#castles in their bones

[elliepassmore]

Poison in Their Hearts review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: multiple POVs, morally gray characters, schemes, court intrigue

Castles in Their Bones review

Stardust in Their Veins review

The book opens with Daphne at the Frivian court where we left her, now solidly against her mother and making plans with Violie, Leopold, Cliona, and Bairre. Beatriz, on the other hand, is in a bit more of a bind. Having been captured at the end of Stardust in Their Veins, she now finds herself back in the Cellarian court to be wed...this time to Niccolo. Things are tense for each of them for different reasons, and the distance between them makes planning their mother's downfall all the harder. It's kind of difficult to tell the timing of the book, one character makes a passing mention to it having been "only a month" since the end of Castles in Their Bones but that feels....distinctly wrong. The events of the last book definitely felt like they took more than four weeks to occur, and this one picks up immediately, so I'd say at least two months after the ending of the first book, if not three.

It's difficult to say whose book this is. If Castles was Sophronia's book, Stardust was meant to be Beatriz's (and we do see that, but in hindsight I think a lot of it was for Daphne too), then this one is probably meant to be Daphne's book. However, I think this book does a good job splitting itself between Daphne, Beatriz, and Violie. Beatriz grew a lot in the last book, but let's not forget Daphne also broke away from their mother and she had much stronger ties to her.

Daphne is still struggling with what it means to be against her mother, but not so much from a will-she-won't-she perspective, but from the perspective of needing to know who she is if not a loyal daughter. Daphne definitely brings out her strengths in this one, and to my surprise, we also get to see her trusting people more too, which is decidedly not one of her strengths. The relationships she's been cultivating in Friv are ones she feels confident leaning on, and her and Bairre get a lot of development over the course of this book. I really liked seeing who Daphne became and enjoyed her storyline, especially since she started out in book 1 as my least favorite sister.

Beatriz also gets to grow and in this book the focus is on her finding her own way out of binds by relying on her cunning and diplomacy rather than magic, bloodshed, or other people. Triz really shows herself as a well-rounded force to be reckoned with, and she also shows just how much her siblings have shaped and guided her--she draws strength from Sophronia and Daphne at different points. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the decisions she made in this book and think that it really shows a great deal of growth for her, even though she still calls herself emotional and impulsive.

Violie feels like much more of her own character in this one, which I liked. She feels responsible for so many of the things that happened in Temarin, and particularly with Sophronia. She was a POV character in the last book as well, but I feel her voice really comes out in this one as she establishes herself and her place. She can be ruthless, but that ruthlessness comes out in a way that belies care for the people around her and for the state of both Bessemia and Temarin. It's clear she regrets her past choices, but now that she's chosen to take a stand, she's willing to fight for it with everything she has, just like Sophie.

Bairre, as expected, does have to make some tough decisions in this one and tbh he kind of feels like a new man. He's just as loyal to Friv as always, and he's still determined to see the rebellion's goals through, but he also listens to Daphne far more than before and is willing to put blind faith in her, something I don't think would've occurred in Stardust. I liked getting to see him interact with a wider group of characters and enjoyed getting to know him more.

Leopold is another character who really comes into himself in this one. While he was already developing into a stronger character, and stronger king, in Stardust, we see that development further in this one. Temarin, let's remember, is currently occupied by Empress Margaraux's forces, and that doesn't bode well for the country. Leo has the opportunity to really step up and it was such a fantastic transformation from who he'd been in Castles, I loved seeing it come to fruition.

Pasqual and Ambrose both come back as well, though they're absent for most of the book as a result of the events that happened at the end of book 2/the beginning of this one. Pasqual is Triz's number one supporter and is ride-or-die for her. I cherish their friendship so much and love how Ambrose is more than onboard with Daphne.

We also see Cliona again and I really like her as a character. I feel like maybe I didn't like her as much when she was introduced, but she's a clever and funny character, and I liked that Daphne had a friend. She also sets a nice foil to Gisella who....makes very different choices when faced with it.

There are so many threads set up for this book and it was wonderful seeing them come together. Several things from book 1 pop back up, and I liked getting closure on some of the conflict that was left open from that book. Likewise, some new things that popped up in book 2, both character- and plot-wise, were resolved in this book in some pretty interesting ways. There was a lot that needed closure by the end of this book, from the minor mentions of the previous empress to the big things like the current empress, and Sebastian does a good job of having everything come together.

