Bone Music: The Legend of Genghis Khan
Katherine Roberts
Greystones Press, 2018
Paperback, 420 pages, £9.99
ISBN 9781911122210
Katherine Roberts has established herself as the premier writer of Young Adult Historical Fantasy. She has previously tackled Alexander the Great, King Arthur, and Cleopatra, as well as writing fantasy books for younger readers featuring mermaids and unicorns. Bone Music is told in three parts, narrated by the three different main characters: Temujin, his blood brother Jamukha, and Borta, Temujin’s bride, a girl with a powerful shamanic vision. Temujin grows into manhood vowing revenge on his father’s rivals and swearing he will one day reunite the Mongol tribes and lead them. Jamukha vows to help him achieve this, but Borta’s visions are of a bitter and blood-soaked future. When Temujin returns to his camp and finds his bride and his blood brother missing, the scene is set for a war that will tear the tribes, and the friends, apart.
This is an emotional page-turning tale about the passions of youth and friendship and the bitter disappointments of betrayal. Roberts is a powerful storyteller with incredible imagination bringing to life a period of history steeped in myth and fable. The reader will get lost in this fascinating tale which the author has created weaving the scraps of surviving poetry with her own powerful vision. Perfect for fans of Celine Kiernan, Finbar Hawkins and V. E. Schwab.
Lisa Redmond
This book may be difficult to purchase, so if you have difficulty we encourage you to check your local library.
The way Garrett writes about family, race and sexuality is so real and heartfelt. Each character has a unique set of circumstances which are handled delicately. There is so much diversity in this book, be it through race or sexuality. Representation of minorities is really important, especially at a YA level. Having someone to relate to in the content that we consume helps us realise that we are not alone. If anything else, it’s educational too. There is a character in this book who is asexual and has a girlfriend, and though the situation isn’t always pretty, it’s handled so honestly and openly that it teaches people what it’s like to struggle with this. The main character’s illness also does a lot to teach about HIV and what the stereotypes are around it and how that perception can be harmful. But instead, people should be looking to educate themselves. The book has some resources at the end about HIV which I found to be incredibly useful.
We hope everyone is celebrating with a good book! We thought we would share with you what everyone on the Paper Lanterns team is reading this week. There are some fantastic YA reads here that we would recommend checking out. Let us know what you’re reading at the moment!
This is for fans of (or an introduction to) McCabe’s Butcher Boy and E.M. Reapy’s Red Dirt. Depression, addiction, faith and love are all thrown in the pot and discussed frankly by Shaw, as well as severe mental illness – the book is dedicated to her brother, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He died aged twenty. Not for the faint of heart and certainly not for the squeamish, Thrill Seekers is a bloody, harrowing, all-Australian tale which is well worth grappling with.
I truly relished this read. As an Irish person, I also feel very connected to my roots by the story, as many Irish words are used and many other Irish legends referenced, including some that I had never heard of. This book was a learning experience. Deirdre Sullivan really manages to pull the reader into the enchantment and poignancy of the story. It feels like being read an old tale by a familiar voice.
