faceless, their kind of dark magic and lots more about their quest for immortality. The world is also expanded more because the characters travel to a new kingdom and we get to know about the rulers and customs of the place. There is also a lot more action in this one, and I was very impressed by these sequences - I totally wanted to see them on screen. The author also continues telling the story in two timelines, with the major part closing towards the events happening in the Bard’s present timeline and it creates a lot of suspense and anticipation, making me not want to put down the book at all. However, the best part I think about this book was how it challenged gender roles and heteronormativity. Both Likh and Khalad’s journey of trying to live their truth was very powerful and I think the author did a great job showing us their inherent strength, while also providing them a lot of support from their friends. 

The characters are definitely the true heart of this book. Tea is such a delight to read about. She has grown so much, learning more about her abilities and responsibilities and helping people when needed. She is stubborn and impulsive and doesn’t always think through her actions, but she is very selfless and loyal and just wants to protect her friends at any cost to herself. That makes her transition into almost an antihero in the Bard’s timeline very fascinating, leaving us with many questions. Despite her possible descent into the dark side, we can never stop loving her or rooting for her to succeed because her heart is always in the right place, and she just wants to prove that she is not as evil as everyone thinks she’ll become, while also protecting everyone around her. 

The relationships in this series are so beautiful and each of them is special in its own way. Tea and Fox’s sibling relationship is probably one of my favorites ever and they argue and bicker, but always have each other’s back. The lengths to which Tea is ready to go to ensure Fox survives made me wanna cry. Her friendships with Mykaela, Althy, Polaire, Zoya were all amazing in their own ways and the scenes where they all fought together were awesome. I also particularly enjoyed her dynamic with Khalad because their destinies are so interconnected, making them indispensable to each other, but they actually end up becoming friends who care for and respect the other a lot. Likh is probably the sweetest cinnamon roll of the group, so adorable and kind but also smart and brave and all the scenes where the gang stood by his side and encouraged him were so heartwarming. 

I knew this book was going to have more of the romance of the main leads but the development of it was so much better than I expected. It was so emotional and angsty and beautifully written, and I completely fell for them and they’ll probably end up being one of my favorite couples of this year. We also have a lovely sapphic relationship, and the banter between the two girls is super entertaining and oh so precious. There is also one character who has a crush on another, and it’s so so sweet and adorable, but I don’t know if it’ll actually develop into more. 

Finally, I don’t even know what I can say about this book other than just pick it up. As much as I enjoyed The Bone Witch, this is a step up - with expansive world building, lots more action and dark magic and phenomenal characters that you will root for every step of the way. If you haven’t read this trilogy yet, I promise you are missing out. This sequel answered many questions but left me with many more, and now all I want to do is jump right into the finale.

Judy McClure

Will post rating when Goodreads lets me. Solid 4 starts. Meanwhile ... continuing to love this series and will be starting the final book today as I am reading the entire trilogy in one go. The world building continues to enthral and the characters to evolve and reveal their depths. How will it all end???

Deborah Kerr

I really loved The Bone Witch, and while I enjoyed this one, there is definitely a dip in the quality of writing.

1. The book is too long. We could've done without 50-75 pages.
2. The dialogue in this one is rough. Sometimes the characters speak like petulant toddlers, sometimes their vocabulary is that of teenagers in our world. It is unignorably cringe at times.
3. The over-usage of epithets. Sure, have the Bard call Tea "the Dark asha" every once in a while. I can get on board with that. But why are we intermittently referring to Polaire--one of our asha sisters-- "the brunette"? And why are we doing so on a regular basis? It felt very amateur.

Narah Quinn

Review for The Heart Forger. (Maybe a little spoilery!)

THF is the second book in The Bone Witch trilogy by Rin Chupeco, which I read a while ago. I loved it - so much - but I had a really lovely paper back version and I wanted the next two to match so I patiently waited for number 2 to arrive in paper back. Then I really needed number 3 because I just wasn't sure that I would be able to wait between 2 and 3 so once that I arrived (again in Paperback) I had all the best intention of reading them - but I did not get round to it.

I am currently a quarter of the way through number 3, having finished THF as my buddy read for May.