The showdown with the empress is a longtime coming, and there are several smaller showdowns with her along the way. It was definitely tense because I knew while reading that Margaraux was in no way going to go quietly, but I wasn't sure just what she had planned. Goodness is it hard to win against her. As the girls say, she has spies everywhere, and we get to see just how extensive that network is and just how good she is at planning ahead.

Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. There is room for character growth as well as flashy showdowns, and most, if not all, of the loose ends are tied up by the end of the book. We even get more of Sophronia.

[kadisbook999]

Initial sketches of the main characters "Cstles in Their Bones"

[lilibetbombshell]

[acourtofpaperandink]

Book Review: Poison in Their Hearts By: Laura Sebastian

Post by: Jessica Castles in their Bones (book 1) Stardust in their Veins (book 2)  Poison in Their Hearts (book 3) By: By: Laura Sebastian Cover: The covers don’t all match so that is super annoying. I didn’t like the cover of the first book but it was way better than the covers they switched to. I didn’t say it before but I will say it now… I hate these covers.   Story: ★★★ In this book…

[jessryno]

Book Review: Poison in Their Hearts By: Laura Sebastian

Post by: Jessica Castles in their Bones (book 1) Stardust in their Veins (book 2)  Poison in Their Hearts (book 3) By: By: Laura Sebastian Cover: The covers don’t all match so that is super annoying. I didn’t like the cover of the first book but it was way better than the covers they switched to. I didn’t say it before but I will say it now… I hate these covers.   Story: ★★★ In this book…

[quillandqueer]

Poison in Their Hearts by Laura Sebastian (Castles In Their Bones #3) | Book Review

There's so many series where I could say they would likely be better as a duology, but this series truly needed to be a duology. For most of Stardust and Poison, the story moves forward at a snail like pace, and this was hampered by the page count of both books totalling over 500 pages each. I started Poison thinking that we would finally see some action, but it actually felt slower than Stardust.

I don't think I've ever read a book where so little happens. Violie and Beatriz make moves towards Bessemia, and Daphne waits there in her mother's castle for the final showdown. When this finally arrived in the very last chapters, it was over so quickly if you had blinked you'd have missed it. After this, the story was quickly wrapped up and done.

I was so disappointed by the lack of character growth, and I wanted more of Daphne and Beatriz spending time with each other. They've been apart for three books, losing their sister, and I barely registered when they finally met again. The romance, story and background characters all felt lacking, and I left feeling like I wasn't rewarded for the time spent reading this series.

[readingwithwrin]

Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian | Book Review

Title: Castles in Their Bones Author: Laura Sebastian Publisher: Delacorte Press Published Date: February 1st, 2022 Genre: Fantasy, Magic. YA Source: Library Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ Goodreads Summary: A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of…

[pierogish]

dude I hate this place *proceeds to draw it*

[astralbooks]

Stardust in Their Veins - Laura Sebastian

Read: 07/01/2023 - 14/01/2023

Rating: 5/5

Rep: gay side characters, m/m side relationship

CW: grief, on page death, death of a sibling (in backstory), imprisonment, discussed executions, discussed filicide, murder, kidnapping, potential harm to children, discussed sexual assault (none occurs)

This review will contain spoilers for Castles in their Bones

This was one of my most anticipated books of this year, and I was delighted to be given the chance to review an early copy! Castles was an unexpected surprise for me last year, I loved it a lot and way more than I was expecting to, and I had high hopes for its sequel. Given the way that Castles ends, Stardust had a lot to live up to.

Even though Sophronia was my favourite of the three sisters, I’m glad that her death stuck. It wasn’t a trick and there are no resurrections. Sophie is dead, and a lot of the emotional weight of this book stems from the people she’s left behind having to come to terms with that. Grief can be messy and it can look different for everyone, and I think this book managed to reflect that well. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is a book about grief, but the grief is very present throughout.

Daphne was my least favourite of the sisters in the first book, but with this one I’m pretty sure she’s nudged her way into second place. She was always the most loyal of the three to their mother, and that loyalty is still sticking in this book even despite the building evidence that their mother may have had a hand in Sophie’s death. The thing with an upbringing like the sisters had is that unquestioning loyalty as a survival mechanism isn’t an unrealistic outcome, and it’s inevitably going to take a long time for that loyalty to break down. Daphne’s arc over the course of this book is slow as she deals with her grief and her suspicions and her denial and her mother’s new shocking orders that might just be a step too far, and it can be a little frustrating as a reader, but I strongly suspect that that’s the point. It all just serves to make her actions nearer the end hit all that much better. The build up most definitely pays off.

