How did I get the book? Netgalley, thank you @ Faber & Faber
I also bought a copy.
Genre: Contemporary / Fantasy
First impression: It’s the title and the cover that got my attention, it’s the blurb that sold me.
Synopsis: Evie’s shattered ribs have been a secret for the last four years. Now she has found the strength to tell her adoptive parents, and the physical traces of her past are fixed – the only remaining signs a scar on her side and a fragment of bone taken home from the hospital, which her uncle Ben helps her to carve into a dragon as a sign of her strength.
Soon this ivory talisman begins to come to life at night, offering wisdom and encouragement in roaming dreams of smoke and moonlight that come to feel ever more real.
As Evie grows stronger there remains one problem her new parents can’t fix for her: a revenge that must be taken. And it seems that the Dragon is the one to take it.
This subtly unsettling novel is told from the viewpoint of a fourteen-year-old girl damaged by a past she can’t talk about, in a hypnotic narrative that, while giving increasing insight, also becomes increasingly unreliable.A blend of psychological thriller and fairytale, The Bone Dragon explores the fragile boundaries between real life and fantasy, and the darkest corners of the human mind.
200words review: The Bone Dragon is wonderful, magical, touching, mysterious, fantastic, unique and so many other words I could use. I love this book. It will be a story that will forever have a special place in my heart.
Considering how much I adore Evie and her story I was expecting this review to be easier to write. But I don’t think I can do it justice, there is so much about Alexia Casale’s book that is truly outstanding. I feel I should be filling pages of how effective and beautiful her writing is. Highlight paragraphs to showcase this. Discuss the brilliance of the Dragon. None of that touches on the human characters within The Bone Dragon or the story.
Evie is a rare gem in narrator, both lovable and true. There is a moment in the second half of the book where Evie’s anger gets the better of her. I won’t go into details but it that moment alone held everything I love about her. It’s not just Evie of course, it’s her adoptive parents, Uncle Ben, Ms Winters, Evie’s friends. Everyone and everything about this book fits.
I’ll stop gushing now but honestly The Bone Dragon is special. Read it.
Recommend it?
Sunshine Star
Luna's Little Library 
Oh my gosh I need to read this book right now!!!
Yes you really do 😀
This sounds awesome, I love fairy tales.