The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch, 3)

The Shadow Glass is the concluding book in an ownvoices Asian inspired fantasy series, that stars a bone witch named Tea who has the power to resurrect and control things, which she finds out in The Bone Witch when she accidentally resurrects her brother at his funeral. From there, Tea and her newly risen brother, Fox, go on a journey for Tea to learn about her asha powers, but they quickly feel and realize the expectations that all eight kingdoms are going to put on her.In this world, all the people wear heartsglass around their necks. Your heartsglass will change colors depending on what you're feeling but will overall stay mostly the same color. Yet, silver means you draw runes and they are so very important and are so very sought after. Other ashas control elements; fire, earth, water, and wind. But Tea is a dark asha who can control death. Bone witches are not very respected in this world, even though their powers hold the most important job in this world; defeating Daeva, which are different demons who dwell in this world, who are resurrected every so often.“The darkness was inside me, I think, long before I raised my brother from the dead. My silver heartsglass merely gave it a mouth, made the darkness realize that it too can hunger…”This story is told in my favorite format ever, which is half of it being told in present day from a bard, where you see the ramifications of everything that has happened in the past, where Tea appears to be the villain, but the other half is the past, from Tea’s perspective, where we get to slowly see the events unfold to bring us up to date with current day. Two timelines brilliantly woven together to give us the most epic finale of all time and truly is a masterpiece.I feel like I can’t say that much more of a synopsis, because this is the last book in a trilogy, but watching Tea grow, from this girl who was so unsure of her future and her new powers, to this woman who learned to love not only others, but also herself and this power that felt so uncontrollable, and it was an honor to read, truly. And seeing this new journey that Tea has to take for herself in The Shadow Glass was completely enthralling and such a treat to read.“I knew that shadowglass spell; I had committed it to memory nearly two years ago, and it was now a mantra, buried so deep within my psyche that nothing could pull it loose. I had pored over those words for so long that sometimes they came easier to me than my own name.”But I couldn’t write up this review and not talk about the romance and how it completely still leaves me weak in the knees. I would completely lay my life on the line for Tea and Kalen and they are honestly everything. Also, I am just such a sucker for the protector/bodyguard/personal-warrior element in romances, and I seriously will never stop swooning over them. Truly the stuff dream OTPs are made of.I do want to take a minute and talk about the sexual and gender representation in this book! There is a side f/f romance, which you don’t get to see that much of in this installment, but I still love them with the sum of my being! But what I really want to talk about is Likh and her transition. In all three books, we see Likh discovering how fluid gender can be, yet also testing out the waters of new things because of the gender roles, and power imbalances, people place on so many things in the societies all these characters explore, but in this book she decides her pronouns and after that everyone instantly respects her pronouns and her transition and it’s truly beyond words beautiful.“I will save the kingdoms, and I will save you in the process, and maybe I will save the bits and pieces of myself that need rescuing too.”And I don’t have an eloquent way to say it, this ending broke me. I read the last twenty-percent of this book with tears streaming down my face. So much perfection. Overall, this really is the book of my heart, and Tea is the character of my soul, and Rin Chupeco truly wrote a love letter for every girl out there who wants to change the broken world that people think is the default. If you haven’t started this series yet, please give it a try. I truly love it with my whole heart and soul, and I truly think it is so very worth your time.

