There is nothing to say except The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones is a good book. It is worth your time because the plot is well-thought out, there is action that is actually exciting (not as exciting when listened to on audio FYI but still good), and contains a purpose and character arc worth reading. This is a solid book and worth an hour of your time because of that.

I categorise this plot as one with purpose. The author knew what they were doing and where they were going when writing this and within this fantasy world, I found no plot-holes or unnecessary misdirects. It is a good plot and one you will enjoy if you, surprise surprise, like good books.

The Bone Houses is written well and with an action/romance heavy plot, you are taken on a journey to find a cauldron, save lives, and maybe some other moments I won't spoil along the way.

There is limited world building but the world building that does occur to create the bone houses and their relationship within the world is solid. As the novel progresses, it does a great job unravelling the origin at opportune times throughout the story. There was no info dumping to create the fantasy world as that would have stilted the novel and instead utilised slow concept building to create a solid magical world.

Ryn and Ellis are the protagonist's. Ryn is the eldest of her siblings, a gravedigger, and a killer of the bone houses. Ellis is a mapmaker whose journey to document the world and find his family has tangled him up with Ryn. Both are slightly predictable characters in regards to what drives them - Ryn is a protector and provider who is driven by those attributes and Ellis is a wanderer searching for answers.

Now, when they are together - they are 100% a CLICHÉ of the romance genre but hey, it is what is is. I personally thought the development regarding their relationship was interesting but if you are a fan of magical romance and quests, you'll adore their relationship development. If you enjoy that aspect of novels, rate this read even higher as I feel you will enjoy this read even more than I did. The characters in all are moderately simple but provide an intense sense of determination which works well with the plot to create a mystical story.

The Bone Houses has the ideal ending. The whole novel as I stated was written with purpose and though the relationships were a bit fast-tracked for me personally, the ending washed away my eye-roll regarding romance because genuinely, this was a good book and the ending solidifies that statement. If you are searching for a solid fantasy read with romance and a great plot, this is for you.

The Bone Houses was well-written and I liked it. I liked how I was misled into believing it was Ryn who was the connection between the influx of bone houses when in reality, it was Ellis. And after all that talk about the cauldron and the child, I cannot believe I didn't make the connection that the mythical story and the one I was reading would combine!

I highly enjoyed the simplicity in narration. It was straightforward and allowed me to understand the purpose of the story which combined with the entwinement of fighting that increased as they got closer to the cauldron worked really well for me as a reader. I am not a huge fan of hands-on action when reading and as I listened to this on audio was scared it would drag on. I typically end up getting lost and then bored with action which is so ironic because the purpose is to excite, not bore the reader. I felt this way with The Poppy War  and is why I never continued the series because the fighting tired me but with The Bone Houses, it was the right combination of action and progress.

Each fight led to something new and though no fight led to anything catastrophic for the protagonists's, each fight assisted their journey. I adored that. The fighting wasn't pointless and in all, I straight up had fun listening to this story including the fight scenes.

Seriously, I really don't have many thoughts on The Bone Houses because it was good and conclusive. The ending was fabulous in how their story would transform in time with retellings and I had fun with this read.