Dragon your Bones (A Forging of Age #2), by Tatiana Obey - A review by Esmay Rosalyne

Dragon your Bones is the explosive sequel to Bones to the Wind and wraps up the Forging of Age duology. It wasn’t the conclusion that I was expecting, but it somehow ended up being everything I needed.

The story picks up immediately where book 1 left off, which makes sense given that the author has mentioned that this duology was intended as one long, continuous story which was only split up for publishing reasons.
Anyway, we jump straight back into the action and the stakes remain high throughout the entirety of the novel. While book 1 focused heavily on the Forging hunt, book 2 quickly wraps up that storyline and then dives deep into the brutal and cut-throat Grankull politics.
Our favourites from book 1 are returning back home, ready to settle into adulthood, but they quickly learn that their hardest challenges may yet be overcome. They must decide if they are willing to live in a corrupt system that is working against them or if they are brave enough to fight back and create a society where everyone can live safely as their true authentic selves.

If you liked these characters in the first book, then I can’t see how this sequel wouldn’t be a major hit for you. This book still has some great action and tension, but the pace slows down significantly and we focus much more on these characters’ internal struggles and their complex interpersonal relationships. There’s so much history between all of these characters and it was both painful and beautiful to see them navigate their complicated and messy feelings for each other. Whether we’re exploring familial, platonic, or romantic relationships, Obey really manages to portray these dynamics in a genuine and authentic way.
Also, the character growth over the course of this story is absolutely outstanding and I loved that we really got to experience all their growing pains from the front-row seat. This story is really emotionally-driven, which makes it so easy to empathise with them and get swept up in their messy lives. Some of these characters can be a bit unlikable, frustrating, or even unhinged, but I just love them all the more for it.

Because of the slower pacing, we really get to dive deeper into the themes that are explored in this story, such as classism, corruption, power imbalance, mental illness, parenthood, adulthood, gender, and sexuality. This might sound like a lot, but I actually think the author pulled it off and explored all these themes in a really nuanced, delicate, and careful manner. I really appreciated that this story acknowledges how difficult it is to enact change, be it on a personal or on a political level. These characters are constantly striving for progress and change, but that doesn’t come without a price. They constantly have to reevaluate their own beliefs and life goals, which made their journeys all the more believable and realistic.

Now, despite the fact that I absolutely adored this finale, I did have some minor quibbles that kept this from being a new favourite. Firstly, I think that the pacing and plot suffered a bit from the fact that this duology was one long narrative that was split up in two, with most of the falling action taking place in this conclusion. Some parts felt a bit repetitive and I personally got a bit tired of the constant lusting and dirty talk that was going on, especially at the beginning of the novel. Don’t get me wrong, I love how sex-positive, diverse and queer this story is, but it did get a bit much for me.
Another quibble that I had has more to do with the writing rather than the story itself. While I love Obey’s approachable yet visceral writing style, I started to notice that there were multiple shifts from past to present tense, sometimes even within the same paragraph or sentence. It happened so often that I almost started to wonder if it was intentional, but if it was, I have certainly never seen it done before. It didn’t have a major impact on my enjoyment of the story, because I just adored following these characters, but it did keep breaking my immersion a bit.

All that said, I was very pleased with the way this story wrapped up and I think all of the individual character arcs were extremely satisfying, if somewhat unexpected. I really didn’t see some of the twists and turns coming and I believe these characters were just as surprised by some of their final choices as I was. This story is unpredictable, messy, and painful, but that’s exactly what makes it so beautifully human.

I highly recommend this duology to anyone who is looking for an emotionally-driven story with a desert setting, morally complex characters, thought-provoking themes, cutthroat political intrigue, high stakes, backstabbing and betrayals, pulse-pounding action, queer love, and, of course, dragons!
Obey has quickly launched herself into my list of favourite authors and I will be eagerly anticipating whatever else she decides to write next. In the meantime, I will keep thinking about these characters and try to convince as many people as possible to read these books. That was one hell of a great adventure. 

About the reviewer

Hi! I’m Esmay, a 20-year-old bookworm from the Netherlands. My main hobbies are reading books, talking about books, reviewing books, and watching videos of people talking about books. Fantasy is my favourite genre, but I will honestly read anything if the premise intrigues me. Also, over the past year, I’ve become a huge (SFF) indie/self-pub enthusiast and it’s been a wonderful experience to discover all the hidden gems. I’m forever exploring stranger worlds.
You can follow her on Goodreads / Twitter.