The Bone Orchard

By: Sara A. Mueller

Narrated by: Ell Potter

Sara A. Mueller's Bone Orchard is a fascinating whodunit set in a lush gothic world of secrets and magic - where a dying emperor charges his favorite concubine with solving his own murder, and preventing the culprit, which undoubtedly is one of his three terrible sons, from taking control of an empire.

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow.

Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain.

Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real.

Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself.

But now - Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire - by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil - her freedom. But if she does, she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart.

Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor’s will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

©2022 Sara A. Mueller (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

A Fantastic, UNIQUE Take on Gothic Fantasy

This novel ticked all the right boxes for me in a SSF story. Firstly, it is UNIQUE. The worldbuilding is really something to behold. From the story’s onset the reader is introduced to a fascinating world containing boneghosts – aspects of Madame Charm herself, for whom she grows bodies made from bones grown in her bone orchard combined with “empathy fluid” in coffin-like vats. These boneghosts, Pain, Justice, Pride, Shame, and Desire, serve as Orchard House’s sex workers, each with basically Madame Charm’s face but with various differences (e.g., skin tone, deformities, apparent ages). Firedrinkers, psychically-gifted constables, hide behind mirrored helmets and body armor such that one cannot distinguish whether they are males or females – the lack of differentiation enhanced by their helm’s ability to render the wearer’s voice androgynous. Crystal-encased mindlocks – stolen technology from a conquered land – are set in the temples of Firedrinkers (and Charm herself) protect psychics from going mad, but at a cost – they force the individual to comply with their orders of suffer intense pain. And then there’s the anti-aging drug Rejuv.

If the worldbuilding wasn’t enough to make me fall in love with The Bone Orchard, the characters really push my fondness for this novel over the top. Madame Charm is not only the epitome of the strong female character surviving in the strictly patriarchal society of a Victorian era-like world, smart, clever, and resolute, sure, but also compelling. Her boneghosts take on lives of their own, some I’ve become angry at by their actions, some have deeply saddened me to the point where I had to pause and regroup before continuing on, and on several occasions I’ve found myself vocally cheering for them. And though these women are really the highlight of the tale, there’s one mysterious character who I found to be the most intriguing of all, and of this I shall say no more!

All of this along with clever writing (the sort that makes one stop and shout “YEAH!” when encountering particularly brilliantly-written passages), meticulous attention to detail, and the ability to make one actually care about the highlighted characters makes it utterly surprising that this is the author’s debut novel.

Highly recommended and a refreshing departure from the norm in gothic fantasy. Five stars for both the author and the narrator.

Magical Personality Disorder, Murder, & Politics

fasinating premise of literally embodying our trauma PLUS murder & palace intrigue! loved it. want more in this world!

I want another book!

This was just so fantastic I wish there was more. It would make an excellent short series

Beautiful!

Absolutely beautiful story! Unique, well written and submersive. I felt like I was IN the story, not just reading about it. Wonderful world building; I could close my eyes and visualize everything. Fantastic narration as well!

such a contemporary way to build character

the characters in this book have a unique relationship as individuals and as a whole. this book is a compassionate and on point description of the multiple and changing selves that each person is. so refreshing!