Review: 'City of Bones' by Martha Wells

Sometimes a book comes along to give you all kinds of things you didn't know you were craving, from epic settings and brilliant characters to complex world-building and excellent pacing. City of Bones was all of that for me and I'm so very glad to have had a chance to discover it. Thanks to Tordotcom and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 9/05/2023
Publisher: Tordotcom

The city of Charisat, a tiered monolith of the Ancients’ design, sits on the edge of the vast desert known as the Waste. Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working in the bottom tiers of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors.

When Khat is hired by the all-powerful Warders to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients' arcane engines, he, and his party, begin unravelling the mysteries of an age-old technology.

This they expected.

They soon find themselves as the last line of defense between the suffering masses of Charisat and a fanatical cult, bent on unleashing an evil upon the city with an undying thirst for bone.

That, they did not expect.

This updated and revised edition is the author’s preferred text.

I have been an avid Fantasy reader for decades now and sometimes it is easy to think that you're up to date on what is happening in a genre, who its major players are, and how the genre is developing. And then you're proven completely and utterly wrong. Martha Wells had not been on my radar whatsoever and this rerelease of City of Bones came at just the right time to show my how incomplete my radar has been all these years. City of Bones was first released in 1996 and I just have no idea how I did not stumble across it earlier. It is an actual mystery to me because it has everything I wanted. This edition is updated and revised from the original text, so I can't comment on the previous edition, but City of Bones quickly marked itself out as a Fantasy classic for me and I am so very grateful to Tordotcom for bringing it (along with some of Wells' other updated texts) to my attention and that of other readers.

Charisat, the capital of the Trade Empire, sits on the edge of the Waste and houses much of what is left of humanity. After an apocalyptic period, in which the seas disappeared and the Waste arose, society has gone through a major shift which has seen new power structures arise and new crises emerge. At the heart of City of Bones is Khat, a Kris man. The Kris are a race created by the Ancients to survive the Waste, so while Khat has all kinds of skills and abilities, most of the population of Charisat considers him something of an abomination. He is making a living through the relic trade though, along with his partner Sagai, and manages to survive the various hardships of the lower tiers. It is in this way that he becomes entangled with Elen, a Warder of the First Tier, who seems to share his interest in the relics of the Ancients and the power and knowledge they may reveal. The two quickly become caught up in games being played at the highest echelons of power. City of Bones is told from both Khat and Elen's perspectives, which gives the reader a great introduction to the world of Charisat from both the lowest and highest position. Both characters are also delightful and their connection is built up in a very natural way. I found myself becoming genuinely fond of not just them, but also the supporting characters, especially Sagai and his family.  City of Bones also manages to combine post-apocalyptic and Fantasy themes and motifs seamlessly and consistently surprised me with where it went. 

Martha Wells has been writing for decades and yet her writing felt incredibly fresh to me, as if she is playing a familiar game in a wholly new way. What really astounded me about City of Bones was how it at once felt incredibly unrushed and how it yet achieved so much. The characters, for example, are built up in a very natural way, and so is their connection to each other. You can see how they grow in each other's estimation, how they come to recognise little quirks about each other, without Wells having to impress upon you that they are getting to know each other. And this also extends to the world-building, which is simply astounding. I thought about it, after finishing the novel, and I can't fault this world in any way. Wells manages to somehow explain the smallest details about how this complex, tiered city and society of Charisat works without it feeling like she'd exposition-dumping. Each aspect of this world made sense and contributed to the plot in some way. It is just wholly contained in a way that makes sense and doesn't bleed over into anything I've read before. Some aspects, especially the Kris as a separate race, did kind of remind me of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, but more because both play with race, gender, identity, class, etc. in very interesting ways through their characters. Wells employs these themes in really interesting ways which at once solidify the world to the reader, but also allow it to be relevant to our own, modern world. I can't really overstate the way in which City of Bones surprised me. Rather than race through it, I really took my time with this novel and kind of let it wash over me slowly. I also love that this is a stand-alone. While I adored the characters and would not complain about seeing more of them, I love a good self-contained story that has an ending. I am very glad, however, that I have Wells' The Book of Ile-Rien to look forward to next so I'm not without good Fantasy any time soon!

I give this novel...

5 Universes!

Martha Wells worked her way up my list of Fantasy authors very quickly once I dove into City of Bones. A stunningly crafted world, filled with history, myth, and crisis, and peopled with fascinating characters, City of Bones is bound to give Fantasy readers everything they could want.