This book is told in the dual timeline format again with the bard in the present and then Tea's story leading up to how he found her on the Sea of Skulls. In the bard's perspective, Tea has just finished up her business in Daanoris and is leading her army of daeva toward Drycht to finish what she started. She won't take him along because of the danger to him so she gives him a stack of letters to complete her story.In her story they are learning more about the blight that is causing people to turn into daeva-like creatures and trying to figure out what secrets the elder asha are hiding regarding the Dark asha and what they can actually do.This book was a RIDE, let me tell you. This book has everything. There's betrayal, there's an air of mystery, there is crushing heartbreak. There are wonderful friendships and wonderful romances.I literally just want to reread this series over and over and over. I loved it so much. If The Heart Forger hadn't landed Rin Chupeco on my auto-buy author list, this book would have definitely cemented her spot.I love all of the characters in this series. Tea and Kalen. Fox and Inessa. Likh and Khalad. Shadi and Zoya.I love Tea and Kalen's relationship. They are kind of enemies-to-lovers. They are like... fictional couple goals, in my opinion. Like, they have their disagreements, things aren't always wonderful for them, but there isn't like a big fight or some other circumstance that separates them in the book at any point, which is something I like. I hate when couples have big misunderstandings that are blown out of proportions or are separated for huge chunks of the book. I love me a power couple that can work through their problems and still adore each other through it all.Like I believe I mentioned in my review for The Heart Forger, there is the f/f pairing of Shadi and Zoya (who I don't recall being a huge part of this particular book, it has been a few days since I finished this book because I just needed to bask in its gloriousness).I believe I mentioned in that last review also that there was the m/m pairing of Likh and Khalad, but that is not correct. In this book, Likh gets to finally become a full fledged asha apprentice and is frequently called Lady Likh, she always corrects people when they say that. But in this book Tea reads in Likh's heartsglass that she would like to be Lady Likh and from that point on Likh is referred to as she/Lady Likh and there are no more corrections or anything like that.Anyway, I love Likh and Khalad, they are/were both so clueless about how the other felt about them. I don't remember at what point in the series they finally got their act together and realized how the other felt because I binged this whole series over the course of several snow days and I don't know where one book ends and the other begins at this point.I could sit here and gush about this book and its characters for DAYS, but I think you should just go read the series for yourself and then come flail with me!For real, I have been WAITING for the resolution to this series since I started the first book! I finally have all the answers to my questions I had since the beginning! WHO is in the grave on the Sea of Skulls and WHAT happened to them?This series has definitely made my top three favorite series ever. If you like necromancy and squad goals, you will probably like this book too.

This was a really great conclusion to the Bone Witch series. I was very impressed with how everything played out and wrapped up. I will say that I felt that the ending felt a tad rushed but nothing that halted my enjoyment.I don't think I ever really mentioned in my other reviews about how this story is told. It is actually told in the present and past. I have liked that aspect of the story so far but I really enjoyed the dual aspect in The Shadowglass because everything was finally coming to light. I can see though why this form of story telling could be problematic but Rin Chupeco did a wonderful job holding it together.I have to say that my favorite aspect of this entire series was definitely the world. It was very enriching and foundational. Chupeco poured her heart and soul into detailing the history, myths, and lore. I just found myself constantly getting loss and wanting to learn more. This is the kind of world building I love, so bravo Rin Chupeco for doing the thing. I also ended really enjoying the characters throughout and the journeys. This series from the get go does a wonderful job incorporating elements of race, sexual orientation, identity. I thought it was all handled with extreme care.I highly recommend this series to those who love amazing world building and any sort of death magic. I do believe this will tick all your boxes. I am so excited to read the rest of Chupeco's work in the hopefully near future.

I have to say I really enjoyed this series. It had a slow start in book one but the second and third book really made up for it! It's truly an amazing story and it's told in an amazing way.The world the author has created is so interesting and I loved their powers.The friendships and relationships in these books are also really good.There where so many things happening that you just want to keep reading and a lot of good plot twists to make you even more excited about what might come next.The back and forth between past and present was also really fun.Definitely recommend this series!

Hello to the future.I’m currently writing this review in August 2018, how wild is that?I wanted to post this as my first review in 2019 but I realised I should wait a little bit so it is closer to release date. This also means that instead my fave gets to be posted near valentines day.I was so lucky to see a copy of The Shadowglass at YALC – I almost missed it. But boy am I glad I got to read it early, so thank you so so much to the stand for having a few copies there.I think what made me love this book so much is that in theory we got two endings in one – the ending of the past story of how Tea became banished on that beach alone. And the ending of the overall story in the present that follows the incredibly strong and unruly Tea as she fights to disrupt a system that has been helping keep Dark Asha’s powers limited and leading them to early graves.Seeing Tea’s strength and growth has been such an incredible journey. I really can not express enough how great its been to see all the pieces of the story come together.Not only does Rin create a vivid and well thought out Fantasy world, magic system, and incredible beasts. She also includes queer and trans characters with ease.Yes guys, I am indeed confirming that in this book we get on page confirmation that Likh identifies as a woman, that they’ve had trouble figuring out how they fit in the world, and even go as far to look at if there is any magic to help make their body match how they feel.I think I pretty much cried every time Likh was on page. This might seem like such an over reaction but we’ve gone on this whole journey with them figuring out their identity and it just really touched me y’know?I am so sad that this world is over. I know I’m going to have to reread it because it really did leave its mark for me. This world is one I never want to leave. I’d face the daeva, the corrupted, and the faceless alongside Tea any day.The friends she has by her side were such amazing characters to see grow old.The path she had to walk, the lies she had to tell, and the truths she had to keep close to complete this journey were so well thought out and executed that I will 100% be recommending this book, no, this series to anyone who will listen to me.I can’t do my love for this series the justice it deserves!Right now, my ARC is travelling around the world amongst some of my friends because I was that desperate to have someone to talk too about this brilliant book and I know they’ll all be purchasing a copy to complete their collection.Update: Its been loved in America and Finland and is now on its way to the Netherlands and Germany.If you do pick up a new author this year, this is the one for you.

