~ books read in 2023 ~

#32: The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The gravedigger's children were troublemakers.

Rating: 5/5

Title: The Drowned Woods | Author: Emily Lloyd-Jones | Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (2022)

New Releases: August 2022

New Releases: August 2022

Riley Reynolds Crushes Costume Day by Jay Albee (1st) Note: This is the first book in a new series that has four books releasing on this date. It’s book week at school, and nonbinary fourth grader Riley and their best friends craft hard for the Dress Like Your Favorite Character Day. Colorful fabric! Paint! Glitter! They are ready to make the biggest and best group costume ever! But most of the…

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The forest did not scare her; rather, she wanted to be like it: ageless and impervious, cruel and beautiful. Death could not touch it.

Emily Lloyd-Jones, The Bone Houses

Review: The Drowned Wood by Emily Lloyd-Jones

I hate writing critical reviews, and I know a lot of people are excited about this book, but it fell short of the mark in a number of ways for me. I would really love to see more Welsh fiction written by Welsh ffrindiau

Review: The Drowned Wood by Emily Lloyd-Jones Before I get into the main body of this review of The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones, a little disclaimer: I was sent a pre-release copy of the book by Hodder and Stoughton in exchange for an honest review. But I don’t think I really need that disclaimer, because this review will be very obviously honest. I don’t often write anything close to a…

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Short Take: The Drowned Woods

You could say I have a fascination with Wales. It began when I picked up Sharon Kay Penman’s Welsh Princes Trilogy as a teenager and devoured them. Historical fiction set in 13th century Wales filled with romance, royal machinations and more than one prince called Llewelyn. Totally hooked. Then I finally read Susan Cooper’s outstanding The Dark is Rising series. The last two are set in Wales, complete with a short primer on Welsh pronunciation, and I ate them up. It was in the final book of this series, Silver on the Tree, that I first heard of the Drowned Hundred, a mythical kingdom swallowed by the sea. When I caught sight of The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones, a YA historical fantasy, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a connection. Indeed, it is set in Wales and involves a heist, so I was definitely in.

Merirad (Mer) is just trying to keep her head down and escape the notice of Prince Garanhir, the man who bought her off her family when it was discovered she was a water diviner, a human touched by the fae and able to manipulate water. He raised her to be used as his weapon but when Mer couldn’t live with the damage she’d inflicted any longer, she ran. Trouble comes looking for her in the form of her old mentor, the Prince’s spymaster. Renfrew offers her the opportunity to get free of the Prince forever with one last job. Together Mer and Renfrew assemble a crew, including a young man touched by Death, the heir to the Thieves Guild and a corgi called Trefor who may or may not be a spy of the “other folk”. Their aim? A magical well on a remote island guarded by an otherworldly boar said to protect the Prince’s kingdom by holding back the sea. Plus all the treasures the well contains. Ruin Garanhir and finance their new lives all in one fell swoop.

Of course nothing is straightforward when magic and spies are involved, and the nonstop action kept me riveted. I listened to The Drowned Woods on audio, a bonus because for once I heard all the Welsh names and places as they are supposed to be pronounced instead of making my best attempt based on that long ago lesson Bran gives Will in The Grey King. Lovers of historical fantasy and fans of Six of Crows will find this a good fit. Lloyd-Jones balances tension with humor, because nothing beats a corgi that sneezes when magic is in play. And for those who have series fatigue, this is a stand-alone. Though if you want more of Lloyd-Jones’ historical fantasy Wales, you can also pick up her previous YA, The Bone Houses. A perfect escape for the end of summer!

— Lori

Morrigan Reads - The Bone Houses

Book: The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones Rating: 5/5 ⭐ Genre: Fantasy, Horror (does Horror-Fairytale count as a genre??) Trigger Warnings: Death, undeath, gore(?), animal death, parental death, violence.

Blurb (that really doesn't do this book justice): A mapmaker and a gravedigger (and a very loyal goat) venture into the mysterious and magical mountains to end an enchantment that has been causing the dead to rise for the past 15 years.

Spoiler-Free Review: This was my second time reading The Bone Houses, and I loved it just as much as the first. It feels exactly like a fairytale, both in writing style and in content. But it's also a horror story, and a beautiful one. The horror in this book doesn't revolve around shock value, but is actually deep and meaningful, while also creepy and scary. The characters are amazing and well-written, and there is a perfect balance between light-hearted and more solemn scenes. The story is also fascinating, and well planned out. In fact, this was a book where I wasn't mad in the slightest about guessing the "twist". Not just because it's a good one, but because it's not really a twist. It's a perfect pay off of things that have been hinted at throughout the entire book. And it's perfect. Not to mention the amazing use of Welsh folklore as inspiration and source material. It's wonderful.

