Bone ​Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.

Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.

Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.

Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.

Thank you so much to Edelweiss for this ARC! I fall head over heels for any kind of new and exciting lore that I’m presented with, and Bone Crier’s Moon is rich with it! The synopsis was unlike anything I had ever read before, and the cover itself was the final blow. I knew I needed to read it and read it now. It is an unrelenting adventure, and I’m so excited to see that it’s the first in a series, because by the end I was praying to stay in the world just a little bit longer. Between the three different POVs, we learned so much about the magical side but also the mundane, and it made the story that much more fleshed out and true.

We follow Sabine, Ailesse, and Bastien. Sabine and Ailesse are Bone Criers, women tasked with the monstrous effort of ferrying the dead to the afterlife. Their leader, the matrone, plays a siren song on a bone flute to summon both good (Unchained) and bad (Chained) spirits on a new moon, and the Bone Criers push them towards Elara’s Paradise or Tyrus’ Underworld. In order to prove that they are ready for such a task, each Bone Crier must select three animals to hunt and subsequently take one of their bones to forge into jewelry of sorts to give the girl their ‘grace’. This gives them advantages that the animal enjoys in life: strength for a wolf, vision for a hawk, etc. Once they have all three, they may lure their true love, amoire, with the same bone flute that is used for the ferrying. They have the choice to live with them a year and produce an heir or to kill them on the spot. 

Once an amoire is lured, their path is set. If they are not killed within a year, they and the Bone Crier will die. If the Bone Crier is killed, so will they be, and vice versa. It’s a very serious ritual, and it’s one that the normal human population has spun into myth. There are those that have seen too much, though, like Bastien. Bastien watched his father die at the hands of a Bone Crier, and promised revenge. He snuck up on Ailesse as she was doing her ritual, fully intending to kill her, but actually set in motion a series of misfortunes that would lead to the destruction of the bone flute and the unraveling of the Bone Criers. Sabine, Aliesse’s best friend, is caught in the aftermath. She only has one grace bone but loves her friend more than life, and will do anything to save her.

I really loved the grace aspect of the story, and I related with Sabine in that I don’t think that I would be able to steal an animal’s life to add to my own. Her salamander bone that was bathed in tears as she strung it onto a necklace gripped my heart and cleaved it in two as I listened to how low it made her feel. Not just that she killed the animal, but that even with this tiniest of graces that allowed her agility, she felt like she didn’t belong among her own people. I very much doubt I would ever make it to the ‘killing my lover’ stage, but the ferrying is a truly huge deal that does need someone to do it. If the dead aren’t pushed toward the afterlife, the Unchained will amble about, stealing the life forces (Light) of living humans. So, it’s not to be said that the life of a Bone Crier is easy, but they are essential.

The exploration of different kinds of love was so wonderful. We have the most beautiful friendship between Sabine and Ailesse, which keeps both of them going even as the road gets tough. They always have each other’s backs, and this was another moment where I saw myself in Sabine: she was hesitant to do anything for herself, but once Ailesse needed help, she never looked back on any of her decisions. She summoned the courage when it was truly needed. The bond between Bastien and Ailesse was almost unfathomable, and we love an enemies to lovers tale. It was a shake of the fist to fate, and a constant struggle for the two to love who they wanted. We also were met with an unsatisfactory mother figure in the matrone, who treated Ailesse like gum on the bottom of her shoe, and a dangerous tie to the gods (who are such an exquisite melding of Greek and Christian beliefs) that threatens to bring the Bone Criers to their knees if they’re not careful.

The amount of care and detail put in to the background of this fierce female tribe is awe-inspiring. I also loved how the Bone Criers weren’t the only strong characters; Bastien was a force to be reckoned with, but his two friends, Marcel and Jules, were vital to the story as well. Marcel has an intelligent mind and a kind soul, and Jules a fighting spirit and a giant heart. It shows us that you don’t have to be descended from a powerful bloodline or chosen by the gods to be strong and valuable. Everyone has their own strength and their own power. I loved the book, and the ending left off in such a perfect spot that I am incredibly thirsty for the next installment!

5/5 stars