The Upstream Writer: Reader's Review: "Tree of Bone and Mist" by Melissa E. Beckwith

Synopsis from Amazon:

Looking for clues to a past she cannot remember, Rhiannon stumbles into a dangerous new world. Can she survive the evil that hunts her long enough to fulfill her destiny?

Suffering from vivid nightmares, Rhiannon Kossi is sure that she’s been lied to about her childhood. Seeking the answers to long forgotten questions, she is mysteriously taken from her quiet, simple life on a Montana cattle ranch and thrust into a new, violent world where she is forced to either fight or die. In her quest for answers to her past Rhiannon must accept hard truths that will forever change the course of her life… that is, if she can stay alive.

>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

Chalk this up to one of those I picked up during a giveaway event, it looked really cool and I started following the author... and then just kept postponing reading it again and again, until finally it comes time!

The very first scene is stellar, setting up the world, the antagonist and protagonist, in absolute heart-thumping intrigue. Then the scene switches to a young woman in a cabin on a farm with a pet wolf--in rural Montana?? From that point, I knew it was going to take me a while to warm up to this author's style. Just how easy is it to domesticate a wolf, and why a wolf, in particular? Why not just a wolfdog or something more credible? Main Character Rhiannon (love that name!) is set up as someone who just wants to find her dad and stay out of trouble, and this leads her to a portal that brings her into this alternate world--which makes for a fairly straightforward portal fantasy, right? Except that the author seemed a bit indecisive about the actual age of her main character.

When she's panicking about being in a strange world all of a sudden with everyone depending on her as some mysterious savior of some sort, or adamant about finding her father, it feels like she could be in her mid-teens. But then there are events that happen, situations she finds herself in that are in no way suitable for a mere teenager (including, but not limited to: unwanted sexual advances, going berserk and killing grown men on multiple occasions, and getting her clothes ripped off to display a birthmark on her chest) that make me think that she could be in her early twenties, which would make this more "Young Adult" or even "New Adult" and less "Middle-Grade" than I was expecting. I mean, I guess I should have been more aware of the fact that the series is called "The Sword of Rhiannon", but at the same time she is presented as someone very scared and remarkably tender-hearted, in no way a killer until she starts... you know... killing. The way, too, that Rhiannon is brought from "rejecting the call" to "accepting her fate" happens very fast and very near the end of the book, almost too late, as it were... She left a lot to be desired, as far as main characters go!

But I have to say, the fantasy world-building itself was everything I hoped for. I loved the rich lore, the different biomes, the varying vistas described over the course of the story. The antagonist, as mentioned above, is well-written as well, and if it were anybody else I just wish it could have been populated by more varied and interesting people! The epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter were a nice touch, as well. It lent an air of ancient mystique to the whole vibe of the book--although it didn't do much to help me understand what was going on any better.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I'd say Tree of Bone and Mist earns itself at best a ****4 STAR**** rating. Good world-building, the dialogue wasn't too forced or contrived (maybe repetitive sometimes when Rhiannon would still be trying to figure out what was going on...), the conflict and resolution did their jobs, and the plot did deliver on the premise.

All I know at this point is that this is definitely a book that is setting up the rest of the series. I can only hope that the downsides to this story are the result of "debut novel jitters" and perhaps as the series progresses, the writing improves as well--but at this point, I am honestly not as invested in the success of the protagonists as I'd like to be, and I could take or leave the series.

Further Reading: (Tough Heroines/Compelling Plots/Portal Fantasies)

The Vemreaux Trilogy--Mary E. Twomey
       -The Way
   -The Truth
   -The Lie

The Untamed Series--Madeline Dyer
-Untamed
-Fragmented

The Red Dog Conspiracy--Patricia Loofbourrow
-Gutshot (Novellette)

-The Alcatraz Coup (Novella)
-Vulnerable (Short Story)
   -Jacq of Spades
   -Queen of Diamonds
   -Ace of Clubs

-Ugly Girl (Faite Falling Series)--Mary E. Twomey

-The Seventh Crow--Sherry D. Ramsey

-Chasing Rabbits--Erin Bedford

-Mythical Doorways--Fellowship of Fantasy

-You're Not A Real Goth Until You Sack Rome--Jeffrey Cook & Katherine Perkins

The Fair Folk Chronicles--Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins
  -Foul is Fair
  -Street Fair
    -A Fair Fight
        -All's Fair

The Firebird Fairy Tales--Amy Kuivalainen
   -The Cry of the Firebird
   -Ashes of the Firebird
   -Rise of the Firebird