So, please, if you love horror, or fairy tales, or goats, please read this book.

Spoilers Under The Cut:

This book... I don't even know where to start. I mean, I love Ryn, I love Ellis, I love the Goat. I love everything about it. But let's break down the best parts:

Goat being lovely. She's amazing, and I love that she didn't become aggressive after being turned. She was still stubborn and loyal, but she was lovely.

The settlement at the base of the mine. I- wow. This is one of the most interesting parts of the book to me. That some bone houses stayed true to their human selves, and that some people would want to live with their loved ones even after death. (Not to mention the subtle foreshadowing involved with everyone assuming that Ellis is dying.)

Ryn's Dad / the helpful bone house. God, that part gets me every time. When he reaches up and touches her cheek, and she doesn't pull away, even though she hasn't figure out who he is yet. And the fact that he made sure that she didn't find out who he was until he was gone, so that she could let him go, really let him go. The way that the love spoon being reunited is Ryn both finding and losing her dad all at once. How even though he knew what would happen if Ryn found the cauldron, he still showed her the way there.

The Lake. "Keep going, keep going, keep going." "What. Do you. Think. I. Am. Doing?!!?" makes me laugh every time.

Ellis's Heritage. I had actually figured this out way, way earlier, or at least had a very strong hunch. But like I mentioned before, I wasn't even mad in the slightest. In fact, I was satisfied. All the foreshadowing was perfect without being too heavyhanded, but enough to pick up on. And Ellis meeting his mother for the first time when she dies (again)...

The Aftermath. Ryn burying every single bone house because they were people and they deserve that respect, and because that's what she does. Also, the "I'd like to bury her." "That I think I can help with." exchange was so sweet. Also, Goat being found curled up in a tree.

The Lake, again. The Afnac returning Ryn's axe (complete with teethmarks) made me laugh. Plus the way that it was returned. It just came hurtling out of the lake, adjaksjd. I wonder if the Afnac understood what it was giving back, and to who. If it was saying thank you, or go away and never come back. Or if it just wanted to be rid of the axe.

My Roman Empire Reads

This was originally going to be a list of my favourite books of all time, but I realised that my favourites shelf on Goodreads is littered with books I haven’t read or thought about in five years, I thought I’d focus on the books that still do occupy my brain space to this day, some read more recently than others. And I know the ‘Roman Empire’ meme is dead by now, but I have no other way to…

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“She was always smiling,

“Sometimes it felt as though she were more storm than person, bringing chaos and pain everywhere she went.”

The Drowned Woods

This was something of a random purchase - if I'm honest it was partly because it was on sale. I was expecting a fantasy based on the old stories of Cantre'r Gwaelod, the lost kingdom of west Wales and this delivers that, but I wasn't expecting it to be a heist story so that was a pleasant surprise.

The characters are interesting and well shaped, the story is very well structured without the structure being too obtrusive and it all fitted together nicely. A heist lives or dies by the twists and this landed some nice ones.

As someone with an interest in Wales (I'm saes to the bone, but Wales is my home and a country I care about more than the one where I was born) I appreciated that it leant into Welshness in the choice of food and culture while going easy on the tricky pronunciations. If you want a fast-moving well-written fantasy that ties in to a very old story, you might enjoy this one.

~ books read in 2023 ~

#21: The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The farmer had four ordinary children, which was why the magic of the fifth came as a surprise.

Rating: 5/5

Review: The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Author: Emily Lloyd-JonesPublisher: Little, Brown Books for Young ReadersReleased: August 16, 2022Received: Own (OwlCrate) Book Summary: Did you know that the kingdom of Wales was once full of magic? Unfortunately, that magic brought with it more than a fair share of conflict, as those without magic sought to gain or control those with it. This is the world that Mererid, aka Mer, was born…

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The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones

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Novel Nuggets - August 2022 Releases

Novel Nuggets – August 2022 Releases

We are heading into August now. This has to be one of the most eclectic months of reading I have ever had. It also contains what is, without a doubt, the best book of the year. Here we go! Have you ever wondered what would happen if Ada Lovelace and Mary Wollstonecraft were best friends? And created an automaton? And had Percy Shelley helping them evade a mad scientist? Well, you are in luck…

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Quote of the Day - October 14, 2022

Quote of the Day – October 14, 2022

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