A few months ago, Sebastian posted on Instagram to say that where Castles is Sophronia’s book, Stardust is Beatriz’s. The book’s dedication reinforces this, as it’s dedicated to ‘all the difficult girls’, a description which is lobbied at Beatriz near the book’s end. But do I think this is truly Beatriz’s book? No I do not. Beatriz’s pov was largely dedicated to her exploring her newfound magical abilities and the limits of the magic system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad for this exploration. I thought it was interesting and it answered some questions I’d had about it from the first book while also investigating some other questions I hadn’t thought of. But Beatriz as a character didn’t develop alongside this. Daphne and Violie grow by leaps and bounds over the course of this book, with the people they are by its end being far from the people they are at its start. Beatriz doesn’t change. Beatriz from the end of the book is very much the same girl she was at the start. The moment that I’d probably describe as The Emotional Climax of the book happens to Daphne, not Beatriz. I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed Beatriz’s chapters, and this is basically my only complaint about it. It hasn’t affected my star rating because it’s technically not something that came from within the book itself. As the most typical YA protagonist of the bunch it’s not wholly surprising that her arc would be the least intricate, but if this was supposed to be Beatriz’s book then Beatriz is simply not getting a book.

I did really love the level of ride-or-die Beatriz and Pasquale are at for each other though. Beatriz has found a best friend in the most unlikely of places and I hope they never let each other go.

Violie my beloved. Sophronia’s maid, and Margaraux’s spy, from Castles is a point of view character alongside Daphne and Beatriz here, and oh does she shine. It’s about the grief and the regret and the trying to make it right in whatever way you can while knowing that no matter what you do it will never, ever be enough to make up for what you did. I love her. I also enjoyed watching her relationship with Leopold go from her barely being able to tolerate him to a genuine friendship that has outgrown her original promise to keep him safe. Maybe saying this is jinxing it, but I hope their friendship doesn’t turn into a romance in the next book. I’m enjoying their friendship as it is. Not everyone needs to be coupled up.

Where Castles felt very much like three books in one, with each narrator having their own separate plots with very little crossover, the same doesn’t hold true here. Beatriz and Daphne are still separated, but Violie is under no such restrictions. As a result these three girls’ actions have a much bigger impact on each other than the previous trio’s did.

I listened to an audio copy, and Roisin Rankin did a good job narrating! She was engaging and her use of differing accents where appropriate helped make the wide world of Vesteria feel more realistic. There were one or two lines here and there where the pauses in a sentence felt a little unnatural, but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t make much of a difference. If you were looking to give the audiobook a go I’d thoroughly recommend it.

If you liked the first book then this follow up won’t let you down! If you want a series with fairytale vibes, star based magic, politics and plots, and princesses who are nowhere near as helpless as it benefits them to pretend to be, then I encourage giving this series a try!

Thank you to NetGallay and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a free e-copy in return for an honest review.

[elliepassmore]

Stardust in Their Veins review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, multiple POVs, magic, political intrigue, scheming, morally gray characters

