The Bone Witch had a very slow pace, and felt more like a prequel disguised as a novel than an actual novel. It's like its whole purpose was to set up the next book in the series.
Story:
There are dragons. There are necromancers. There are monsters, and monarchs. The Bone Witch had a lot of potential, but didn't completely live up to it in my opinion. The switching between the present and the past could have been smoother, for example, because both gave me some very good insights to what might be going on.
In a world where there are different kinds of witches, there is, of course a hierarchy among them. And Tea is kind of both at the bottom and the top of the social ladder. In some countries, she is feared, while in others, she's revered. However, she's not one to follow the rules, and this makes her life rather difficult.
As she gets educated on her powers and her place in society, there are many strange things happening. Among them, some of the dragons that were supposedly only waking once every year now are forcibly woken more often. Not only is Tea seen as dangerous, now it seems she has a connection to one of these dragons.
There is quite a bit of action and excitement, and of course, there is betrayal, too.
Characters:
Tea is a bone witch, which makes her feared by most of her peers. When her beloved brother died, she somehow brought him back to life, and now he's her servant.
Tea has a visitor in the present time, and she shares her stories with him - but only what she wants him to know and see.
Fox, Tea's undead brother is extremely loyal, and like a soldier.
The Prince... who has noticed Tea, and seems to be working to make life better for all his subjects.
Writing style :
Most of The Bone Witch is written in first person point of view, present tense from Tea's perspective, but there are passages from the past including the oracle, and some passages from the present that are in third person point of view, and told from Tea's visitor's perspective. The pace is very slow, and I think I might have enjoyed myself more if there had been a little less telling and a bit more showing.
Feels :
I'm not sure exactly, I found many aspects of The Bone Witch interesting, but I wasn't fully invested in the story, or in Tea.
Some of my favorite guests came from humble beginnings. Some of my worst guests came from the highest of positions. Breeding isn't what you were born as; breeding is what you grow to be.