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Borrowed Bones
As an illegal necromancer, the last thing Lina needs is to be in the spotlight. But when her cousin goes missing, she is thrown right into it. To protect her secret, Lina must join forces with an inconveniently observant (but conveniently attractive) detective. As they get closer to solving the mystery, and closer to each other, Lina struggles to protect her secret, fearing that revealing her dark abilities might cause him to walk out of her life forever.
Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2021
About the author
Michelle Cowart
7 books5 followersMichelle Cowart loves paddle boarding, baking, playing board games, and watching musical theater. She recently got into gardening because her friend planted a load of flowers in her yard and told her not to kill them. She lives in Washington State with her husband and five kids.
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July 25, 2023
Borrow Bones radiates charm on every page. It has a good sense of humor. And at times, it is nailbitingly tense.
That tension is present all the way back in Episode 1. Lina is taking her necromancy test and she encounters a cougar. Cougar attacks are actually a weird fascination for me and encountering a cougar in real life is one of my greatest fears. So just the mention of a cougar made my heart skip a beat. But Lina and her team just take the thing down methodically and efficiently, so already, she is far braver than me. Then she encounters a webfiend. "Lina gasped, fear piercing her chest before settling in the pit of her stomach." That's how I was feeling with the cougar so I know that whatever this thing is has got to be bad. The webfiend kills Kaslo. Lina realizing her team will not be enough, resurrects the cougar to take down the webfiend. What a way to start a story!
This tense start transitions into a more leisurely pace after Episode 1. The story focuses on delivering character building, mystery and charm, while occasionally being interrupted by action packed sequences that rival the webfiend battle. This really worked with the Kindle Vella format, which allowed me to enjoy the story in slow motion (though I will say that with Kindle Vella, certain details sometimes get forgotten in the wait between episodes).
The leisurely pace doesn't last forever though. When I hit Episode 33, the story became a nailbiting page turner. Thereafter many of the episodes end on really big cliffhangers. My favorites are Episode 33 and Episode 34. At these junctures, I was cursing the Kindle Vella format for making me wait for the next episode. Had the rest of the episodes been available, I absolutely would have binged this thing to the end. Mercifully we were given Episodes 37 through 39 all at once at the urging of the author’s "good friend Rachel." Thank you Rachel!
My favorite thing about this story has got to be how charming it is. The story just oozes charm from its period-inspired worldbuilding (and I love me a good period piece) to its colorful cast of characters. I loved the communal ritual in Episode 3 where everyone lights their candles from a communal candle. And I really liked Lina's rumination on its meaning. "When she got older she found that she didn't need an explanation. She didn't want someone else's answers. She had found her own meaning in the rituals and having someone else tell her what it meant would ruin it all." (This reminded me of what I've heard some Latter-day Saints say when discussing their temple experience.)
Like I said, I love me a good period piece. In Borrowed Bones, loving attention was paid to technological worldbuilding. (There was a really cool scene in Episode 26 where Lina is astounded by Matan's gadgets and gizmos and remembers that her mother had a pocket watch that she had to wind up.) And all the high society manners and mannerisms really worked for me. One favorite moment is when Lina wanders into a store and a shopkeeper tries to sell her a topaz bracelet. Lina protests that she doesn't have any money, and the shopkeeper replies that a young lady like her needn't concern herself with carrying around something as profane as money! Her grandmother has an expense account with the store. One of my favorite minor characters has got to be Butler Rickman who is so delightfully butlery. "The butler true to his profession, gave no reaction whatsoever to indicate how he felt about Hudson returning unexpectedly."
Of course, sometimes that high society charm can devolve into elitism. In episode 15, Lina has to dance with a bunch of high society jerks at the ball and none is more of a jerk than Carlson Fuller. The only thing Fuller wants to talk about is the fortune Lina stands to inherit if Mary is presumed dead. (He just sees her as a "solvent investment.") Lina insists that she plans to use the fortune to help the poor. Fuller doesn't like this. "There is something extremely romantic about poverty, don't you think?" What a pompous butt!
