Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Bone Queen by Alison Croggon

The Bone Queen by Alison Croggon

The Bone Queen

Pellinor: Cadvan's Story (Pellinor Series)

by Alison Croggon

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2017, 416 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

In a highly anticipated prequel to the Books of Pellinor, Alison Croggon captivates fans old and new with her ancient, legendary world of Annar.

After being seduced into sorcery by an agent of the Dark, the promising Bard Cadvan of Lirigon recklessly unleashed the terrible Bone Queen, bringing destruction down upon Annar. Cast out of the Schools of Barding for his crime, Cadvan now lives in exile, burdened by memories of his dealings with the Dark. At his former home, Cadvan's mentor, Nelac, and his rival, Dernhil, begin to suspect that the Bone Queen may yet lurk in Annar, and a young Bard named Selmana is plagued by an ominous presence and an unsettling new ability to step between worlds. With darkness gathering and Bards giving in to fear and paranoia, a guilt-ridden Cadvan must once again earn the Bards' trust and Selmana must gain control of her newfound powers if they are to bring peace to the living and the dead.

Fans of the Books of Pellinor will savor this glimpse into Cadvan's past, and readers new to Alison Croggon's intricately built world will relish The Bone Queen as a stand-alone epic of light, dark, magic, and redemption.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Magnificent yet intimate, dark yet tender." - Kirkus

"Fantasy enthusiasts will find it satisfying to disappear into Croggon's world. This book stands alone and is even more enjoyable in conjunction with the other 'Pellinor' volumes." - School Library Journal

This information about The Bone Queen was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

JessikaG3

Love the lessons I can apply to my own life
I love how it still feels like the Pellinor books I love so much. I love the storyline and what it teaches about all of us. We all make mistakes we wish we could change but all we can do is remember what was done and strive to be better.

Thank you Alison for once again writing an unforgettable novel I will enjoy thinking about each day. I will treasure the lessons I’ve learned to better myself, through the trials and wins each character had to go through.

Daniel

The bone queen
Perfect book overall; words can't describe it, and if i can't describe it you probably won't read it because there no words! But the whole series is thought out so carefully, my 2nd fav series all time, and I read a lot of books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Alison Croggon

Alison Croggon, an award-winning poet and playwright, is the acclaimed author of the Books of Pellinor and Black Spring. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more YA fantasy, sci-fi, speculative, alt. history...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Tell Me Everything
    Tell Me Everything
    by Elizabeth Strout
    Elizabeth Strout's Tell Me Everything picks up where her previous book Lucy by the Sea (2022) left ...
  • Book Jacket: The God of the Woods
    The God of the Woods
    by Liz Moore
    Bestselling author Liz Moore's latest novel, The God of the Woods, begins with a disappearance. ...
  • Book Jacket: Becoming Madam Secretary
    Becoming Madam Secretary
    by Stephanie Dray
    Our First Impressions reviewers enjoyed reading about Frances Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's ...
  • Book Jacket: Everything We Never Had
    Everything We Never Had
    by Randy Ribay
    Francisco Maghabol has recently arrived in California from the Philippines, eager to earn money to ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Memory Library
by Kate Storey
Journey through the pages of this heartwarming novel, where hope, friendship and second chances are written in the margins.
Win This Book
Win My Darling Boy

My Darling Boy by John Dufresne

The story of of a man whose son collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of southern Florida.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

D T the B O W the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.