It was just as good as the first. In fact, maybe even better. Tea is developing fast as a Dark Ahsa - a bone witch. She has a pet azi after deciding not to kill it at the end of the first book, but soooooo much happens. Kance falls victim to the same sleeping sickness as other royals have. Kalen and Tea finally stop fighting, realise they love each other (and seriously, I love them, they are just *mwah*) Fox and Inessa finally sort themselves out, but not before putting us through the ringer, and more of the Faceless' plot is uncovered which we discover through not only the main chapters (which take place in the past) but through Tea's time with the bard in the 'between' chapters (which are the present).

We find people, lose people, long for people and hope for them. I need there to be a halfway happy ending once we get through book 3, but I am really not sure that we are going to get it and it is taking everything I have not to just skim through it and get there faster.

Seriously though, I simply adore everything I have read so far by the incredible Rin Chupeco and I am 100% certain that not enough people know or read her work.

The Never Tilting world (one of my favourite books of last year) and Wicked As You Wish (released this year) are vibrant, full of exceptional characters and if you have not read anything by her, you absolutely should. She is also fantastically outspoken about social injustice, is not afraid to call anybody out on their BS and writes about bad-ass girls taking down corruption in all its forms - what is not to love!

THF gets a solid 5/5 stars!

Rosie Qua

Alejandra

Dana Musser

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

** spoiler alert **
           The sequel to The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, this novel picks up shortly after where the last one left off. With that:

Kalen and Tea are still not together in the past timeline, but in the present they are together (with Kalen coming back from the dead) and are taking over the city where most of the action takes place in the past timeline. (I’ll leave that a bit vague). In the past, the prince has been put under some kind of spell, along with the decedents of the other 4 great heroes, and Tea has been accused of causing it. This is not true, of course. But the team, with the princess who is now betrothed to the prince in tow, must find a way to save the prince.

This was better than the first novel. The only reason this isn’t 100% GO READ THIS NOW is because there are some oddeties in the writing style where I couldn’t tell who was talking or what was actually being said that brought me out of the story. If not for those breaks, this book is so wonderful. We finally get some good romance, but it isn’t the focus of the novel, and we get to see all the characters grow closer to those we see in the present time.


 
Now, you got the warning for the spoilers. So, there are spoilers.

Fox and Tea’s relationship has always been amazing and this novel sets the stage for the modern story as we get to see why Tea wants Fox to have his own life. Seeing their family, though it was really brief, hit home that they all have separate lives from the two of them. And Fox is in love. In the modern side, we see that he puts the princess before his sister, and… that alone is enough of a reason for her to try and make him truly alive. If Fox never did that, if he had always stayed loyal to her and her alone then… the modern story might not have as much of a reason? I think that will really be resolved in the third, and final novel.

Kalen and Tea. Life goals. Particularly since we are getting to hear not just Tea but Kalen’s reaction who-knows how long after the fact, and see what they each thought or felt during that moment. And how he always loves her, and he is the one who reminds her that she is good.

The writing was, mostly, fantastic and the story was engaging and the characters wonderful. Highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone.

Kaeli Wolf 

At times it was insufferably long. But the relationship I was waiting for didnt disappoint. These books don't have actual endings tho, so I need to keep reading to know what the heck is going on.

Chelsea Breher

Uhhh Tea you stress me out, I know you're trying to do what you think is right but girl you stress me out.

I am loving this series so far!!

swamp

I love love LOVE the narration style of this book. Having her look back at what she did, laugh at her own actions, realizing the mistakes she made along the way, is just so GOOD. Tea is written like such an honest, true-to-life character (particularly in the Bard POV sections)

This book didn’t get much love in terms of copy editing. There was an entire section (chp 15) that had different dialogues all mixed up, as well as a few small grammar/spelling errors. Though it is possible my library digital copy is just outdated, idk.

We also were introduced to some immaturity from Tea when it came to sorting out her feelings, which was kind of surprising. She would act a bit over-dramatic at some points. I will excuse it because she’s still a teen and like.... I was probably just as dramatic at that age lol. 

Some points also started to feel a bit Scooby-doo with the dramatic reveals. this entire book was at a higher level of drama than The Bone Witch, with a faster pace and the characters bouncing from place to place. It just felt more generic I guess. Even so, I still found it hard to put the book down!

Viktoria A

Emma Hak-Kovacs

Ashley Lock

In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection--now she's after revenge... No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life...and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her--and took the life of her one true love. But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea's dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can't kill someone who can never die... War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe.

The Heart Forger

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