Audiobook Review – The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder, Narrated by Lindsey Dorcus (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 11 hours and 43 minutes
Publisher: Listening Library
Release Date: January 11, 2022
ASIN: B0979NBC31
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed audiobook from library
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles who definitely doesn’t believe in true love.
Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.
Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse who’s been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.
Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi – until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she’s stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.
Dark magic, witch hunters, and bad exes all stand in her way – not to mention a mysterious witch who might wind up stealing Shane’s heart, along with whatever else she’s after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in love with Briar Rose.
Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairy tales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young-adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in what looks to be a duology. I borrowed this as an audiobook from my library.
Audiobook Quality (4/5): I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. The narration was great and easy to listen to. No complaints about the audiobook.
Thoughts: I was super excited to read this because I normally really love fairy tale mash-up types of books. This was okay. It’s one of those young adult fairy tale mash-ups that has more of a middle grade tone to it…this leaves you a bit confused about the intended audience. I also did not realize this was the first book in a series when I got it, so there is a lot left unresolved.
The book alternates mainly between two characters Fi and Shane. Occasionally we hear from Briar Rose as well. Fi and Shane end up on a quest to free Briar Rose from the curse that has trapped him in eternal sleep. Of course nothing is ever simple and Fi has her own curse to deal with as well.
I think my main issue with this book was the pace of the story. Our characters spend a lot of time in their own heads thinking about their feelings about things. It is great to have some of this to give our characters depth; but there was way, way too much of it in this book and it really bogged the story down.
The characters are fairly one-dimensional (despite all the time we spend in their heads) and the story and writing style are very basic which, again, makes this feel like a more juvenile read. I almost stopped reading this at a couple of points because it was just sooo slow and I was sooo bored.
There is some humor in here but it wasn’t nearly as funny as I was expecting. I did appreciate the idea behind the characters. I also liked the idea behind the story and the world presented here; unfortunately the execution just wasn’t there.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but flawed. This is a YA read that feels much more like a middle grade read because of the simple writing style, one dimensional characters, and simple plot. We spend way too much time “listening” to characters hash out their feelings in their own head and this really bogs the story down. This was also way less funny than I thought it was going to be, mostly it was just slow. I don’t plan on continuing with this series.
