Rating: 4 out of 5.

Durst has done it again -written a fantastic, can’t-put-down, stand alone fantasy book. I love her writing, I love her characters and I love her original story-telling. I get excited every time she releases a new book – and this one does not disappoint.

The story is set in the kingdom of Vos. The kingdom has bone makers who can animate bones to create objects that can do a variety of things, like clean, send messages, etc. They also create charms that give people a limited amount of “super-powers”, like strength, speed, stealth, etc. These creations are made from animal bones – the use of human bones is illegal.

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. They defeated him – and supposedly killed him – but one of the heroes was killed, Kreya’s husband. Since their defeat of Eklor, Kreya has hibernated away from everyone, scavenging human bones from dead people and illegally using them to bring her husband back to life. But it comes at a cost. For every day her husband lives, she will live one day less. Desperate to bring her husband back for more than a few hours at a time, she devises a plan to cross the wall to the forbidden land on which the battlefield of the war with Eklor lays to gather human bones left on the field.

She travels to the capital city to gain the assistance of one of her fellow heroes, a gifted bone maker who creates some of the best charms in the kingdom. Considering she hadn’t seen any of her fellow heroes since the battle, she is not exactly welcome. Nevertheless, the teammate accompanies Kreya to the battlefield to gather the bones, and they run into some of Eklor’s inhuman army. Could he still be alive?

Vowing to make certain Eklor is dead, Kreya gathers the rest of the heroes together to scout the battlefield. But are they still the heroes from the past, and are they ready to sacrifice their lives again for the kingdom?

The author does a great job of portraying Kreya’s grief over losing her husband, and her grit and determination to bring him back to life. She is laser focused on that, and once she brings him back, is single-minded in her quest to destroy Eklor if he still lives – at times to the detriment of others in her team. The other members of the team aren’t as fleshed out as Kreya, but it’s ok, they lend a lot to the plot as minor characters and round out the story well. This book is fast paced and full of action. It’s 496 pages, but is still a quick read because you won’t want to put it down. I recommend you read this fantastic book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager. All opinions are my own.