What do you think?
Rate this book
The Bone Queen
From the Pages of THE PULPTRESS Comes A Villain Like No Other-THE BONE QUEEN by Andrea Judy. All of humanity shares one inescapable experience, one inevitable fate. They all die. And in death, one woman finds her destiny. To be a Villain, to stand toe to toe with the ultimate heroine, The Pulptress. But first, evil had to rise from somewhere dark. Renata, a devotee of Mene, Goddess of Death, is on a singular mission during the era of the Black to kill the Necromancer who is bringing the dead back as chiffoniers, rag and bone men. With a small band of men who have survived the Plague, Renata must find who is attempting to steal away the power of death and destroy them once and for all. Chiffoniers dog them every step of the way. And when death itself finally comes for Renata, everything changes. Once hunted, she becomes the hunter, tracking down the necromancer at any cost to herself and those around her. THE BONE QUEEN by Andrea Judy reveals the origin of its title character, first featured in THE PULPTRESS from Pro Se Productions. Proving as popular as her foe, The Bone Queen now stands at the center of Judy's first digest novel. From devotee to deliverer of death, follow Renata as she discovers her true purpose lies in what comes after life. May The Gods Help Us All.
114 pages, Paperback
First published December 13, 2013
11 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 4, 2013
New Pulp Princess Andrea Judy is back in action with her latest installment, The Bone Queen, set in the same universe established by The Pulptress series of stories. This secret origins story, set predominantly during the Black Plague outbreak in the mid-14th century, is sure to please anyone who is a fan of pulp, fantasy, horror, or alternative history...mainly because this brief but engaging story touches on all of those and more. Without going into spoilers, I can say that I finished this book in an afternoon because The Bone Queen was a page-turner. Judy's voice, descriptions, and line-of-action are riveting without being distracting; her writing style is crisp, concise, and moves the story along at a frantic pace. I would recommend this to any fan of the genres I mentioned earlier...or to anyone interested in an introduction to them. If you need an introduction to New Pulp and its various shades, Judy is the best to explode on the scene in a long time.
July 23, 2018
Yeah, it’s pretty good. The narrative isn’t deep or particularly nuanced; it doesn’t ask any tough questions or make many thoughtful moral arguments; and the fact that it’s an origin story for a character named “the Bone Queen” means you kind of know where the book is going to end up, more or less, from the word “go.” But it’s an entertaining trip getting there, straightforward and simple and fun, and full of rotten, visceral imagery, dark magic, and bone-crunching (in the most literal sense possible) action.
The Bone Queen is a fantasy novella prequel to a supernatural noir short story, also titled “The Bone Queen,” found in the new-pulp anthology The Pulptress. That same short story also spawned a novella sequel, The Pulptress vs. The Bone Queen: Blood and Bone, also a supernatural noir story which continues the rivalry where the short story left off. While the original short story and Blood and Bone are both modern adventures starring the aforementioned Pulptress with the Bone Queen as the antagonist, The Bone Queen is set far enough in the past to count as a dark historical fantasy, taking place somewhere in the midst of the Black Death.
The story focuses on Renata, a priestess of the death goddess Mene who falls emphatically on the “deadly” side of the beautiful pulp woman sliding scale, and her quest to find and stop whatever necromancer is at the center of a zombie plague that’s overrun the land — both for the obvious reason of saving lives and restoring order, but also, perhaps more importantly, because necromancy is blasphemous against Mene and her dominion over the dead. She’s aided along the way by her fellow priests of Mene as well as newcomer Aramis, a plague survivor who’s out of his depth but still wants to help set the world right again if at all possible.
Beyond the specific details of what happens during the course of the plot and to whom, that’s about all there is to the story, besides a sort-of semi-twist that comes about midway through the book and takes the whole endeavor down a darker, more visceral path — the kind of thing that might be considered a spoiler if it weren’t in the back blurb and if this weren’t explicitly an origin story for, again, a villain who calls herself the Bone Queen.
Still, this simple, straightforward approach to plot that focuses less on twisting, complex motion and more on action set pieces and comic book-esque, larger than life (and death) characters is what sets pulp fantasy apart from regular fantasy as its own distinct flavor.
And it’s a flavor I tend to enjoy, even though I’m not exactly a big pulp fan myself. The noir pulp trappings of the Pulptress and her myriad starring stories don’t really do it for me, for example, though I should stress here that this is down to personal genre preference and not a fault of the authors in any of the Pulptress-centric stories I’ve read so far, including Judy’s. When I do read pulp, I prefer stuff along the lines of Conan and Red Sonja or the Bifrost Guardians, or the occasional dip into second-hand serialized paperback anthologies like Warrior Fantastic or the Chicks in Chainmail series.
Which is why the creepy crawly Bone Queen is my favorite part of what I’ve seen of the Pulptress series, and why the character’s standalone adventure is one of my new favorite pulp reads (and my favorite new-pulp read, if we’re getting technical). With the effluvial, action-heavy stylings of a hack-and-slash, sword-and-sorcery zombie apocalypse, The Bone Queen distinguishes itself from most other pulp fantasy tales with a unique flavor all its own — a rancid flavor, sure, full of decay and gristle and dead blood, but a quick and oddly satisfying snack of a story because of it.
