⭐️ 3/5 stars
📖 Length: 275 pages
📱 Format: ePUB
⏳ Read Time: 6 days
Synopsis
Necromancy rules the world. Bones and dust, rot and decay.
Cursed, Caius Veyne is turning to bone, his body crumbling with every breath. No magic can save him. No power can undo what’s already begun.
Until her.
A girl pulled from the noose, memories forgotten, with a soul that does not belong.
Serene should be hollow like all the others, but she isn’t.
She breathes.
She gives.
Life and Death were never enemies.
Just two sides of the same coin, waiting for the moment they’d fall together.
What I thought
I’ve been following H. R. Leigh on social media for a while, and honestly, I fell in love with the artwork and aesthetic for Flesh & Bone long before I started reading. It’s absolutely stunning; moody, macabre, and perfectly gothic. So when I got the chance to read an e-ARC, I jumped straight in, hoping the story would be as hauntingly beautiful as the visuals promised.
And to be fair, the concept had me hooked immediately. A world built on necromancy, a cursed man turning to bone, and a mysterious girl who shouldn’t be alive? It sounded like the perfect dark fantasy. The writing is lush and lyrical, the atmosphere dripping with rot, magic, and melancholy. So much so, you can practically feel the dust in your lungs.
But somewhere along the way, I started to lose my footing and I was gutted. I really, really wanted to love this! But the book is so very descriptive, and while I appreciate immersive worldbuilding, it tipped over into too much at times. Every scene was filled with sensory detail about how things looked, smelled, or felt, and I found myself getting lost in the language rather than the plot. The pacing suffered as a result, and I had to reread a few sections just to make sure I hadn’t missed something important.
Caius and Serene also had so much potential, but their story never quite hit emotionally for me, maybe because I was just so caught up in the sensory side. I wanted to feel their connection, but it got buried under all the flowery prose. That said, I loved the concept of life and death being two sides of the same coin.
It’s one of those books where the bones (pun intended) of a great story are definitely there, but it just needed stripping back a bit. Less fluff, more punch. If you love really atmospheric, descriptive fantasy and don’t mind a slower pace, you’ll probably enjoy it. For me, it was a beautiful idea that just got tangled up in its own words.
I’ll still be picking up the second book, though. I’m definitely curious to see where Leigh takes it. Hopefully it’s a bit tighter and lets the story shine through all that gorgeous gloom.
You can pre-order your copy on Kindle here.
Thank you to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Until next time… ✨
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