Thankfully we have Jens to rescue her from all these pathetic losers. And when it comes to high society manners, no one can outdo him. His social graces are impeccable. When Lord Eller offers his opinion that they should unify with Roseland, Jens "didn't offer his own opinion. For one he was still forming one, he hadn't done enough reading on the subject to commit to a position. And secondly, Lord Eller hadn't asked for his opinion." Waiting to speak until you've fully thought through an issue and offering your opinion only when asked for it? If only more people were like Jens! Then when Lady Seymour tells him "watch out for Lord Eller," he considers "saying something but standing up for his boss's reputation would mean contradicting a lady." I admire his restraint!
Of course, he can be overly rigid, but often in ways that are cute and humorous. Finding himself alone with Lina as they search Mary's room, Jens asks "should I go and find a chaperone?" In another instance, Mark is teaching him about Stewardship and Jens asks if there is a manual he can read. Of course, there isn't. "Well if there isn't a manual yet," Jens replies, "I guess I'll have to write one as I learn." Classic Jens! Ultimately, I think having Lina in his life helps soften his rigidness. This is evidenced in Episode 33 when Jens is "relieved" that the lion statue outside of the police station is missing because it means that Lina is using it to keep herself safe. What happened to the guy who received no demerits during his time in the academy either because he was "perfectly obedient or amazingly good at not getting caught" but probably because he was perfectly obedient?
Jens is just one of many charming characters in Borrowed Bones. I also really like Mary Endel and Grandmother. Mary has this almost eccentric confidence in the power of reason to solve problems. As one of my favorite lines of the book says "Logic. Logic would be her ally." Seeing how she used reason to get out of her room, it seems that her confidence wasn't misplaced. (I also think this really fits with the period. As I understand it, confidence in the power of reason was a prevalent theme around the turn of the century.) The title of her diary really speaks to what kind of person she is: The Observations and Opinions of Mary Endel. There is this quintessentially Mary moment that happens near the end of the story where Lina is trying to get information out of Mary and Mary is despondent. All Lina has to do to get her to snap out of it is taunt her a bit: "I suppose we'll just have to leave the record of your death unfinished, the case open." Mary can't stand the thought of an unsolved case so now she is giving Lina her full attention. Hahaha! And of course, I just love her last line on the way to the afterlife: "I just hope I'll be able to keep a field journal."
On to Grandmother -- Lina perceives her as stern and rigid, but time and time again she proves that she's a "cool grandma," who loves Lina and wants what's best for her. I like the scene where after buying Lina a complete wardrobe, Grandmother takes her to a bookstore and reminisces that it's something she used to do for Lina's mother. At another point in the story when Jens tells Grandmother he intends to court Lina, I was really nervous. Jens has only recently been elevated to Steward. Wouldn't Grandmother want Lina to marry someone from a more established family? But she's surprisingly chill about it. "You have my respect," she says, "and that is not easily earned." That part really surprised me, but I was absolutely floored when she catches Hudson coming out of Lina's room after spending all night there (potentially ruining her reputation) and tells him "I would approve a union between you and Lina...I'd be proud to have you in this family." Hudson has been involved in necromancy gangs. Wouldn't Grandmother worry about the respectability of such a match? Apparently not. I think Grandmother just wants Lina to be happy and will accept either of the men she is interested in.