The Bone Queen is a fantasy novella prequel to a supernatural noir short story, also titled “The Bone Queen,” found in the new-pulp anthology The Pulptress. That same short story also spawned a novella sequel, The Pulptress vs. The Bone Queen: Blood and Bone, also a supernatural noir story which continues the rivalry where the short story left off. While the original short story and Blood and Bone are both modern adventures starring the aforementioned Pulptress with the Bone Queen as the antagonist, The Bone Queen is set far enough in the past to count as a dark historical fantasy, taking place somewhere in the midst of the Black Death.
The story focuses on Renata, a priestess of the death goddess Mene who falls emphatically on the “deadly” side of the beautiful pulp woman sliding scale, and her quest to find and stop whatever necromancer is at the center of a zombie plague that’s overrun the land — both for the obvious reason of saving lives and restoring order, but also, perhaps more importantly, because necromancy is blasphemous against Mene and her dominion over the dead. She’s aided along the way by her fellow priests of Mene as well as newcomer Aramis, a plague survivor who’s out of his depth but still wants to help set the world right again if at all possible.
Beyond the specific details of what happens during the course of the plot and to whom, that’s about all there is to the story, besides a sort-of semi-twist that comes about midway through the book and takes the whole endeavor down a darker, more visceral path — the kind of thing that might be considered a spoiler if it weren’t in the back blurb and if this weren’t explicitly an origin story for, again, a villain who calls herself the Bone Queen.
Still, this simple, straightforward approach to plot that focuses less on twisting, complex motion and more on action set pieces and comic book-esque, larger than life (and death) characters is what sets pulp fantasy apart from regular fantasy as its own distinct flavor.
And it’s a flavor I tend to enjoy, even though I’m not exactly a big pulp fan myself. The noir pulp trappings of the Pulptress and her myriad starring stories don’t really do it for me, for example, though I should stress here that this is down to personal genre preference and not a fault of the authors in any of the Pulptress-centric stories I’ve read so far, including Judy’s. When I do read pulp, I prefer stuff along the lines of Conan and Red Sonja or the Bifrost Guardians, or the occasional dip into second-hand serialized paperback anthologies like Warrior Fantastic or the Chicks in Chainmail series.
Which is why the creepy crawly Bone Queen is my favorite part of what I’ve seen of the Pulptress series, and why the character’s standalone adventure is one of my new favorite pulp reads (and my favorite new-pulp read, if we’re getting technical). With the effluvial, action-heavy stylings of a hack-and-slash, sword-and-sorcery zombie apocalypse, The Bone Queen distinguishes itself from most other pulp fantasy tales with a unique flavor all its own — a rancid flavor, sure, full of decay and gristle and dead blood, but a quick and oddly satisfying snack of a story because of it.
December 10, 2013
Picked this book up from the author at a convention. I've not read a lot of pulp, but if it's all this good consider me a fan. This book is the back story of the Bone Queen, so you get to see her before, during, and after her transformation. It's full of action and fast-paced, which is how you get to know the characters instead of a bunch of boring exposition. The story is compelling and you can enjoy it completely even if you haven't read the previous book she was in. The mechanics of the Bone Queen herself are awesome and even though you know she's a bad guy, she's so likable (and ruthless) you can't help but root for her even after she's changed. I can't wait to read more!
July 19, 2016
This was my first experience consciously reading pulp. I phrase the last sentence the way I did because for as long as I've been reading, I'm pretty sure I've read pulp before, but I didn't have a name for it, much less recognize such a creature existed.
SO. Now that I know what pulp is, I really liked this story. It got down to the nitty gritty (what pulp is suppose to do) and pushed you toward the finish line, whether you were ready for it or not. You wanted to know more about the characters but they were too busy fighting bad guys to stand still long enough to answer your questions. I look forward to reading Judy's other stories.
Good, good stuff.
SO. Now that I know what pulp is, I really liked this story. It got down to the nitty gritty (what pulp is suppose to do) and pushed you toward the finish line, whether you were ready for it or not. You wanted to know more about the characters but they were too busy fighting bad guys to stand still long enough to answer your questions. I look forward to reading Judy's other stories.
Good, good stuff.
January 23, 2015
The Pulptress is a rough and tumble gal who has come to Paris in search of her missing mentor. What she finds are reanimated horrors in the Catacombs of Paris, and the creature that controls them. It's a wonderful character, harkening back to the desperate characters of the pulps. I would have given the story 5 stars but for the lack of a solid resolution, which is not unexpected since this story "The Bone Queen" is just one of several that appeared in the original edition of The Pulptress.
July 14, 2014
The story was fast paced, well written with a character I could put everything into. I cannot wait for more of Renata and to see her reign of terror.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews