Book Review: Castles in Their Bones

Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian ~ 528 pages ~ to be published 2/1/2022 by Delacorte Press

Goodreads Synopsis:

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.

Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.

The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers.

Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

What I Thought:

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for this ARC!*

I was a huge fan of Laura Sebastian’s Ash Princess series, so I was super excited when I found out about this book! The first in a series, this is a fascinating look into a world that has you constantly wondering who you can trust, even within your own family.

Let’s start with the sisters: Daphne, Beatriz, and Sophronia. I liked all three of them, but I found myself really identifying with Sophronia the most. She is sweet and smart, and far too much of a squishy teddy bear for this world she was forced into. Beatriz was very interesting to me as she was supposed to be this seductress character, but you got a lot of vulnerability from her. Daphne was my least favorite, but I did enjoy that her icy exterior started to thaw a bit as the story went along so that you could see more of her heart on display.

One thing I will say in critique of this book – there are so. many. characters. Like, so many. I actually had to make myself a pseudo family tree in order to keep track of who was involved with whom and which country they belonged to. I will definitely be keeping it for reference when the next book in this series comes out, otherwise I’m pretty sure I will be completely lost.

I am generally not a big fan of politically centered fantasy, but this book had a lot of other points of interest that helped. I enjoyed all of the romances in this book. Each one proceeded at a different pace, and I enjoyed comparing the three sisters’ different experiences as they went along.

I won’t spoil anything, but there was an incident that happened at the end of the book that broke my heart…and I want to believe that the next book will rectify what happened, but I’m not holding my breath 😭

If you enjoy fantasy that follows strong female protagonists, with some political intrigue, deception, and a bit of romance thrown in, you will enjoy this book! I can’t wait for the next one!