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Bone and Jewel Creatures Elizabeth Bear 9781596062740 Books

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Bone and Jewel Creatures Elizabeth Bear 9781596062740 Books

This little novella is probably one of my favorite things Elizabeth Bear has ever written.

Bijou the Artificer is a wizard of Messaline, and she has remained such for over eighty years. Now, near the end of her life when she only wants to create her fantastical metal animals in peace, a former apprentice has brought her a feral child, poisoned by a sorcerous spell. It is the clear work of Kaulas the Necromancer, Bijou’s old enemy. He has plans afoot, and both Bijou and the unnamed child will find themselves being swept into them.

Bone and Jewel Creatures is set in the same world as several of Bear’s other fantasy stories. Most notably, this is the home of Range of Ghosts, the first book in her epic fantasy trilogy, and The Stone in the Skull, a new novel and the start of a swords and sorcery series. While it is a second world setting, it draws heavily on our own world, specifically Central Asia. The cultural analogs range from Nepal to Mongolia to India to Arabia. Messaline is a trading city, similar to our own Silk Road cities. However, you don’t really need to know this or need to have read any of her prior work to make sense of Bone and Jewel Creatures. But the world building is wonderous and gorgeously wrought!

Bijou rends down dead animals for their bones, then refashions the skeletons into fantastical animals, embedded with jewels. She brings these creations to life with her magic, and they serve as friends and companions. Hence, the title. Still, there’s a large difference between Bijou’s bone and jewel creatures and the still-living child she’s given to raise. The interactions between the two are one of my favorite parts.

The child in question is mute and doesn’t consider herself human. She was raised by the jackals that haunt the city’s shadows, and those jackals are her family. Yet, she has capabilities that surpass them, as she is beginning to realize. I love how Elizabeth Bear always creates such vibrant female characters, and she again achieves this in Bone and Jewel Creatures. How often have you read about a girl raised by jackals and a ninety-something-year-old female wizard?

So what makes Bone and Jewel Creatures stand out from Bear’s other work? Why is it one of my favorite? Simply put, I think it’s stronger in plot than many of her other stories, even if it is shorter. The other stories in this world I’ve read are always beautifully imagined and full of interesting characters, but the plots tend to feel fairly standard. Bone and Jewel Creatures might have had a necromancer for a villain (not an unusual choice), but it never felt stale, boring, or trope ladened.

I loved Bone and Jewel Creatures, and I’d love more about these characters! It’s a truly gorgeous novella with a bit of a fairytale feel. I recommend it to anyone looking for an enchanting story.


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Bone and Jewel Creatures Elizabeth Bear 9781596062740 Books Reviews

Well, Ms Bear sure knows how to rip your guts out. This was a tremendously well-crafted story. Each piece was a gem of the highest quality and the whole was a work of art. I adore the characters and the writing quirks suited the story. Every time I read Ms Bear's writing I'm reminded again what a brilliant storyteller she is in every way.
The problem with Elizabeth Bear's writing is that she sets herself a really high bar. I have nothing to fault in the execution or construction of this story, just that it didn't tug at my heartstrings or explode my mind.

The best part of the book was the world, and the magical creations that exist in it, the bone and jewel creatures of the title. Those shimmer against the dusty city. The least compelling part is probably the plot, which hits predictable emotional notes. It's possible I actually yelled "NOT THE MOMMY ISSUES" at my ebook.

Read if You'd like a viewpoint character who is old, one who really feels the weight of years. If you'd like a viewpoint character who is nonverbal but not unintelligent.

Skip if You are really not up to reading about maggots, necrosis, or necromancers.

Also read Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club) for an older viewpoint character struggling with age, and meditating on love, patience, and creepy stalker lovers.
I really enjoyed the strange new world. Well worth reading!
Once you start reading, you are immersed into Elizabeth Bear's world. 'Bone and Jewel Creatures' took disturbing words and imagery, drawing you immediately into the pain and drama of what was happening to the characters, even if you didn't quite understand who and what you were. The characters were full fleshed and powerful, dealing with a unearthly and terrifying situation, which became real and terrifying.
I love her writing, and this is a lovely novella, but felt truncated, part, perhaps, of a larger work. Or a piece hanging out in her brain that had to be got out, but had not yet a larger context? I am rather hoping for a fitting context for it further down the line. I confess to preferring novel length or even longer story lines. Don't ignore this, but be aware of a feeling of abruptness in the end.
Compelling from start to finish! Bear devised well defined and interesting characters set in a believable class and race stratified dystopia aboard a space ship. I'm ready for the next book in the set.
My pleasure spots

1. A thorough grasp of the human condition,
2. An honest, head-on depiction of evil - not a caricature of it,
3. Total absence of GRATUITOUS nastiness,
4. Children being given what they need in a non-sentimental way,
5. Animals being saved - in a non-sentimental way,
6. Old women done well (they're neither witches, nor sages of great wisdom, nor children with wrinkles & ailments),
7. Young women done well (not just martial-art/weapons experts with Barbie bodies),
8. Men (young and old) done well,
9. Neither men nor women being the Source Of All Evil,
10. Neither men nor women being condescended to, or ridiculed,
11. Everyone is not white all the time, or even most of the time, and sometimes not at all,
12. Excellent world-building,
13. Good flow and pacing in the narrative,
14. Good balance between action and complex character development,
15. A poet's ear for words, images, & rhythm,
16. And - that rarest of things - a story without explosions that's nevertheless devastating.
This little novella is probably one of my favorite things Elizabeth Bear has ever written.

Bijou the Artificer is a wizard of Messaline, and she has remained such for over eighty years. Now, near the end of her life when she only wants to create her fantastical metal animals in peace, a former apprentice has brought her a feral child, poisoned by a sorcerous spell. It is the clear work of Kaulas the Necromancer, Bijou’s old enemy. He has plans afoot, and both Bijou and the unnamed child will find themselves being swept into them.

Bone and Jewel Creatures is set in the same world as several of Bear’s other fantasy stories. Most notably, this is the home of Range of Ghosts, the first book in her epic fantasy trilogy, and The Stone in the Skull, a new novel and the start of a swords and sorcery series. While it is a second world setting, it draws heavily on our own world, specifically Central Asia. The cultural analogs range from Nepal to Mongolia to India to Arabia. Messaline is a trading city, similar to our own Silk Road cities. However, you don’t really need to know this or need to have read any of her prior work to make sense of Bone and Jewel Creatures. But the world building is wonderous and gorgeously wrought!

Bijou rends down dead animals for their bones, then refashions the skeletons into fantastical animals, embedded with jewels. She brings these creations to life with her magic, and they serve as friends and companions. Hence, the title. Still, there’s a large difference between Bijou’s bone and jewel creatures and the still-living child she’s given to raise. The interactions between the two are one of my favorite parts.

The child in question is mute and doesn’t consider herself human. She was raised by the jackals that haunt the city’s shadows, and those jackals are her family. Yet, she has capabilities that surpass them, as she is beginning to realize. I love how Elizabeth Bear always creates such vibrant female characters, and she again achieves this in Bone and Jewel Creatures. How often have you read about a girl raised by jackals and a ninety-something-year-old female wizard?

So what makes Bone and Jewel Creatures stand out from Bear’s other work? Why is it one of my favorite? Simply put, I think it’s stronger in plot than many of her other stories, even if it is shorter. The other stories in this world I’ve read are always beautifully imagined and full of interesting characters, but the plots tend to feel fairly standard. Bone and Jewel Creatures might have had a necromancer for a villain (not an unusual choice), but it never felt stale, boring, or trope ladened.

I loved Bone and Jewel Creatures, and I’d love more about these characters! It’s a truly gorgeous novella with a bit of a fairytale feel. I recommend it to anyone looking for an enchanting story.