A surprising favorite of mine was Mark. When we first meet him, he is a complete butt to Jens. “How much energy can a Steward safely take from a person?” Jens asks. In reply Mark drains Jens to the point of incapacitation and says "If someone can't stop you from taking their energy, then they don't deserve it in the first place." What an entitled nincompoop! He steals Jens' energy again and again and it grated on me every time. And he just doesn't do it to Jens. He does to Albert in Episode 29. Poor Albert. And he confesses that "you'll soon find yourself looking for excuses to take a little bit whenever you have a chance." The turning point for me, though, is when Jens is being a butt after learning about Lina's necromancy and Mark is the one that is accepting. "For the record," he says, "I think what you did back there was absolutely amazing." And when taking energy from Lina so that he can help everyone escape, he is gentlemanly about it. He waits for her consenting nod until he does it. Then he lets Jens take his energy so that he can win a fight against some thralls. Now he's earning points for me. There is a great Mark moment after Jens wakes up in the hospital next to Mark and the first thing he asks is "where's Lina?" No asking about how his partner is weathering things. Mark answers his question and adds "I'm fine, by the way, thanks for asking." Hahaha! Classic Mark!
Now to the most important question of the book. Who should Lina pick -- Jens or Hudson? I'm afraid I have to remain agnostic about that one. I think both of them have things in common with Lina and she could have a satisfying relationship with either of them. Jens was the one who was confident enough to take the opportunity when Lina offered it to him. Hudson on the other hand did not. The tragedy for Hudson is that I feel like he could get to a place in his life where he could have that confidence and if Lina were still interested in him at that point, I think they could have had a wonderful relationship. But now Lina is with Jens and it's simply too late for that.
But of course the most important thing for me is who plays Jens or Hudson in the Borrowed Bones movie. You see in the Hunger Games I know that Peeta is a much better person than Gale. He is single mindedly devoted to Katniss, always putting her welfare above his own, his name means "bread," blah, blah, blah. But Gale is hot so I am 100% team Gale. So, depending on who plays who in the movie, I could go either way.
Until the movie comes out, we could use Haze's solution to the dilemma. "Watch them fight each other, that will show you who is the more desirable male." Haha. Love it!
Before I go, I wanted to comment on the magic system. In fantasy, often you see people born with magical abilities. Or there is a magical power that everyone is able to tap into through training. I think it was interesting how Stewardship is conferred by tapping someone's forehead and how it can also be taken away (almost like the conferral of priesthood by the laying on of hands). I thought that was unique. On a different note, I also like how Lina is able to figure out things that no necromancer has ever figured out by respecting the free will of her team, instead of compelling them do what she wants. And having learned to do animal necromancy in a new way, at the end she realizes that there is a moral way to do human necromancy. That was really satisfying.
That tension is present all the way back in Episode 1. Lina is taking her necromancy test and she encounters a cougar. Cougar attacks are actually a weird fascination for me and encountering a cougar in real life is one of my greatest fears. So just the mention of a cougar made my heart skip a beat. But Lina and her team just take the thing down methodically and efficiently, so already, she is far braver than me. Then she encounters a webfiend. "Lina gasped, fear piercing her chest before settling in the pit of her stomach." That's how I was feeling with the cougar so I know that whatever this thing is has got to be bad. The webfiend kills Kaslo. Lina realizing her team will not be enough, resurrects the cougar to take down the webfiend. What a way to start a story!
This tense start transitions into a more leisurely pace after Episode 1. The story focuses on delivering character building, mystery and charm, while occasionally being interrupted by action packed sequences that rival the webfiend battle. This really worked with the Kindle Vella format, which allowed me to enjoy the story in slow motion (though I will say that with Kindle Vella, certain details sometimes get forgotten in the wait between episodes).
The leisurely pace doesn't last forever though. When I hit Episode 33, the story became a nailbiting page turner. Thereafter many of the episodes end on really big cliffhangers. My favorites are Episode 33 and Episode 34. At these junctures, I was cursing the Kindle Vella format for making me wait for the next episode. Had the rest of the episodes been available, I absolutely would have binged this thing to the end. Mercifully we were given Episodes 37 through 39 all at once at the urging of the author’s "good friend Rachel." Thank you Rachel!
