Waiting on Wednesday – The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday I check out an upcoming fantasy novel that is probably going to be one of the top books of 2021, The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst.

The Bone Maker Cover

2020 has been a particularly strong year for fantasy novels, and one of my favourite fantasy books so far was Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst. Race the Sands was a clever and exceedingly entertaining standalone novel that featured exciting adventure, brilliant character development and fantastic political intrigue, all overlayed with monster racing. This was my first novel from Durst, a veteran fantasy author probably best known for her Queens of Renthia series, but it was enough to make me an instant fan of her writing. As a result, I have been keeping a close eye on Durst’s upcoming novels, and while she has a couple of books in the works the one that really caught my attention was The Bone Maker.

The Bone Maker is an intriguing standalone fantasy novel that is currently set for release in March 2021. This upcoming novel from Durst sounds extremely cool, and thanks to the plot synopsis below, it appears that The Bone Maker will follow the survivors of a heroic quest to kill an evil magician, and examine the tragic aftermath of their actions.

Plot Synopsis:

From award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, a standalone epic fantasy set in a brand-new world of towering mountains and sparkling cities, in which a band of aging warriors have a second chance to defeat dark magic and avenge a haunting loss.

Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived.

Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.

She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.

But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.

Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”

Wow, I have to say that is a plot synopsis that really resonates with me. I absolutely love the idea of a novel that follows five heroes after they complete their epic and name-making quest, especially if said quest resulted in nothing but destruction and despair for them. Durst looks set to make the most of such a cool plot setup, and I love where this story could potentially go. It looks like Durst will explore the lives of all five heroes, and readers will get to see how their lives have been impacted following the success of their quest. Durst did an amazing job of following several broken characters in Race the Sands, so I have no doubt she will work her magic in The Bone Maker, presenting the reader with some new fascinating and compelling characters. I am also really looking forward to seeing what sort of unique and intriguing fantasy setting Durst will utilise for this book. There are already some hints about this world’s intriguing bone magic, and I will be interested to see how this translates into the story.

Due to this impressive-sounding synopsis and Durst’s extensive experience as a fantasy author, I am extremely confident that I am going to enjoy The Bone Maker when it comes out next year. This new novel from Durst sounds extremely compelling and I cannot wait to see how its intriguing narrative turns out. I predict this is going to be one of the best fantasy novels in early 2021 and should be an epic and amazing read.