Castles in Their Bones review here, slight spoilers for that book will be in this review! Big thanks to Netgalley, Delacorte Press, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! I’m super excited that I got an ARC of this, and I’ve been wanting to know what happens since I read the ARC of Castles last year. The sequel definitely lives up to the first one and we get more political intrigue and machinations, more plots, and more of the sisters. If Castles was Sophronia’s book, then this one is Beatriz’s. The book starts off a couple days to a week after the end of the last one, and while Beatriz is upset at all that happened in Cellaria, she hasn’t been beaten. We see this throughout the course of the novel, where again and again Beatriz manages to get back up and scrape together a new plan. She has a better understanding of her mother in this one as well, and she’s not about to make the mistake of underestimating her (or feeling safe) again. At the same time, she is also dealing with a new revelation and with Sophie’s death. Pasqual makes a reappearance as well, and he’s fully on Triz’s side in this one. He definitely grows more confident in doing things that aren’t necessarily moral (though ‘moral’ really depends on who you’re asking). Ironically he also seems much more at ease, though that could have to do with being out of Cellaria. I liked how willing Pas was to help Triz in her endeavors, and it was nice to see that his softness was still there after everything (as was Ambrose). Daphne is still a badass, though it was frustrating to read her POV at times because she is still so in her mother's pocket. She's been thoroughly trained to see things her mother's way, and that reflects in how she'll push aside what multiple people tell her and any evidence that her mother is wrong. That being said, I still love Daphne and she shows a lot of growth in this book. I'm very happy that she gets some closure on things, and I'm very interested to see where her and Bairre's relationship goes considering everything that happens here. I'm also really really looking forward to book 3 since I know that will be Daphne's book and we'll get to spend a lot of time on her journey and seeing how things go with Friv and Bairre and the rebellion. It's kind of hard to get a good handle on Bairre since he's hiding a lot and doesn't get his on POV. He's still working with the rebellion, though Daphne keys in on some of his naivete regarding them, but he also clearly cares about Daphne. He seems to want transparency with Daphne, but even when he gets some of her truths, he's reluctant to provide his own in turn. That being said, I like him and he's very solid as a character. I suspect he'll have some make-or-break decisions in book 3 based on where everyone was and what the situation was like at the close of this one. Leopold shows up in this one! And Violie! We know from the ending of Castles that Sophronia used magic and scheming to get the two of them out of the capital of Temarin prior to her execution, but we didn't get to see if she'd succeeded. I'll be honest, I was so so hoping there was some kind of trick or magic or something that meant Sophie was still alive, but she's definitely, unfortunately dead. Violie gets the third POV in the book, and it was interesting to see her view on things and learn about her own life. Her upbringing mirrors the triplets' in a way, since she was also trained in the same sorts of things by Empress Margaraux, but obviously isn't a princess and didn't have the same mission. Violie feels a lot of guilt over what happened with Sophie, but as the book goes on, she gets some closure and is able to heal from that. Violie will almost definitely be playing a major role in book 3, and I'm very curious to know what happens there. Leopold also has some guilt and some growth in this book. He, too, feels guilty about Sophie, particularly since he was the one who let his mother run Temarin into the ground, which resulted in the riots. He handles everything pretty well all things considered, though he's definitely more sober than in Castles. Leopold even ends up running some schemes of his own, and I liked seeing the side of him that we saw toward the end of the last book. Nigellus, Empress Margaraux's empyrea, gets a larger role in this book as well. He guides Triz a little bit and it seems as if he does care for the girls in some sense. At the same time though, he kind of spirals into his research and the things he's hearing from the other empyrea, and his actions there are less than savory. Aurelia, Bairre's mother and another empyrea, also shows up with a larger role in this book. It's somewhat unclear what her goals are, but since she'll be around Daphne in book 3, I suspect we'll figure more out then. Nigellus' role does reveal a connection between some things that had been mentioned in passing and not really touched upon. There was some very interesting foreshadowing going on here and I'm both curious and nervous to see where it goes in the last book of the trilogy. A lot of things are poised to come together in the final book, and I really feel that things could go fantastically right or catastrophically wrong. Margaraux is a hard one to beat and she seems to have people she's turned and spies everywhere. There's also something going on with the stars and prophecies, which could serve to help or hinder Triz, Daphne, and co. And that's not even touching on the things going on in Cellaria and Temarin. I really enjoyed this book and think it's a fantastic sequel. I look forward to the final book of the trilogy and need 2024 to get here quick!

[kadisbook999]

I'm currently reading the second book in the series "Castles on Their Bones" by Laura Sebastian

And since I am a creative person, I drew the main characters from there First –Princess Beatriz

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Castles in Their Bones | Author: Laura Sebastian | Publisher: Delacorte Press (2022)

[didsomebodysaypancakes]

Love the 2000s Here Is The Specialest Boy procedural genre

[acourtofpaperandink]

Book Review: Stardust in their Veins By: Laura Sebastian

Post by: BookGirl Castles in their Bones (book 1) Stardust in their Veins (book 2) By: Laura Sebastian Cover: I didn’t like the cover of the first book because I’m not a fan of people on covers. But I would take the first book’s cover over this one. I wanted to go so far as to say I hate this cover but the more I thought about it, I don’t hate the cover, I hate the girl’s face on the cover. I…

[jessryno]

Book Review: Stardust in their Veins By: Laura Sebastian

Post by: BookGirl Castles in their Bones (book 1) Stardust in their Veins (book 2) By: Laura Sebastian Cover: I didn’t like the cover of the first book because I’m not a fan of people on covers. But I would take the first book’s cover over this one. I wanted to go so far as to say I hate this cover but the more I thought about it, I don’t hate the cover, I hate the girl’s face on the cover. I…

[inconsequentialliving]

Castle, Bones, and the Mentalist are all the same show in different fonts and I love it