My favorite thing about this story has got to be how charming it is. The story just oozes charm from its period-inspired worldbuilding (and I love me a good period piece) to its colorful cast of characters. I loved the communal ritual in Episode 3 where everyone lights their candles from a communal candle. And I really liked Lina's rumination on its meaning. "When she got older she found that she didn't need an explanation. She didn't want someone else's answers. She had found her own meaning in the rituals and having someone else tell her what it meant would ruin it all." (This reminded me of what I've heard some Latter-day Saints say when discussing their temple experience.)
Like I said, I love me a good period piece. In Borrowed Bones, loving attention was paid to technological worldbuilding. (There was a really cool scene in Episode 26 where Lina is astounded by Matan's gadgets and gizmos and remembers that her mother had a pocket watch that she had to wind up.) And all the high society manners and mannerisms really worked for me. One favorite moment is when Lina wanders into a store and a shopkeeper tries to sell her a topaz bracelet. Lina protests that she doesn't have any money, and the shopkeeper replies that a young lady like her needn't concern herself with carrying around something as profane as money! Her grandmother has an expense account with the store. One of my favorite minor characters has got to be Butler Rickman who is so delightfully butlery. "The butler true to his profession, gave no reaction whatsoever to indicate how he felt about Hudson returning unexpectedly."
Of course, sometimes that high society charm can devolve into elitism. In episode 15, Lina has to dance with a bunch of high society jerks at the ball and none is more of a jerk than Carlson Fuller. The only thing Fuller wants to talk about is the fortune Lina stands to inherit if Mary is presumed dead. (He just sees her as a "solvent investment.") Lina insists that she plans to use the fortune to help the poor. Fuller doesn't like this. "There is something extremely romantic about poverty, don't you think?" What a pompous butt!
Thankfully we have Jens to rescue her from all these pathetic losers. And when it comes to high society manners, no one can outdo him. His social graces are impeccable. When Lord Eller offers his opinion that they should unify with Roseland, Jens "didn't offer his own opinion. For one he was still forming one, he hadn't done enough reading on the subject to commit to a position. And secondly, Lord Eller hadn't asked for his opinion." Waiting to speak until you've fully thought through an issue and offering your opinion only when asked for it? If only more people were like Jens! Then when Lady Seymour tells him "watch out for Lord Eller," he considers "saying something but standing up for his boss's reputation would mean contradicting a lady." I admire his restraint!
Of course, he can be overly rigid, but often in ways that are cute and humorous. Finding himself alone with Lina as they search Mary's room, Jens asks "should I go and find a chaperone?" In another instance, Mark is teaching him about Stewardship and Jens asks if there is a manual he can read. Of course, there isn't. "Well if there isn't a manual yet," Jens replies, "I guess I'll have to write one as I learn." Classic Jens! Ultimately, I think having Lina in his life helps soften his rigidness. This is evidenced in Episode 33 when Jens is "relieved" that the lion statue outside of the police station is missing because it means that Lina is using it to keep herself safe. What happened to the guy who received no demerits during his time in the academy either because he was "perfectly obedient or amazingly good at not getting caught" but probably because he was perfectly obedient?
Jens is just one of many charming characters in Borrowed Bones. I also really like Mary Endel and Grandmother. Mary has this almost eccentric confidence in the power of reason to solve problems. As one of my favorite lines of the book says "Logic. Logic would be her ally." Seeing how she used reason to get out of her room, it seems that her confidence wasn't misplaced. (I also think this really fits with the period. As I understand it, confidence in the power of reason was a prevalent theme around the turn of the century.) The title of her diary really speaks to what kind of person she is: The Observations and Opinions of Mary Endel. There is this quintessentially Mary moment that happens near the end of the story where Lina is trying to get information out of Mary and Mary is despondent. All Lina has to do to get her to snap out of it is taunt her a bit: "I suppose we'll just have to leave the record of your death unfinished, the case open." Mary can't stand the thought of an unsolved case so now she is giving Lina her full attention. Hahaha! And of course, I just love her last line on the way to the afterlife: "I just hope I'll be able to keep a field journal."
