Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh
Published 7th June 2016 by HarperTeen
Star Rating - ***
Goodreads Challenge - 12/75
Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Two clans. Only one will survive.
The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.
Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.
Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in the tangle of their pasts.
When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.
The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.
Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.
Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in the tangle of their pasts.
When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.
My Thoughts
I've seen lot's of mixed reviews about this one but the unique setting really intrigued me so I wanted to give it a go for myself. It wasn't a disappointing read, there were some parts I liked although, there were also some parts I didn't like so much. That being said, I enjoyed it enough to finish it.
I enjoyed the setting of this story, as I said before this is something that made me want to pick it up. It's set in the Neolithic era and that's not something that I've read before. It was interesting to see how people lived back then and it's obvious that the author has done her research however, there were some aspects of the story that felt a little bit too modern, particularly the speech and narratives. That being said I do think that the story would of suffered if it was written solely in the way people used to speak in that period of time.
Having read some of the other reviews of this book a lot of peoples criticism is that this was marketed as a prehistoric Pride and Prejudice retelling and that's not what they felt this was. However, I'm not really able to comment on this aspect of the story as I'm not familiar with the story of Pride and Prejudice, having never read or watched it. So this aspect of the story didn't really come into play for me and I was judging the book of its own accord rather than as a comparison to the original tale.
The author included some quite detailed descriptions of the world which I enjoyed however, there were also some quite detailed descriptions of hunting scenes which I didn't enjoy so much. I understand that this is part of the way of life in this time period however, they were a bit too graphic for me and that made me uncomfortable.
This story was written from a male POV and after thinking about this I realised that most of the stories I read are from female POVs. It took me a while to get into the main characters POV. I found it difficult to relate to and the way it was written in third person was sometimes difficult to read, especially when he was talking about the female characters. However, I got used to it eventually and it didn't stop me from enjoying the overall story, it's just not my favorite type of writing style.
Overall I did enjoy this one enough to finish it but as I said before there were some things I didn't enjoy. The story was enjoyable but it didn't blow me away, to me it was just an average read. I am considering picking up the sequel if my library has it but I won't be actively seeking it out.
I enjoyed the setting of this story, as I said before this is something that made me want to pick it up. It's set in the Neolithic era and that's not something that I've read before. It was interesting to see how people lived back then and it's obvious that the author has done her research however, there were some aspects of the story that felt a little bit too modern, particularly the speech and narratives. That being said I do think that the story would of suffered if it was written solely in the way people used to speak in that period of time.
Having read some of the other reviews of this book a lot of peoples criticism is that this was marketed as a prehistoric Pride and Prejudice retelling and that's not what they felt this was. However, I'm not really able to comment on this aspect of the story as I'm not familiar with the story of Pride and Prejudice, having never read or watched it. So this aspect of the story didn't really come into play for me and I was judging the book of its own accord rather than as a comparison to the original tale.
The author included some quite detailed descriptions of the world which I enjoyed however, there were also some quite detailed descriptions of hunting scenes which I didn't enjoy so much. I understand that this is part of the way of life in this time period however, they were a bit too graphic for me and that made me uncomfortable.
This story was written from a male POV and after thinking about this I realised that most of the stories I read are from female POVs. It took me a while to get into the main characters POV. I found it difficult to relate to and the way it was written in third person was sometimes difficult to read, especially when he was talking about the female characters. However, I got used to it eventually and it didn't stop me from enjoying the overall story, it's just not my favorite type of writing style.
Overall I did enjoy this one enough to finish it but as I said before there were some things I didn't enjoy. The story was enjoyable but it didn't blow me away, to me it was just an average read. I am considering picking up the sequel if my library has it but I won't be actively seeking it out.
Overall Rating
Great review! I’ll check the book out :)
ReplyDeleteAmy. http://www.amysbookishlife.co.uk