Review: A Song of Bones by Isaac Anderson

Blurb:

Escape to the Surface or Die in the Dark…

In the Deep Wood, beneath crooked branches and empty skies, there is a tree. Under its roots, deep in the dark of the earth, a generation of mice toil away digging for their masters. Kidnapped and forced underground, the world above is a fading memory. All they know is dirt and stone and dark.

But when a stolen knife brings hope of escape, they must act fast before the way out seals shut forever. Will they break free of their captors to see the sky again, or will they lose themselves amid the twists and turns in the deep, deep dark?

Villians, tricksters, and scoundrels await you, dear reader. Though nothing can prepare you for the road ahead, I wish you luck all the same.

Review:

Well, this review has been collecting dust in my mind, but I still remember “A Song of Bones” oh so vividly as when I first read through it last year. And as New Years Eve was rolling around stateside, Bald and Balding was doing a livestream and I got to say hi to Isaac Anderson, the author of this book here. On that livestream, he mentioned that he had a somewhat interesting experience with mice during his childhood, which, in turn, he claimed to have been why his books tend to be small rodent oriented. Not a bad thing, and certainly a first on my reading list for last year. It was new, and therefore, fun to read.

Taking “A Song of Bones” to a random person who owns a small rodent, I’d pitch the novel to them with this:

“Mice being kidnapped by rats, forced to work in horrid conditions underground. That’s all the book promises but we get so much more. Care for more info?”

hoping that they really do ask for more information, because this book has a lot going for it. 

To start off, we have the characters, who I can’t really talk about because they don’t have names, yet. According to the blurb. But what I can say is that some character growth is had, with those who are entombed underground, in this case, the mice, going from lethargically captured by rats and mining for something to rebellious, escape-fevered critters. It works. As for the rodents of unusual size, their leader is amazingly done, we rarely see the dude, but he’s there, lurking, doing nefarious things to mice up in his office. Just doing his thing. And then there’s the knife. The knife isn’t a character, per se… but the impact the knife has on the overall story, that could be a standalone novella from the knife's point of view.

Next, the plot… the plot that is basically the Great Escape but without soldiers jumping the fence, and that it’s taking place in a pit instead of an open area. We start off with an abduction, then we get the setting of the story, shenanigans involving the ever crucial knife happen, and the book ends on a hopeful note. It didn’t feel rushed, didn’t feel overdone, and was fluid to read.

Then, there is the world building. There’s some mice cities, the rats are off doing their own thing in the woods, just vibing with their mice slaves, and the various miscellaneous items that come from somewhere (I take it humans exist but never see the mice and rats and other critters doing their game of civilization. It works, and I want more.

However, if I had to critique one part of the book, it’d be that there were many PoVs, and sometimes those felt like they went nowhere, at least in this novel. Maybe there is a book two waiting just around the corner for consumption that will do something with those characters, which I hope. Just lots of questions left over from reading one or two of the chapters. Aside from that, nothing else was critique worthy. Alongside that, my critique is my own opinion, and if you’d like to have your own about the book, read it.

All in all, if you like rodents with character and the will to live, as well as rodents who like arson, and some shenanigans with a sharp object, “A Song of Bones” is for you.

As always, if you’ve made it this far into the review, thank you for reading, and I hope I’ve helped nudge you towards your next read. If not, don’t leave yet… I have a random review, picked from the vast catalogue of our review site, for you to check out before you leave, it could be in any genre and could be something for you or not. The link is here → click me ← .

Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!