On to Grandmother -- Lina perceives her as stern and rigid, but time and time again she proves that she's a "cool grandma," who loves Lina and wants what's best for her. I like the scene where after buying Lina a complete wardrobe, Grandmother takes her to a bookstore and reminisces that it's something she used to do for Lina's mother. At another point in the story when Jens tells Grandmother he intends to court Lina, I was really nervous. Jens has only recently been elevated to Steward. Wouldn't Grandmother want Lina to marry someone from a more established family? But she's surprisingly chill about it. "You have my respect," she says, "and that is not easily earned." That part really surprised me, but I was absolutely floored when she catches Hudson coming out of Lina's room after spending all night there (potentially ruining her reputation) and tells him "I would approve a union between you and Lina...I'd be proud to have you in this family." Hudson has been involved in necromancy gangs. Wouldn't Grandmother worry about the respectability of such a match? Apparently not. I think Grandmother just wants Lina to be happy and will accept either of the men she is interested in.
A surprising favorite of mine was Mark. When we first meet him, he is a complete butt to Jens. “How much energy can a Steward safely take from a person?” Jens asks. In reply Mark drains Jens to the point of incapacitation and says "If someone can't stop you from taking their energy, then they don't deserve it in the first place." What an entitled nincompoop! He steals Jens' energy again and again and it grated on me every time. And he just doesn't do it to Jens. He does to Albert in Episode 29. Poor Albert. And he confesses that "you'll soon find yourself looking for excuses to take a little bit whenever you have a chance." The turning point for me, though, is when Jens is being a butt after learning about Lina's necromancy and Mark is the one that is accepting. "For the record," he says, "I think what you did back there was absolutely amazing." And when taking energy from Lina so that he can help everyone escape, he is gentlemanly about it. He waits for her consenting nod until he does it. Then he lets Jens take his energy so that he can win a fight against some thralls. Now he's earning points for me. There is a great Mark moment after Jens wakes up in the hospital next to Mark and the first thing he asks is "where's Lina?" No asking about how his partner is weathering things. Mark answers his question and adds "I'm fine, by the way, thanks for asking." Hahaha! Classic Mark!
Now to the most important question of the book. Who should Lina pick -- Jens or Hudson? I'm afraid I have to remain agnostic about that one. I think both of them have things in common with Lina and she could have a satisfying relationship with either of them. Jens was the one who was confident enough to take the opportunity when Lina offered it to him. Hudson on the other hand did not. The tragedy for Hudson is that I feel like he could get to a place in his life where he could have that confidence and if Lina were still interested in him at that point, I think they could have had a wonderful relationship. But now Lina is with Jens and it's simply too late for that.
But of course the most important thing for me is who plays Jens or Hudson in the Borrowed Bones movie. You see in the Hunger Games I know that Peeta is a much better person than Gale. He is single mindedly devoted to Katniss, always putting her welfare above his own, his name means "bread," blah, blah, blah. But Gale is hot so I am 100% team Gale. So, depending on who plays who in the movie, I could go either way.
Until the movie comes out, we could use Haze's solution to the dilemma. "Watch them fight each other, that will show you who is the more desirable male." Haha. Love it!
Before I go, I wanted to comment on the magic system. In fantasy, often you see people born with magical abilities. Or there is a magical power that everyone is able to tap into through training. I think it was interesting how Stewardship is conferred by tapping someone's forehead and how it can also be taken away (almost like the conferral of priesthood by the laying on of hands). I thought that was unique. On a different note, I also like how Lina is able to figure out things that no necromancer has ever figured out by respecting the free will of her team, instead of compelling them do what she wants. And having learned to do animal necromancy in a new way, at the end she realizes that there is a moral way to do human necromancy. That was really satisfying.
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