Juste génial

The Bone Witch series as a whole has built such a unique and beautiful world, Rin Chupeco is one of the greatest writers I've ever encountered for world building, and the best for diversity and represtation within her books. The final installment was well worth the wait, a bit content heavy at times, the story never looses what is at its heart: Tea trying to do what she believes in the right thing for the people she loves.

Depois de um primeiro livro muito bom e um segundo praticamente perfeito, eu tinha altas expectativas para esse último. A autora conta a história desde o começo com duas linhas do tempo, e eu estava louca para descobrir como elas se encontrariam e qual seria a solução da autora para um problema que eu conseguia antecipar desde o anterior. Afinal, ela não o solucionou, só deixou que acontecesse, o que, para mim, acabou tirando um pouco do impacto dessa escolha de narrativa dela. Ainda é um livro muito bom, foi um final digno, mas eu tenho algumas ressalvas para comentar.Quando as duas narrativas ainda estavam bem distantes uma da outra, elas funcionaram muito bem. Teoricamente, o leitor já sabe algumas coisas que vão acontecer, mas outras a autora conseguiu esconder bem e isso movimentou a narrativa principal, que é a do passado. Mas neste livro as duas narrativas se aproximam demais, ou seja, a do passado chega bem perto do começo da do presente. Nisso, praticamente todos os conflitos do passado perderam a força. Eu já não estava mais animada para ver o que ia acontecer, porque eu já sabia o que ia acontecer. Tudo bem que eu não sabia todos os detalhes, mas sabia o grosso e já foi o bastante para eu desanimar dos capítulos mais longos.Em compensação, fui ficando cada vez mais animada pelos capítulos do presente, mas eles ainda são bastante curtos e quase resumidos nesse livro, como eram no começo. Eu estava intrigada para ver como a autora iria resolver esse problema de uma narrativa perder a força e a outra ganhar, achei que ela fosse fazê-las se encontrarem bem antes para então poder focar só na resolução da série pelo ponto de vista da Tea. Era como eu queria que tivesse sido, mas ela se prendeu ao mesmo estilo até o final e acabou que o clímax foi bem anti-climático.Tem outra coisa que me incomodou nas duas narrativas nesse livro: elas são muito parecidas. Os acontecimentos, os exércitos involvidos e tudo o mais são quase iguais e paralelos demais, a ponto de eu ficar confusa e sem conseguir me importar com o que ia acontecer. Aliás, toda a criação de shadowglass e os segredos por trás também deram milhares de voltas, como as motivações dos vilões e personagens secundários, o que ficou extremamente confuso. A autora sempre demonstrou um controle e uma criação absoluta de seu universo, mas acho que essa questão do shadowglass deixou vários buracos. E o problema, na minha opinião, foi que ela não quis fazer a Tea assumir uma posição de vez e foi só evitando tomar uma decisão e tentando se esquivar, criando novas exceções e possibilidades que deixaram tudo mais imrpovável e menos conviencente. No final, ficou confuso e fraco.Claro que o livro ainda teve bastante coisa boa. A Tea é uma personagem excelente, adorei que a autora deu espaço para uma personagem trans (apesar de eu não ser uma pessoa tão boa para dizer se foi uma representação problemática, não me pareceu) e o romance é bem apaixonante ainda. Tem uma grande revelação que eu consegui prever, infelizmente, mas teve outra interessante também. Pena que a motivação dos personagens ficou incerta e confusa como o shadowglass, assim como os "vilões" e por que eles eram considerados os "errados".É estranho o último livro da trilogia ser o mais confuso dela, não é? Eu já conhecia o universo e os personagens, já sabia suas lealdades e prioridades, mas são várias pessoas involvidas e os conflitos e segredos não ajudaram a criar um objetivo certo e principal, pelo menos, não na narrativa do passado. Na do presente, tudo estava bem mais definido, mas ela aparece só entre capítulos da outra e em pouquíssimas páginas. É bem por isso que eu queria que a autora tivesse dado prioridade para ela dessa vez.Eu ainda recomendo bem a trilogia, a escrita de Rin Chupeco ainda é ótima e sua criação de mundo, excelente. Estou animada para a próxima série dele e sempre vou guardar Tea e Fox em meu coração com muito carinho! Mesmo assim, minha nota verdadeira é de 3,5.